Week 35-36: What’s been happening

Jul 14, 2014 by Jessica

Phew… I should admit that I (and also Phodi) was looking forward for last weekend. Last Saturday was my eldest cousin wedding and because we had missed the fun at her engagement party 2 weeks ago, we were happy to be in her big day. I particularly was happy as I got to dance away! It has been a loooong time since the last time we were dancing. The band at the wedding was great but boo… they ended their gig right after things were heating up. I.e. just one song after the bride and groom were joining the crowd and it wasn’t even 9 pm. Super boo!

Anyways, three photos from the day; I totally forgot to take any picture on my phone so I have to ask others to send me photos -.-”

with aunts, cousin and mom

And during that week, us, Indonesians, were having our country’s most exciting (and controversial?) presidential election yet. Psst.. this presidential election was my first ever election. 5 years ago I didn’t bother coming down to the Consulate General in Melbourne to vote as I was in the dark about any candidates. However this election was different. We were presented with (too) much information that hopefully could help us to choose the right candidate. Like always, some educated people acted more like groupies rather than smart voters whenever they’re discussing their chosen candidate. Politics is always funny, isn’t it?

first time voter

So the day of Wednesday, 9 July 2014 came and it was an important day because we voted for the one who will rule Indonesia for the next 5 years. Here I present you both candidates;

(pic taken from google)

As of the time of writing, there are stilll debates on the quick count results as some quick count organisations declared Joko Widodo as the winner while few others declared Prabowo Subianto as the winner of the election. The real count result will be published by KPU (Komisi Pemilihan Umum / General Election Commissioner) on 22 July so it’s best that we wait until then.

However, just now I read an article on Kompas where Head of KPU stating that the result produced by KPU isn’t an absolute. Okay… I understand that there’s a law saying the result can be challenged. But isn’t his statement showing lack of confidence in his own institution’s legitimacy? Ah.. we can only pray that Indonesia is in God’s hands. Pray that peace will still take place after the result in published in a week time.

On a much happier topic, we’re now in week 36 and we’re as happy as we can be. I’ve packed my hospital bag the day after we came back from Jakarta, thanks to the realization that the baby can come sooner. Within the last 3 weeks, 3 people told me that their first born arrived 3 weeks early. Everything was normal, it’s just that their babies decided to join them early. With those stories, I decided to pack my hospital bag just in case. Have I finish packing though? Of course not! Hahaha.

From this week onwards, we will visit our obgyn on a weekly basis. On week 36, the baby’s 2,6 kg and our obgyn’s happy as he wishes the baby to reach 3 kg before labour. His statement surprised us a bit because he never mentioned anything to us before. I just wonder how many more kilograms I will gain until labour as I’ve gained 13 kg up to today!

measuring amniotic fluid

measuring weight

heartbeat at 133 bpm

It’s now 3 weeks to due date and I won’t lie to say that I’m not nervous. While the thought of holding our baby is exciting, I’m not so fond about the thought of going through labour. But like my obgyn said, in the midst of our silence because we had nothing to ask during consultation, “Just like a warrior going on a war, prepare your self with the thought that you can win it.” Hahaha… I’ll treat the process that way then.

And oh, I’m writing this entry on my laptop with some music playing on the loop and my baby’s dancing away in the tummy. One of the best feelings ever