over the same hari raya puasa long weekend which coincided with h's birthday last year, i was on a working trip in beijing and staying at the posh china world hotel for the second time. to agree to travel on h's birthday took some deliberation, but we eventually decided that it would be okay to go as i was keen to attend the bilateral seminar, and we would be celebrating h's birthday in advance with her school friends already and she wouldn't know when her exact birthday was anyway.
it was a good trip, but i probably would have enjoyed it more if i was in a better physical state. besides feeling grumpy about my bad back and popping muscle relaxants that didn't seem to help much (slipped disc diagnosis only came after the trip), i remember thinking how tiring the trip was and worrying about my wonky period and all the spotting i was getting off and on before and during the trip. i was burping a lot, my clothes also felt a bit tighter and i felt super flabby wearing one form-fitting dress during the trip - all very depressing,
looking back, these were probably all signs that something was up, but i brushed it off as an irregular period / PMS. the thought that i was pregnant did cross my mind since we had been trying, but i didn't have clear signs that i was, unlike when i was pregnant with h - my boobs felt normal, there was no pukey feeling and too much spotting for the very pragmatic me to even seriously consider the possibility. plus, i tend to be more pessimistic when it comes to pregnancy stuff. this was why i readily downed alcohol during the trip (hard not to when hosted by the chinese) and happily had eggs benedict for breakfast every day while in china. win. it also led me to tick "not pregnant" in all the forms i was to fill in subsequently in august for my MRI and even spine operation. as it turned out, i was wrong ... i was already 8 weeks along during the china trip and 9+ weeks along when we eventually found out.
who would have thought that i would be in china just before finding out that i was pregnant both times? probably not surprising if i was holding my old portfolio, but the 2011 shanghai trip and the 2014 beijing trip came about quite randomly. oh well, china holds a special place in my heart for that reason. :D as i hardly drink alcohol EXCEPT on trips to china where it's almost rude to turn down toasts with wine and other stronger alcoholic beverages, it also means both babies got quite a dose of alcohol in their early weeks. thankfully they seemed to have survived the dousing.
the hubby sometimes jokes that baby n is "the one we didn't know about". i think i will have to be at the receiving end of such jokes for a long time to come. zzzzzz.
looking back, these were probably all signs that something was up, but i brushed it off as an irregular period / PMS. the thought that i was pregnant did cross my mind since we had been trying, but i didn't have clear signs that i was, unlike when i was pregnant with h - my boobs felt normal, there was no pukey feeling and too much spotting for the very pragmatic me to even seriously consider the possibility. plus, i tend to be more pessimistic when it comes to pregnancy stuff. this was why i readily downed alcohol during the trip (hard not to when hosted by the chinese) and happily had eggs benedict for breakfast every day while in china. win. it also led me to tick "not pregnant" in all the forms i was to fill in subsequently in august for my MRI and even spine operation. as it turned out, i was wrong ... i was already 8 weeks along during the china trip and 9+ weeks along when we eventually found out.
who would have thought that i would be in china just before finding out that i was pregnant both times? probably not surprising if i was holding my old portfolio, but the 2011 shanghai trip and the 2014 beijing trip came about quite randomly. oh well, china holds a special place in my heart for that reason. :D as i hardly drink alcohol EXCEPT on trips to china where it's almost rude to turn down toasts with wine and other stronger alcoholic beverages, it also means both babies got quite a dose of alcohol in their early weeks. thankfully they seemed to have survived the dousing.
the hubby sometimes jokes that baby n is "the one we didn't know about". i think i will have to be at the receiving end of such jokes for a long time to come. zzzzzz.
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