11 weeks 5 days

I had my final exams on Marketing Strategy over the weekend and it was my 14th subject. I regretted to have procrastinated till the last 4 hours before seriously starting on my paper. I submitted just 2 minutes before the deadline! I didn't have time to check through and I forgot to update the contents table...Anyway, I was so tired on Saturday that I slept most of the day away. I have 4 more subjects to go and I am hopeful to finish the whole MBA course by Jan 2011, just in time before the baby arrives in March.

I couldn't sleep very well last night, just couldn't get into a comfortable enough position...and my tummy is not even big yet! This morning, I have a metallic taste in my mouth and I feel very tired still. I wonder when will all these unpleasant symptoms wear off? I will be having a detail ultrasound scan next Wednesday and I can't wait to be able to "see" the baby again. Keeping my fingers crossed that the baby will be fine and will not have any risk of having down syndrome. God Bless Please.

Pianist Liu Wei(from Chinese talent show) eng sub

This is amazing...I am so touched by this young man. Lost both his arms in a freak accident when he was 10 and have been using his feet instead for all the things he does and he does them so well! His performance was spectacular! Even if it was the only tune he could play, it's still amazing! My son should be ashamed of himself for not practicing on his piano!

Om Sai Ram. I am grateful for all that I have and I will not complain for things that I don't have anymore, I promise. Thank God, please continue to bless me and my family and show your Grace to all mankind.

CEO's visit

I had a terrible headache last evening after the business trip to Shenzhen but luckily was able to sleep it off. Went to Shenzhen for 2 purposes; 1. to interview a new Sample Clerk for my department in Shenzhen and 2. to standby for the visit of the CEO from HQ. He is our new CEO who had taken over the position from the founder of the company in April this year and he is on his first overseas trip to China and Hong Kong. The company's strategy is to expand our business in China and much resources have been deployed to China. Therefore he is here to see the progress. In my opinion, the company's strategy is not wrong but the execution is not right. They are rushing to employ many engineers and sales personnel but there is not enough manpower allocated to train them and support them. Many of these newly employed staff quit within a month or even a week because they had no idea what they were employed for! The managers in-charge of their training and orientation are just too busy with other jobs. So, we kept employing...

Nevertheless, all these "trivial" problems would not be made known to the CEO. The GMs of the Shenzhen sales office and Hong Kong sales office are hiding all these problems and only concentrating on presenting the superficial things. Things like making sure that all staff stand up and give a perfect bow to the CEO when he walks in, making sure that we have his favourite drink ready for his consumption, making sure that everybody dress presentably, making sure that the prettiest girls from Admin are tending the reception area when he arrives, making sure that a spare notebook is ready for his use in case he needs to check his web mail, etc. To the Japanese, this is showing respect to the CEO and making sure that he has the best impression. I of course followed all these "acts" and presented my department to him as best as I could.

Oh the pain on my tailbone is killing me! 11 weeks + 1 day now and I am afraid the pain is going to get worse as I grow bigger...

Going into week 11

Going into week 11 now but still very sleepy at the office...In fact, I was so sleepy yesterday that I couldn't wake up in the morning and had to go to the warehouse late...reached around 11:20am. I have been having these weird wild dreams lately. Dreamt of swimming, eating really bland-tasting foods that my MIL made for me and also dreaming of having another poodle to mate with Coffee...I would wake up in the middle of the night and when I fell asleep again, the dreams would sort of continue from where I had stopped. Funny.

I am also having this very painful ache at the tailbone since yesterday. Couldn't sit down at my desk for long, had to stand up and walk around every now and then...awkward. S gave me a link to a Pilate instructor's blog and she had a couple of exercises that pregnant women can do from the 2nd trimester, so I think I will start on that once I am into my 13th week. I think it will be good for me. I have gained 5kgs so far and my appetite is really good. So at this rate, I think I am going to be overweight very soon if I don't look after myself. I definitely don't want to be more than 70kgs at the end of it again!

Oh, the grade for my 13th subject was out, I have mananged to score another B+ which is good enough for me. My 14th subject's final exams will be this weekend and I hope to get at least another B. I am currently also studying Supply Chain Management and will start on Corporate Social Responsibility in Sep. Then if I start the 17th (Management of Services) and 18th (Capstone) subject in Oct, I will be able to finish my MBA in Jan 2011, before the baby arrives! It will be really tough but I guess if I were to drag until the baby comes along, it will be even tougher...so *sigh* I hope I will be feeling energetic in my trimester so that I can deal with it.

