The End Draws Nigh!

In just under 4 hours, I will be at hospital.   And guess what? Yep - still have stuff that needs to be done and yes, it is another sleepless night.


Good news is that I finally figured out how to update the blog from my phone - via e-mail.  And it works with photos too.   This means I will be able to post blog updates whilst in hospital as well. Yay!  What I might do is to pre-type an entry to announce the birth and then just fill in the blanks so that if I don't have the energy to do it myself, it will be easy to get someone to do it on my behalf and still have it be in my own words.

Yesterday afternoon, I had my last prenatal class. Since my grandmother was being discharged from hospital,my mum couldn't make it to attend the class with me this time - so my elder sister accompanied me instead.  She managed to turn my foul mood around by showing up at my place early, bearing delicious, happy-belly food: Vegetarian Lasagna, and an Orgasmic Brownie purchased from one of the most awesome food places on the island [i.e. Mint. nom!!!]

After wolfing down the lasagna, we just chilled for a bit before making our way to the clinic.  I was pleased to see that we were half an hour early since I hate being late.  We also found a parking space really close to the clinic and happened to be the first ones there.  Eventually, the other class attendees waddled up to the clinic - which was quite comical with this one woman who is 30 weeks pregnant with twins and keeps ballooning up from week to week.  She is rather short - 5 ft 2, perhaps? - and she can barely walk at this point in time without holding on to the wall or furniture. It must be a nightmare for her, mind you - but at this point it is better to laugh at oneself.

The class was basically discussing sterilisation [differences between hot sterilisation and cold sterilisation] and the New Mum's health after giving birth [which has been covered in this blog].  I have partially covered Cold Sterilisation in this previous blog too - however ~I will just recap specifically within this context.

Hot vs Cold
Cold sterilisation is the process of using water and a sterilising agent such as this, or this, whereby you allow the bottle/dummy/item requiring sterilisation to soak in the solution.  The solution itself can be used for up to 24 hours, and it is important to avoid cross-contamination.  Make sure you wash the items in advance and that you don't immerse your hands in the solution.  Use thongs to fish out items out of the solution.


Bot sterilisation is the process of using a sterilising device such as this, or this.  The first one is a microwaveable item, and the second one works using electricity to produce steam.

All of the above options are equally as efficient as long as cross-contamination is avoided. Which option you use is a matter of personal preference.  My advice would be to have a bottle of sterilising liquid even if you opt for the Hot Sterilisation process.  It is a no-brainer really - what would you do if there is a power cut?  Better take precautions. It could also come in handy to have one in your car/nappy bag especially when you will be away from home for a long period of time.  If you're over at someone's house, all you would need is to ask for a container and some water, and you'll be able to sterilise whatever you might need to.

That is all for now.


Toodles! x

Mister Sandman, bring me a dream?

Whoever coined the saying "Sleeping like a baby" clearly did not have any children of his/her own.  Out of all the people I know with children, only one of them never ever had problems with her child waking up in the middle of the night.


My insomnia is stress-related - and since I'm anywhere between minutes and days away from giving birth at the moment, stress levels are soaring.  I don't know what Creature's sleeping patterns will be like - and my greatest concern is my own insomnia to be honest, not his/her inability to sleep a whole night.  My problem is that when insomnia gets truly chronic, I'd be doing something one minute, and the next I would start nodding off.  I just crash. Inevitably, I worry that this will happen whilst Creature is awake and something might happen which I would end up sleeping through due to sheer exhaustion.  These thoughts don't help me combat the insomnia.

I really, really hope that I will manage to find a solution.  Most people get an hour or so of shut-eye whenever they get someone to babysit for them.Since I only crash when my body decides to, I truly doubt it will be an option for me.  Even when exhausted, I don't manage to sleep on command.


Once Creature is here, I'll know how difficult his/her sleeping pattern will be to cope with. This article gives some hints and tips on how to help your child sleep throughout the night.  I don't know how efficient these suggestions are - but I guess they must work for at least 1 person on the face of the planet.

If you have any suggestions on how to get a child to sleep, feel free to comment!

[The only sure way I know of is a bop on the head. But I'm thinking it really is not an option. What say you?]