My Labor Story - Part 1

2 months postpartum and I'm finally able to jot down my labor story here. Sorry for the long hiatus, I'm still adjusting to my new role as a mom. I was doing live update from my Dayre that day because I afraid that I will forget some of the details. As I mentioned in my third trimester update I opted to deliver my baby via elective C-section because she's breech. Since it is confirmed that I chose C-section, the doctor arranged for my operation 2 weeks earlier than my EDD. They scheduled the operation on 13 Dec 2016. The date was selected by the hospital based on the available slot. 

My total weight gain from the pregnancy is 12kg. My baby is 3.05kg so I have around 9kg to shed but 2 months postpartum, my weight is stagnant at 50kg. I'm hoping to lose at least 3kg more but I can't get back to work out now and diet is not an option because breastfeeding makes me hungry all the time. But it's okay, one step at a time for me. Once I pass 6 months postpartum, I'm gonna go back to doing cardio and yoga.

I was admitted to hospital a day prior to my operation because they need to put me on IV drips overnight and monitor my baby. So on the 12th December, I woke up early to wash my hair thoroughly before I'm going into confinement, had breakfast with my husband and mother in law before we went to the hospital.

I gave birth at General Hospital because everyone around me encouraged me to do so. The main reason is because GH (General Hospital) have advance equipment and the specialists. Another reason is because the private hospital in Sibu tends to reject high risk case (not that my case is high risk) and in case anything happens, the private hospital will refer it to GH too. 

Doing CTG to monitor baby heart beat. All is fine and good.

Preparing for the IV drip

I didn't expect to be stuck with needle (don't know the exact term for the above procedure) so many times. The doctor prepped me and told me that they will insert one each on both of my hands but only use one for IV drip and the other one acts as standby in case something happens during my C-section and they need to do blood transfer etc. Man, it hurt when the doctor insert the needle. The needle is at least 5cm long and any movement from my hand will trigger discomfort.

But the pain from the insertion of the needle above is peanut if compared to the injection that I got to make my baby lung mature. I received two injections for that in the span of 12 hours. I consider my pain tolerance level quite high because I have no problem with injection all through my pregnancy. This injection takes the cake. Once the doctor pushed the medicine in, I can feel the pain slowly seeping in and it lasted for half an hour. At night when the nurse gave me the second dose, it hurt so bad that I sobbed and called my husband.

I spent one night at the labor ward and 2 nights at the maternity ward

You know how they always say that the doctors and nurses at GH are fierce and unfriendly, so I was mentally prepared for all these. But I had none bad encounter with the doctors or the nurses. Everyone was so helpful and nice although I had witnessed a rude nurse talking to a patient there. It wasn't rude per se, just that she could've more sympathy with the new mom. The new mom was sobbing because her baby is taken to NICU due to a heart condition. The nurse was demonstrating breastfeeding technique to us (she sucks at it by the way) but the new mom was on phone sobbing to probably her husband. 

The nurse stopped her and said "Stop talking on the phone and listen to me. It's not like your baby is going to die anyway. It is just a minor condition." She kept using the word die while talking to the new mom.

Walao can she has more sympathy towards the new mom? And why would she kept dropping the word 'die' every time she talked to that new mom. It is not helpful at all and not to mention unprofessional.

Me on my bed

Although the service and medical equipment are great at GH, I wouldn't say the same about their basic facilities especially the washroom. You know how mothers in labor are sometimes bleeding or their water broke, the washroom smell like blood. I'm not kidding. Some of the lock on the door are broken, flush broken too and the floor is covered in water (disgusting!) because of blocked drainage. Luckily during my 4D3N stay there, I didn't shower and I was put on catheter after my C-section, so no need to go to toilet. I really hope they can improve the washroom condition otherwise it will be on par with private hospital.

Binge watching The Big Bang Theory to pass the time

Visitors are not allowed into the ward outside of visitation hour, so I was really boring and finished the whole series of The Big Bang Theory. My parents and sister wanted to visit me but they're not allowed in.

So I walked out to see them hahahah

I hugged my tab with me because I didn't want to leave valuable items unguarded in the ward. It would have been better if visitors are allowed in outside of visitation hour because after my operation, I was not allowed to get off bed for 6 hours. But at the same time, I was told to drink more water. How to get water if I can't get up from bed ='= I had to stretch my arm as far as I can to grab my water bottle.

Husband came in to see me at every visiting hour

The visiting hours are 6am-7.30am, 12.30 noon till 2 and 5.30 till 7pm if my memory didn't failed me. Husband came in to bring me food because I don't want to take hospital food. On the first day, I told the husband that I'll eat the hospital food because I saw that they gave fried fish and veggies when I was doing my admission, so I expected dinner will be good too. 

Turned out dinner is tempe which I don't like and steamed egg only. So I sent husband to get me take out. Since then, I straight away rejected hospital food.

On the first night, the nurse inserted another needle to my left hand but she got it wrong and resulted in my swollen vein. So she had to do it all over again. I had no choice but to face the pain again. Throughout my whole stay, they inserted the needle 5 times on my left hand and 3 times on my right.

Besides the nurse wrongly inserting the needle, the other times they had to reinsert the needle because it fell off. I guess I was too active but trust me, when you had needles on your both hands, it was hard to do anything even texting. I fidgeted a lot and the needle moved. 

I couldn't sleep well on the first night not because I was worry about my operation in the morning but because I was uncomfortable and the nurses were doing round check every 3-4 hours I think. The sound of footsteps, trolleys and chitchatting woke me up. But I'm glad for it because if it was dead quiet, I would be scare to death. 

During the second injection for the medicine to mature my baby lung, I was sobbing non stop and feeling so emotional that it scared my husband. At this point, I was feeling vulnerable and the support of your other half is really important because you two are in this together. I kept scolding him why am I alone suffering during this birth process? I felt so alone that first night. But that's not the worst night. let me tell you about my second night (post labor) later.

I was told to fast after 10pm to prepare my body for surgery in the morning. Around 1am, I was feeling cramp on my lower abdominal. At first I thought it was contraction or maybe Braxton Hicks but the cramp subsided after I went to pee. Full bladder perhaps but the pain came back again at 4am that I called the nurse. She checked and confirmed to me that it is not contraction pain.

Bad photo but my wrist was swollen like a golf ball because I moved too much and the IV needle moved too.

It was the second day morning already but the doctor haven't confirm my operation time yet. At this point, I was restless and just wanted the baby out of me. I kept asking the doctor to confirm the time but they told me need to wait for the surgeon to confirm. They only confirmed the time an hour prior to my surgery.

Before I was wheeled into surgery room, a group of trainees asked if they could examine my bump. Just a general examine. Actually only a girl asked and after I said yes, a group of trainees showed up. It was quite awkward having so many people taking turn to touch my bump. They wanted to know where the head, limp etc.

My surgery was scheduled at 9am and they wheeled me to OT before 9am. Outside the ward, my parents and husband were waiting for me. I was rather excited to finally meet my baby actually and I didn't feel nervous at all. My mom on the hand was tearing ='= she kept telling me not to be afraid. I exchanged a few more words with them before the nurses wheeled me to OT.

Inside the operation theater was freezing cold.  I only had thin layer of hospital gown on. I was shivering while the nurse parked me along other patients waiting for surgery. Finally it was my turn after I waited for like forever. 

Didn't mean for this to be cliffhanger but I'll continue the post on part 2 soon because it is getting too long and this new mom needs to rest. 

Colourpop Lippie Stix Review

Remember when everyone is over the moon with Colourpop Lippie Stix last year? I was one of them. Last year Colourpop didn't do shipping to Malaysia yet so I had to search high and low for reseller that stocks them and compare prices among several. In the end, I bought mine from Red Vanity from Instagram because they have ready stocks of the colors that I want.

It was so hard to decide which shades to get and I've read tons of reviews on Dayre from fellow Colourpop enthusiast which you can read here,  here,  and here. If you love make up and skin care, you can just follow Gillian's Dayre because she do make up and skin care review from time to time.

I decided to go with Lumiere (Matte), Topanga (Satin) and Frida (Satin) in the end. Lumiere is the collaboration shade from Colourpop with Youtuber Kathleen Lights. You can watch her channel for more Colourpop Lippie Stix reviews and swatches because she owns like all of them, no kidding.

These are the swatches. As you can see, Lumiere has matte finish meanwhile Topanga and Frida have Satin finish.

First impression of the Lippie Stix for me are:

1) I love how simple the packaging is and instead of in the usual lipstick form, it is packed in a tube form. 

2) The swatches are pretty close to what I saw online.

3) It has slight scent to it which bothers me because it lingers on my lips. The scent is rubbery/plastic kind if you know what I mean.

4) The staying power is good for 4 to 5 hours without touch up but matte finish tend to last longer than satin finish.

5) The matte one quite drying but still bearable for me.

With Lumiere

Close up of Lumiere on my lip

It doesn't show on camera but the color is actually darker in real life. It is plum/purple pink. I love the shade but it is little too dark for daytime outing. So I normally wear this color for a night out.

With Topanga

Close up

This shade is bright orangy which I didn't expect it to be so far off from the color on top of the lippie stix (refer to the 2nd photo above). It compliments my skin tone well but my least favorite. In the close up photo, the color looks nice but in real life it looks like the first photo which is very orange-y.

With Frida

Close up

This is my favorite everyday shade. it is pinkish nude and suitable for everyday wear. Although in the close up photo it looks nothing like pinkish nude. My camera lighting is messing up with the real color. 

For the price that the Colourpop offer, I think this is a good product overall. I mean for $5, what else can you ask for? Some even claims that it is on par with Kylie Jenner Lip kit. I have the mini size Ultra Matte Lip in Foxy which comes with 5 minis ultra matte gloss which I got last Christmas. I probably to a review on that soon. 

Hope this review helps and Colourpop ships to Malaysia now for the purchase above $50.

Third trimester - the most challenging one

Earlier on when people are asking about how my pregnancy is treating me, I'd proudly flashed my grin and said "It's been a breeze". Inexperience mother-to-be, that's me. I spoke way too soon. Yes, my first trimester and second trimester are smooth sailing journey. But the nightmare starts during the last stretch of the pregnancy journey, third trimester.

It is not as bad as nightmare per se but it is really tough on me. When I started to hit 32 weeks, my weight keeps climbing up till at one point I considered to stop eating. Of course I didn't because that would be crazy but I watch what I eat and more importantly I've stopped snacking on junk food now. There's another reason for this but we will get to that later. Right now I'm in my 36 weeks and my total weight gain is 12kg. I thought this is not bad but someone was rubbing it to my face and said she only gained 10kg.

Let me tell you, I really really hate those know-it-all mothers or been-there-done-that mothers. These kind of people will bombard you with advice which some are not applicable anymore or 20 years out of date advice. *roll eyes*

Normally I just ignore them and don't let them get to my head but sometimes it's hard. I mean every pregnancy to every woman are different. Why compare? Just so that you can appear superior? So you think you are a better mother? Pffts

Enough rant, on to the more important update!

I feel like a whale now

*********** The update above was written on 1st Dec 2016. Obviously a month later, I already gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. So I guess I pick it up where I left it off last time. 

The reason that I was told to watch my diet was because I was diagnosed with gestation diabetes. I guess all those chocolates and ice creams are the ones to be blamed. I was diagnosed during my second OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) because I vomited during the first test.

My result

I knew right away something was wrong when I received the phone call from the clinic the next day. They asked me to come in and I was told that my glucose level is slightly higher and they wanted to refer me to General Hospital. This is where I started to get really worry. I was told that I probably will be hospitalized for monitoring. During this time, the husband was away in Perth visiting his father so I felt super alone. I remembered crying like mad when I was driving to hospital because I don't want to be hospitalized. 

Upon seeing the doctors at GH, I was told the same thing, I have 3 choices to monitor my glucose level by doing the 7 point glucose test. 1) Hospitalized 2) Come to the hospital every 2-3 hours or 3) Do the test myself at home.

The idea of being hospitalized really break me down so I opted for the third option, I asked if they could rent me the kit but alas they can't. So I went to my local pharmacy to get one, The doctor also requested me to make an appointment with dietitian for consultant. I skipped the appointment because I was exhausted and not in the good mood to listen to the same thing all over again eg: reduce carb, no junk food etc etc. 

The glucose test kit

I have to do the test for 7 times before and after every meals and before I sleep. 

That means I had to prick myself like this for 7 times

It is not fun

I was supposed to bring the result in for checking by the doctor but I didn't in the end because my result was in normal range. So what I did was monitor what I eat. I stop all the junk food, have less rice and avoid any bread/noodles. It was tough at first because the more you're not allowed to eat it, the more you will crave it.

My bump at 36 weeks

I was so ready to pop by 36 weeks because I felt so heavy and it started to be difficult for me to walk. I had to waddle now. Not only that, I started to feel intense pain on my left crotch every time I get up from sitting/lying down too long. Imagine the pain every time I had to get up at night to pee. Although I visited the toilet less at night now, I couldn't sleep well. No position is comfortable at this stage and my chest always hurt. It was like gastric pain but not gastric pain and it's not heart burn either. Paired it with my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, it was impossible to get a good night sleep.

During my last checkup at Polyclinic at 36 weeks, it is confirmed that my baby is breech as in her head didn't turn down to get ready for labor. I know the baby is breech at around 30 weeks when we went for scanning at private clinic. But the doctor told us there is still hope because some babies turn down nearing the end of term. 

Again I went to General Hospital for proper scanning and follow up as advised by Polyclinic. I was given the option to do ECV (External Cephalic Version) which is a procedure to manually turn the baby down. This procedure comes with its own risk eg: the umbilical cord may tangle at her neck, defect to baby physical feature, rapture in amniotic sac, and the procedure may fail to if baby reverse back. 

All of those risk really scare me. I don't want anything bad happened to my baby and upon discussion with the husband, I opted for planned Cesarean section. I was preparing myself for normal delivery all this while and suddenly I was told that my baby is breech. Now I had to change my mindset to prepare for the surgery. Even the surgery itself comes with its own set of risk but at least the risks are mostly on me, not so much on my baby. I was surprised at how calm I was when I know I will have to undergo the surgery. I guess having a positive mindset really helps.

Now that we already set the date for the surgery, it was time for us to do final preparation for baby arrival. Our biggest concern is baby cot. I got my eyes on one of the baby cot in Ikea but the shipping cost is double the price for the cot. So we got no choice but to source locally.

Finally settled on this one because it is fordable and the height is adjustable

We washed and cleaned as well as sanitized all the baby stuff eg: milk bottle, clothes and hunt for newborn diapers. At this point, my feet were really swollen. In fact I felt like my whole body is swollen.

Sneaking it date night before we welcome our little one

Can you believe that we are parents now?

I was supposed to finish this post last month but never got around to do that. I delivered my beautiful girl on 13 December 2016 and still in confinement until now. I think this is the biggest milestone in my life. Will share about my labor story soon!

Baby gender

I just realised that I never announce the baby gender in my blog. Opsss! To think that I normally pen down important milestones in my life here, how could I miss out this one. That is pregnancy brain, I tell you.

But if you know me personally, of course you would have known by now.

Anyway, we're having a baby girl :)

At first I was so sure that I'm carrying boy because my instinct told me so. Actually I just assumed my baby is a boy in the beginning because everyone around me been popping baby boys. But my husband have a feeling we're having girl because of the old wives tales that baby girl brings luck to their dad. And true enough, the husband been having lots of new opportunities thrown at him and good luck really been on our side.

When my gynae confirmed that we're having girl, next thing I did was start shopping. Now that I know the gender, it made shopping a lot more fun. More pink and pastel dresses please. Hehehhe
But one thing that really cross my mind after finding out my baby is a girl is the worry when she starts to learn about puberty, makeup, boys and etc. A younger version of me really flashes into my mind. Lying to my parents about school activities, sneaking out to hang out with my friends. Oh, the horror.

Okay, that's it. I'm gonna monitor my daughter like a hawk and no boys are allowed near my princess until she turns 18.

Mother do worry a lot, isn't it.

