O is quietly sleeping next to me while I type this. I cannot believe he has been with us for 7 weeks 1 day. His face has changed so much from when he just came out. He has grown to more than 5kg now. He has become taller/longer by 3cm too.
The last time we went to the polyclinic, the nurse said that his weight and height were at the 90th percentile, while his head circumference was at the 97th percentile.
I am just glad that you are growing well, O! :)
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Birth Story of O - Mommy's Recount
It has been a very long time since I last updated this blog. I had meant to do it sooner after I delivered as the memory would still be very clear but I was very pre-occupied with feeding Oliver and resting during this confinement month.
How should I start?
Our baby boy, Oliver, was born at Mount Elizabeth Novena (MEN) Hospital on 30 August 2016 at 7.46pm. He weighed 3.87kg and was 54cm long/tall. When the nurse/staff did the measurement, she exclaimed that Oliver was a huge baby, like an angmoh baby. I was honestly surprised myself that he was that long. I kind of guessed that he would weigh around 3.8kg since both S and I were born at that weight ;p
I actually started having pre-labour signs like heavier and pink discharge since the Sunday, 28 August 2016, but I was in some kind of a denial. I was hoping/praying that Oliver would come out in September, on 8 September 2016, to be exact. This was because my gynae, Dr PT was away from 27 August till 7 September. Of course, I would want him to be the one who delivered my baby since he was aware of my baby's development since the very beginning. Also, my parents said that August is still the 7th month in lunar calendar which was not very ideal in their opinions. September would have been the 8th month and generally Chinese like 8 more, I guess.
Till that day, I still have not completely packed my hospital bag; the cot was still not set-up and the car seat was still in the box. S kept on asking me if we should set up all those things but I kept saying there was no need to since Oliver was not coming out yet.
Then come Monday, 29 August 2016. I still went to work as per normal. I felt kind of moody and asked S to go out, instead of heading back home, for dinner, and we decided to go to VivoCity. I searched for the one last outstanding item to be packed into my hospital bag, a nursing top (which was totally unnecessary, by the way). Then I went to the toilet, and saw more red, no longer pink, discharge. I went on full alert mode; I called my hypnobirthing instructor, Yen, and checked with her if I was in labour already. She asked if I was having surges/contractions, and I said no. She said the real labour would start when the surges/contractions kicked in. I decided to be cool about it, and not alert S as he was having his massage.
We still had a leisurely (read very slow) dinner at Jamie's Italian, which was not great. Told S about my discharge matter-of-factly and spent the dinner time observing other tables with babies/toddlers, and we were telling ourselves how our lives would change after Oliver.
We headed home, and I packed whatever I could into the hospital bag minus my toiletries (because I would still need them), bathed and went to sleep. In my third trimester, I usually woke up once every night to pee, and likewise, I woke up at around 4 AM to go to the toilet, and noticed more red discharge. I didn't want to think much of it, but I could not go back to sleep, and I was pretty sure that I was having surges/contractions. I do not really experience menstrual cramps, but the surges/contractions I felt was more like tightening of the stomach. When the sensation started to get more frequent, I decided to wake S up. He started timing the surges in his half awake state. The surges were very short, like around 15-20secs. I could not remember the actual frequency, though.
At around 5 plus AM, I decided to get up and washed up. Even though I was still in denial, I decide to pack my toiletries into the hospital bag just in case I was going to deliver on that day, 30 August 2016. S also started to get ready and we set up the cot, i.e. putting the bed sheet and the pillow/bolster cases on. I breathed through the surges just as I was taught and I would say that I was doing very well; I could still walk around and do whatever I wanted to, of course while still timing the surges.
When the surges got to 60secs long, S notified his parents that we were going to the hospital, and the parents started to get ready too as they were coming along to the hospital. Then it started raining, so it was good that we left early just in case there would be traffic jam. While in the car, I listened to the Relaxation recording to stay calm. However, the surges became less frequent and shorter too. I guess what Yen was true: as we move from a familiar environment (home/bedroom) to an unfamiliar environment, surges tend to slow down as we feel less secure.
We reached MEN within half an hour despite the rain, and I didn't want to get myself admitted so early (something that Yen told me as well, to prevent further surges slowdown) as I was still feeling fine, and wanted the surges to progress more first. By the way, while on the way to MEN, I started contacting my family members, my colleagues and Yen that I might be in labour. So the next thing we did, was to get breakfast at Starbucks. I could still remember that I ordered Croque Monsieur which tasted not bad. Haha. As I was having my breakfast, the surges grew even shorter and further apart. My MIL was getting very concerned and wanted me to get admitted ASAP to check on the baby's condition. Finally, we relented to her request at around 10 AM.
As we approached the business office to get admitted, a lady from the reception told us to go up to the delivery suite directly instead. She actually asked if I was there to be induced; I guess I did not look like someone who was in labour ;p She also offered me a wheelchair which I turned down. Turned out that it was because the nurses at the delivery suite would have to assess my condition first to decide if I should get admitted, which made sense. Otherwise, once I admitted myself, the charges would start rolling.
The walk to the delivery suite was like a maze; I had expected that the walk there would be more straight forward, just in case there is an urgent delivery case. The delivery suite was very quiet; I guess nobody was giving birth at that point in time. There was a nurse, A, at the counter. She asked for all the documentation and she told me that I needed to wait around 15 minutes while they clean up the last available delivery room. There were a few seats outside the suites, and we settled down there for a while. I could see Adeline making a few phone calls to rush another party, saying that a patient is already waiting (I am guessing she was referring to me). I also pointed out to her that I had a birth plan; she briefly looked through it and she said whatever I wrote align with the hospital policy, which was great.
Finally at 10 plus AM, I was led to my room (number 331 if I am not mistaken), and was asked to change into the hospital gown and lie down on the bed. By the way, in the delivery room, only the husbands are allowed so my in-laws had to wait outside. After changing, A went through my birth plan again, in more detail now, and advised me on the contingency plan, just in case my plan fell through. I was glad she did that, as it made me feel more secure that the nurses would actually read and follow my birth plan (I should probably post my birth plan; it was pretty epic: handwritten on some-sort of a piece of foolscap paper).
Not long after, she did the vaginal examination and I was already 5cm dilated then, so admitted I was. I was told that the dilation can proceed at 1cm/hour. I was quite hopeful that I would see my baby by the afternoon. I was then given the enema to clear my bowel. Man, that was powerful. I don't have the habit of pooing in public toilets, but I was glad that there was a toilet in the delivery room. It was also very clean!
Between then till 3pm, I experienced more and longer contractions, I thought I should be progressing well. At around 3pm, another nurse did another examination, and to my horror, I only increased by 1cm to 6cm. I was quite disappointed and upset; what Yen said was really true, contractions may slow down in a foreign environment.
They continued to monitor me with the external monitoring. Sometimes, contractions happened during the monitoring and the nurse said that my contractions were very strong, probably due to the size of the baby. The contractions were pretty bearable till around 5pm-ish, I think. The nurse asked for the pain level and I said, when the contractions came, the level went up to 13/10. S was pretty shocked too. After that, I discussed with him if I should take any pain relief. At that point in time, I wanted to stick to my stand on not using any intervention for pain relief. But when the contraction came again, I was like, heck, I need pain relief there and then!
We consulted the nurse and she said at that point in time, I should have been further dilated and hence it was not advisable to take epidural already. What I could take, though, was the laughing gas. However, there was the side effect that I would be dizzy. By the way, S had to be the one passing me the mask for me to inhale the laughing gas. The gas was available beside the bed. I took what I could, and the laughing gas did help a little when the contractions came.
However, as labour progresses, I felt the effect of the laughing gas thinning of. At one point, I was scrambling for the mask and even though I inhaled very deeply, nothing came out. Guess I was not breathing properly; I think I was supposed to breathe through the nose. But when you were in such pain, you kind of threw all logic out of the window. The nurse also asked to be informed when I had the urge to bear down/ pass motion.
From then on, everything was a blur to me. I guess it would have been more accurate to read S' post. By then, I had inhaled way too much laughing gas, I was high (as one of the nurses said). I could not really say anything. I could feel my water broke, or something else. I just felt that it was very wet down there. And because I don't have the habit of passing motion in public, I was just holding the urge in, which made me even more in pain.
I was searching for the laughing gas but was no longer administered any. One of the nurses said it was time to call in the doctor, Dr EC. I am not sure if they did more examination. By then, I was lying on my left side, hugging the bed side panels because I was in so much pain. Not long after, EC came, and I remembered screaming a few times. Someone, probably A, asked me not to scream. I also remembered A told me that she stayed back to see me birth my baby. I was actually very touched by that. Then, the pain returned. A asked if I would like her to guide me (I mentioned in the birth plan to not allow anyone to coach me in the breathing/pushing), and I readily said yes.
From then on, I was just trying to listen to A and to release myself. I remember I was still holding it in, i.e. not bearing down because of the resistance to "shit" in public. I remember my arms and legs flying around, trying to grab something to hold on to. After a few pushes, out came O. Honestly, the experience was really like passing motion, a HUGE one. I did have a constipation experience once that gave me the same level of pain.
I was still dizzy then, and I remembered A telling me "Well done!". She really helped me through out the birthing process, I really cannot thank her enough! After which, they tried to put O on my chest, but my umbilical cord was too short, and I felt the strain. S cut the cord (as per our birth plan) shortly after so O can be placed on my chest. I did not cry like how I saw videos of people who just gave birth, probably because I was still dizzy from the laughing gas.
After I sobered up, I then realised how chubby O was, and S was standing next to me. Nurses asked me to try to breastfeed O immediately while Dr EC did some stitching down there; there was a tear, but not much, as I heard from S afterwards.
O and I bonded for quite some time. I guess S was busy updating people of O's arrival. Then it was time to weigh and measure him. After the nurse wrapped him up, he was put next to me on the bed and we were then wheeled to the maternity ward. I was feeling very good and sober then, I even had the time to Instagram story it (too bad I forgot to save it!).
I honestly could not believe that I birthed a baby. The experience was very surreal!
And the recovery time for the natural birth was so fast that I was amazed myself. Basically once I sobered up, I experienced no pain whatsoever down there. I was quite worried when I had to pee, but my worries were unfounded. I was also given a salt bath container for my down there. Dr EC said the recovery would be faster and all her patients said it was a good one.
Once we reached the maternity room, we settled down, and S and I could not believe that we just gave birth to a child. He was so tired that he knocked out soon after, without eating. I actually managed to catch some sleep here and there in the afternoon, and I guess after going through all the birth process, my adrenaline was still there, and I was wide awake. I got bored but did not want to disturb S by turning on the TV so I went to explore the room. MEN maternity ward really felt like a hotel room, if not for the bed. The toiletries were Crabtree & Evelyn, no less. I also went out of the room, wanting to explore or even go to the nursery in hope to see O. But the corridor was so empty so I chickened up. Hahaha
To be honest, I could still remember that day very clearly. It probably was the most momentous experience of my life! :)
How should I start?
Our baby boy, Oliver, was born at Mount Elizabeth Novena (MEN) Hospital on 30 August 2016 at 7.46pm. He weighed 3.87kg and was 54cm long/tall. When the nurse/staff did the measurement, she exclaimed that Oliver was a huge baby, like an angmoh baby. I was honestly surprised myself that he was that long. I kind of guessed that he would weigh around 3.8kg since both S and I were born at that weight ;p
I actually started having pre-labour signs like heavier and pink discharge since the Sunday, 28 August 2016, but I was in some kind of a denial. I was hoping/praying that Oliver would come out in September, on 8 September 2016, to be exact. This was because my gynae, Dr PT was away from 27 August till 7 September. Of course, I would want him to be the one who delivered my baby since he was aware of my baby's development since the very beginning. Also, my parents said that August is still the 7th month in lunar calendar which was not very ideal in their opinions. September would have been the 8th month and generally Chinese like 8 more, I guess.
Till that day, I still have not completely packed my hospital bag; the cot was still not set-up and the car seat was still in the box. S kept on asking me if we should set up all those things but I kept saying there was no need to since Oliver was not coming out yet.
Then come Monday, 29 August 2016. I still went to work as per normal. I felt kind of moody and asked S to go out, instead of heading back home, for dinner, and we decided to go to VivoCity. I searched for the one last outstanding item to be packed into my hospital bag, a nursing top (which was totally unnecessary, by the way). Then I went to the toilet, and saw more red, no longer pink, discharge. I went on full alert mode; I called my hypnobirthing instructor, Yen, and checked with her if I was in labour already. She asked if I was having surges/contractions, and I said no. She said the real labour would start when the surges/contractions kicked in. I decided to be cool about it, and not alert S as he was having his massage.
We still had a leisurely (read very slow) dinner at Jamie's Italian, which was not great. Told S about my discharge matter-of-factly and spent the dinner time observing other tables with babies/toddlers, and we were telling ourselves how our lives would change after Oliver.
We headed home, and I packed whatever I could into the hospital bag minus my toiletries (because I would still need them), bathed and went to sleep. In my third trimester, I usually woke up once every night to pee, and likewise, I woke up at around 4 AM to go to the toilet, and noticed more red discharge. I didn't want to think much of it, but I could not go back to sleep, and I was pretty sure that I was having surges/contractions. I do not really experience menstrual cramps, but the surges/contractions I felt was more like tightening of the stomach. When the sensation started to get more frequent, I decided to wake S up. He started timing the surges in his half awake state. The surges were very short, like around 15-20secs. I could not remember the actual frequency, though.
At around 5 plus AM, I decided to get up and washed up. Even though I was still in denial, I decide to pack my toiletries into the hospital bag just in case I was going to deliver on that day, 30 August 2016. S also started to get ready and we set up the cot, i.e. putting the bed sheet and the pillow/bolster cases on. I breathed through the surges just as I was taught and I would say that I was doing very well; I could still walk around and do whatever I wanted to, of course while still timing the surges.
When the surges got to 60secs long, S notified his parents that we were going to the hospital, and the parents started to get ready too as they were coming along to the hospital. Then it started raining, so it was good that we left early just in case there would be traffic jam. While in the car, I listened to the Relaxation recording to stay calm. However, the surges became less frequent and shorter too. I guess what Yen was true: as we move from a familiar environment (home/bedroom) to an unfamiliar environment, surges tend to slow down as we feel less secure.
We reached MEN within half an hour despite the rain, and I didn't want to get myself admitted so early (something that Yen told me as well, to prevent further surges slowdown) as I was still feeling fine, and wanted the surges to progress more first. By the way, while on the way to MEN, I started contacting my family members, my colleagues and Yen that I might be in labour. So the next thing we did, was to get breakfast at Starbucks. I could still remember that I ordered Croque Monsieur which tasted not bad. Haha. As I was having my breakfast, the surges grew even shorter and further apart. My MIL was getting very concerned and wanted me to get admitted ASAP to check on the baby's condition. Finally, we relented to her request at around 10 AM.
As we approached the business office to get admitted, a lady from the reception told us to go up to the delivery suite directly instead. She actually asked if I was there to be induced; I guess I did not look like someone who was in labour ;p She also offered me a wheelchair which I turned down. Turned out that it was because the nurses at the delivery suite would have to assess my condition first to decide if I should get admitted, which made sense. Otherwise, once I admitted myself, the charges would start rolling.
The walk to the delivery suite was like a maze; I had expected that the walk there would be more straight forward, just in case there is an urgent delivery case. The delivery suite was very quiet; I guess nobody was giving birth at that point in time. There was a nurse, A, at the counter. She asked for all the documentation and she told me that I needed to wait around 15 minutes while they clean up the last available delivery room. There were a few seats outside the suites, and we settled down there for a while. I could see Adeline making a few phone calls to rush another party, saying that a patient is already waiting (I am guessing she was referring to me). I also pointed out to her that I had a birth plan; she briefly looked through it and she said whatever I wrote align with the hospital policy, which was great.
Finally at 10 plus AM, I was led to my room (number 331 if I am not mistaken), and was asked to change into the hospital gown and lie down on the bed. By the way, in the delivery room, only the husbands are allowed so my in-laws had to wait outside. After changing, A went through my birth plan again, in more detail now, and advised me on the contingency plan, just in case my plan fell through. I was glad she did that, as it made me feel more secure that the nurses would actually read and follow my birth plan (I should probably post my birth plan; it was pretty epic: handwritten on some-sort of a piece of foolscap paper).
Not long after, she did the vaginal examination and I was already 5cm dilated then, so admitted I was. I was told that the dilation can proceed at 1cm/hour. I was quite hopeful that I would see my baby by the afternoon. I was then given the enema to clear my bowel. Man, that was powerful. I don't have the habit of pooing in public toilets, but I was glad that there was a toilet in the delivery room. It was also very clean!
Between then till 3pm, I experienced more and longer contractions, I thought I should be progressing well. At around 3pm, another nurse did another examination, and to my horror, I only increased by 1cm to 6cm. I was quite disappointed and upset; what Yen said was really true, contractions may slow down in a foreign environment.
They continued to monitor me with the external monitoring. Sometimes, contractions happened during the monitoring and the nurse said that my contractions were very strong, probably due to the size of the baby. The contractions were pretty bearable till around 5pm-ish, I think. The nurse asked for the pain level and I said, when the contractions came, the level went up to 13/10. S was pretty shocked too. After that, I discussed with him if I should take any pain relief. At that point in time, I wanted to stick to my stand on not using any intervention for pain relief. But when the contraction came again, I was like, heck, I need pain relief there and then!
We consulted the nurse and she said at that point in time, I should have been further dilated and hence it was not advisable to take epidural already. What I could take, though, was the laughing gas. However, there was the side effect that I would be dizzy. By the way, S had to be the one passing me the mask for me to inhale the laughing gas. The gas was available beside the bed. I took what I could, and the laughing gas did help a little when the contractions came.
However, as labour progresses, I felt the effect of the laughing gas thinning of. At one point, I was scrambling for the mask and even though I inhaled very deeply, nothing came out. Guess I was not breathing properly; I think I was supposed to breathe through the nose. But when you were in such pain, you kind of threw all logic out of the window. The nurse also asked to be informed when I had the urge to bear down/ pass motion.
From then on, everything was a blur to me. I guess it would have been more accurate to read S' post. By then, I had inhaled way too much laughing gas, I was high (as one of the nurses said). I could not really say anything. I could feel my water broke, or something else. I just felt that it was very wet down there. And because I don't have the habit of passing motion in public, I was just holding the urge in, which made me even more in pain.
I was searching for the laughing gas but was no longer administered any. One of the nurses said it was time to call in the doctor, Dr EC. I am not sure if they did more examination. By then, I was lying on my left side, hugging the bed side panels because I was in so much pain. Not long after, EC came, and I remembered screaming a few times. Someone, probably A, asked me not to scream. I also remembered A told me that she stayed back to see me birth my baby. I was actually very touched by that. Then, the pain returned. A asked if I would like her to guide me (I mentioned in the birth plan to not allow anyone to coach me in the breathing/pushing), and I readily said yes.
From then on, I was just trying to listen to A and to release myself. I remember I was still holding it in, i.e. not bearing down because of the resistance to "shit" in public. I remember my arms and legs flying around, trying to grab something to hold on to. After a few pushes, out came O. Honestly, the experience was really like passing motion, a HUGE one. I did have a constipation experience once that gave me the same level of pain.
I was still dizzy then, and I remembered A telling me "Well done!". She really helped me through out the birthing process, I really cannot thank her enough! After which, they tried to put O on my chest, but my umbilical cord was too short, and I felt the strain. S cut the cord (as per our birth plan) shortly after so O can be placed on my chest. I did not cry like how I saw videos of people who just gave birth, probably because I was still dizzy from the laughing gas.
After I sobered up, I then realised how chubby O was, and S was standing next to me. Nurses asked me to try to breastfeed O immediately while Dr EC did some stitching down there; there was a tear, but not much, as I heard from S afterwards.
O and I bonded for quite some time. I guess S was busy updating people of O's arrival. Then it was time to weigh and measure him. After the nurse wrapped him up, he was put next to me on the bed and we were then wheeled to the maternity ward. I was feeling very good and sober then, I even had the time to Instagram story it (too bad I forgot to save it!).
I honestly could not believe that I birthed a baby. The experience was very surreal!
And the recovery time for the natural birth was so fast that I was amazed myself. Basically once I sobered up, I experienced no pain whatsoever down there. I was quite worried when I had to pee, but my worries were unfounded. I was also given a salt bath container for my down there. Dr EC said the recovery would be faster and all her patients said it was a good one.
Once we reached the maternity room, we settled down, and S and I could not believe that we just gave birth to a child. He was so tired that he knocked out soon after, without eating. I actually managed to catch some sleep here and there in the afternoon, and I guess after going through all the birth process, my adrenaline was still there, and I was wide awake. I got bored but did not want to disturb S by turning on the TV so I went to explore the room. MEN maternity ward really felt like a hotel room, if not for the bed. The toiletries were Crabtree & Evelyn, no less. I also went out of the room, wanting to explore or even go to the nursery in hope to see O. But the corridor was so empty so I chickened up. Hahaha
To be honest, I could still remember that day very clearly. It probably was the most momentous experience of my life! :)
Monday, September 19, 2016
Baby Oliver from Father's perspective
I don't usually blog but I guess this is a good way to keep track of the baby progress and the journey with our little miracle. I believe M will be writing her own version of our son's birth story as well.
Let me recount the labour and the birth of our baby, Oliver. We have a birth plan. We wanted everything as natural as possible thus the choice of natural birth without epidural. We attended hypnobirthing classes which suppose to help with the management of pain or they call pressure or tightening.
30 August 2016
Ard 5 + am, Michell highlighted that she is experiencing contractions. So alert mode on, started monitoring the frequency and duration of the contractions. It was long sometimes, very frequent sometimes but not very regular. She also experience some bloody show. Told my mum and she was probably more gan chiong. We were still thinking when we should go to the hospital as we wanted a fast and smooth delivery and not wanting the labour to slow down.
Ard 7+ am, we decided probably is time to go hospital. There were signs like 60 sec long contractions and less than 3 mins apart. So we got our stuff and headed to the hospital together with both my parents. The contractions seems to slow down during the journey to the hospital. M checked with Y, our hypnobirthing teacher and was told to wait before admiting to the hospital. Therefore, we went to have breakfast at Starbucks in Mount Elizabeth Novena (MNH). The contractions seems weaker and we decided to wait a little more after breakfast but my mum was very anxious. She kept rushing to let the doctor check so we know how's the baby doing. We gave in and went to admit around 9+ am.
We waited for the delivery suit to be ready and only went in around 10 am.
The nurse settled M in the delivery suit and did the examination ard 10.30 am. She announced is 5cm dilated, your baby birthday is today. We were all excited. The contractions come and go but no sign of birth yet. M is also coping well with the pressure, breathing through every contractions, still able to move around and change positions.
The next examination done was ard 2+ pm if I didn't remember wrongly. It was just 6cm dilated. After so long only 1cm more. We were like how much longer. The contractions got more intense since but still no sign on birth. In the end I told my parents to go home at ard 4 pm since they have been waiting for a long time already.
I think it was 5+ or 6+ pm onwards when the contractions were getting unbearable for M. She said the pain is 13 out 10, that bad. She was yelling and her hands were flying grabing anything and everything. Her legs were kicking too. She even bit my fingers. Then, it was too late for any form of pain killers. The only available help was laughing gas. It will help her reduce the pain and she will feel a little dizzy. So with each contractions, I will help her to breathe in the laughing gas. She became dependent on it as the pain is really too much.
With the flying hands and legs and mild yelling, the time came. Ard 7.15 pm or so, she was showing signs of giving birth. Think the water broke. And then the doctor came, Dr EC. As our original Gynae Dr PT was not in town. She was very nice, trying to accommodate to M position (some sort of side lying on the bed). The only thing is need to lift up her leg. With the contractions, she will kick her legs and closing up thus making it difficult for the baby to come out. I ended up carrying her legs to make sure the baby had enough space. With much pushing (though hypnobirthing taught us to breathe the baby down instead), baby was born. I managed to witness the baby's birth and cut the umbilical cord as well. So amazing how the baby can stay in the womb then out.
Baby Oliver was born on 30 August 2016, 1946hrs. Both the mother and baby were in great fine!
M was in daze after breathing in the laughing gas thus not very sure of everything that happen. And ya, the umbilical cord was a little short thus baby Oliver can't reached M chest after birth. Also baby is strong, weighting 3.87kg, 54cm in lenght! M is so brave! Much love for you!
I guessed these sums up the whole labor process. Hope to pen down more about the baby!
With love,
SR
Sunday, September 18, 2016
26 weeks 5 days / Recount of Babymoon to Koh Samui
I honestly lost track of how far along I am right now; it is very confusing as to how you actually count the dates, no? According to the babycenter app, I am 26 weeks 5 days now, so I shall just follow what it says.
We returned from Koh Samui, Thailand after a 4D3N babymoon last Wednesday. We chose to stay at Hansar Samui Resort & Spa at the Bophut area.
Room/Facilities
We were satisfied with the room that we got. It had the view of both the pool and the sea, a big balcony and a king-sized bed. If I am not mistaken, all rooms will have these. It was also clean, which is quite important to me. The only gripe I had was that there was not any door/partition to the shower area so it was literally freezing to shower because we could still feel the air-conditioner. I also really liked the smell of the Luxspa toiletries that they provide: it was very soothing!
Food
I really enjoyed the spread at the breakfast area! If I am not pregnant, I would have tried everything on the menu. But they feature egg dishes with either soft cheeses or cured meat so I steered away from them. Even then, the regular scrambled or omelette was very nice, especially with the side of very crispy bacon and pork/chicken sausage. Lots of options for fruits too, and I loved the local Thai options. On the first morning, they offered Fried Glass Noodles which I LOVE; I should have gotten more of those because it was available only on that day.
The resident restaurant, H Bistro, was very good too. We had dinner there on the first evening; it was probably the freshest seafood we had during the entire trip. We even had complimentary bread basket, appetiser and palate cleanser. Of course, this was the most expensive meal we had during the trip.
As Hansar was located very near the Fisherman Village, we went there almost everyday although there was nothing much there. Hahaha We did try the mango sticky rice and nutella banana pancake from the roadside vendors. They were very generous with all the ingredients and the food items did taste good, but they did not come as cheap as expected.
I did research prior to the trip for some eating places, but they were located pretty far from Hansar so we ended up eating nearby. One commendable eating place was probably Cafe 69, which was like 5-minute walk away from Hansar. The menu was quite interesting; I remember the duck dumplings were quite awesome.
Mother-to-be Massage
Hansar also houses the famous Luxspa, which offers treatments for pregnant ladies. I went for the Mother-to-be Massage which costs 2,500 baht. It was definitely pricey, but I left the massage feeling very pampered. It was definitely the best pre-natal massage I have ever had; it was even better than the one I had in Singapore, and I remembered that I slept like a baby that night. That's how good it was. S did go for a regular massage session as well, and he enjoyed it very much too!
Overall, it was a very good and relaxing trip. Both of us took the time to really recharge ourselves before returning to the daily grind (I should not have kept on checking my work emails as that distracted me quite a bit).
Overall
The weather wasn't exactly great when we were there; it rained like almost 75% of the time we were there. Add on the fact that there was nothing much we could do there, we ended up spending lots of time in the resort, which was good too. Unfortunately, the electricity tripped quite a few times during our stay, but we were not sure if it's an entire island thing or just the hotel. This is because when we went out to the shopping area at and around Central Festival, there was a blackout as well; even McDonalds could not operate because there was no electricity! Thank goodness for the generator in the hotel as the power came back up pretty quickly.
It was a good trip for us to just relax and do nothing; we even brought along our marble products that we were going to launch so it definitely was a fruitful trip! :)
We returned from Koh Samui, Thailand after a 4D3N babymoon last Wednesday. We chose to stay at Hansar Samui Resort & Spa at the Bophut area.
Room/Facilities
We were satisfied with the room that we got. It had the view of both the pool and the sea, a big balcony and a king-sized bed. If I am not mistaken, all rooms will have these. It was also clean, which is quite important to me. The only gripe I had was that there was not any door/partition to the shower area so it was literally freezing to shower because we could still feel the air-conditioner. I also really liked the smell of the Luxspa toiletries that they provide: it was very soothing!
Food
I really enjoyed the spread at the breakfast area! If I am not pregnant, I would have tried everything on the menu. But they feature egg dishes with either soft cheeses or cured meat so I steered away from them. Even then, the regular scrambled or omelette was very nice, especially with the side of very crispy bacon and pork/chicken sausage. Lots of options for fruits too, and I loved the local Thai options. On the first morning, they offered Fried Glass Noodles which I LOVE; I should have gotten more of those because it was available only on that day.
The resident restaurant, H Bistro, was very good too. We had dinner there on the first evening; it was probably the freshest seafood we had during the entire trip. We even had complimentary bread basket, appetiser and palate cleanser. Of course, this was the most expensive meal we had during the trip.
As Hansar was located very near the Fisherman Village, we went there almost everyday although there was nothing much there. Hahaha We did try the mango sticky rice and nutella banana pancake from the roadside vendors. They were very generous with all the ingredients and the food items did taste good, but they did not come as cheap as expected.
I did research prior to the trip for some eating places, but they were located pretty far from Hansar so we ended up eating nearby. One commendable eating place was probably Cafe 69, which was like 5-minute walk away from Hansar. The menu was quite interesting; I remember the duck dumplings were quite awesome.
Mother-to-be Massage
Hansar also houses the famous Luxspa, which offers treatments for pregnant ladies. I went for the Mother-to-be Massage which costs 2,500 baht. It was definitely pricey, but I left the massage feeling very pampered. It was definitely the best pre-natal massage I have ever had; it was even better than the one I had in Singapore, and I remembered that I slept like a baby that night. That's how good it was. S did go for a regular massage session as well, and he enjoyed it very much too!
Overall, it was a very good and relaxing trip. Both of us took the time to really recharge ourselves before returning to the daily grind (I should not have kept on checking my work emails as that distracted me quite a bit).
Overall
The weather wasn't exactly great when we were there; it rained like almost 75% of the time we were there. Add on the fact that there was nothing much we could do there, we ended up spending lots of time in the resort, which was good too. Unfortunately, the electricity tripped quite a few times during our stay, but we were not sure if it's an entire island thing or just the hotel. This is because when we went out to the shopping area at and around Central Festival, there was a blackout as well; even McDonalds could not operate because there was no electricity! Thank goodness for the generator in the hotel as the power came back up pretty quickly.
It was a good trip for us to just relax and do nothing; we even brought along our marble products that we were going to launch so it definitely was a fruitful trip! :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
25 weeks 3 days
We had our routine check-up earlier this morning and we were informed that the waiting time today would be longer because our Doctor will be leaving tomorrow for his 2-week vacation. True enough, the clinic was packed and the waiting time was more than 1 hour, which I had never experienced before.
Good thing was, I only gained 0.3 kgs from the previous check-up and the baby is at healthy weight of 800 grams. That shows my effort to control my diet has been working!! Will definitely keep this up.
Doctor measured the length of my bump and he said 25 cm is good; the stomach is supposed to grow 1 cm per week, so I am on track. The baby's head is still on top, which is perfectly normal for now; the head will only turn downwards from week 34 onward. And we received the scan result of the frontal face. It was not very clear, but I could see the VERY chubby cheek. Hahaha
We also did the pre-registration for Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, where we will be having the delivery at. I was told previously that I could get family discount since my sister works at Mount Elizabeth Orchard so we went through all the troubles to get this processed. However, the discount of 20% is only applicable to ala-carte pricing, and not the package price. Overall, the package price will still be cheaper than the normal one with 20% discount so we opted for the package. However, I did request for two invoices to be presented to us upon discharge so that we will have a better understanding of the final amount.
Good thing was, I only gained 0.3 kgs from the previous check-up and the baby is at healthy weight of 800 grams. That shows my effort to control my diet has been working!! Will definitely keep this up.
Doctor measured the length of my bump and he said 25 cm is good; the stomach is supposed to grow 1 cm per week, so I am on track. The baby's head is still on top, which is perfectly normal for now; the head will only turn downwards from week 34 onward. And we received the scan result of the frontal face. It was not very clear, but I could see the VERY chubby cheek. Hahaha
We also did the pre-registration for Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, where we will be having the delivery at. I was told previously that I could get family discount since my sister works at Mount Elizabeth Orchard so we went through all the troubles to get this processed. However, the discount of 20% is only applicable to ala-carte pricing, and not the package price. Overall, the package price will still be cheaper than the normal one with 20% discount so we opted for the package. However, I did request for two invoices to be presented to us upon discharge so that we will have a better understanding of the final amount.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
25 weeks 2 days
If I am not mistaken, today the pregnancy is 25 weeks 2 days old (almost nearing the end of second trimester). Time sure flies!
I had wanted to start this blog even earlier, but was always too lazy to do one up. Hopefully, I will be able to update at least once a week.
I guess we can call this baby a honeymoon baby; we found out we were pregnant even before we got our wedding photos and videos back! We had never considered "waiting" because I have heard of stories of couples who wanted to wait a couple of years while enjoying their alone time, and ended up having difficult time to conceive. So we were more like "when it comes, it comes".
SR and I are having a boy by the way, which came quite as a surprise, to me at least. We are surrounded by people who are expecting baby girls, thought my skin did not deteriorate much, plus the gynae did mention that he could not see any pointing thing down at the bottom. So I have been thinking of a girl's name. But after the 20 weeks check, we were told that we are going to have a boy! Until now, we are still deciding on the name. This proves to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be.
Physical changes so far:
1. Weight Gain
As of my last check-up, I have gained a grand total of 8 kgs. That is a lot considering my BMI; I was not skinny to start with, and I read up that I should gain only 8 - 10 kgs, based on my BMI. This was quite worrying to me because I was afraid that I would get Gestational Diabetes, but the scan showed that the baby was at a healthy weight of 400 grams, so all the remaining 7.6 kgs came to the mother, me. I felt quite upset about it, I guess I was happily eating because many people said I didn't look pregnant and all, plus I didn't realize that the weight is slowly and steadily going up because I only weigh myself at the clinic. I really have to control my diet, but it's very hard sometimes, especially because I LOVE fried food!
