My Thoughts @ My Feeling @ My Day: January 2010

Baby seminar

I have been to alot of wedding shows/seminars, but yesterday, we went for our 1st baby seminar. :) seems that life is really moving on very fast..now, we are already at the stage of being parents.. next would be wat? Kids educations, lessons, classes etc etc..

The seminar was at Sherton Towers whereby the talk is mainly focusing on cord blood storing. In Singapore, there are currently only 2 company which offer the service of storing cord blood. One is Stemcord and the other is Cord Life. So far, most of our frens didnt store the cord blood of their new born. Mostly donated it to the public bank. Hubby and i still discussing if we should store the blood, and if we do, which company should we go to. Storing cord blood is like buying insurance, you pay an annual fee per year to store the blood. The blood can be used to cure life threatening disease..but you nv know when you might need it, so you might store it forever..

The seminar also talked about breastfeeding. Nv knew that there are so many methods and position of breastfeeding...hmm have to really learn about it during my antenatal lessons. My next apptm with Dr Yam is on 9th Feb..by then would be at 16th weeks..hopefully would be able to see the sex of junior...lol..that is if junior is coorperative..

sick sick sick

Hai, have been sick since last friday. All thanks to hubby...duhz...when to see a GP near law's house who is also a gynae (my own gynae is away in Pahang giving lecture), thus med from him should be quite safe. Spent my weekend sick and sleeping at home..so miserable. But the med doesnt seems to be working and my cough is getting worst. Fever will come back once i stop taking the med..thus yesterday when my own gynae called me to inform me about my blood test results (alls good :D ), i took the chance to tell him what happened and he asked me to visit him that night and bring my med along....and so i went.

According to him, the med that i have been taking is safe, but since its not working for me, he gave me another set of medicine. He also scanned junior to make sure its all right..and this visit cost me another $130+......... so now, not am i having a headache, i am also having heartache.... this mths medical expenses already cost me about $600+...hai...money money money...but at least i know junior is all right..at 13 weeks he/she is measuring at 7.6cm+..haa seems like our bb is taking over our genes and is growing quite "long".. 1cm per week? See that other forum mommies commented that their bb is measuring at only 5+ ~ 6+ cm at 13 weeks..

14 Jan

14 Jan

Just came back from Dy Yam's clinic. Junior is at 12 weeks 4 days now measuring 6.67cm. This is also our 1st time seeing junior so clearly on the machine. Can see his/her head, arms and legs. Hehe, junior was in a sitting position as if like reading a book. Dr Yam also show Ah dear first before turning the monitor to my direction and explain to me. When Dr Yam was gg through junior's head, he/she suddenly moved its head side ways as if knowing that we are looking at him/her and move his/her arms a bit like waving to me saying," hello mummy" :D its really an amazing sight. Dr Yam also mentioned that he is ok if we wanna video down the scanning next time round. So hopefully our next scan would be as animinated as this time round :D

In a sitting position with legs bend at knee, like looking at its hands.

14 Jan

Hi guys, just to warn you that the following post is gg to be a lllloooonnnnngggg post cos i have something to announce............................that is.................i am pregnant!!!!!!!!! Yes, thats right, PREGNANT! Just came back from my gynae checkup and Dr confirmed that bb is at 12 weeks 4 days old now. So ie, officially passing the 1st trimster which is the 3 mths mark. So i can proudly announce to everyone of the good news. Thus below is about 12 weeks worth of blog post. Read from the bottom for the very first post and up :D happy reading!

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9 Jan - running

9 Jan 2010

I am almost finishing my 1st trimster, but the idea of being pregnant still doesnt comes to me naturally . Seems that i need to be reminded that i am pregnant (other than the times when i need to go out and thereby changing clothes and realising that they no longer lie flat on my stomach).