Baby H, if you're reading this in the future. I want you to know that mummy and daddy love you so much and will try our best to provide the best for you. But, you're still not allowed to date until you're 18 hahahahahha. And we're gonna tag along for your date. hehehehe

What I'm thankful for

Thanksgiving just passed for a few days but I think it is still appropriate to pen down things that I'm thankful for. Now that I've grown older and wiser, I realized that grateful is the key to happiness. Not trying to be preachy la but I've found that feeling grateful and thankful has help me to feel better and happier.

1) Smooth pregnancy
Okay, this is of course is on top of my list. I'm 4 weeks away from my due date and so far everything has been smooth for me. Albeit some hiccups during the last trimester, everything else is doing fine especially my baby. My baby is right on track for her development except that she's in breech position now and we probably will see her earlier if she's still not turning till next week.


2) The husband

I have to say the husband is the reason that I'm at ease and feeling stress-free during this pregnancy. He's been really good and always putting me as priority. Although there are times when things are challenging for both of us, I'm glad that we worked it out. Now that we're becoming parents, I can see the obvious changes in the husband. Last time our priority would be planning holidays, eyeing gadgets and went out having fun. But now he is all about saving for future and looking for more opportunity to improve our financial so that he can provide the best for our child and me. Yeah, you will start to worry about future when you have child even though she's still in the oven baking.

3) My family

Distance makes the heart grow fonder and it is true in this case. My siblings are all in different districts now due to work commitment and study and we all grow closer than ever now that we're not living together anymore wtf. We even talked more and texted more now which brings all of us closer than ever.

4) The opportunity to travel

I'm so grateful that I got a job that pays the bill and let me have the freedom to travel the world. The addiction to travel started when I got my first paycheck and I always set myself to visit at least 3 countries per year. So far I have been good except for this year because I have to forfeit my trip to Perth but for a very good reason (I'm heavily pregnant during the travel period). And my plan for next year is looking good with two trips confirmed but I'm still hoping to squeeze in more holidays even with baby.  

Disneyland Hong Kong

Angkor Wat Cambodia

Bali

Krabi

5) My friends

I don't have a lot of friends but I have a handful of friends that I know I can count on. And these are the people that I had known for more than 10 years. We had been through a lot from hitting puberty to first love and now figuring out adulthood. Having these friends around really makes my life happier and livelier. 

All of my thankful points are probably sound cliche but it is true. These are what I'm really thankful for. All of the above made up a big part of my life and add meaning to it. 

Private clinic vs Polyclinic

Sorry if you're bored with all the baby and pregnancy posts lately. I'm coming to my 34 weeks now and to be frank, I'm a little bit freaking out about the baby arrival. I have a long checklist for things to prepare for baby arrival and my confinement and slowly ticking things off the list. But I still feel like I'm not fully ready yet.

We have our baby cot ready and her mattress will come in next week but we haven't even arrange the furniture in our room yet. Is there really a pantang where you're not allowed to move furniture around if you're expecting? My MIL told me this but I'm not subscribe to any pantang, so I'm not sure what to do.

Anyway, the most popular question that people been asking me aside from baby gender is who is my doctor? We first went to a private doctor to confirm the pregnancy and check up with him for a few times before I decided to change to my current one.

The reason being is that my previous doctor didn't give me a good vibe. Every time I went in to see him, he said the same things as if he's reading off script to every patients. Plus, he's not details enough about my check up. Normally we're done in less than 5 minutes. I'm carrying a live in me, I need that peace of mind that everything is okay and smooth, not the same scripts every time.

So we switched doctor and I'm glad we did. My new gynae gave me details explanation about everything that is going on in my pregnancy. She even took her time during scanning to show me baby progress, baby weight, show me her body parts and all. She makes me and my husband feel connected to our baby. On the plus side, she's very chill. She allowed me to eat and do whatever I want as long as it doesn't directly harm my baby and moderation is the key.

My favorite quote from her is "You're pregnant, not sick." So, I'll just do whatever makes me happy. She's the one that advised me to register myself at polyclinic.

So that's how I started to go to polyclinic too. I've heard lots of horror stories bashing polyclinic before. The most common one are how rude the nurses and how slow the service is.

