baby boy? or baby girl?

Baby Rynus is almost 5 months old now, let me backtrack a bit and share the story about how we found out that Rynus is a baby boy..

So, throughout the first 5 months of my pregnancy, the topic I discussed most often with my sister Kelly, was the gender of our babies.

Kelly has a 6 years old daughter Cherry and our Renzo boy is already 3 years old. Of course to certain extend, she would want a boy and I would wish to have a girl this time.We knew it's generally a hit-and-miss affair to predict a baby's gender but we just couldn't take our minds off it.

The first time we got a bit of hint from the doctor about Baby Chan #2's gender, was when I did my OSCAR scan (a test that was not compulsory during Renzo's time) at 3rd month, Dr Lim Lean Soon, the exact same doctor/sonographer who did the full scan for Renzo almost 3 years back, "accidentally" wrapped up his scan test by saying "basically, I can see a very healthy looking... baby GIRL". Daddy Chan and I did not clarify with Dr Lim about how he managed to tell that, and we had an impression that Dr Lim might just mentioned the word "girl" subconsciously, assuming he's been doing the same kind of scan on different tummies all day long, those mummies who did the scan before me could be really carrying girls anyway.  

The second time we touched on the topic of baby's gender, I was having my regular ultrasound scan at Dr Lim Teck Chye's clinic around 4th month, he said "usually if we can't tell the gender by now, should be a baby girl then". We know he was trying to be nice and he's indeed right, because based on what we heard from other parents, most of the time baby boys are easier to be identified at early stage of pregnancy as somehow, they are usually very proud to "show off" their male genitals.

I had a few talks with Daddy Chan before we finally confirmed baby's gender during 5th month full scan. We both genuinely felt that for the benefit of Renzo, having a sibling of same gender will be better as they probably could share similar interests and play well together. And since we both also had more experience bringing up boy than girl, we were just more confident, and comfortable with handling baby boys. Hence although we know that being able to raise up both boy and girl in the family will expose ourselves to a 360 degree spectrum of parenthood, we still believed that having another boy will definitely be a good news to us. The moment Dr Lim announced that we are having another boy, we were all thrilled and there's no sense of disappointment at all. I have to say, there are lots of myths surround gender prediction, but so far with my own experience, mummy's instinct is usually accurate and it's pretty true that mummy's tummy is relatively small (less obvious) while carrying baby boy.

Anyway mummy-to-be, curious about if you are carrying a boy or girl?

The best tip I could share, is to look at your ultrasound scan photo around 13 - 16 weeks. Here's a link with some detailed information about it.
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/scans/sexbyultrasoundexpert/

And I put them in one photo for easier reference here. (Tested and proven to be accurate based on 4 babies ultrasound scan photos including my 2 boys and my 2 nieces).










Last but not least, to our beloved baby Rynus Chan, many people were hoping that we could bring a baby girl to the family just for the sake of having both boy and girl and at one point of time, daddy and mummy might have thought that way too but before we decided on your name, we already told each other that we'd love to have another boy and we thank you for coming to the family and brightening up every bit of our lives!!

How he all began

Earlier on, I was reading Daddy Chan's post about how I  informed him about me having Renzo, and it's so unbelievable that Renzo is already a little toddler, that makes me feel like penning down the wonderful moment when we first got to know the existence of our baby Rynus. I promise that it's going to be a lot more dramatic and thrilling than Renzo's story, LOL..

On September 27, 2011, I received a MMS from my dearest twin sister Kelly (yes my sis if you are reading this, go get yourself a smart phone, no more MMS please!), with a breathtaking picture of - A pregnancy test kit. YES!! My sister is going to have her 2nd child finally. I said finally because I knew that she's been trying for a baby, on and off, for quite a while. I could feel all her excitement in that message and at that very moment, one big question popped up in my mind!

How am I going to continue my diet plan alone without my sister???!!!!!!

I am sure she was struggling with this exact same concern also at that time. To realize that I could continue with my diet and regular workout while she could only watch her waistline getting bigger and bigger, is definitely not the best news to her. Yes we were on a healthy diet plan at that time while both of us had lost quite a significant amount of weight. To couples who are trying to conceive, you should really consider getting your body into shape for conception and carrying a baby, well I don't mean to drop down to fashion model weight, but yes just reduce about 5-10% of your body weight will help!

Anyway my sister then shared with me that she missed her period which was supposed to come on 25th and I was like, ergh, I better get myself checked! So I rushed down to the nearest Watson's store, grabbed a test kit and ran into the ladies. I could not even wait to get back to my hotel standard washroom inside my office as I knew that I've missed my period also, which supposed to come on the 22nd.

As a result, I sent this equally breathtaking picture to my sister after disappearing from our online chat for a good 15 minutes.

She replied, (watch out and don't make your jaw drop!) "Did you keep your test kit from Renzo's time??". Apparently she couldn't believe I was pregnant together with her and she thought I was trying to show a photo of my test result with Renzo!! I then proceeded on to inform Daddy Chan about the exciting news via MSN and he was a little shocked to know that we will be welcoming 2 dragon babies in the family soon.

My sister and I still couldn't believe our eyes so after work, we went to get the most expensive Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test Kit with Conception Indicator, and reconfirmed that we both were already 4-5 weeks pregnant!!

The next 9 months was probably the most interesting and amazing period in our lives. We went to the same gynae and found out that we were having the exact same due date at one point. And we shared all the ups and downs throughout our pregnancy journey. Till now when my friends ask me if I would want to have one more baby, my answer is a straight no, unless (yes there's always exceptions), I could get pregnant with my sister all together again!!

As for Daddy Chan and I, we decided to stay low profile and only informed the family and some close friends about the news, till Baby Chan #2 finally arrived happily and safely.