My half-way pregnancy journey update

Hello

So I am currently 23 weeks@6 months pregnant

How fast time flies isn't it?

I don't even feel the time

It just moving on

Speaking of moving, my baby move a lot these days

Like A LOT

Sometimes when I talked to him, he'll kick me from inside

Seems like he understands what's going on out here

The first time I felt his move from outside of my belly, I burst into tears

And also laughing at the same time haha

It was a very strange feeling for the first time

But now, every moment ina day I would be talking to him and waiting for him to respond to me

But, it's a different situation for my husband though

He still can't feel our baby when he puts his hand on my belly

It seems like the baby doesn't want to move at all once daddy comes closer

Hahahahaah poor guy

On the other side, I've been having mild cramping and back pain constantly these days

Sometimes it hurt so bad that make me cry alone in the middle of the night

I don't wake my husband up normally when I suffer at night because I don't want to disturb him from his sleep

He has to go to work early in the morning

I would rather embrace the pain and just go to bed

My doctor said I should get a pregnancy belt that will support my back and my growing belly

Because my belly is growing so fast now

I can't hide it anymore

It's very obvious now

I also need to wear maternity pants

I cannot fit into my regular jeans anymore

But it's okay

It's all worth it for you my little angle

I seriously can't wait to hold him close to my chest

My husband one time said "baby, just come out already! I cant wait to see you!"

And I was like "oh relax mister, I'm not gonna have preterm labor, I want him to be full-term okay"

Anyway, one horrible thing happened to me last week

It was Thursday (September 19,2019)

I was about to leave my house to go to school

I was a little rushing because my uber driver already arrived

But, suddenly, I tripped in front of my doorstep

and "boom!!!" I fell

It hurt my knees but I'm glad at least I didn't land on my belly

I land with my hand and my knees then lastly my hip

I was thinking to cancel my uber and just stay at home but he's already here

So, I just decide to go and talk to my advisor and come back

I was feeling fine the whole day

Suddenly the day after, I was sitting at my office and I start feeling intense cramping

I called my doctors office

Told them that I fell yesterday

And they were like "You have to come in today!"

And then we went into the OB Triage

They checked me in

The doctor did a very thorough check on me

She didn't even let me walk

I have to lie down the moment they ask me to change into the hospital gown

They push me on the same bed to go to the ultrasound room 

It was kind of funny because people were looking at me

That's my first time being rushed in a hospital bed like that

Alhamdulillah doctor checked my cervix and it was closed

Nothing to worry

She just mentioned that next time if I ever fall or involve in any accident, please come in immediately to the hospital

I learn my lesson now :)

Welcoming Fall!!! Our favorite season of the year xoxo

Tonight we're leaving for a trip

The doctor told me that it's fine for me to fly

So we are so excited about the trip this week!

I'll update about the trip in my next post :)

My Proposal Defense

Salam

Alhamdulillah I would like to share that I am finally halfway done with my PhD

I have passed my proposal defense and now I am forcing myself to finish writing my thesis

The system here is different compared to Malaysia system

You can only do your proposal defense here once you are 80-90% done with your research

That's why the gap between proposal defense and dissertation defense (viva) can be between months

DOn't be shocked if I said I will defense by November because it's normal here :)

USA, Canada, and Japan use the same system I guess

We've been working on our research when we first start our Ph.D. and finishing all our coursework at the same time

It's quite tough but everyone can do it I believe as long as you have a high determination to achieve your goal

So for my proposal defense, it was open to public

All my friends were there to support me

They also can ask any related question during or after my presentation

I also have to prepare food and drink to my audience

That's the culture here in the United States

Student have to prepare the refreshment for committee members and the audience

You don't have to be fancy, just cookies and coffee is enough

But for me, my husband chose to do a little bit more

We bought pizza, fruits, coffee, ice cream, and water

Everybody really enjoyed it

That's important to make sure sure that everybody is happy :)

Since 2 of my committee members cannot attend the defense, I have to skype with them

One in Italy and another one in Texas

Everything went smoothly

Only the Professor from Texas asked me some questions to verify my work

The others were satisfied with what I have done

Now, I need to finish one more journal paper and the thesis

I promised my professor that I will finish the thesis writing by this month (September)

I have started working on my thesis since June, so it's basically almost done already

Then, once I finished my thesis, I have to schedule for the thesis defense

If I want to graduate this semester, I must schedule the defense by October 23 and do the defense before November 6

Yeah I know, it seems very fast and rushes but I have to do this since I'm already in my extension semester

My sponsor which is KPT and UMP expect me to come back by February 2020

So no matter what, I have to get this done before that

So yeah, I'm hoping that I can get this done on time

It's a BOY!

Hi,

So, the title very clear already that we are having a boy

I am so excited about this

My baby also started to kick already

The most active he will be is after I eat and at night

Such an active baby like his dad haha

We went to get the 3D scan at private practice because I couldn't wait any longer

It's killing me inside to know what I'm having

Because as long as I didn't know the gender, that would be hard for me to start shopping for his clothes

Now, after we knew the gender, I started my shopping spree, in-store and online

We keep on receiving packages in the mail

My husband can only shake his head

He has no idea what I ordered and what else is coming haha

So far we have bought lots of stuff already including his newborn clothes, crib, mattress, bedsheet for the crib, bottle set, car seat, stroller and lots of much-needed baby stuff

I am still deciding whether should I get a full set of nursery or not

It's so cheap here, only $800 comes with a convertible crib (can be used from newborn to small kids), changing table, dresser and rocking chair

I know that it might not be necessary to get it for our house here, but I'm thinking to buy it here and shipped it to Malaysia

I've been comparing some baby stuff price, here is way cheaper compared to Malaysia

I don't know why is that

They were not made in the USA

Some of them made in Chine

Shouldn't it be cheaper in Malaysia since we're so close to China?

I don't know

Mommy confused hahaha

But for now, I'm also busy preparing my self for the proposal defense for my Ph.D. coming in 13/9/2019

And I also promised my Professor that I will try to finish writing my thesis by September 24th 

How brave am I to promised him that hahaha but I know I can push myself to finish it

I want everything to be done before our little boy arrived so that I can just focus on him 24/7 once he's here