2. Skin/ Complexion
I did have breakout sometimes, but it was not as bad as before the wedding. But I have been having chest acne, which I never had before so that was quite frustrating since I do have round neck tops. So whenever I wear these tops out, I will get super self-conscious. My pits are darker too and my areolas are also bigger and darker too; I hope this is just temporary! . I start to grow tiny hair on my stomach too. If you see me in real life, you will know that I am practically hairless, except where hair should grow at. This was actually a symptom for a baby boy but I didn't think much of it.
3. Bump
Of course I have a bump now, but some people may still mistake it as a fat stomach than a pregnant one. I guess that's partially why I don't really take MRT unless I know for sure I will get a seat. But my clothes are getting tighter at the stomach and even my super comfy tai-chi pants from Uniqlo cannot fit anymore.
I guess those are the major physical changes I notice so far. The pregnancy has been pretty smooth so far, if I may say so myself. I didn't have morning sickness in my first trimester, no cravings whatsoever. But my lower back has been giving me issues. Turns out that it is sciatic pain; I was told how to "cure" this during my yoga practices, but the stretches proved to be quite unmanageable with the pain. But I will keep on trying! I also need to keep reminding myself to do the Kegel exercises; heard this is crucial for active birth and for the recovery process. I signed up for pre-natal massages too, which I intend to use only when the pain gets increasingly unbearable. For now, I can still cope with it, and will try to walk more to reduce the pain.
The baby is also attending pre-natal education by BabyPlus. I heard many benefits of it, and decided to give it a try. Google it and you will see many positive testimonials for it. It is quite expensive (I had to buy from Indonesia to get cheaper price), but I hope it will work. Unfortunately I started using BabyPlus quite late (only in week 24), therefore the effect may not be as optimal I guess, but still better than nothing. Seems like the ideal time to start using BabyPlus is when you are in week 18 of your pregnancy.
I guess that's it for now, will update again soon! :)
I guess we can call this baby a honeymoon baby; we found out we were pregnant even before we got our wedding photos and videos back! We had never considered "waiting" because I have heard of stories of couples who wanted to wait a couple of years while enjoying their alone time, and ended up having difficult time to conceive. So we were more like "when it comes, it comes".
SR and I are having a boy by the way, which came quite as a surprise, to me at least. We are surrounded by people who are expecting baby girls, thought my skin did not deteriorate much, plus the gynae did mention that he could not see any pointing thing down at the bottom. So I have been thinking of a girl's name. But after the 20 weeks check, we were told that we are going to have a boy! Until now, we are still deciding on the name. This proves to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be.
Physical changes so far:
1. Weight Gain
As of my last check-up, I have gained a grand total of 8 kgs. That is a lot considering my BMI; I was not skinny to start with, and I read up that I should gain only 8 - 10 kgs, based on my BMI. This was quite worrying to me because I was afraid that I would get Gestational Diabetes, but the scan showed that the baby was at a healthy weight of 400 grams, so all the remaining 7.6 kgs came to the mother, me. I felt quite upset about it, I guess I was happily eating because many people said I didn't look pregnant and all, plus I didn't realize that the weight is slowly and steadily going up because I only weigh myself at the clinic. I really have to control my diet, but it's very hard sometimes, especially because I LOVE fried food!
2. Skin/ Complexion
I did have breakout sometimes, but it was not as bad as before the wedding. But I have been having chest acne, which I never had before so that was quite frustrating since I do have round neck tops. So whenever I wear these tops out, I will get super self-conscious. My pits are darker too and my areolas are also bigger and darker too; I hope this is just temporary! . I start to grow tiny hair on my stomach too. If you see me in real life, you will know that I am practically hairless, except where hair should grow at. This was actually a symptom for a baby boy but I didn't think much of it.
3. Bump
Of course I have a bump now, but some people may still mistake it as a fat stomach than a pregnant one. I guess that's partially why I don't really take MRT unless I know for sure I will get a seat. But my clothes are getting tighter at the stomach and even my super comfy tai-chi pants from Uniqlo cannot fit anymore.
I guess those are the major physical changes I notice so far. The pregnancy has been pretty smooth so far, if I may say so myself. I didn't have morning sickness in my first trimester, no cravings whatsoever. But my lower back has been giving me issues. Turns out that it is sciatic pain; I was told how to "cure" this during my yoga practices, but the stretches proved to be quite unmanageable with the pain. But I will keep on trying! I also need to keep reminding myself to do the Kegel exercises; heard this is crucial for active birth and for the recovery process. I signed up for pre-natal massages too, which I intend to use only when the pain gets increasingly unbearable. For now, I can still cope with it, and will try to walk more to reduce the pain.
The baby is also attending pre-natal education by BabyPlus. I heard many benefits of it, and decided to give it a try. Google it and you will see many positive testimonials for it. It is quite expensive (I had to buy from Indonesia to get cheaper price), but I hope it will work. Unfortunately I started using BabyPlus quite late (only in week 24), therefore the effect may not be as optimal I guess, but still better than nothing. Seems like the ideal time to start using BabyPlus is when you are in week 18 of your pregnancy.
I guess that's it for now, will update again soon! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)