Countdown : 10 days

*deep breaths* 10 more days.

In some ways, it kinda feels like my first time. I know I already have a 14-month old daughter but that was different. She was induced a month early, I had none of this “waiting around for labour pains with a packed hospital bag ready”. Adik has been head-down for several weeks now, everything is well.. At my last appointment, Doc S cheerfully bade us goodbye with “Next week internal exam ok, kalau tak sempat I’ll see you in the delivery room”.. It really hit me that I could literally go ‘pop pop’ any day now.. As if my ginormous size and limited mobility were not obvious enough.. Hubby is nice to me, although he does tease me occasionally by enquiring if I need him to call a tow truck to help me up.. Kureng kureng..

I’m agonizing over whether to take leave early or work right up to delivery.. Several ladies at the office had dramatic incidences where their water bags burst and amnio fluid gushed out.. Cam dalam movies.. Dah la both my managers are men and one of em is a bujang terlajak (I’m not sure how useful they’d be in such an emergency), I work in the Golden Triangle and my hospital is all the way in Subang.. As it is, I have 3 meetings scheduled next week for the various special projects I somehow got involved with and my monthly report due.. No worries about the report, although I am just going to sit in those meetings and tell them repeatedly “I am going on leave any day now. Please do not give me any tasks that would inevitably be left hanging and then bitch about it in my absence.” Failure to note and take evasive action would just earn you a big thumbs up and a “Padan muka” when your project stalls..

Adik did not give me any serious problems, although this lil one is definitely bigger than Alya.. She’s getting more clingy probably becos she can sense the impending arrival.. She can’t walk on her own yet but she loves walking around holding on to your index finger.. Quite the bossy missy, she bullies her atuks mercilessly by getting them to carry her or teman her jalan-jalan.. She still has hardly no interest in food and is painfully kerempeng but she’s super-active and happy.. Kiddie food that is, her eyes light up and she’ll go “Ma! Nak nak nak” when we’re having something else that looks interesting.. She loves books, can spend a lot of time flipping thru a book on her lap and has started understanding some simple instructions.. Alhamdulillah..

My mother is being her usual panicky self, worrying where to place Adik downstairs.. Especially since Alya is darned curious and very very geram tengok baby.. Tak boleh duduk diam at all so we can’t exactly put the baby on a mattress in the living room.. I foresee my mother cracking the whip when it comes to my pantang this time around.. I barely had 6 months after Alya’s birth before I conceived again so maybe she has a point.. She’s been bandying about the terms “peranakan jatuh”, “perut gelebeh” and etc a lot these days.. I am so dreading those 44 days.. Wish me luck and pray I have a relatively easy delivery..