Assoc. Prof. Dr Rachel F. Mansa

My second son will be arriving tentatively in one week. I am excited. The same questions again. Epidural vs Etonox vs au naturale? Natural vs C-sect? Excitement vs fear of being confined for1 month? Ha ha ha. I try and cheer myself up with the thought of having my "lihing chicken" and a shot of Dom per day. Hmmmm. Very busy at the moment with trying to wrap up my lectures and any management reports. I hope to take a break soon after my last lecture. Although I still have to set questions for the exams, I think I will have less to worry about. I can not wait to carry my new born in my arms. I have been looking at new born photos of My Kiddo. Something we do just before we sleep. I keep on telling him that his brother will look like he used to. Small and in need of a lot of care. He gets this excited look and sometimes touches my tummy. Sweeeet! I pray that everything goes well. I will try to inform as much people as I can by text when the time comes. :) Meanwhile I will conti...

I went for this movie coz I am a kid at heart and love comic strip movies. When I was in Arndale Centre, Manchester I used to dream that Batman really existed and his Batmobile would be the car he would bring me out on dates with. ha ha ha. However I was seriously shaken. I was scared and MOH was teasing me that it was just a movie. Honestly it was scary. I love Heath Ledger as much as I love Christian Bale. Both are great actors. However both scared the shit out of me. The Joker was really the Joker as Edgar puts it. He nailed it. I felt scared for Batman for the first time. I was worried and frankly I went to hide in the toilet in some parts coz I could not take the information in. It was not entertaining for me. MOH loved it. Well he is a man. Me I just got what I did not expect. I wanted my Batman comic strip to come alive on the silver screen. I got more than that. It got into my head. Hmmmm maybe I am pregnant. I promise myself the next movie I watch would be a comedy. Seriously...

Contractions. That word is a mystery to me. A lot of people had described it. But with my first son I only had the induced version. Which is really extremely painful very quickly. Apparently in the natural way. Everyone will experience an increase in contraction pain starting from, acceptable to maybe it is a bit painful and progresses eventually to I can't smile and I can't be a nice person because my body is painful. Yesterday morning I had slight pain in my lower abdomen. It came an went. Lasted for less than 30 seconds each and at intervals of 2 to 4 minutes. But it was not pain to shout about. I knew it was slight. But it worried me a bit. However there is a name for this mild contractions. They call it Braxton Hicks contraction which is due to the tightening of the uterine muscles in preparation of birth. This is not a common occurrence with all mothers but it does happen. It is thought to be the thinning of the cervix. However it is confusing as some expectant mothers mi...

I found out yesterday that my baby is now 2.7kg at 36 weeks. Hmmm if I am suppose to gain 500 g per week and half of that goes to the baby. My baby would be 3.7 kg. Oh no.. another big baby. I thought everyone who saw me said my tummy was smaller this time around. A bit scared and peeved. Sigh* come what may. I just have to watch what I eat. Which I already do. I have guiltily skipped my dinners coz I have been too tired or just want to keep the baby small. Sheesh.

Today is the 9th of July, 2008. I am about a month away from delivering my second son. :) I really can not wait. My first born was soo much easier to carry. This one is really tiring me and exhausting me. Sigh... I am not complaining but I do feel there is a large difference between these two pregnancies. Maybe my youngest son will give me a lot of sleepless nights, maybe he will not be as big as first one. But I promise I will love him equally. I have been trying to tell My Kiddo that his Li'l Bro is coming soon. I showed him the scanned photo of his bro's feet and hands. Guess what My Kiddo did after he stared at the scan. He gave a kiss to my huge tummy and gave me a smile. Oh it was a sweet sweet sweet moment. I wonder how hard it will be to keep My Kiddo from hitting his Li'l Bro out of jealousy. I expect him to be jealous, to be displaced and to feel sad. Yet, I hope most of all that he will see how precious and in need his Li'l Brother will be and to want to try...

I have had my rush for a month and a half. I had successfully scratched it thrice. Uwaaaaah.. I am devastated. I noticed the first scratch after sending it for the usual car wash. Hmmm.. never went back to that car wash. The second one was because I answered a phone call from a student who was annoying me. It was out of office hours and my son was very ill. I was rushing to park in front of the clinic. Hmmm. Never going to pick up the phone in dire situations again. The last one was because I had been helping my sister with her assignment because she lasered her eyes and can see much in her healing period. I finished by 4 am and was soo sleepy. Tried to sleep at my parent's house but the electricity went kaput. I decided to go home to my son. As I backed up, I kissed the kelisa's side mirror. Shoot. That happened while tired. So good advice for myself. Never drive when tired, rushing, worried or send your car to wash to dodgy car washers. Anyhoo. I finally managed to get my act...

As for a lot of first year students all over the country, last week must have been an eventful time. I was soo excited to welcome our new first years. Those eager to learn faces. Hmmm soon to be jaded by the hardship of a very trying course. :) My excitement changed to wonder and then to disappointment. Do not get me wrong. I do feel passionate about teaching these young adults. However there are a few of those who are a bit Duh! "Oh no not this type of students" I sighed to myself. Why so "Skima wan?" (also known as Kiasu attitude or overenthusiastic). Ouch. Ha ha ha ha. It brought me back to memories of myself. Maybe I was that student as well. I pause to search of memories of me. Ouch again. I was exactly that type of student. ROFL. No wonder Dr. Eevil called me a geek. Oh well. The whole process of going through a degree will soon smooth that one out. Like it did your's truly. Sigh again. My excitement is back. Wish I did not have to have 2 months maternity...

I smiled today when I saw a little yellow bird perching on a tree with purple flowers. I love my new room just for that sight.