Just now, i ran from the kitchen into my bedroom to ans my ringing hp, then suddenly, i remembered what my colleague said to me the other day. That day, we were gg for lunch and I saw the lift closing, thus i ran towards it, pressing the button. Then...my horrified colleague came up to me and said," Jacelyn! For heaven sake, you are pregnant! Can you act like one and stopped running ard!" Then i realised what i just did...After that, I was recounting the no of times when i was running to chase my bus, running to pick up my ringing hp... it didnt occur to me that...its dangerous! Gynae ever told me: running is ok provided i start slow and maintain a steady pace, not gg too fast. But by doing a "shuttle run", its gg from speed zero to full speed. It came be deemed as "sudden" movement, thus dangerous to the bb, especially during the 1st trimster when the sac still wasnt very stable in the womb. Hopefully by the time when my stomach is bigger, it will refrain me from running...in an auto pilot manner...sigh...

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Oscar Test - 6 Jan

6 Jan

Wake up early in the morning for my apptm at NUH for the Oscar Test. Apptm was suppose to be at 950am, but in the ended, we waited till 10.45am before we are being called in..duhz..thus meanwhile, we went for breakfast first. Also i read from the forum that we must empty our bladder before gg for the scan. Thus before gg back to the clinic, i made a toilet trip and was back in the clinci by 1030am..another 15 mins wait before our turned.

Waiting for our turn..

My sonographer was a malay lady Dr who is quite nice. She did explain to us on the various parts of the bb. The main test of this scan was to take the measurement of the thickness of the skin behind bb's neck. But bb not corporative and Dr said i had a FULL bladder, thus i was asked to go to the toilet to empty my bladder (imagine a full bladder with just a 15 mins wait..duhz) and walk ard before gg back in to scan. Hopefully bb has shifted into a better position.. luckily the second scan was a successful one and bb's neck thickness was measured at 1.3mm which is within the normal range. Next, i was asked to go for the blood test. The full oscar test consist the scan and the blood test, which would give me a combine result stating the risk of bb having down syndrome.

A scan pic of junior : He/she is in a sleeping position

Like my dad, i have small veins. The nure first tried to draw blood from my left arm, but after poking ard for quite a few times, she didnt manage to draw any blood (its damn painful). So she shifted to the right hand to try her luck. Also after a few pokes, she finally managed to draw the required blood..but by then, my arm was alr badly bruise.. :( sob sob

My poor hands..band aid on both arms..

And the bruise on my right arm.. :(

So now, is just waiting for the lab result on the blood analysis..keeping finger cross.

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3 Jan 2010

3 Jan 2010

1130am - Craving badly for ribbena (i rarely drink ribbena previously)....gg crazy over the craving!

1500pm - Craving resolved - drank the cold, sweet, quenching, ribbena :P

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30 Dec

30 Dec

I am always feeling tired nowadays (no matter how much i sleep) and my eyes are always heavy. Every morning when i am gg to work and was walking to the bus stop, i would stand at the base of the overhead bridge and feel like crying... gg up the stairs seems impossible to me. Pimples are starting to pop out and skin getting very dry..hmm..doesnt link right, cos dry skin by right should means less pimples? Pimples are suppose to go with oily skin? Skin is dry, but scalp is oily..hai..hormones.. and i am putting on fats so fast, that i really feel like crying (especially when i looked at my wedding photos that were just taken in Sep!) Also, i started feeling bloated recently and kept letting out farts...err..disgusting.. but 1 thing which i strongly recommend when you get pregnant, that is, to read those online week by week pregnancy site (eg. Babycenter.com). Its REALLY useful and accurate! When it says in week xx you will get xx, its REALLY happens!!! So for now, my pimples and bloatness at least means that my pregnancy is on track and bb is growing inside me, except that i cant feel the bb as yet and only feeling all the negative stuffs... another 2 more weeks for the 1st trimester to end and after that would be the honeymoon period where pregnancy symptoms would be at its least (other than the growing bump).

