What happened after the CL left

In case you guys haven't notice or read any news, there has been a lot negative news about evil nanny/ babysitters/ bad nurseries. Enough to spook me out of my sleep. Since I have a 2 mths maternity leave, we decided to take care of my bb (nicknamed Tomato) for as long as we can before sending her to the nanny we picked. Oink took 3 wks leave to help me. First week we were a bit "kelam kabut" ahaha. Cos we were inexperienced parents. I remember our first night without the confinement lady. We couldn't sleep well. Cos we were told that by CL that she kept waking up for milk / diaper change. And guess what? we waited and waited till 2am still no cries.A lot went through my mind. Why is she not crying?? Is she hungry till fainted??So I told Oink to feed  her milk, don't wait. So from then onwards we set alarms to feed her at night. Yes, we were paranoid. But she usually can't finish her milk. Around 2 weeks later, we were told that we do not need to feed her at all if she didn't wake up and ask for it. HMMMMM. So we tried. Found that she can sleep through  max 7 hours without milk! Her last feed for the day usually is around 9.00-10.00pm. So she usually wakes up for the next feed around 4-5am.Sometimes she sleeps around 7pm and didn't want to wake up for her next feed. Paranoid me will still feed her some milk around 11pm if that's the case.

We are still trying to settle into our new routine, and so far we are doing quite well! We are improvising our routine from time to time to make it better and better. And we feel really blessed cos baby Tomato is quite easy to care for. And she smiles ALOT. She seem to LOVE to have people talking to her. And she will "award" you with her cute little pouty smiles and reply you with these cute little ang gu gu sounds. Occasionally, she will be cranky. But its seldom. But its hard to capture her smiles and laughters with camera/ or my phone. When she sees my camera/ hp. She will freeze and study it. So I have to get someone to make her into her happy mood to take the photo. But most of it turn out to be blur. GRRR. But I did manage to take some short videos. :-)

I have been breastfeeding bb Tomato. Most of the time I pump the milk out for her cos sometimes she can't latch properly and will grumble(LOUDLY). LOL. But when she can latch on properly, she is a happy bb and will fall asleep after she is satisfied. I try to get her to latch on for at least once per day for the guaranteed freshness, straight from the source!LOL!If that doesn't work. I do keep some milk in the fridge. Another thing I felt blessed is my bf-ing journey so far is quite a-ok. Well, at first it was stressful cos my supply was low, and it made me VERY depressed. But a cousin in law said I must not stress up. Must relax. I took her advice, and my supply is gradually increasing and I am very happy at my level of milk supply now. LOL. Although its not as much as some ppl, but its adequate for bb Tomato to last through the day, supplementing with max 2 feeds of formula per day. And I still get to keep some backup supplies in the freezer for her to bring to the nanny/ backup. I've heard horror stories of how nipples cracked, bled and etc because of latching on. But luckily I only heard those stories AFTER I started my own bf journey. I just do it and it went well until now. :)

We sent her to the nanny when she is 7 weeks old. My heart felt so heavy, I felt so sad leaving her there but I have to do it! Soon I'll need to get back to work also, which I really dread since I know BIG PILE OF SHIT is waiting for me back at the office. After I left her at the nanny's, I dreaded the thought of going back home to an empty house and wondering how is she coping at the nanny's. So I went shopping, lol and ended buying her stuff. LOL. and got nothing for myself.my goodness.LOL. So this is how it is when ppl upgraded to Mommy!

Ok that's all. I want to go check on baby Tomato. And if she's awake, I want to ang gu gu to her.

My labour story

hi.

This is my labour story. I know some people are interested to know. I am typing this story now as I serve my inprisonment, confined in my room confinement. 10 more days to go. I can't wait! I can't wait! Confinement is killing me.I don't know how people can lie down most of the time for 30 freaking days. I did most of the forbidden stuff already. I played my psp. Watched Korean series even. 'x' *AHEM* let's get back to the story.

26th May - I attended a wedding dinner of Joshua and Patricia. I was secretly praying that I am allowed to have one more wedding dinner before I go into delivery. I have mixed feeling then. Cos some people said I look like I might overdue from the shape of my belly.

27th May - THE DAY

I woke up feeling pain in my belly. I thought its pain from withholding my urge to pee 'x' So I woke up and went to pee. You know after you pee, you will look back to see at the hole right. And lo behold, I saw blood. I was awaken a bit. But still feeling sleepy. I tried going back to sleep and told Oink what happened. He woke up a bit, but also went back to sleep. How I wish I can go back to sleep. I feel something like period pain.Throbbing pain. It was so intense I was kinda shocked. IS THIS CONTRACTION?? I remember that I should time it. So i took  out my HP and time it. It was not consistent. Sometime 5 mins apart, sometimes 6 mins apart, sometimes 8. So I try to rest.I tried. God knows how sleepy I was. 6am man! I was sooo sleepy. But it was so painful!Every time I am almost asleep, the pain comes. GRR.. Oink was however snoring away beside me.I timed myself for 2 hours while folding clothes. Oink woke up. I told him not so fast one la.. no need to go hospital so hurriedly. I ask him to bring down the laundry basket. I repack my labour bags. In my heart I keep thinking could today be the day?

I took bath, scrubbed myself clean, since I don't know when my next bath will be 'x'. I went down and load all clothes into the washing machine.I was thinking may be when its done, we can come back to dry them. But it so happen that once I got to the hospital, we forgot about the laundry. LOL

10am.I remember everybody's advice. MUST EAT FULL before go into labour. But I really don't have much appetite anymore. I still told Oink i wanted McD brekkie before I go into labour. But at that moment, anything near to the hospital seem to be a better choice. We arrived at Foody Goody Cafe but I really don't have appetite to eat anymore. I ordered myself a big cup of milo O kosong. And ordered beef noodle. I even saw my ex classmate EW and her husband there. I find it hard to swallow my food. I had to wait for the contraction pain to be gone and quickly shove the spoon into my mouth. I told Oink I can't finish my noodle. We then walked over to the nearby shop to get some 100+. Then we slowly walked to KPJ's emergency unit as the clinic is not open on Sunday. I even saw my colleague Shadow and his family while I was walking slowly towards the hospital!

