Mediacorp actress Rebecca Lim announced on Sep. 12 that she's 18 weeks along (that's about 4.5 months) her first pregnancy.

Lim told Mothership that while most expecting mothers announce their pregnancies at the three-month mark, she decided to take her time as she wanted to wait until things were "more certain".

Earlier in her pregnancy, the 37-year-old faced some pain and bleeding.

"I didn't want it to be a stressful situation so I really wanted to wait till the pregnancy is a lot more stable to share this with everyone," she said.

Finding out about her pregnancy was also a bittersweet moment for her as it happened after her father's passing in May.

At the same time, she was also self-isolating at her mother's place as she tested positive for Covid-19.

"After [doing] the pregnancy test kit at home, I shared the news with my sister and my husband. I only eventually shared with them (her family) after the gynae visit about two or three weeks after I recovered [from Covid-19]."

She is expecting to have the baby right before Chinese New Year, in late January or early February 2024.

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A post shared by Rebecca Lim 林慧玲 (@limrebecca)

Craved mother's mee soto

Now that she's halfway through her pregnancy, Lim said that she's been quite fortunate.

While she has heard horror stories about morning sickness from her friends and family, she considers herself lucky to not have it as bad.

"Morning sickness, of course, there's no escaping but it's definitely not as severe [...] I mean the usuals are the acid reflux at night, the back pain, the cravings and the emotionality of it all," she said.

Recently, she's been craving a lot of rice and noodles, but the most specific craving she's had is for mee soto.

And it can't be just any mee soto, it could only be her mother's home-cooked mee soto.

"There was one day when I told my mom I really, really wanted to have mee soto and then she prepared a huge pot for my sister and I from scratch," the actress gleefully told us.

Being a kiasu mother

When asked what type of mother she would be, Lim laughed that she thinks her friends and relatives would rub their kiasu-ness off her.

She lamented: "I have a very close group of friends all the way from primary school and every time we meet, they're talking about enrichment classes, CCAs, and what class to enrol next. To be in that environment, you kind of get influenced a little bit. It's a struggle for a parent to want your child to have a very enjoyable childhood but at the same time, you want to put in your responsibility the best you can."

"I believe I'll learn to balance that when I become a parent but I'll let you know when the time comes," she laughed.

A short break after giving birth

Throughout her pregnancy, has been busy with attending events and publicity arrangements for her upcoming movie "Confinement".

Lim feels the workload has been manageable so far but the only struggle, however, is finding outfits for events.

"Because I can no longer fit into the samples... Also before that when I wasn't ready to share the news, we had to find outfits to camouflage the bump," she said.

The actress said she may take a couple of months off after she gives birth to serve her confinement.

"We'll see what jobs are available then, and then we'll see what jobs are available. If anything is suitable, I will definitely take them on."

Boy or girl?

For now, Lim and her husband don't know the baby's gender as they're keeping it under wraps for an intimate gender reveal dinner with their family later next month.

Every day, however, she's tempted to just open the envelope to find out the baby's gender.

"We thought we'd want to have this moment together as a family [...] I'm only going to have a cake and my brother is with Lim's Kitchen (their family-owned bakery) so only he will know first," she shared.

So does she have a preference for a boy or a girl? Well, she did.

"I do have a preference in my heart. But now after going through the instability of the pregnancy and knowing how fortunate I am that this little angel has come so soon... Really, as long as it's a healthy baby."

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Top photos from Rebecca Lim's Instagram