FATHER'S DAY

Yesterday was father's day in Australia. It was really special for Indra as it was his first ever father's day :)
We went to church yesterday and Indra came up to the front when they prayed for all the dads, it was so special.

I remember the day before but i just didnt have time to prepare anything for Indra. The only thing i said was 'thank you'.
I cant thank him enough for all his love, he always support me in whatever i do and encourage me to try and do the things i passionate about. We've been through a lot for the past 8 years, but nothing compare to the last 2 weeks with baby Olie around.
I never knew that taking care a baby would be this joyful and tough at the same time. The change is HUGE, sometimes i got overwhelmed.

I couldnt asked for a better life companion than Indra. He is willing to wake up to change the nappy and warm the milk for Olie every night. When i got so sleepy and tired, he would do everything and let me sleep, eventhough he needs to wake up in the morning to go to work.
He's been juggling a lot of work lately, besides his full time job, he helps me with the shop and on the weekend, he does his photography job for the whole day and he would still be willing to help me with Olie at night. Sometimes i feel sad looking at him tired and sleepy in the morning, i would call him to make sure that he arrives safely. I don't know where he got that much energy to do all these things, but im sure God has been giving him extra strength.

I read in the daily devotional this morning, a question "Have you ever found yourself receiving such exceeding favor that you wonder why?". For me, having Indra as my husband and the father of my son is God's exceeding favor upon my life, God is lavishing His grace on me.

I cant thank Him enough for giving me such a wonderful husband and life companion.

'Happy Father's day honey..."

OLIVER QUINN PRATAMA

Finally..we are holding our boy!!
It's been a week since he was born last Friday on 20th August at 7.59am.
We stayed at the hospital for 6 days, we tried to make the most out of it :)

It was such a mixed feeling when Indra and i were driving to the hospital on Friday morning. We realised at that moment that we will go back from the hospital bringing the baby. It's no longer 2 but 3!
We arrived at 6am and i was the first on the operation list. As much as i tried to prepare myself, i was so nervous, sitting on the hospital bed waiting for the nurses and doctors to come.
Then a nurse came and prepare me for the operation, i changed into operation gown and they brought me to the theatre. Indra was with me all the time.

Somehow, operation theatre is always cold and freezing, not sure because of i was so nervous or what. I remember Indra held my hand when the doctor injected the spinal block on my spine, that was painful!
The operation only lasted for 30 minutes, they managed to take out the baby in probably 20 minutes. I heard baby Ollie screamed so loud the moment doctor pulled him out. I cant describe my feeling at that time, so weird that the baby is mine. I never thought that i would be able to have one, my own. Soon after that they showed me the baby, and he was still purple and blue and swollen :P.

When they finished cleaning baby Ollie, they put him in my arm, and he kept crying so loud. I didn't know what to do so i just hold him. The next 6 days at the hospital was a whole new experience and learning curve. We learnt how to care for a baby from zero. Holding, breast feeding, changing nappies, bathing, we also learnt how not to have enough sleep every night :)
Baby Ollie is well behave, he sleeps quick and not easily distracted by noise, the only thing is he cries very very loud.

Now i rarely have time for myself, because whenever Ollie sleeps, that's my time to sleep too. I really made an effort to write this entry. So that's it for now, have to check on Ollie again :)

2

2 days to go!!! Woohoo!!
I cant wait to see our baby boy, wondering is he going to look like me or Indra :)
We did not take more scan after the 20 week, so we have no idea.
There are some private places that do independent 4D scan without doctor referral, but we decided not to take one.
We want to have a bit of surprise i guess :)

It's getting harder to sleep, apart from the ribs pain, i've been having heart burns and braxton hicks during the night.
I think that's how nature prepare our bodies to welcome the newborn, yes, sleepless nights.
I really hope i've got everything ready though. I have no idea what's important to buy or things that can wait.