Another thing to note: i finally understand that why when i feel nauseas, by eating some food, i will feel better. According to babycenter, its because the blood sugar level went down thats why we feel nauseas. Thus by eating, it will bring the blood sugar level back up and ease the feeling of puking. So its recommended to eat more small meals throughout the day rather than the 3 big main meals.

As up to now, only a few of my colleagues know that i am pregnant (due to work commitment, got no choice but to inform them earlier), i can only grumble to them abt my pregnancy symptoms and whenever i know what makes these symptoms, i would be very excited and share with them..lol so they tell me that now i am a walking dictionary about pregnany and stuffs..thus in the future when they themselves get pregnant, they would know who to look for..hahah..well i guess thats why i am blogging all these down so that u guys can refer and read the progress next time when its your turn ;p I have summarises the things which i found out so far for the 1st trimester (week 1 to week 12):

1) Morning sickness (“MS”) is peak at week 8 - week 10 : try to eat small meals to fight the feeling of nauseas
2) Pimples and bloatness will surface at ard week 9
3) If feeling bloated, can try gassy drinks like 7-up which will help you to burp. Nv take coke as it contains caffeine . Also, do not take tea or coffee throughout the pregnancy. Little bit of wine is ok, but no beer.
4) Always feeling tired – try to rest whenever you can, be it just a short lying down on the bed with your eyes close
5) Cramping of the womb – try to sleep on your sides, can ease the cramp a little
6) Drink more milk if possible as calcium intake is very impt
7) Its nv too early to start wearing flats, don’t wanna risk having a fall
8) Craving starts (at least for me), so if possible, try to control it
9) During week 11-12, go for your Oscar test to test for down syndrome in the bb (its an optional test)

Food which i heard that we cant eat:

1) No sharks fin and blue fin tuna (+ some of those big size fish, cant remember all) as they control high concentrated level of mercury
2) No durians and mcdonald as it will make ur bb fat
3) No lambs as it cause/prone the bb to have fit
4) No cooling stuffs like watermelon, pineapples (i dun care, i still eat watermelons :P)
5) No sashimi, oysters or anything raw (sob sob....)
6) No crabs cos it will cause ur bb to shou(3) duo(1) duo(1) ie everything also wanna touch - I was being told this by my granny...

That was the list which i strictly follow. There are alot of other food which other mummies did mention that we are not suppose to eat, but i cant be bothered with it. I think that if we just eat in moderation and not by alot, it should be all right. Will add in more things if i can remember.

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2 Jan 2010 - clarins oil and wide hips

2 Jan

2010 has arrived and soon, junior would be 12 weeks old. Have started using the anti-stretch mark oil from Clarins. Mommies in the motherhood forum swear by this product and my sis too uses this and there isnt 1 stretchmark at all. Will give my testimonial after Jul :P

This is the oil. Hmm..dun quite like the smell, but its still bearable. Present from Winnie, my cousin who i asked to help me get it but refuse to take money from me..thanks alot Winnie!

I was reading " Livewell Baby", a magazine (from my sis) last night and saw this article which makes my spirit soar into the air! It say " Curvy is the NEW SMART!" The article wrote, "The wider the hips of the mommy, the smarter is the kid." Hee..i was so damn happy and not gg to complain about my ever growing hips anymore! (at least during the pregnancy stage till the end of breastfeeding).

The rationale behind this is that, lower-body fat is the main source of long-chain polyunsaturated fats (LCPUFAs) such as omega-3 fatty acids which are critical for foetal and infant brain development. Lower-body fat in women is burned up during pregnancy and during the infant's 1st year via breastmilk. Abt 60% - 80% of LCPUFAs in the breast milk is derived from lower-body fat while the remaining comes from the diet. SO, women with wide hips like me, dun despair! Its only for the greater good and smarter kids :D !!!

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2nd scan

28 Dec

Went for my 2nd scan today. Hubby suppose to accompany me there, but due to last min meeting, i went alone instead. Dr Yam is a very family oriented gynae. The 1st qn he asked me when he saw me was, how am I and where is Lawrence..lol..I am impress that he actually remembered our names as this is my 2nd visit with the 1st one 3 weeks back. Or at least he bother to record dwn law's name and got a quick read back before I arrived? He also remembered that i was refered to him via a fren (forum fren who i have never met before) and told me that that fren was the lady who just walked out (ie before me). Its such minute details and causal chats that makes me feel at ease with him :)

From my scan, i am at 10 weeks, 3days and bb measuring at 3.46cm. 3 weeks back, bb is not even 0.5 cm yet..lol so within 3 weeks, he/she actually grew more than 7 times! According to Dr Yam, everything was well and he arranged for me to go for my Oscar test next week. Oscar test is to test if your bb is high risk to Down Sydrome or not (a kind of defects that is uncurable). After the test, i would have to wait for a wk or 2 before the results is out. By then i should be more than 12 weeks (ie > 3 mths) and i can announce my pregnancy to everyone!! Hanging on for now :P

Hmm..this time round, cant really see bb. Its the white oval shaped mass at the bottom of the sac.

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28 Dec

28 Dec 09

Saw this online and it perfectly explains why i have been running to the toilet so often! Argh!

Why do I pee so much?

During pregnancy, hormones cause the kidneys and the body's filtration system to start working overtime, which creates more urine, explains Dr. Gil Gross, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis. At the same time, your blood volume increases dramatically, resulting in more fluid going through your system — that, in turn, causes more frequent trips to the bathroom. Later in pregnancy, your expanding uterus will put pressure on your bladder, which will also make you feel like you need to pee all the time.

Gg for my 2nd scan tonight. Hopefully hubby can end his meeting in time to join me. Excited to see bb again :P

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18 Dec

18 Dec

Am been feeling moody for the past few days..little bit of things can trigger me off..sorry for those who have sms/talk to me for the past few days and i snapped back at you...think hormones gg rollercoaster ride thats why...even when i dream, i dreamt of unhappy stuffs and woke up feeling tired and angry.

Was reading the motherhood forum just now and find that some of the mtb really patang leh. Cant stand them..some even believed that if you scratch your tummy, your bb will have marks on his/her body..faint.. when i read this, i dunno why i am feeling so angry about it..hormones again i guess. haii...

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2 days MC

17th Dec

Ppl told me that its very easy to get MC when you are pregnant..hehe so i went to the doc this morning and told him that i have got very back Morning Sickness ("MS"), and thus i was given 2 days MC!! Hee.. :P well, i am not really eating snake, its just that Co gives us 28 days of MC per year, so its a bit wasted when i am not utilising my MCs especially when they have scrapped our OT systems right. So have to treat myself better. :P Anyway, i did bring work back to do..so i am still working right ... ok enough of all these excuses..but its really much better to work at home cos of the following reasons:

1) Paiseh to keep going to the toilet

2) Air con in office is free, so its always full blast and so damn cold

3) Flu virus in the air... yeeks!!

4) backaching from all the sitting in front of our laptop

Disadvantage of working at home:

1) Too many distractions : my cosy bed, my cute niece, easily assessible food

2) Free to surf internet as and when i like it

3) Temptation to go read my storybook instead of doing my work (*guiltily peeking at the pile of papers next to me now that i have conveniently pushed aside earlier on*)

So here i am, updating my blog (heehee) and doing other stuffs other than my own work :P tsk tsk tsk....OK! Lets be more discipline now and go back to work! Byee..

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Toilet trips

13 Dec

As mentioned, i do not have much morning sickness. The only sign that i am preggie is that i am constantly hungry and my frequent toilet trips. Last night, i reached my ultimate frequency whereby i woke up 5 times just to go peeing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was reading a pregnancy book and it was mentioned that this would only happens during the 1st few weeks and last few weeks of pregnancy. And its the nature's way of preparing a mother for the up coming sleepness nite..duhz..but of cos the scientific reason is that the uterus is expanding now thus pressing on the bladder and in weeks to come, the expansion would go upwards thus releasing the tension on the bladder. And towards the later part of the pregnancy when the bb grow in size and move downwards, again it will press on your bladder..looking fwd to the 2nd trimester which is also known as the honeymoon period...

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Help

9 Dec

HELP!!! I am constantly hungry!!!!! And i am constantly eating!!! Its driving me crazy..need to control!!!!!!!! Argh!!!!!!!

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Week 6

At week 6 (extracted from parenting.com):

The embryo measures a little less than one-fifth of an inch long and looks more like a tadpole than a human. The forebrain forms a hollow stalk on either side and develops small cups -- the base of each will become an eyeball. Inside the cup, skin cells will turn into a lens and cornea. The heart, no bigger than a poppy seed, is beating now, and primitive red blood cells circulate through the fetus and chorionic villi. The neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, closes at this time. One end of the tube forms the brain, the other the spinal cord.

Errr..looks a bit gross hor..lol

Symptons: No one would know you're pregnant just by looking at you, but you're definitely aware of it, thanks to early symptoms, such as tender breasts and nipples, constant fatigue, and frequent bathroom trips. --> ya,, i definitely have all those! Arghh!

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Finally!

4 Dec

Yeah! Finally managed to see Dr Yam today! And saw BB for the 1st time and even hear his/her heartbeat :D its really an amazing moment...no words to describe. BB is at 6 wks 4 days as of today and EDD is at 25th Jul 2010. BB measuring at 67mm. Should be at normal size cos Dr didnt say anything =p Next visit would be 3 weeks later on the last week of Dec.

The excited parents while waiting for their turn to meet Dr Yam and "see" junior .

1st impression of Dr Yam - He looks very tired..lol but am quite comfortable with him. He is not those very "rush doctor" who would chop chop scan, say then asked to leave. He took his time to go through the Dos and Donts and wat to expect for the various trimesters. He appeared in the newspapers for a few articles too and like most Dr, would have BB pics and thank you cards all ard his office :) We stayed for almost 40 mins in his room for the scan and the talk. Maybe cos we are 1st time parents, thus he was very patient with us. The only thing about this Dr is that his package starts only from week 16 and the cost incurred in the earlier consultations (ie from now till week 16) are not able to offset again his package. So it would means that it would cost more. But his charges for delivery is at $700, which is quite ok. Hubby is very supportive and said that as long as i am comfortable with him, he is ok with the cost..hehe...

The nut shaped thingy in the middle is the sac. And within the sac, you can see a slightly slanted line, thats the bb..you would be amaze that for such a small cell mass, it has alr contained a heart :D amazing isnt it.

So WANTED to tell you all! But cant, so please forgive me when u eventually learn that i am preggie (which i will announce after 12 weeks, when BB stablized).

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Not fated

1 Dec

Been so not fated to see Dr Yam! Arghh! 1st apptm was last night at 830pm at Boon Lay clinic. But due to delay at work, i was in office until 830pm (angry with my stupid boss!) By the time i rushed down, it was already 915pm, and cos the Dr do not have any more patients, he left early.

Then, made another apptm for tonight at 8pm, same clinic. At ard 6pm+, received a call from the nurse telling me that the ultrasound machine is down and thus Dr cannot see patient (cos my main aim is to scan for the BB). Argh, 2nd time cannot see him already...am so not fated to see Dr Yam. Gg to give him a last try and thus make another apptm this Friday morning at the clinic at Gleneagles. Wish me luck that nothing happens again.

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29 Nov

Have yet to seen a gynae as of today. Its has been a week and from the past week of reading information about pregnancy and the various cases and illness, it has made me very worried. Hubby said that i am worrying over nothing. But I just cant helped it. In the past week, there are already 2 cases of misscarriages in the july thread and one of them has anembryonic preg, ie the fetus has stopped growing. I just cant helped it but worried that it would happen to me too..choy.....think its the hormones..been pretty emo lately..

After some research and recommendation from the forum, decided to try Dr Yam from Acumed. Will call tmr morning to try and make apptm for tmr night, so that it will put my mind at ease once and for all. Nowadays, i will get irritated, angry or sad very easily. Its hard for me to control for emotions, but will try my best! Now i am very irritated by "someone's" voice who kept yaying yaying and yaying away...(*close room door..ears at peace at last*)

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Feelings

24 Nov

Ever since i am tested positive yesterday, I have that floating feeling in me =P. Went to join and read up motherhood forum and read all abt the pregnancy syptoms. All these which i have been facing for the last 1 ~ 2 weeks now makes better sense. Eg dry skin, swollen breast, mood swing and feeling tired.

Its really amazing how things work. Can you imagine that i was still doing more than an hr of hoola hoop last saturday. Luckily nothing happened...Also, I have to take note of what i am eating now that i am not only eating for myself, i am eating for junior too. I went to the doc yesterday morning (before tested positive) for my flu and was given MC and some medicine. On my way home, i just have the feeling that i wanna test if i am pregnant. My menses was more than a week late (which rarely happens) and I tell myself...maybe....i chose the cheapest test kit from watson's shelve and headed home. I even felt a bit silly when paying for the test kit..lol. Was getting all nervous when doing the test and waiting for the result...when it showed double line, i couldnt believe my eyes! I am pretty sure that when we DID IT, it had past my ovaluation period..and this was my first menses cycle after our wedding. We cant be that lucky right. Had heard of all sort of stories where ppl tried for a very long time but still no result. Luckily my sis was at home, so i quickly showed her the kit...her first reaction was, what brand test kit is it? Reliable? Haa, as i am very stingy and chose the cheapest one, we didnt dare to take the risk. Thus sis asked me to test again using the ovaluation kit she gave me previously. The result from this kit was quite faint. So in the end, we went back to her house to get ther Clear Blue Pregnancy Test Kit, which she says is VERY accurate. It doesnt go by lines and instead it will state clearly whether you are pregnant or not pregnant..so ended up result is the same :) I called Law and told him the news and he was OVERLY happy :) and went ard his restaurant to announce to everyone! Faint..lol..

At that time, i felt overwhelmed, suprised, scare at the same time but of cos happy too. Even thought we have started preparing mentally for a BB and i have started taking folic acid, we didnt expect it to be this quick and in addition, i was quite sure it has past my ovaluation period when we did it. Thus this result is really unexpected. We even booked tickets to BBK for next June during the air asia promotion. Seems like now we got to cancel the trip le. So no more diving for the next few yrs.. (faint) and no eating of sashimi, oysters anything raw for the next 1 yr at least..sob sob..i am gg to miss my jap food!

Also during this period, i am not suppose to anyhow take med. Thus last night, went to a clinic near my place to check if the med given to me in the morning is ok for me to take. Apparently, all not acceptable. Doc said its too strong for me at the moment. Can only take those milder med. In the end from 4 packet of pills, i was only given a bottle of cough syrup and a packet of flu tablets. No med for sore throat.

I so wanted to tell EVEYRONE that i am pregnant now! So that you guys can share my happinese. But decided to only do it after my visit to the gynae to confirm everything and that junior is healthy. Most prob gg next week or the week after when i should be in week 6 or 7 whereby the BB's heartbeat should be audible by then. So for now, i can only blog in secret and only post it after that. Keeping fingers cross that everything would be ok. :)

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New joiner to the family

23 Nov

Today marks a very impt day in my life. As its today that I come to know that there would be a new joiner to our very new and young family. :) Yes, junior is on the way...We didnt purposely plan for junior, but yet, we are equally happy that he/she has come into our life. I was a bit KS, and tested on 2 kit. Both showed positive sign. According to the website, i should be about 5 weeks pregnant now. Will wait to 7 weeks before gg to a gynae to have a thorough check.