10 weeks

Baby is 10 weeks now and I am feeling better than a couple of weeks ago. I guess the morning sickness symptoms are laying off nicely. \(^-^)/

I dropped a bomb at my boss yesterday. No, not about the pregnancy but about my marriage. Nobody at work knows that I am married again yet as our relationship was blossomed in the office and we are kinda shy...we like to have our privacy. Anyway, I am relieved that he congratulated me and wished me happiness. I am also glad that I had taken this step to disclose to him and I will let him recover from this initial shock before I give him another bomb...about the pregnancy. I don't know how he will react to the pregnancy as I have worked for him for the last 7 years as a single working mother and he had also admitted that he had never treated me as a woman but just a colleague like any other male colleague. And he's Japanese, I don't know if he will be prejudiced against me if I have to take 2 months of maternity leave...Whatever the case, I can only keep it from everyone for the next 4 weeks or so before my tummy will be so big that it will be impossible to hide it anymore with clothes.

Hubby and I celebrated this milestone at Kimchee Korean BBQ last evening. The view from the restaurant was good and the food was not bad too. The only problem was having a group of 3 mainland Chinese women at the next table who were talking so loudly and another table of 7 nearby with 2 very noisy kids. I wish Hong Kong can be less infested by the mainland Chinese...our dinner date would have been perfect with the view, the good food and if only we could hear the background Korean pop music...*sigh*

9 Weeks and 6 Days

Baby @ 9 weeks & 6 days!

Yeah! Baby is 9 weeks and 6 days old in my tummy and measuring 2.98cm long now! For the first time, we can distinguish the head and the bottom and we could also see the arms and legs kicking/swimming/struggling in the fluid. \(^-^)/ I was so moved by the baby's ultrasound that I nearly cried! I wish I can have the ultrasound machine at home so that I can "see" my baby everyday...

It's amazing! 2 weeks ago, we couldn't figure out where was the head but could only hear the heartbeat distinctly, now it's looking like a baby should look like and has grown 2 times bigger! I am also gaining weight...62kg now. I wonder what I will be weighing at the end of the term? Definitely going to be heavier than hubby!

Week 8

Week 8 now and tummy is showing...still hiding it quite well though as nobody knows yet. ;)Feeling much better after sleeping my headache off on Saturday and managed to catch the "Toy Story" movie with hubby after his exams. It was a good movie, cried quite hard towards the end though...so touching! Am so glad that they all end up together with such a cute little girl! The movie makes me remember my toys...my Play Mobil...still in a box on top of the closet. Maybe someone else should play with them? I must have kept them there for more than 20 years! Oh my gosh!

Anyway, I am still feeling sleepy all the time at work and having a hard time reading the online study materials...I will be having another final exams in 2 weeks and yet I feel that I have not studied for it! It will be 14th subject and I am really anxious to get the rest all done with before the baby arrives. I think I will be so tired and occupied then that I won't be able to do any studies at all. Maybe I have rushed things? Maybe I should have waited until we are settled back in Singapore next year before we start the IVF process? Perhaps I should wait until I finished my studies? Oh, but I am not getting any younger by the day! I don't have time to wait until this and that! In life, there's always so many "what ifs" and so many "maybes"...

Was talking to hubby about our 5 years+ in Hong Kong and he feels that we have sacrificed too much of our family life being here. While I agree with him, I don't feel as negative as he. Perhaps it's because I am being paid much better here? Anyway, I always thought that coming to Hong Kong made us grow closer to each other and I won't forget that it also gave us the opportunity to earn some money from the property. If we were in Singapore, we would not have bought another property for investment, we would not have bought our 2 pups, we wouldn't have gone to Europe and Korea, we wouldn't have done so many things that we have done. We would have done so many different things if we were in Singapore. Anyway, I have no regrets coming to Hong Kong, as long as I make this year my last. It's time to settle back home, now that our apartments are ready for all of us to stay together happily. It's all fated, pre-arranged by God and I am grateful.