Hello Sydney!

When I was 26 weeks pregnant, I moved back to Sydney after spending over 4.5 years living in Jakarta.

In preparation for my flight to Sydney, I had booked five weeks in advance to see Dr Ivan to get my medical clearance letter but a few days before my appointment, I got an sms from Morula Clinic advising me to re-schedule my appointment as Dr Ivan was going to be out of town for a few days. Unfortunately, I could not re-schedule as the half a dozen calls I made to Morula Clinic just did not get through. So, I had no choice but to see a different doctor, Dr Bramundito at RS Pondok Indah (RSPI) , who is pretty good and RSPI appear more organised in terms of admin and ease of communication. By the way, I was flying with Qantas and I technically didn't need a letter unless I was 28 weeks or over but I got one just in case.

When I got to the airport, I mentioned that I was pregnant at check-in and they asked me how along I was and if I had a medical clearance letter. I think if I had said no, they'd have let me off, but since I did, they photocopied my letter and must have flagged me as 'High Priority' because when I went to the boarding gate, a bleep went off and I saw on their computer screen that I was 'High Priority' but no one at the airport said anything to me about what is meant, like whether I could board early with all the people requiring assistance or anything. Anyway, I was quite capable of waddling my way around and didn't really need any assistance, though it would have been nice to jump the queue!

My flight was uneventful though I must say I felt quite bloated and made regular trips to the bathroom - good thing I asked to be seated near the toilets (six rows away from the back toilets is not bad). Even when I was not pregnant, I'd still feel quite bloated. I watched The Sessions on board, starring Helen Hunt and I hoped no one was looking at my screen because there was a lot of nudity and sex scenes - not a film to watch in public, but since I had started, I didn't want to quit half way in fear of what other people might think or say about me.

I have now settled in Sydney, and am living back at home with my Mum and brother and his wife. Life is breezy. I'm not working and don't plan to, but I've been busy doing the bookkeeping for my Jakarta Church in preparation for their AGM in a few weeks.

I finally got around to booking the Childbirth/Parenting and Breastfeeding workshops at my local public hospital because the classes at Westmead Private were fully booked out. I had wanted to book the Westmead Childbirth workshop back in November but I didn't because I didn't know if DH would be in Sydney. I've booked the Childbirth workshop for early April, whether DH is here or not, I can always go with Mum. The hospitals recommend that you take the Childbirth classes about 6 weeks before your due date in case you deliver early and so you can do the classes with people with similar due dates. The breastfeeding class is scheduled for early May.

I saw my Sydney OB, Dr Harry A. Ngo, a Vietnamese doctor on Thursday 28 February for the first of my Australian antenatal check ups. Smaug is fine, he's already in the head-down position, and moving a lot. He weighs about 1.1 kg and was dated to be about 28 weeks which is on track with my pregnancy. From now on, I have to have fortnightly check ups. That's fine with me, as it means I have a reason to go to Bankstown and have some nice Viet food.Dr Harry also consented to collect Smaug's cord blood too.

DH and I have decided to store Smaug's cord blood for 18 years with Cryosite Ltd. It will set us back about A$3,000 (Plan A) but we see it as insurance for any future medical problems eg leukemia. Our friend Lis banked her daughter's cord blood about 2 years ago so we put her down as our referral and she consented to have her Refer-a-friend bonus of $50 applied to our payment plan.

We also asked Dr Harry about circumcision for boys and he said most OBs are not trained for that and if I want it done, I'd have to consult a General Surgeon. I'm not too fussed about it but I think that DH's side of the family are pro-circumcision. I'm not sure why but it's common for boys to be circumcised in Indonesia.

Heading into the third trimester, I can say that I frequently get back pain, hip joint pain and powerful but not painful kicks from Smaug. They don't hurt a lot but it's uncomfortable and I feel like I need to massage the area on my tummy where I was kicked to ease the discomfort. I also have restless sleep, and pee on average about 2-3 times a night. My stomach has grown a lot since I hit 6 months, and I have awful red stretch marks. My Mum had it too but the redness has faded, leaving white stretch marks which are not too unsightly. I've gained over 9 kg and am now over 70 kg.