A New Arrival

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The day before our baby was due, I had a burst of energy and bought a few things with my husband to stock the fridge. I had this strange feeling of needing to pay my bills but decided against it. Should have gone with my gut feeling. The next day, I saw some bleeding. Oh boy. I had been having Braxton Hicks for a few nights since the last gynecologist appointment and it seemed that our daughter wanted to see the world before December. I called my husband first and he asked if I was in pain. I wasn’t feeling the contractions yet and told him to return home first. Tried calling my mother but her mobile was engaged. In the end, I called my father who drove from the other end of Singapore to our side. While waiting for both men to arrive, I was packing the hospital bag with final stuff. Eventually, they arrived and I went down to my father’s car. Luckily, I had charged my new portable battery charger the day I bought it.

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The journey to the hospital was full of questions and some red lights. All the time, I was asked if I was alright. No contractions yet. Upon reaching, we asked the location of the delivery suites and went there since I was still able to walk. The nurse took charge and monitored my stomach for contractions after I changed into the gown that covered just the front. About 30 minutes later, she returned to check on my cervix to make sure that it was opened before she could admit me in and call my gynecologist. I was 1.5cm opened. Baby was coming into this world. Then, I was given something to move my bowels. That was a little painful and I was worried about popping before I was ready. When my gynecologist arrived, I was only 2cm dialated and the contractions were still 10 minutes apart. I was still able to enjoy laying down. That was when he put me on drip to hasten the contraction process. About 2 hours later, I was feeling worse as the contractions were getting close to 3 minutes apart. I was crying in pain and my husband helped to call the nurse who put a gas mask on me. I breathed fast but wasn’t supposed to. I was reminded by my husband who held the gas mask to breathe slow but the contractions were really painful and I asked for epidural. The nursed checked on my cervix but it was 7cm dialated. No more pain relief was available except for the gas. All I could think of was crap! I did push when the mother of all contractions hit me together with some crap. Told my husband I wanted to go to the toilet. My gynecologist had arrived by then. He had estimated that I would ne ready by 9pm but I was early. Things got real busy once I gave my first push with a cry. Was told not to waste my energy on crying. It wasn’t easy because of the pain but I managed. All the while, my husband was beside me rubbing my arm as I cringed in pain. The bed was converted into a delivery style quite fast and I was encouraged to push real long with my first push. No crowning as I didn’t hold my breath long enough. It wasn’t easy holding my thighs close to my body and still push with all my might. Two nurses helped and in the end, my gynecologist said he would help because our daughter had drunk her own poop. I was taking too long. It wasn’t good for her. Somehow, the sight of the forceps assured me and our daughter was finally born. I was relieved and hoped the placenta would be less painful and quick. Thankfully, it was fast. Our daughter was placed on me when her cord was cut. Husband didn’t have the honours, oh well. He gave me a kiss upon the arrival of our little girl. That was truly love. While waiting for my stitches to be done, my husband was busy answering messages and phone calls from both our fathers. He had to hold the oxygen mask for our daughter so that the nurse could prepare the essential tools to clear our daughter’s stomach of poop. I was guilty of not trying harder. I was given time to rest and not allowed to sit up as I had used the mask and just given birth. After some time, I was wheeled into a ward, I never took note of the ward number as I was too tired. Moving from bed to bed was draining and painful but I managed somehow. I started to feel cold for the first time after the birth. Even though it was nearly midnight, I still had visitors despite my husband telling his family that the visiting hours were over. My parents visited me in the morning. All I could do during the rest in the hospital was feed the baby and myself. All done rather painfully. Now, I’m feeling better because I just needed time to rest my wounds and body.

The Third Trimester

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The third trimester consisted of sleep, eat, toilet breaks. Plenty of toilet breaks at night if I drank too much water in the evening. It wasn’t easy with the waking up and insomnia after the toilet breaks. I was counting down to delivery day and it reached a stage whereby I was in I-want-baby-out-now-but-painlessly stage.

Husband was out everyday with his job and daily overtime. I was frustrated with his boss’ silly and incredulous deadlines that would never be met. So was he. One thing he could do was buy supper if he could reach home at 11pm, my usual food craving time. The best husband, in my opinion.

I couldn’t sit too long or lay down too long. I would get backache after that but sleepiness was often after me in the day. Thus, I had short bursts of energy on certain days. Those days often rained and only one or two times did I manage to get out to buy food when I didn’t have the energy to cook. Cooking meant standing for too long and my soles couldn’t take it.

Every time I stand, there was this feeling of something about to drop between my legs. I kept checking the date as I wasn’t at least 36 weeks yet. When I hit 36th week, I was relieved and nervous because questions were running through my mind.

I wondered how much pain from the contractions I could tolerate. I wondered if I would need epidural in the end. I wondered if the crowning of the baby would be more painful when she finally arrived.

There were so many questions in my head but I kept wondering most of all, would I breathe correctly during the labour?

Missing Food to Make up After Birth

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There are many kinds of food that I’ve not been able to have during this pregnancy. Therefore, I want to eat them after the confinement period. Can’t wait to hold our child’s hands. Just a few more weeks to go and I can see her toothless smile. They say any child’s toothless smile is way too cute to be missed.

Food I Miss (a lot)

Mango Sticky Rice, never mind that Singapore does not have the best but I do miss the Thai version.

Mint Choco Ice cream, my favourite flavour followed by vanilla.

Oreo Cheesecake, not sure if I’m allowed during the pregnancy since I’m supposed to keep my weight in good progress.

Watermelon, one is too much since there is only my husband and me in our love nest. It is supposed to help with water retention, hence, I have been restricting myself to one slice every few weeks.

Dragonfruit, I have no idea how it may affect the baby since I haven’t been eating it. Apparently, no craving for this at this point. Looks like baby has inherited her daddy’s taste buds for certain fruits.

Grapes, my god, I miss having grapes. Haven’t eaten too much since the elders said the baby will have too much phlegm.

Orange juice, not a fan of the orange as I prefer the juice. Can’t have too many since phlegm issue again.

Dark chocolate, my favourite, especially the 75% cocoa flavour. Royce has a flavour that I happen to like, if I remember correctly, it should be their Bitter Chocolate falvour. I still have one packet expiring in Jan 2013 though. I think I can eat one tiny piece once a week. Right?

That’s what I can think of for now. Maybe there are more, let’s see how.

Ultrasound Scans

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Since the discovery of my pregnancy, I had booked appointments with a gynecologist and each time, there would be an ultrasound to check on the progress of the baby. The first time I heard the heartbeat of the fetus, was really an “awe” moment. At that point, she was just the size of a small grape.

Subsequent ultrasound scans showed the growth and when we finally knew the gender, I felt a sense of identity. Instead of calling it, I was finally able to call “her”. Different people had different reactions but they usually asked if I was alright with the baby being a girl. I would like a healthy child, seriously, a healthy child is so much easy to look after.

At one of the ultrasound scans, I had an amusing time watching her doing some backward swimming. The space was still wide enough for her to move her whole body but I was still unable to feel her movements yet as it wasn’t at least 17 weeks.

I found that my baby girl is rather shy as she likes to hide herself. The recent 3D scan showed her covering her face with her left arm, squashing her nose and cheeks. We didn’t see half her face. Apparently, the best time to see 3D scan is between 26 to 30 weeks. My appointment was at the right period but she decided to hide her face. Looks like we would have to wait till her arrival.

Meanwhile, I can feel her activity daily. Still training her to know that she should sleep when it is night. So far, the constant communication works.

The First Trimester

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Figured that it’s time to update so that I can have some memories of my first pregnancy. Obvious sign was the missing menstration. I didn’t buy the pregnancy test kit immediately, just wanted to wait for it. However, I did suspect that I was pregnant because other changes to the body was happening.

Finally, after a few days, I could not get rid of the nagging feeling and bought a test kit, I was debating between the one which would display the number of weeks that I was pregnant and the one that just stated that I was pregnant. In the end, I got the cheaper one, $11 for a test kit just to tell me I wa pregnant.

I drank a lot of water before entering the toilet to test it. My hands were shaking so much that I was worried about missing the mark but I finally made it. When the result showed, I was shaking even more. It felt surreal. “I’m pregnant?” was what went on in my mind. Showing the result to my DD, his reaction was, “What does that mean?” I gave him the box. Then, he passed back the kit to me and went on watching his drama. Doh!

The usual symptoms:

  • Swelling of the mammary glands (breasts)
  • Shortness of breaths
  • Frequent toilet trips
  • Eating every now and then (almost every 2 hours)
  • Agitated easily (normally, I would be able to ignore trivial things)
  • Food craving (Chee Cheong Fun – with only sesame oil and soy sauce, Zhui Kway, KFC’s Whipped Potato, Wendy’s Baked Potato, Cheese flavoured anything)
  • Nausea and vomit
  • Sleep (all I cared about was just sleep, nothing else mattered and I wanted to sleep the whole pregnancy away)
  • Insomnia at night

The nausea was difficult to handle as I didn’t have any appetite but I wanted to make sure the baby had something. However, I could stomach only a few food, eggs and food cravings. The Whipped Potato was harder on DD as he was the one who had to go out at 9.30pm to satisfy my craving. At first, he was bewildered since he was tired from work. However, if he was working overtime, he would call and ask me at 8.30pm to check on my appetite and buy on his way home.

I had vomited a hard boiled egg, soy bean drink and a little blood. The blood came about because it was morning, I had just bathed to get ready for work and ate nothing yet. However, the body just wanted to vomit something out and all I spat was saliva and some blood. As long as I wasn’t vomiting throughout the day, I wasn’t too worried since I kept buying Chee Cheong Fun for breakfast at work.

Food that I could eat:

  • Porridge
  • Soup
  • Instant noodles (soup based)
  • Boiled potato and carrots

With the lack of appetite, I lost 1kg. Not bad since my colleague lost 10kg in her 1st trimester due to thyroid that was finally discovered in her 3rd month. She was so worried for her 2nd pregnancy, now, all is well since her boy is now born healthy.

Then, the unexpected happened. Eczema, the horrors. In a way, I am still able to function because it’s just my hands but I can’t touch water too much. Every time I wash my hands, I have to moisterise it. It’s the only way to keep my hands less painful. Those who did not have eczema would not understand how I feel, it’s a painful and horrible experience. I’m unable to wash the dishes unless I wear gloves. Currently, I’m resorting to latex gloves for now. Else, the dishes will attract magots.

Unexpected Symptoms:

  • Eczema
  • Bland taste buds (boiled water, mineral water were my enemies)
  • Drooling at night during my sleep (resorted to putting a face towel on my pillow just in case)

I’m glad that the 1st trimester is now over. It felt long because of the nausea. It felt short because I was basically sleeping during the day and tossing at night. I didn’t announce my pregnancy in the 1st trimester, by the time an ex-colleague of mine gave birth, the timing was just right and she saw my slightly bulging tummy. Apparently, I started showing quite early, from 11 weeks. I was about 15 weeks when I went to visit her during her maternity leave.

Overcoming the 1st trimester was through sheer determination.

By 2030, Your Current Salary May Be in Low Income Range

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Inflation. It’s happening at a rate that’s faster than your income range. Somehow, it was never raised, no matter what. Perhaps the increment was so minute that I haven’t really noticed it. However, I do know one thing for sure, I feel underpaid for some of the things I do. It has always been this way since I started work.

A starting salary of an engineer is still S$1200 to S$1500, if I’m right. Even if you are a Degree holder, you still get paid from S$1500 to S$1800. Right now, those in the combined household income range of S$3000 are considered as low income. In future, the combined household income range of S$8000 may be considered as low income. A monthly salary of S$3000 by 2030 may be considered as low income.

A middle income range could be from S$6000 to S$10000. It sounds very scary now. By then, no one will be able to afford any housing, not even a studio flat.

Disclaimer: I have not done any intensive research on the inflation and any calculations based on inflation rate of 5% per month. This is just purely my guess and a stab at the future of money.

Before It Was Called JCube

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My earliest memories of being to a cinema for the first time was with my father and my younger siblings. It was during Chinese New Year and my father wanted to bring us out for a movie. Looking back, it was a movie that he was more interested in watching than us. We were still young and there wasn’t a lot of movies that were children friendly unlike now.

JCube had just opened and it was known as Jurong Entertainment Centre back then. My father always liked to experience new places and there, he brought the three of us to watch a Jackie Chan movie, I think it was Jackie Chan, either that was Stephen Chow’s New Year movie. All I remember was that I kept my dual time watch in my back, took out the jacket in the dark cinema and the next thing I knew when I got home was that the watch was lost. I loved that watch because I could programme it with another time zone.

Unfortunately, at that time, the only watch maker that made affordable dual time watches was Casio. That was what my parents could afford. I was also unfortunately allergy to the rubber watch strap, so, thinking that it would be alright to store in the bag, I just stuffed it in. I can’t remember much of the movie but the place was full of people during its first months. However, over the years, less people were found there as Jurong Point in Boon Lay opened with more shops. Not that Jurong East didn’t have any shops outside of Jurong Entertainment Centre, it was just that the cinema seats were no longer comfortable.

New shopping centres had more leg room and the place lost its charm except for the bowling alley (which was forever fully booked) and the ice skating rink. McDonald’s and KFC survived there quite well because they are established brands. I still remember this small shop that sold perfume, the space was tiny and no moving space, there wasn’t much customers either.

At the low peak of the centre’s life, it was so easy to go there and no worries about being bumped by large shopping bags. Eventually, it was demolished and now it is called JCube with a spanking new ice skating rink fit for ice hockey tournaments. I don’t know if they included the bowling alley but the ice skating rink is now in full view from upper levels too.

While the old building was easy to stroll in, it was losing too much money with too little shops and no life. I never did take any photos of the old design before it was demolished. Other memories included spending time at McDonald’s with my Secondary school friends once after a movie. It was so easy to just talk and forget about the time. In addition, I have no memory of the movie we watched though.

Singapore Got Talent

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It might be laughable but I always believe that Singapore has talent, just the severe lack of sponsors willing to believe in Singaporeans. Yes, maybe 5 million people is small but, surely, out of every 10 people, you find graduates? So, out of every 10 people, there should be one person with the singing talent or piano playing skills?

Talent is not just a one time thing, it has to be nurtured patiently. That’s what I believe. If someone can dance very well, that person just need to concentrate on dancing. Academic results have proven themselves over time; they don’t get you the CEO position the moment you graduate. Neither do the best academic results guarantee you the salary of SGD 6,000 per month the moment you get that degree. Nothing against jobs but over the years, it has been proven again and again.

We just need sponsors willing to have the belief and faith in the talents here in Singapore, sponsor them for at least 10 years. That’s if they start off as 5 years old with enough potential shown and the ability to stick to the activity such as piano, badminton, tennis, etc. Don’t just aim for instant results, no one will find pride in it when the real talents are sent overseas for Olympics or any other international competitions. There isn’t a sense of pride. Just look at the Paralympics London 2012. Those are local talents sent to compete. The sense of pride in even just a bronze medal was there.

Anyone willing to believe and have faith in locals here to sponsor for the next 10 years? Let’s see.

The Honeymoon – Taiwan

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Immediately after the wedding, we flew to Taiwan using JetStar Asia. 1.15am flight and it was the first time I took a flight at that timing. I fell asleep only for a short while despite being tired. The seat was uncomfortable for the 4.5 hours. I don’t expect the seats to be very comfortable for a budget airline, so I won’t harp on it. Just very glad that there were no kids on board the same flight.

We spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to get to the hotel because the only way out of Taoyuan Airport was by bus and there is no train connected. An absolute mystery to us. Asking the friendly counter service was no issue, they guided us to the counter to purchase the tickets and we were soon on our way to Taipei Train Station, the interchange, I call it. It is connected to their various train types, from the bullet style trains to what we call in Singapore, MRT.

Toilets were inside the stations even after the gantry because the route from one train type to another was long. Really long. Along the way, there were shops selling food and other stuff, I wanted to get some train souvenirs but the shop was always closed. Apparently, we kept going there after closing hours and before opening hours. We have no idea what time it opens any way.

Finally, we reached Ximending as the hotel was located near there. Choosing that area was not an issue, it was recommended as the happening place. Unfortunately for us, I felt that we were over the age of the youth, there was absolutely nothing for us to buy back for our family. All the stuff were too youthful. Perhaps to the point of being very teenage-ish.

Since we were unable to check in yet, we had lunch somewhere in Ximending. I can’t recall what we had for lunch since this is a rather belated post. Upon checking in, we were dismayed by the condition of the room door. It was just a normal door knob with a key and the door chain.

I was glad that the husband is never a fan of staying at the same hotel for the whole trip. I even had a cockroach running up my leg on the last night of our stay! Always let the housekeeping clear the rubbish bin. We didn’t because we needed sleep. Desperately needed sleep and the result was a cockroach.

The first thing about the security was that we were napping upon check in and at 5pm, Taiwan time, I heard someone opening and closing the room doors. When ours was opened, we couldn’t sleep any more. Husband went to check but the culprit was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, we had put on the door chain before the nap. It totally made us want to leave but there was no hotel rooms available in other hotels yet. We are so not going back to Relite Hotel. The breakfast was not appealing either. We ended up having breakfast at Yonghe Doujiang House in Ximending, almost for 4 days.

No other breakfast exist there except for this shop selling crepe. They seem to have a thing for crepes. We changed to Ximen Hotel on our 3rd day of stay. It was so much better, complete with a small bath tub, husband’s favourite form of relaxing.

We spent the days mostly in Taipei because we had no idea how to get to the rural farms without being lost. Somehow, we ended up eating McDonald’s a few times. The difference there is that they have corn soup in McDonald’s but no corn soup in Mos Burger. The opposite is in Singapore.

One common animal we saw in Taipei were dogs, well-groomed dogs and those tea cup sized dogs. The dogs would be unleashed outside a shop waiting for their owners despite the smell of food in the night markets. Most dog owners would not leash them during the walks. It was really amazing how well-trained the dogs are.

Overall, in Taipei, it’s all about food. We did get to Taipei 101 but on a rainy day, the day Lady Gaga was supposed to come out of W Hotel near Taipei Central Station. I wanted to take a quick photo and post it to Facebook but she refused to come out after 30 minutes with the rain getting heavier. I decided that it was time to experience Taipei 101 and forget about being in Taiwan at the same time as Lady Gaga.

The day we left Taiwan, Yoon Eun Hye arrived. Gah!

The Wedding Banquet

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The actual day went by like a flash. All I can remember is waking up early, calling the husband so that we can comb our hair at the same time in our parents’ homes. I realised later on that he slept only a few hours, about 2 hours. I don’t quite remember what time I slept but I did try to sleep early since the makeup artiste was to arrive at 5am.

The Chinese custom requires a certain timing, or in this case, the mother-in-law wanted a fixed time. My advice is to get the person (monk or someone who knows how to look at the customs) to recommend a time to fetch the bride before a certain time instead of a fixed time. This helps because in the current times, we are not exactly known for being punctual.

I was in the room for the last time and waited while I hear my sisters teasing the groom and his brothers. I could hear loud laughter and the only result I could see was from the photographer who took lots of photos so that I could at least have a glimpse of what lapsed in the time I could not be there to witness the process. With strict instructions of no sweet, sour, bitter and spicy food from the elders, the sisters relied on games that my biological sister bought a few years back. Thank God for that.

Puzzles are not my husband’s forte and I knew it would help in occupying the time. His friends were game enough to do whatever the sisters requested. Though I did say no physical exercise.

Eventually, we spent 2 hours on outdoor photo shoots because there was a specific time that we could enter my mother-in-law’s place. All of us were dehydrated from the strong sun. I was practically dried out and felt slightly feverish after the banquet.

We spent a lot of time on the tea ceremony and photo-taking because the husband has a lot of relatives and young cousins. Those young cousins range from a few months old to married ones.

Eventually, we managed to reach the hotel at the time that my husband had planned, 2pm. Drained out, I still had to remove the makeup and change into something light to sleep or rather nap for a short while. 30 minutes to be exact. There were so many other arrangements like having some food before the banquet, Chinese banquets allow the guests to eat to their fill while the couple being married get to eat room service food. Husband commented that “I spent so much money on the whole thing and get nothing to eat.” He spent on the catering at his mother’s place too. We didn’t eat a single thing there as I had to change into a short dress. The gown was too hot to continue wearing by then.

When evening came, we had to wait for the eldest in my husband’s family before we could proceed with the appetizer. I wanted to start at 7pm sharp but somehow, traffic trapped the eldest member, of all people, he had to be the one being trapped in the traffic. The comforting part was that the banquet started at 8.15pm instead of 8.30pm.

Photo-taking as usual and speech by my two wonderful friends. I found a wedding singer who found two other companions to sing duets as I had a preference for duets and she found a guitarist. She provided her services for free as she is learning the industry, by now, I’m not sure if she is charging but her commitment was what I liked. Good singing voice too.

Just like that, the banquet ended with a lot of handshaking and encouragement to have a Dragon baby. When we finally slept, I think it was 2am that we finally got into bed. Breakfast was taking in the hotel as we had to check out in the evening so that we could fly to Taiwan at 1.15am on Monday.