11+am.The nurse led me to the delivery suite. I went to the toilet first to relieve myself. I was given the hospital robe. SO THIS IS IT I told myself. I can't believe today finally arrived. I tried to breathe away the pain by using deep breathing. It works a bit. The nurse told me that my gynae is in that day. She is downstairs performing a scheduled C-sect and will be up to check on me soon. She came up just before 12pm and checked me. I was 3cm dilated. But my water is not yet broken. So she told me she will break it manually. I expected more pain. But she was surprisingly gentle. I didn't feel much. So from there the waiting game started. I tried walking around but my water keep dripping and it stained my socks so I went back to lying down. I brought my mp3 with me and inside I had this ocean waves mp3 and rainbow birthing soundtrack (used in hypnobirthing)with me. But I find it hard to concentrate on the words when I am in pain but nevertheless its a good distraction.

I tried to sleep. But the contraction pain is killing me. 'x' Oink came to my side every 10 mins or so to straw feed me my water. I keep myself hydrated by sipping some.

1pm+. I vomitted. YUP. I think the nurses was shocked 'x'. Oink was unlucky, he was beside me at that time. I told me " I feel like vomitting." and I turn my head to my right and UWEEEKKKSSS 'x' Remember I  had a big cup of Milo? YUP! there goes the milo and the noodle. And some of it got to Oink's shirt. Oink called his parent's place asking them anyone can accompany me? He wants to go home change. I panicked, I suggested to him to ask them bring a shirt here instead. I can't do this without him.

After cleaning up, I went back to the bed. I keep tilting my head upwards to look at the clock at the wall behind me. And got caught by Oink. He asked me not to keep looking at the time.

3+pm. My gynae came in again to check on me. She said I should be 5-6 cm dilated by now. She checked and said I am only 4cm dilated. And suggested to use pitocin on me to speed it up, or else my labour could go well into the night. I was in so much pain I agreed, I don't think I can tolerate the contraction pain till night fall. OMG. I told her its so painful. She suggested to use pethidine. I agreed because she said it will make me drowsy and I can sleep. Well, she lied. I didn't sleep a wink! How to sleep when the contraction pain is killing me. But it did make me drowsy and less concentrated on the pain. Next time, if I have the courage to go through it again, I won't get pethidine though. The pitocin works straight away. I can feel the contraction getting more intense. I keep scolding myself. WHY???WHY I HAVE TO GET PREGNANT??WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO??HOW DID MY FRIENDS GO THROUGH THIS??OH GOD PLS HELP ME..


YUP! That's me, I've heard stories of wives scolding husbands, but not self. I guess I am one of those odd ones? After the pitocin get into my system, I have no more energy to tilt my head to look at the clock behind me. I totally loss track of the time. I can only feel the THROBBING PAIN getting longer and more frequent. 'x' I must say, breathing really helps to relieve the pain a bit.

My mum did come in to see me, but I can't remember is before I vomit/ after. I remember telling her I can't talk much cos I am in so much pain. And I remember seeing my mum's eyes, they are red and watery. My mum, she is one emotional being. Now I feel like crying pulak.

I don't know what time is it, but Oink suddenly tell me he is going out to have dinner for a while. He keep repeating that he will come back ASAP. I told myself to be brave. The pain was sooo intense that I MOANED. Yup. I pulled on the sheets and moaned. I remember 3 super contractions and Oink is back. He must have swallowed his food instead of chewing properly. The my dr came in and she said, OK YOU ARE FULLY DILATED! ITS TIME TO PUSH!

I WAS LIKE WHAT??@@!!  Kind of cannot believe it. I don't know why, I am expecting a 10cm dilation contraction SHOULD be pain till want to die (as described by many of my friends) but it didn't. From then onwards everything happens very fast. I was surprisingly calm, I can't believe ITS TIME, but I was calm, not panicky. But my poor husband was not. Dr ask me to put my legs on the bar thingies and to grab my things with both hands and push. PUSHHHHH she and the nurse say. SO I PUSHHH..Oink was supporting my back with his arms and panic-ly reminding me to breathe. I can smell KOLO MEE in his breath..LOL!! At first I didn't know how to push, I only remember my Kegel exercise and I was actually doing that..LOL!! And the malay nurse keep say "push macam berak" and I didn't know why at that moment, my brain cannot register what she is saying. Dr strap me with the bb heartbeat monitoring device, and she said the BB heart is dropping, if you still can't push baby out, i need to use vacuum on you. She went away to prepare the vacuum. She came and say let's try again before I use vacuum on you. Then she said the magic words " PUSH  LIKE KEK SAI" AHA! BINGO! THIS I KNOW..LOL!! SO when the next contraction comes, I take a deep breath, and KEK SAI!LOL!! Half head is already out. Another kek-sai-push, her whole head is out. ONE MORE kek-sai-push her whole body is out. You can actually feel something warm coming out of you. It was magical. It was wayyyy easier than I thought it would be. I was proud of myself cos I was pretty calm, even though when dr said her heartbeat is dropping, i was amazingly calm. I only yell at Oink once cos he keep repeating BREATHHHHHHHEEE. I told him, 我上气接不到下气了！Once our daughter is out. I remember the dr, the nurse, Oink all exclaiming happily BB is out!BB出来咯！And I leave this part out when telling my labour story to my friends. Actually at that moment, when Oink was saying that, his voice was actually cracking up. He later told me he felt so touched he wanted to cry. He then lean over and gave me a kiss on my forehead. AWW

I turn over to the right where the bassinet is, to look at my girl. She's soo PINK! I remember showing Oink photos of newborns I found online to him and he ask me why are they PURPLE?? I said you watched too much tv, not all babies are going to come out pink, clean sweet smelling! But she was soooo beautiful, she's so pink and looks pretty clean to me. I only saw some blood on her. Oink said she poo-ed and its black, and came out like gel. LOL. After she is cleaned up. The nurse put her on my bare chest. I tried to make her latch to my breast but all she did was cry. LOL.It was soo cute.  Oink and I were sooo happy. So I played with her instead, I touched her little fingers and noticed she has fine hairs on her shoulders and back. We were so happy, Oink almost forgot to take photos! It was the dr who reminded him. LOL. We played with her while the Dr did her stuff "down under". She was pretty quick with whatever she's doing.

So here's my tip on natural birth :

(1) Use deep breathing technique to ease contraction pains. How? Breathe in slowly and fill your stomach with air (its good for your bb too) then slowly breathe out.

(2) Try to be calm, if you panic, its not going to be good for you, people around you and the bb inside you.

(3) When its time to push, PUSH ONLY WHEN YOU CAN FEEL THE CONTRACTION. Contraction is actually your body pushing the BB out, so that's when you push to help speed up the process.  PUSH LIKE you had constipation for days. Yup, you get the idea. That's why some people had "extra stuff" coming out beside the BB. GROSS but its true! I didn't cos remember earlier on I vomited. Everything is already out 'x'


I had requested for BB to be sent to me every time she needs a feed, because I was keen on breastfeeding. I was really energetic after the delivery. I didn't feel tired or sweaty 'x'. It was when My MIL and BIL left, and I tried to sleep, then, I felt the throbbing pain again. Feeling something is amiss, Oink called for the nurse, and they said I was bleeding alot. It was around this time that the nursery nurse brought in our BB for her feed, she was crying but I can't do anything. The nurses are busy washing me and clearing the blood and POKING ME on BOTH HANDS because they can't seem to find the suitable place to put in the saline drip. Luckily my mum was in, so she tried to calm my BB. After all the huh-hah, I finally can breastfeed my girl, she was a pro-sucker I tell u. But her mouth is so small, it was painful.LOL. The first night we were there, she is satisfied with what she's getting. But not the next morning, the frequency of the nurse bringing her in, increased from every 4 hours to every 2 hours. I know she's grumpy cos she's hungry, so I requested the nurse to feed her first.

The hospital was pretty under-staff during that period. It was near Gawai too. And I can only check out at 3pm! I was tired and grumpy, and pretty unhappy with the service. But I can't blame the nurses, I see alot of them actually did double shifts. When I got back home, I went straight for the bed and sleep. LOL. With my BB swaddled, sleeping next to me. I didn't sleep much at the hospital, everytime I hear a BB cry, my eyes will open wide.

Overall, the whole labour process, I think pushing is really the easiest part of all. The contraction pain is the scarier one.

But now that I am in my confinement, I think confinement is the worst. More on that later (in another post)

My bag. Our bags.

At first I planned to only pack ONE BAG. The hospital is really near to our house. I think less that 10 mins trip on smooth traffic days? If we really forgotten anything, Oink can just drive back to our house and get it. But after careful thinking, would I want him to leave my side and miss memorable moments? I want to minimise that. And after looking at the check  list Jaqq gave me, I think I can't possible fit all the stuff into just one bag.  :-p

My almost exploding bag

So I took out a backpack, washed it. I repacked everything. Oink stuff are mostly inside the backpack. Baby and mine in the grey bag. I will also bring along Kitty (the pillow) 'x' Kitty was the best thing I brought back from my Ho Chin Minh trip.

Things I've packed:

For me : 

Packed :

- A hooded jacket. I didn't want to cover my head with a cap/hat/ malay-looking head cover. So I'll just use the hood. Plus the jacket can keep me warm.

-  Disposable panties

- Towel

- 2 pairs of socks

- I think around nine pieces of sanitary pads and maternity pads (I never use a maternity pad before, so just in case I don't like it, I will switch to my usual sanitary pad)

Yet to pack :

- Kitty!

- Cup/ mug. My friend advised me to bring own cup/ mug as all you'll get there is a hot flask, and the cap as a cup 'x' . 

- extra set of clothings

- nursing bras

- some gadgets (mp3 player/ my psp for some distraction) or some magazines

For Baby :

Packed :

- 3 cloth diapers

- a set of mittens and booties

- a button in front top

- a cloth diaper fastener from Anakku

- A hooded receiving blanket as I don't plan to bring a hat for BB, I don't think her little head will feel comfortable in one.

- A towel, I do not know how my CL plan to swaddle her, so just in case, I will bring along a towel.

Yet to pack :

- Can't think of any now. Any ideas?

For Oink:

Packed : 

- 1 hooded jacket, the hospital is COLD

- 1 pair of socks to keep my baby daddy warm 

- comfort kit from Air Asia (LOL!!) - consist of a blanket, a sleep mask (I doubt he will use this), and a pillow (manual inflation needed)

For Us : 

Yet to pack : 

- toiletries

- 100 plus (my gynae said I am allowed to drink it, SO I SHALL BRING SOME)

- MILO

- a set of cutlery so that I can stir my Milo, and Oink can use it to eat tapao-ed food.

- chargers

- some snacks for baby daddy? 

OK! That should be it. For now.

what I want to eat before D day

I have been thinking long and hard about what I want to eat before going into labour. I will be in "jail" (confinement) for a month after that, and there's be a lot of food that I will miss. But deciding on what to put into the list is a bit tricky, I do not want to list down all those junk food that I like, cos BB is still inside of me, I have to think of her also. So after careful thinking, these will be in my list (to be finalised, LOL) :

1. McD- I just love the fries.
Had Big N' Tasty lunch set, and the burger turns out to be not that big and tasty 'x'

2. Pizza hut - not for the pizza, I love the sweet and spicy wings
Was really sad when I can't find sweet and spicy wings in the menu, till I almost cried 'x' oink suggested we try the New Orleans Drummetes instead. And what do you know, the Drummets tasted JUST LIKE sweet and spicy wings. HAPPY ME!


3. Raja Ayam Bakar - love the sambal..omg  Just had it. *BURP!*

4. Taugeh mee (sweet) - I just love how its sticky and sweet..hmm, sounds so wrong  Ate! With fried egg on top! 'x'

5. Steamed corn - people who know me well, knows HOW MUCH I LOVE corns had it multiple times already 'x'

6. Ice Cream - you guys are lucky you can eat them any time..my friend told me she ate alot  of ice creams during her last mth, and end up gaining 3kg! I was so mortified, I refrained from eating one of my favourite thing in the world (for as long as I can).

HMM, I think that's all. Not too much right?

Coming soon

very soon... 3 wks  or less?I can't believe how time flies. Soon, our lives will like change forever. But this is a change we have been anticipating. :-) We still haven't agree on a name yet. It seems to be the most difficult decision of all, knowing what name we chose will be stuck with her forever 'x'

2 more months or less!

I can't believe how time flies! Soon we will get to see our BB! Ppl keep asking me, are you nervous? I think I am lo, since they reminded me by asking me this question. Other than that, I try to survive my days since its SOOO HOT HERE. Was suppose to go to Melbourne, but end up we canceled our flights and get refunds(not 100%). But i really envy my mil and bil lo, heard its cooling there. And I am stuck here with hot weather which makes me dizzy and a bit grumpy.LOL

My belly also starts to itch now. Which I think is the most difficult thing to endure in my pregnancy. I can stand the nauseous feeling. I can stand being heavy and walking like a penguin. I can stand having pimples on my face. But itchiness is something I find really hard to endure. I bought Palmer's oil to relief the itchiness. It really reduces the itch, but sometime it still itch, especially when I sleep. GRR..

I'm getting restless at work. I think I am getting stupid. I can't seem to think properly. I am either too sleepy to think/ feeling no mood to think.

Just a bit more to go

hi.

I am now at my LAST,FINAL semester. And it felt a bit like first semester again, only I feel heavier 'x'.

On my scan during my 29th wk, my bb is estimated to be 1.29kg. Compared to 373 g at 21st wk. My my, how my bb grow. And Dr say, its possible for bb to gain 1 kg each mth now when I am at my final trimester. So I am watching what I eat 'x'..OK TRIED TOO and succeeded most of the time 'x'.

ok, gtg now. BUSY with stupid work.

Nesting Syndrome

As I progress towards my 7th mth, I suddenly have these strong urges to get ready my baby room. But I still have so many doubts. What brand of bottles should I buy? I plan to breastfeed, but what if I can't produce any milk? We didn't buy any formula. What are the things that we need?? I know we need a baby cot, that's a start. But what else?? I've been asking around my friends who are mothers. And thank GOD for my sister in law. She already has most of the baby stuff and is willing to borrow them to me. But even that, I still wanted to know exactly what she has so that I will know what else to get. I've been making Oink bring me to places to check out baby stuff and to survey on car seats. 'x' which he willingly obliged. And I have told my SIL that I will drop by her place this weekend to check out the stuffs and mayb bring back some of it.

chirp chirp chirp

I also attended the antenatal class exercise and was delighted to know we can still do leg lifts, but must do it slowly and only 1 leg is allowed to be up at one time, and not forgetting to push your spine to be aligned to the floor while doing it. But poor me, I don't have the time to do it yet. I am so busy with work, and when I don't have the mood to do my office work, I release the tension by going through by BB check list and planning on the BB room. And i even started to read up on baby solid food recipes 'x'.Although I may sound stressed from the way I describe my nesting instinct, its actually a "happy kind" of stress, it actually make me warm and fuzzy inside. Besides, by getting ready, I feel more calm and prepared and assured that my BB will come back to a more organised home.

Since we already have a built in cupboard in the BB's room, I don't plan to buy any storage drawer thingy for the BB room. With a bb coming, I am more strict on how we spend. BB is high maintenance you know.:D. Instead, I took some hamper baskets from my in laws, they usually get alot of hampers on CNY. I plan to wipe it with towel soaked with hot water, let it air dry. And I plan to wipe the inside of the cupboard and start organising stuff inside the cupboard.:-) *happy*

However, we won't be doing anything to the walls in BB room, as my in law stressed that we shouldn't be doing anything, moving anything. Its like a "pantang". While hubby said, as long as we don't do it in our own room should be ok. But I already made him promised we would decorate our BB room properly in the future. For now, I will be happy enough to make sure our home is cosy and comfortable enough to welcome our little bundle of joy. I'm too heavy, busy, sluggish and tired to do any heavy furnishings anyway.

Normah's pregnancy forum (18 feb 2012)

I was informed by a medical representative friend of mine that Normah is having a forum on 18th. I kept forgetting to register until the day before and luckily there's still seats available.

Oink has high expectations of what will happen in the forum. EG. How to bath a bb.
I said "HELLO HELLO?? THIS IS KUCHING. DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH OK?YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO MUCH TV."

Anyway, the forum was suppose to start at 1.30pm at level 9 crown tower. And we went to the wrong Crown Tower, we thought its the one at Riverside. Actually its the Crown Tower NEXT to Crown Square. Anyway, we made it, late however, and missed a good front part of Dr. Suria's forum. She made the forum quite interesting. And how spousal support and TLC are important. And I keep looking at Oink from the corner of my eyes to make sure he doesn't fall asleep. How wrong I was. I am proud of the man, he listened really attentively. After Dr Suria's forum, it was Dr George Ting's turn to talk on the Guide to the first year of your child.

He talked about breastfeeding and encourage people to breastfeed and the many goods of breastfeeding. And from his talk, I learned that Jaundice is unavoidable, its only the matter of how serious it is. Then there's alot of topics on vaccinations. By the time Dr George Ting is done, Oink said he has a headache, so many info to digest, it more difficult than his work he said. LOL. I said nvm, I registered ourselves to KPJ's antenatal class that will be 2 months from now. He can refresh what he learned today there 'x'

But deep inside my heart, I am happy he is so willing to come to the forum with me. And didn't even fall asleep!

Normah is having antenatal exercise class on the 25th of Feb at Normah. I might be going. Anyone else interested?

goodies received at the forum

I am most happy about the food 'x'. Actually I was happier with the New Parent booklet. The food will be processed and come out after a few hours, but the booklet answered so many of my questions. I love it! I shall treasure it and write my name BIG BIG on it to make sure its not lost.

nanny

found!!finally.not perfect.but location and price wise is good enough for us.one decision down.547347796 more to go.

woes

We can't find a nanny! OMG!

Quick update on my pregnancy (again)

Before I forget

(1) I think I have some water retention on my feet. BOOOHOOHOOO..

(2) Last night Oink talked to my belly, and ask BB to response if she can hear him, and she gave me a mighty kick that made Oink very delighted and happy.

The 1st Trimester vs 2nd Trimester

Its my 2nd post of the day.WOW!Break record liao 'x'

I manage to post a 2nd one because :

(1) I want to post it before I forget all about it

(2) Am still in CNY mood, hence the laziness to start working although I am at the office now..SSSSSHHHH..and since I have no mood work, might as well use my precious time to blog right? I'm kind of being productive here 'x'

OK, lets move on.

FIRST TRIMESTER

I feel the time passes really slowly. I feel tired all the time. I feel like a sloth 'x'. Everyday I feel like puking and I felt COLD. I cover myself up, and some people actually come ask me, ARE YOU THAT COLD? I stole a blankie from a certain China airline, and when I watch TV in the living room, I cover myself with that blankie. I hate SEAFOOD. Hate steamed fish. HATE plain water. The safest food that I like to eat are fruits and veges. I hate BREAD SIDES, when Oink made me sandwiches , I will ask him to cut off the sides. If he forget to cut them off, I will tear it off 'x' I find myself hard to concentrate on work. I mean how can I concentrate and think of codes when all I was trying to do is try hard not to puke while at work. I stock up on plums and candies. But feel so sinful taking in all those candies (sugar) and plums (loaded with sodium)..but what to do?anything to get rid of that awful bitter taste in my throat. And when I feel depressed, I crave for Cola/ sweet orange.

My skin peel around nose and lips. And sometime my colleagues will ask me what happened to my face and I get really annoyed, cos I feel ugly 'x'

At first I thought to myself, may be I'll be lucky enough to be one of those people who won't vomit at all during the first Trimester. Baby, I was soooo wrong!

I first vomitted when I was about 6 wks pregnant. I took a piece of chocolate at work. Felt soo awful after that. Went home and went straight to the loo and vomitted water and chocolate 'x'

And another time was after I ate cheese cake + take fried food. But the record breaking case was after I ate Ding Bian Hu, I think in less than 30 mins, its all out again 'x'

If you think only rich food can make me vomit, think again.

Once, we went to Petanak for porridge. Oink decided to take the short cuts to go there. With all the winding and turning. I was green-faced when I got out from the car. And one look, Oink ask me, You need to Uwek? I can only nod. And we both hurriedly look for the nearest toilet. Once I close the toilet door, I turned and do my business. 'x' The toilet was the squat type. And the thing with public toilet in Malaysia is, the shit hole is damn shitty. 'x'

Let me illustrate with my drawing.You get the idea 'x' And the shitty hole made me vomit even more 'x'

So beside rich food, car sickness, dirty ugly stuff also can make me vomit 'x'

I came out from the toilet as white as paper, Oink claimed. He got so worried, he enveloped me in his arms and touched my forehead and cheeks, and said I felt cold. I was all wobbly and jelly-legged from the vomitting and had to depend on Oink to make it to our table..LOL

Every other day, I would whine to Oink when i feel depressed, why is this happening, why i feel so dreadful?Why time pass soooo slowly?I even told him, may be one baby is enough. I feel so terrible everyday. I feel so unlike my old self.

Towards the end of my first trimester, my skin gets oily, and I get lotsa zits! DARN IT.

I need to wake up to pee at least once every night. CIS!

SECOND TRIMESTER

I still feel nauseous in the beginning. But as time passes, I feel more and more normal. I feel like my old self is coming back to me. Except that my figure has now changed. My belly is much bigger, and my thigh getting fatter 'x' and I need new bras.

Just before CNY, my skin suddenly cleared up and I was damn happy to get my old good skin back, but now its all oily and full of pimples again.. GRRR

I can take some seafood. Still hate crab. I love beef, but don't dare to take too much. I can survive longer without Cola. Am ok with bread sides too. Appetite is getting normal.

I feel hot almost everyday. What blankie? I don't need it 'x' It was washed, folded and tucked into the cupboard 'x' The only time I felt cold was when I went for breakfast at King Centre before going to KKIA. I can sleep without my quilt at night, with the aircon on, while Oink will need to cover himself up with the quilt up to his neck 'x' I get leg cramps now too, always on my right leg. As painful as it is, I am amazed at myself on how I can continue my sleep despite feeling serious pain ^oo^

NO MORE FEELING NAUSEOUS. HALLELUJAH! I can take cheese cakes, chocolates! And occasionally on super hot days, I treat myself ICE CREAM..ohhh~~

Some nights, I don't even need to wake up to pee. SWOON~~~

I drink LOTSA plain water now. Feeling hot everyday now mah! I feel more energetic and like my old self, except for a big belly and fat ass. :D I try to move more, and get enough exercise. I do Kegels when i remember about it.

Hmmm, I wonder how would my 3rd trimester be? Halfway to go :)

Movements

Some of my friends started to ask me whether I can feel any movements few weeks ago. Frankly speaking, I don't know how to feel for it. But I started to feel more evident movements, with the strongest starting from CNY eve. I can feel the BB kick and push now and then throughout the whole day. Now I can recognise the feeling of BB moving, and I can feel it everyday. When I am hungry, after I eat, before I wake up, when I want to sleep. But everyday between 5.30pm-7pm. My BB for sure will move. Its a magical feeling :)

First visit to KKIA (9 Jan 2012)

I consider myself very lucky. My best pal is also pregnant, and is 5 wks behind me. And we decide to go visit KKIA (Klinik Kesihatan Ibu Dan Anak) together gether so that we can accompany each other. Kuching has 3 of such clinic, one is Klink Jawa, somewhere near hopoh? KKIA sekama, and KKIA Stapok. The nurse might want to check some docs as proof that you live near the area before you can actually visit the clinic.The one we went is KKIA Sekama (based on our home addresses). For KKIA sekama, only Monday is designated for first time registration.

We were suppose to wake up earlier, so that we can get an earlier queue number. But it was raining, and the weather is sooo nice to sleep in. Anyway, I still woke up at 7.30am la.Got ready and left the house before 8am. Since I am pregnant, I spent less time on making myself look pretty. I think Oink now spend more time making himself look good than I do.

Traffic was jam everywhere. We stop by King Centre to have breakfast. It was really windy, and for the first time, I felt really cold.

We arrived KKIA around 8.30am. Our number was already 20 by then. Jaqq and Jee arrived minutes later and they got no. 23. The clinic was full of ppl since the previous 2 mondays were public holidays. Then the waiting game starts. tik tok tik tok...that's why I said I was lucky to have Jaqq, without her I don't know if i can wait so long or not. The process is taking so long. So Jaqq briefly explains to me how the process goes around in the clinic. I was feeling nervous about the blood samples extraction part. We ask the husband to leave for work, its no point getting them to wait together with us. We will call Oink to pick us up after we're done.

After registration, we are given a container to pee into 'x' And we are to keep it, and bring our pee for the each future visits.

It was already 10 something when I finally get my turn to go into the first examination room. I know this is not the room where the syringes were so I was quite relax. I know I know, I am such a chicken. I didn't know what to expect once I go into the room. The nurse tested my pee with somekind of kertas Litmus. I was kinda worried, cos I drank Cola the night before. But luckily my pee test result was alright :-p. Then she measured my height and weighed me. What do know, I was 3 cm taller that day, it must be from all the calcium I have been taking.LOL!The nurse asked me a few questions. Like is this your first pregnancy? Any miscarriages before? Did you use any method of family planning before?Then went on talking about breastfeeding. She was really taking her sweet time, no wonder I waited so long to come in 'x' Then she instructed me to lie down on the examination bed. She wanted to check my tummy and BB's heartbeat with something shaped like a box. She record down BB's heartbeat rate and told me that my BB is strong. What I didn't expect was her next instruction : SHOW ME YOUR BREASTS. O.o!!! HUH???? I asked for what? she said to check if mine are suitable for breastfeeding and to check for lumps. So after she's done molesting examining me. I asked : so how is it? She said Ok! Suitable.AHAHAH. The we sat down, and she filled in some form, she wrote quite long, don't know what is she writing. And asked me to sign some consent form for the blood test, and to sign in acknowlegdment that she did explain about breastfeeding to me.

And then, its time for room of terror (blood test room) 'x' . I dropped my clinic card into the box in front of the room, and took a number (again). Jaqq is still in the examination room. I waited alone, trying to persuade myself and telling myself I have to be brave. If I can't bear this little pain, how can I bear the actual pain of labour right? When it was my turn, I walk in bravely. But once inside, the chicken in me can't help but telling the lab workers that I m scared.AHAHAH. The lady said Jangan Takut. I turned my face away, the pain felt like i was pinched, and before I know it, the guy said OK, siap! I was like WAH! I didn't feel any pain at all, it was really tolerable. I was happy and proud of myself. :-p

And then I went out, and waited for the last room (dr's room) but I didn't know for this I have to drop my card inside the box again. I only took the queue no. (again!) And when the on duty nurse saw that I didn't drop the card into their box, she gave me a scolding. 'x' Nothing happened much in the Doctor's room. She didn't even bother to scan me when she knew that I also did my checkup at a private clinic. She just copied some info from my private clinic card which I brought together (just in case) -__________- . When all these was done, its already 11.30am! And I was already hungry. :D

Hello, I'm pregnant! 'x'

Well, I am on my 2nd trimester (5 mths pregs). Been wanting to update this blog since a long long long time ago. But blame it on my laziness, and all these tiredness that came along with my pregnancy.


How we first found out:

We just got back from our China trip. The sceneries were great but I still don't like china food. I remember taking beer cos it was really cold. And had a small glass of hot shao xing wine. I was expecting my period during the last few days of the trip, but it didn't happen. I didn't worry much about it then, as my period is irregular.When we got back to Kuching, I was suppose to continue my yoga. But I was lazy, and still very much in holiday mood. After one week of "resting". I went back to yoga. I can't really remember what was the pose, but I remember we were on all fours, and are suppose to bend our limbs or something. That's when I felt like there's a lump in my belly. I was quite alarmed. And my 6th sense told me I should go home to have a urine test, I didn't expect much, I always get negative result. When I got home, I did a urine test, and bathed while waiting for the result. After bathing, I am surprised, and shocked to see a double line on the result window. It was a first for me. The 2nd line was faint, but its there and visible. I showed it to Oink, and he was puzzled and ask me what does it mean. I told him double mean positive. His jaw dropped. I can see he was pleasantly surprised. I rushed him out of the house to get another test kit from Watson before it closes. I can't wait for hours. I tried 2 hours after that. And the result was negative. And we both dismissed it as false alarm then. We are not pregnant. I continue on waiting for my period to come. After 3 days (30th Sept), still no sign of it, although I do feel breast tenderness, and that is the usual sign that period is coming. Call it woman's instinct, I have a strong urge to try the test again. I tried over lunch break at home. And again its positive. So Oink said we should go check with a gynae. And off we went to KPJ, and I chose to see Dr Wendy Loh. According to Dr Wendy. She did an ultrascan on me and there it is, our little sac. I was surprised. At this stage, I was still determined to go ahead with our Melbourne trip planned for next yr April.

2nd Dr visit at 8wks +:

We went for the 2nd checkup today to see how is my pregnancy progress. I prayed before sleeping last night that everything will be ok. 3 wks ago, all we saw was a round sac. And today we can see some shape and the heart beating. Our dr let us hear the heartbeat for a while. It went dupdupdupdupdup, so fast! It was MAGIC I tell you. At the sound of our bb's heartbeat, I decided then and there, what Melbourne?? It can wait. I don't feel like going anymore. The well being of our BB is much more important.

I am totally not me anymore. Before this, I can't live without water. I always bring a bottle of water with me, if not I will buy a bottle. But now I can't stand them. They tasted EWW. I wonder if I drank 8 cups of water a day or not. On the other hand, I think I m quite addicted to Coke. OMG.Which is not really healthy. Been trying to con my tastebud by mixing manukah honey in plain water. Not bad, but its not Coke. Well, it has to do for now. I am now sluggish, weak-limbed, very forgetful, and my ever good appetite has gone to hiding. SIGH. I hope I will be my old self soon.

3rd Dr Visit (approx 12 wks):

Everytime, before a doctor's visit, I am always nervous and wondering is my baby is ok. Although I feel sick all the time, I took comfort that at least its a good sign that my baby is doing fine. I am surprised at the progress rate of our BB. We can see the little hands, the little legs, the body, the head, the butt butt. And then something happened, BB waved, and was so startlet that I jumped a bit. 'x'AHAHAH. Dr Wendy was very delighted and keep say Wah, you BB keep moving. Active BB. Oink is having a feeling that we are having a girl.

4th Dr Visit (Approv 16 wks)

Suppose to visit Dr Wendy on 20th Dec, but I remembered the date wrongly and went on 21st December instead. :-p and the clinic is not open that night. And we were wondering why there's no patient waiting outside.AHAHA. Anyway, we went back the next morning. Oink didn't want to wait longer. Dr Wendy said if we are lucky today, we can probably find out the gender. But our BB was moving, tossing and turning, and when the Dr scan the bottom, all we can see are the butt and the legs. hmmm..:D..nevermind, there's always next time, and lets see if Oink is correct.

Next Dr visit will be in 8 days :)

Shopping Therapy

is good for your soul, but not very friendly to you wallet 'x' (totally love the one with the ribbon-shaped buckle)

Bandung + The shopping

I will blog about the food next time.

I bought aa on sales tix to KL last yr. But I am bored of KL already, also hand itchy, bought another return tix to bandung. We went with Selina. It was a very short trip, 3d2n, and was not a smooth sailing one. I think there's only one flight in from KL to bandung and bandung to KL everyday.

millionaire!

Exchange 2 million rupiah. I didn't exchange much since we are not going to spend alot of time there.

Our flight was delayed. And when we arrived, the traffic is very jam! In indon, its called macet. The taxi asked are we going anywhere tomorow, we said yes, we planned to visit tangkuban perahu, eat at Kampung Daun and do more shopping tomorrow. He offered to drive us around for 400k rupiah. I thought the price was reasonable so we ask him to come at 9am next morning.

Arrived hotel near 7pm.Stayed at New Sany Rosa hotel. They don't have a site. I called to make my booking under Oink's name. And I called a few days before the intended date to confirm. And guess what? When I arrived, they said they didn't have a booking under Oink's name, and all rooms are full except for the family suite which is $$. Spend precious shopping time there insisting that I DID make a booking and even showed him my phone log. After a while, the guy relented, and let us have a room that was under booking, but the guest didn't turn up (7++pm already). We left our luggages in the room, get ready in 10 mins and waste no time and walked to the nearest Factory Outlet (Rumah Mode).

I thought they are open till 10pm, but its actually 9pm only. We finished dinner around 8.30pm. So after 30 mins of shopping, they announce that they are closing. :(( I didn't get anything on the first day.

Next day, we finished breakfast 15 mins before 9am. We waited and waited for the taxi driver to turn up. We waited until 9.15am. NO sign of him. I am feeling quite pissed , I decided then and there that indons are not to be trusted. First, missing hotel booking and now this. Luckily i printed a list of other car rentals. Made some call from the room. 500k rupiah, more expensive, but don't care already. When we walked out to the lobby, and guess what, we saw the taxi driver, waiting for us at the opposite side of the road. :-O! Oink said we should ignore him since he is not punctual, and hence should be not trustworthy also.We didn't wait for more than 10 mins for the car rental to come. I tink the taxi driver didn't have a good eye sight, he didn't even know we boarded another car. More reasons not to hire him 'x'

Went to tangkuban perahu. Nice view, cool temperature, but bad smelling(sulphur) air.


After that, we went to pluck strawberries. We did that at cameron. Selina was more excited here. Bought cheap strawberries ( I think around rm3 per packet, even cheaper than cameron) and some other berries (looks like raspberries, not very sure) and it was really cheap. But sad to say, 90% of the berries didn't make it until we reach kuching. I blended the remaining berries into milkshake. 'x' Don't waste food mah.

After that, we went to Kampung Daun (gorgeous place) for lunch, which I will further elaborate in the next post.

After lunch, its SHOPPING TIME at Jalan Riau and Jalan Dago !

