Week 37: Preparing for Confinement & Baby 2

It is SO HOT these days, UGH. I am not looking forward to confinement. These days, we are stepping up our game and really preparing for confinement. I’m not so sure if I’m going to survive confinement without showering or washing my hair. My hair gets ridiculously oily and in need of a deep scalp cleansing within 2 days. Sigh.

Btw, that photo up there, so beautiful. So well taken by Era from Cottony Photography (see all the shoots I’ve done with her). More photos to come but she really makes my pregnancies beautiful. Actually more beautiful than I remember it… but that’s the way pregnancies are. You suffer now but you will forget everything in time to come. And that’s also why I blog. To remember stuff.

Anyway I sidetracked. In the past week, this is how we have been preparing for confinement and baby 2!

#1: Washed all baby clothes

Some new, some to be recycled from Daniel’s era. We’ve armed ourselves with the ever reliable Pigeon baby detergents and washing powder for the most gentle and safe wash for our delicate newborn’s clothes. We’ve used this for Daniel and we’re going to use this again for Baby 2!

#2: Preparing Pork Trotter with Sweet Vinegar

I love and hate this dish. I love it when I don’t get it, I hate it when I get too much of it. LOL. Still, the sight of the preparation work for this dish is much welcomed. MIL bought vinegar from Hongkong, she said it’s better quality there. We’ll see how it tastes when I give birth!

#3: Preparing the Red Date Rice Tea

That’s all I am supposed to be drinking.

Ingredient 1: Rice
Ingredient 2: Dried Tangerine Peel
Ingredient 3: Dried Longans
Ingredient 4: Red Dates OR Blue Dates
Ingredient 5: Kidney Beans OR Black Beans

I did kinda like it during my first confinement. I just don’t know how well I’ll take to drinking only this instead of water! I love water a lot.

#4: Getting the BreastPump ready

Starting early this pregnancy! Breastfeeding is an AMAZINGLY effective way to lose weight. Watch out for the new me.  This time around I am armed with the hospital-grade, newly launched to market, Korean brand Gaksimil. Can’t wait to review this. I saw the demo on this at a baby fair and it was quite convincing! It’s so much more affordable than Medela too!

I’ve taken it out of the box and getting my maid to help with the sterilising of it soon!!

#5: The Baby Cot

We did a lot for the Baby Nursery when Daniel was due. This time around, we have focused more on what’s necessary and gotten ourselves ready with Baby Beddings, and a night time bedside cot bed. Using the same baby cot for Daniel, we are back at using the trust-worthy BabySafe for the infant dimple pillow, the bambeanie, the cot mattress and the related covers for it. It worked well for Daniel, so no reason to change brands!

The covers are all in wash and the cot will be set up soon! My husband also really has to get to fixing up our new bedside cot bed soon too. We bought this at a great deal at a recent Mothercare Sale at Harbourfront Centre. It was madness the crowd but for this cot bed, I braved the queue.

#6: Confinement Bath Essentials

We are drying the ginger skins and going to use it together with the water I use to wipe myself/bath during confinement. :D Also, I am back at using the lemongrass ginger shower foam that I used for the first pregnancy. So much more convenient than packet herbs really.

#7: Baby Bottles

We have also set aside Baby Bottles in case we needed them. We’re going to test out Pigeon Baby Bottles this time around. I was so naive thinking I could “re-use” the bottles from Daniel’s era but seriously, I took a look at them and threw them out. Bottles CANNOT be re-used!

#8: Baby Care

We have a huge box of (again) Pigeon products for newborns. There’s bottle washing detergent, cotton balls (so insignificant but so important!!), wipes, etc. Everything we’d need! I have it all in a box, clearly labelled and my helper is briefed on what’s what.

This is like a war! Haha! The nesting instinct is in full gear and we are soooo ready!! Come on Baby 2, stop making mummy fat! Come out and get fat on your own!! :P

P.s.: Maternity shot of Daniel and my bump was taken at Week 34 by Era from www.CottonyPhotography.com <3