The days were going by faster during wifey’s second trimester. Days would swift by in such torrential speed we would both be so surprised thats its already the weekend. Having the baby prompted us to make more visits to church and to attend mass together. There was a period where on Fridays we would attend night mass at the Catholic Spirituality Center and we would just start our weekend by giving thanks for all the blessings. I would like to think God was pleased with us – with us making all those micro moment efforts to brave through Friday traffic and dutifully attend mass. I also felt I needed my spiritual noursishment and top up from the sacraments. It was at times tiring for me, especially as I had the demands of work squarely placed on my shoulders. It was also that time when I was preparing to write 2 major MBA exams. I wanted to study and finish off my exams before the arrival of the child so that down the road it would prove to be less taxing on me – I would eventually go on to get two distinctions in both those papers and even manage a 91 for one of them – and I could focus more on the family.
Eventually towards her last trimester and the last weeks leading up to her delivery, I noticed wifey was slowing down considerably. She didn’t have the energy to be out and about doing many things and I would use these opportunities to slow her down and to jus be with her. We would spend our evening together going to visit some places in Orchard Road like the Apple Shop or visiting my favourite City Square mall. Not to say we had anything to buy but I felt she just needed the space to breathe, to be distracted and to be in the company of her husband as her body would undergo tremendous changes in the coming weeks.
Maybe we both also instinctively knew these would be the “last days” of our couple time together. So often in the past we would often do things together – go for walks with Drew in the evenings, go for mass together, go for dinner on Sunday nights together – perhaps we both knew in our hearts things will not be the same anymore – at least for a good period of time while we both work together to bring up our child into this world and see to the child’s daily needs.
In any case, while we didn’t quite mentioned it to each other as often, we both enjoyed the companionship and the company. Just hopping onto the train and plotting our mini adventure for the night, whether it was to have some spicy colourful Indian food down at Little India, or to go window shopping at City Square Mall and browse for stuff at Daiso, or just go for a non-harror movie, we just wanted to spend that time together in the midst of all the pregnancy hubbub. For we knew, the days were coming to an end and new life would begin.
Apart from the walks and mall visits, this was also the time where we decided to enrol for our birthing class. As new parents-to-be we both felt we could benefit from these classes and it was also an opportunity for us to bond together as a couple in caring for our new born and welcoming our new born into the world. The classes were held every Saturday and the day would often begin with me spending half the day in the library revising my studies while the wifey maintained the order at home by supervising The Maid and taking care of Drew.
We would then meet up at the hospital and grab a quick subway bite before heading for our 2 hour class. Following which we would then head home before deciding whether to attend sunset mass or attend mass on Sunday. During those classes we were taught on a bunch of things ranging from pre-delivery activities we would need to take note of, signs of labour and finally towards caring for the newborn. When I reflect back, as I practiced on those baby dolls, nothing would really prepare me for the real deal which was to come not too long now. By the time classes wee officially over, we were about a month away from our delivery due date.