I only have 2 days left before the baby comes, i really want to use these 2 days to prepare myself in welcoming the baby, and more importantly facing the biggest change in my life. There are a lot of things that needs to be done at the shop, but i try not to think about it now. The most important thing in my life now is the baby. I have to focus on how to be a godly mother for my son, preparing not only financial support for him but more importantly emotional support. I've heard stories about baby blues syndrome, and it is very possible to happen to some women who used to full time work and independent, suddenly they have to stay at home and not as flexible as before. Knowing that i might be a possible candidate for that syndrome, i've been trying to change they way i think. Things WILL change and i HAVE to be able to accept it.

Okay, now sleepiness is striking again, better have as much sleep as i can before Friday :p

7

Yes, today is Friday the 13th, exactly a week before the c-section procedure.
By this time next week, i will be able to hold and see his face after 9 months of waiting.

I've been having trouble sleeping for the last few days, as the baby is on my right side and getting bigger, it's painful for me to lay flat on the bed. I felt my ribs being pushed down.
Indra had to re-arrange pillows before sleep so that i would be able to sleep in an upright position. It helps me a lot, but when i woke up in the morning, my back would suffer from the position. That's ok, only 7 days to go :)

I've been having weird dreams too lately. Well, research says it's common to have dreams during the last stage of pregnancy. It's probably from the excitement welcoming the baby. My dreams have been so real, they didn't feel like a dream but more of a memories.

Despite of the circumstances and situation surrounding our lives now, i'm so grateful for everything. Having a baby is not going to be easy and cheap. But we know God will meet our needs. I am thankful that i have my sister here, she is 7 years younger than me, she's been helping me with the shop and more to that, she's really great with kids and babies. She knows exactly how to handle and take care of them. While i have no clue at all :P

Nursery is almost done, just needs to finish the cot. But anyway we're not going to use the cot for the first few months. The baby will sleep in bassinet in our room. I have also packed my hospital bag, gosh time flies so fast.
I will post a finished photo of the nursery room, i cant upload it now as i have put his name all over the room :P
I really hope that we can access the internet at the hospital so i can upload his photo as soon as he arrives.

Pray for us so that everything will go smoothly :)

11

It's getting closer and i cant believe by Friday next week, we will be able to see our baby boy :D
What a long 9 months. Here is the latest photo of me with the bump :)

18

It's the 2nd of August today, it means 18 days to go before we can hold our baby boy :)
Gosh, time flies really fast..

Nursery is almost finished, we've put up the shelf and chest drawer. The wall decal has arrived this afternoon and we plan to stick it up tonight :). Hopefully it turns out good.
The only thing that needs to be done is the cot, we still haven't finished sanding it. We bought the cot from our friend and the colour is white. As you know, i like dark timber colour, so we decided to re-paint it.

Im almost 36 weeks pregnant now and it's getting uncomfortable.
Mainly because the baby is on the right side of my tummy, and he's been pressing against my ribs. It's really hard to sleep at night.
We saw the doctor for weekly appointment this afternoon and he said the head is already down, and he's grown so fast :). Doctor said that the baby would be around 3 to 3.2 kg when he is born, and yes we still go on the c-section plan.

Now all i need to do is have plenty of rest before the baby comes and start packing the hospital bag :)

NURSERY

We've been working on the nursery room for couple of months now. Our house is quite small, with only 3 small bedrooms and 2 bathroom. We had to evacuate Indra's office to the lounge room and use his office for the nursery room instead.
Indra's office is the smallest room and it was very messy, paper and books were everywhere, no one dared to enter that room :P.

It's only less than 4 weeks till the baby arrives, but we have not finished the room yet. It took us months to clean and clear the room. When we finally finished cleaning the room, we had trouble deciding which colour scheme should we use. I wanted olive green initially but somehow we ended up with neutral colour...again!! :)

But i couldn't be happier with the result!! Indra had an idea to paint the vertical stripes on 2 sides of the wall. They make the room looks higher and modern, and they match with the curtain as well :). Now all we need to do is to attach the wall shelf above that chest drawer, we also bought a wall decal for the other wall and we still waiting for it to come. I really hope everything will be finished on time :D

Here is sneak peak to the nursery room: