Monday, February 17, 2020

We are having a baby!



Hello readers! As what i indicate for my post title, yes we'are having a baby!
Personally, i think Jeremy is more happy than me because he has been asking for a baby ever since we got married, but we was waiting for our house and i was planning to change a job at that time, so baby making plan has been put on hold. This was my excuses because i do have my fear of childbirth so as long as i can drag, i will drag. Unlike others who are excited about having kids, to me i have always maintain a very neutral view in having kids. We got married in 2017, but as we have been taking safe precautions so definitely its no wonder we didn't have any good news for the past few years.

I couldn't be bothered what other said, especially when relatives would ask when is our turn, while some questioning if we have some issues with conceiving a baby, both of us know the real reason. Because it's just not the right time. You can see Jeremy doesn't have much power to decide because he is not the one giving birth. Hahaha.

Finally last year, we received our house keys, i manage to change a new job. So we moved in to our new house, me having a new job, everything was perfect. So there was no excuses for me and i remember it was during last october when Jeremy bring up the topic again. It was a random conversation as we talk about the zodiac, as 2020 is Rat year, both of us don't like the zodiac of ox, and the following zodiac after ox was tiger and we find the zodiac tiger sound too fierce, so the next zodiac would be rabbit. However if i wait till the year of Rabbit, i would be in my 30s. We was looking to have at least 2 kids. So if i have my 1st one in my 30s, the 2nd one will be mid-30s. So eventually year of rat seems to be the suitable year for us to make our baby. 

So we decided to try, for the first two months, i thought maybe it wasn't easy to conceive afterall since my period still came on time. We didn't do any planned pregnancy or bought any ovulation kit. For the first two month, i would tell Jeremy happily when my menses came. Hahahaha he was disappointed but he commented maybe we need to go for check up if we still didn't have a baby by then.

However, into the 3rd month without taking precautions, which happen to be nearing the chinese new year period in January i mentioned i had a fall in JB during my staycation with JY. It actually turns out that i am already pregnant at that time! This is amazing how i fall down with such a huge impact when i was already pregnant with our little baby but luckily the baby was not affected. I didn't know at that time of cos until we calculate backwards. Especially during CNY we even had a huge fight, so we went through a cold war period and didn't talk as well, he make me very very angry. I still remember how i went back to complain to my mum and glad we didn't have kids at all. Hahaha what i didn't know at that time was our baby is already growing inside my body. 

 As i usually note down the date of my menses, so the last menses was on 26 Dec 2019, so I didn't thought it was strange that my menses was still not here by Jan 26-28 because sometimes it would usually push back by a few days every month and my menses is quite regular.

However my menses still didn't came during early Feb, which i started to panic because it was already late by 1 week plus. I talked to Jeremy and text some of my close friends and they was so excited and asking me to get a pregnancy kit to test, but being stubborn, i choose to wait and monitor again. 

During this period, i would feel very tired when i was at work, the tiredness was scary because i have enough sleep every day and come afternoon, i would feel so tired that i almost dozed off! I tried to google the symptoms and know fatigue is one of the factors, but i decided to wait. 

By the 2nd week of Feb, i started to have nightmares every night. Every morning, i would feel nauseous and gag. While cheeky Jeremy would comment, ' confirm pregnant liao' irritating.
So eventually, i decided to get the test kit to test because i had enough of nightmare dream every night.

I went to buy two different kit, 1 kit even have 1 for 1 promo. Haha actually i know i should be pregnant after having morning sickness every morning, when i got it test, the two line appear instantly!
My first reaction was, shit, really pregnant liao. Haha
but i decided to prank Jeremy, so i use water to drop on the test kit to have the 1 line result.


You can refer to this video, when i was telling him i test and he was so excited to know the results.
This was 1 line test, and never fail to make me laugh when i saw his reaction!

After the prank, before i show him the two line, and he got even more confused!
So here's the two line real result after testing with two kit. I test another kit the next morning just to confirm again. Haha
some of my friends introduced me this clearblue kit which i got Jeremy to buy for me because this clearblue kit would be able to test roughly how many weeks pregnant i was. It is also pretty accurate.


When this appear, it means i am confirm pregnant, and 3+ would indicate i have been pregnant for at least 5+weeks! 
However according to what i google, the doctor would usually see the patient only when she is at least 8 weeks pregnant, as i worked in a clinic before, i know doctor would usually prescribe the vitamins or supplements to pregnant ladies. So, even if i have not fix an appointment to see the gynae, i decided to visit the normal GP doctor, which i know him personally. So he calculate for me that i was actually 7 almost going 8 weeks pregnant by the time i went to him. He prescribe me some supplements to take first.

As for my choice of gynae, i do not have any preference of female gynae because i feel it's the same whether its a male/female so i didn't do any research before that, we only use referral from Jeremy friend wife, as i have already did some prior research of the hospital that i would like to deliver, which is Thomson medical centre and the doctor works in one of the clinic there, so i proceed to make appointment to visit him. Later, i get to know he is quite popular among all the mummies. He is also my cousin gynae doctor that help her to deliver her baby previously.

Upon confirming that i am pregnant, the first thing i do was to purchase stretch marks creams! Haha, so i went to clarins website as i remember they have this maternity set so i bought the whole set. But after trying all the products, i only like their stretch marks cream. 



Beside using clarin stretch marks cream, JY help me to buy bio-oil as well which help to reduce the appearance of stretch marks, so after checking with my gynae, i started to apply the stretch marks cream during the first trimester. 

Our appointment date was on 17 Feb, one day before our wedding anniversary. The first time he do the ultrasound scan for me, i couldn't really see anything until he point out the little one that look like a grain of rice. The feeling is amazing and touching when we get to see a life that we have created for the first time.
The doctor did some checks and say everything looks fine so the next visit was 12 weeks later.

Our baby first look. Haha

During our 2nd visit, they will need to perform some detailed scan and they have to draw our blood for further testing. 
The tests require are pre-eclampsia screening, as it is a form of pregnancy complication that the mummy might have for eg high blood pressure or signs of damage to another organ system.

Another test that we have to decide is to test for baby whether he/she has any high risks of getting down syndrome.
They have the Oscar or Panorama test. Oscar are 95% accuracy while Panorama has 99% accuracy. Oscar is definitely cheaper but Panorama could also check the gender of the baby.
We had to make the decision during the payment, so eventually we choose the Panorama test even though the doctor was shocked because he say i am still young and not really necessary to do that, but since there is a 4% difference of their accuracy so we went for Panorama.


Our first visit to Gynae came up to $310.30, we was given the option to pay for a package that cost $900 so this will cover all the medical appointment to gynae, including urine test. So it is usually more worthwhile to sign the $900 package. Afterall, we could claim this amount from medisave as long as we bring the receipt during my admission to hospital for delivery.

Our second visit to the gynae was on 20 Mar 2020. The total amount was $3268, $900 for the consultation package, $807 for the baby detailed scan, and $1561 was for the panorama scan.

During our 2nd visit, the baby has grown significantly! We can see more clearly the baby head, shape. The baby detailed scan took longer because it couldn't give the angle or view that the sonographer wanted, despite i try to move around but baby was not very cooperative.
Eventually i had to go walk around to see if the position of the baby can change.


After the scan, we collected the report and went back to the clinic for doctor review, so he was asking if we need them to seal the gender portion when the result is out because gender reveal party is common, but i wanted to know the gender so we told him to tell us when the report is out.

However even before i was pregnant, i kinda of know that i will be having a boy next time, because i prefer girls over boy so life will purposely give u the reverse. Hahaha i was very sure it was going to be a boy, for Jeremy, he has no preference, so we have a bet with some of my closer friends, we have the team boy and team girl. Loser team will have to do a forfeit which is giving the winner team each a cup of chi cha san qian! Hahaha. i was very sure i would win. 

So on 31 Mar 2020, the nurse called me and told me the report shows that everything is normal,  before she ask if i want to know the gender of the baby. I say yes, and she say..
'It's a boy'. my reaction was pretty calm as i replied her 'ok, thanks'.
Hahaha maybe she sense me being too calm, she ask me why? I wanted a girl isit? Hahaha, i told her yea so she ask me to try for the next project. But i feel if we have a 2nd child next time, it will still be a boy. oh well. When i did an online vote poll on my instagram, i was pretty surprised most of my friends vote for a boy. Lucky i didn't bet with them. Haha

As long as the baby is healthy, the gender doesn't mattar so much now. 
This was another visit when i went back to collect the report and the doctor did a scan, he told me this is the best shot he could capture because my baby is very active, previously we saw how he will bounce around and this time, he was moving around and escape the doctor reading when he want to capture his heartbeat. 

During the 1st trimester, even though i am having a boy, but my morning sickness could get pretty serious, every morning when i woke up, i would gag and on few occasions when it got really bad, i would vomit acid and it was horrible. Sometimes when i already had my breakfast and i will still vomit afterwards. So, i guess it's not true when they say bad morning sickness only applies when you are having a baby girl. 

I will be updating more on my pregnancy journey again.
shall end this post for now!







Saturday, January 25, 2020

Chinese New Year 2020




Hello readers! Wishing everyone a Happy Lunar New Year in 2020!
As we usually celebrate chinese new year for 15 days, so this is a consolidated post of my different gathering with relatives, family and friends!

This year is also the first time we are celebrating CNY at our new house. So unlike my mum who really put in 101% effort in chinese new year. I put in the bare minimum. Bought some simple chinese new year decor, but spring cleaning is a must so i have schedule on days such that it is not too tedious for us and clean every corner of our house to welcome the new year!

Bought some simple CNY goodies so that it doesn't look so empty even though i might not have many visitors coming over. Haha




JY told me i don't need to buy pineapple tarts as her mum is making so she give me 2, which is good!







During chinese new year, lao yu sheng is one of the tradition practise in many house, so i can't remember how many yusheng i have lao, but it was not limited to one!
Even though it was supposed to be a joyous occasion but during the eve of new year, Jeremy and i had a big fight, so we was suppose to be home at his parents house for reunion dinner, i was trying to do some last min cleaning so we can go out on time, as i have to work half day, so the schedule was quite tight so i was trying to ask him to stop using his phone and help out, and he refused to listen, so we ended up in a big fight, i never give in during quarrels so when he ask me to shut up, i talk loudly so that probably how our argument didn't ends and i was so mad and eventually i did everything myself, but i was not going to join him for the reunion dinner with his family.

It was so frustrating and i can't understand why one cannot just put down his phone and do whatever he need to do before using back the phone. He probably understand that i was not going to go back with him, so after our big fight, then he try to help out but too late cos i was so mad.

Eventually he went back to his parent house, while i complained to my parents so they came to pick me up in the evening and i went back to help them with all the praying etc.


Cheeky duffy when we try to put on the gold necklace around her. Hahaha



The usual practice for my mum is to decorate the whole house with CNY decors.
With lots of cny goodies in the house.
After our usual praying which starts at 12am, dad bring us to Loyang temple to pray, it was less crowded as we reach around 1-2am. It was also the first time i came along with them. Haha

This year CNY angbao that i packed for the kids! I think i bought too much so there were extras.


After the praying, dad send me back home, by then i saw he was already sleeping like a dead log, initially i thought he won't return but he came back.
Haha and we was on cold war for at least 1 week plus ignoring each other existence. He went on with his own visiting while i went with mine. I went back home and play with Duffy!



Had my usual CNY day 1 feast!

As usual in the afternoon during CNY day 1, my relatives would come over and had steamboat dinner hosted by my parents.


In the past, we usually visit all our relatives day and try to squeeze everyone house in one day, but we realise its too taxing and because it usually is eating non stop. So our cousins decided to choose 2 house per year and it will be on rotate basis, so we just need to visit 1 house in the afternoon and 1 more in the evening til late.

This year is my 7th uncle house and evening was at my cousin house.
First stop at my uncle house! Haha he set up two tables for bbq and steamboat for us.  I like it when we just need to go and visit and eat. Hosting could be tiring. Haha



And evening time was gambling session at my cousin house!
We had our fair share of lao yusheng!
This year i only hosted once at my house with my colleagues! Haha, we had bbq steamboat dinner and gambling session again. They say its a good year for goat, but kinda bullshit cos i been losing money ok! tsk.
They was taking all sort of available stuff in my house to help them in winning. LOL
This year we was invited by Jeremy colleague house for CNY gathering, with lion dance performance. But it was a short one because Jeremy and his colleague had to attend some CNY gathering in the evening so we stay for awhile before he will join his colleagues, on the other hand, i have gathering with another group of friends. Luckily it was just nearby so i went to my friend house after that. Haha
I was the first one to reach Yuna house as usual. Hahahaha, she order all this feast for hosting!

As it was Day 8, I couldn't stay long so i left about 8plus as i need to go back my mum house to help my parents in praying. Only for hokkien dialect, they usually pray 天公 on CNY Day 9. Even though i married Jeremy and he is Teochew but this tradition has never end so far at my own family side.



My last gathering was on the last day of CNY, at Alex house. It was also the first time we visit his house for some board game session! He win all of our money this year, so next year i going to invite him to win back all the $$. Hahahaha.

Overall CNY has been fun in catching up with relatives and friends! As this CNY is pretty short, there was only like 2 weekends before it ends so i didn't manage to arrange meet up with many other group of friends but it's ok, we can catch up some other day!

Shall end this post for now.
Till then!