Now to show you my shopping stash. TEEEHEEEHEE

Please take note,2 of the dresses are not for me. If you count the pink one as NO. 1, then no. 1, 3 and 4 are mine. I really love the pink one, the brand on the label is Tommy Hilfiger but not sure is it authentic. And I already pass my mum the long cardigan I bought her. The white knitted cotton thingy is actually a looped scarf.

There's more. 'x'

Cute PJ. cannot resist. Fringed top + heart prints on the pants. LOVE!LOVE! LOVE! after convert to RM, its about rm20+. Bought the cap at Unusual Accessories(that's the name).

Erm, I'm not done yet 'x'

I think come to bandung must buy warm clothings for winter/ autumn (for future trips). If not mistaken, both are Zara Basic's. The cream coloured one has 2 layers. You can take off the thick furry part of the inner layer out and just wear the outer layer like a trenchcoat. Super value for money. After convert, I think its RM152. Please take note of the green trenchcoat, got story later.


And this is all of Oink's shopping stash *crickets chirping* and the striped shirt is for his brother. :-s I caught Oink looking really helpless when I ask him to shop at the men's section. I took some time to help him choose, but he is a picky man. He ended up choosing on his own, the black versace shirt. Shorts and striped shirt were chosen by me.

After all those shopping and eating and etc. I am only left with

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.

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'x'!!! Somemore I didn't have enough money to pay for my last day shopping. Oink topped up for me. And I happily announced that I will stop shopping and instead will help Selina choose what to shop. I spoke too soon. We went next door, and I fell for the green trenchcoat. I was scared that Oink will give me "THE LOOK" so I borrowed money from Selina. ROFL! but was caught red handed later when he saw me pay for it at the counter and he gave me -.- look. 'x'

Anyway, we almost miss our KL-Kch flight. At first, we queue at the wrong counter. It was almost our turn at the domestic counter, but some guy annouce for kuching, alor setar, etc need to go etc etc counter. We saw a malay guy, and thought its open, so we quickly place our luggage on the belt, and I put the boarding passed on the counter, to be told that the counter is not open. So we moved to another line. And I think I left our boarding passed there.We wasted so long at the baggage check in counter that when its our turn, the indian guy refuse to check in our baggage, he said counter close already. When he ask for our boarding pass, we cannot find it anywhere! Imagine the panic! We explained and explained, he reprinted our boarding pass and said he cannot guarantee we can still check in our luggage. He was quite rude. We used the emergency baggage drop lane and luckily the guy still let us check in our luggage. Phew. We then SPRINTED to the LAST GATE at LCCT to board our plane home. I was sweating like a pig, and my legs hurt from all the running. But I am glad we still manage to get home. AHHH..HOME SWEET HOME. I hope my next holiday won't have heart attack inducing events!!

P/S : All photos are taken with my new toy, Samsung Galaxy S2 except the photos of shopping, which are taken with my Nikon d40x (+ sb800 nikon flash)

Mango's Language

This is how we communicate with her. Which is a mix of Hokkien , English & baby language.

(1) MAM MAM - which means FOOD. Her most favourite command. Always answer to this command promptly. We sometime use this to con her to come to us if she doesn't respond to command (2) for a few times.

(2) LAI - which means come. This depends on her mood. If she's in a good mood, she will come after calling LAI once. If not, you have to keep calling LAI LAI LAI...., if she still doesn't want to come, pretend to take food (make noise with plastic bag-works like magic) and say MAM MAM.HAHAHA 'x'

(3) SHEE SHEE - Which means go outside to pee (and poo). She obeys this command most of the time. Loves the opportunity to go outside to bark at people while searching for the potential spots to do her bowel business. We sometime use this to con her to do no (4)

(4) POM POM - Bath time. She hates bath time. If you try to con her to go outside with this command, you will see her trying to sneak away by hiding beside the sofa, going under table, trying to run away. So you see, we have to con her with command (3) then once we are outside, fast fast close the door gril. The con doesn't end here. She is not that stupid you see, if you call out POM POM, she will not move an inch, and stay as close as possible to the door, so you have to walk to the water pipe, and use command (2) to con her to come to you. Sometime she is smart, she knows what you are up to, and refuse to budge. So you have to sweet talk to her, and whistle. eg. *whistle*, LAI mango LAI, LAL good girl *whistle*. Usually works. And when she arrives, I will usually go MUAHAHAHA, POM POM! 'x'

(5) KIA- 1 Kia means Let's go(ride in the car)! 2 kia means lets go for a walk nearby. She responds to both eagerly.

(6) ONG ONG - sleep. If she's tired and sleepy, she will willingly walk herself to her bed. If I see that she's already half asleep, I will carry her and put her in her bed. If she's still awake, she will try to sneak away again, refusing to go to sleep.

(7) STAY - she will stay with her body down, all legs on the floor. She will usually do this without your command if she wants the food you are eating 'x'

(8) SIT - when she is still a puppy, she can do the sit pose. But now her SIT is more of a STAY :-s

Some of the communication between us is also visual. Like if I show her her water bowl, she will drink the water. I show her her harness without saying command(5), she will still jump with joy and gets excited. If I pat her bed, she will know I want her to get in.

Ok, I am ending this post with a cute photo of Mango :)

Simple Sunday Dinner

I saw this at kimberlycun's blog. And I knew I have to try to make it.

I like it when she blog about cooking, hers are always comprehensive, complete with loads of photos to guide you.

Here is the before photo (I think I put too much oyster sauce :x)

DONE!!! SMELL DAMN NICE.

I stir fried spinach and boiled chicken and turnip soup to go with the chicken rice. Can you spot Oink's pair of leg? He can't wait to eat. Can you spot Mango the glutton too?

This Chicken Rice is so easy to make. Its doesn't take alot of time and its sooo yummy. Love it! All thanks to Kimberlycun.