I've set my appointment and came with open mind. I was shocked to see how full the clinic was at 8 am, the opening time. I guess I'm not the only kiasu one. Registration progress went well for me and all the nurses that attending to me are nice and friendly.

Maybe the facility in polyclinic is nothing if compared to private clinic but I think the nurses and staff are doing well in their job. My checkup normally took a hour and a half then I'm done for the day. Of course not everything is perfect because when I got my blood test done, the nurse had to withdraw my blood twice on both arms because she made a mistake during the first time. But she's very apologetic about it and it didn't hurt me much. So no big deal for me.

The reason that most people complained about how long it took for them for the check up is because they had no idea how the process go. I've seen many clueless expectant mothers and their company went in the wrong room, missing their numbers  and etc. The process at polyclinic can be quite confusing because each time to see the nurse you have to get a number, then move to another area for blood test and take another number to see the doctor. But once you get the hang of it, everything will be a breeze.

My only concern about polyclinic is the doctor. Each time I had different doctors attending me and so far, none of them are satisfactory. I know I'm not paying a single cent at polyclinic but I expect the medical advice to be good too. Once I went in to see a doctor and in less than 3 minutes she dismissed me without any consultation. I know the nurses had done a thorough check up but at least the doctor can elaborate more about anything because after all I'm a first time mother.

If you wish for scanning at polyclinic, you can forget about it. They do not do scanning for your baby, this is what the doctor told me when I asked for a scan to see baby development. So you will have no idea about your baby condition until you're reaching full term.

What if something alarming about the baby happens but the clinic didn't scan for you? I shudders at the thought of that. The only checkup that involving baby in polyclinic are they check for baby heart beat and your baby bump size.

And today the doctor at polyclinic Googled my problem in front me when I told her I'm starting to get numbness at my hands and legs. Her results of course is the same as what I Googled when I first experienced the numbness. But hello, you're trained medical staff, why are you Googling it like me too?

My confidence with the doctor totally flew out of the window.

Hitting second trimester and how it feels

Now that I'm in my third trimester (just hitting 32 weeks today!), I think my favorite trimester is the second one. Entering my 2nd trimester, I'm not as uptight as I was before knowing that my baby is stable in my belly. You have no idea how many unnecessary worries that I've had when I first found out about the pregnancy and all of these worries are related to my baby.

Not helping that I'm fed with horror stories of how pregnancies had gone wrong for some people. I know how precious is the little life that I carry in me and hearing some tragedies where parents lost their unborn child really break my heart. It makes me appreciate and be really grateful for my bundle of joy.

I was just entering my second trimester during our Krabi trip back in July. I still get tired all the times and back pain is my constant friend. So, the husband and I take it very easy in Krabi. We slept in and relaxing more instead of rushing everywhere. Upon returning from Krabi, I've got a nasty rash on the back of my knees. Maybe it was the weather or just my body but I'm always feel hot. The rashes resembled bug bites and left my skin red and bumpy. Not a beautiful sight for stranger. To make matter worst, it's itches like crazy. There's nothing that I can do about it except to let time heals my skin.

Another common occurrence for me during the second semester is nose bleed. I've got dried blood clot in my nose occasionally during the first trimester and I blamed it on the weather. But during second trimester, it got worst.

Normally it is just dried blood clot every few days and then it happened every day. Sometimes when I stuffed tissue up my nose. it's drenched in blood. Not a beautiful sight I told you. I've read that it is common during pregnancy, so it didn't bother me much.

But at one point, it got really worst that I think the blood capillaries in my nose is injured because it's hurt for me to even twitch my nose. I did consulted my doctor and she explained to me that my intake of irons tablet may have contribute to the nose bleed but it is nothing to worry about.

One thing that I really love during my second trimester is that I've slowly gained my energy back. I no longer feel tired and wanted to nap all the time. I also no longer feeling nauseous at night anymore. It feels like my old self is back again and the husband and I went on more date nights before the baby comes.

Must doll up because I don't want to be an ugly pregnant lady

Called me vain or narcissistic but I really cannot accept letting myself go even during pregnancy. It's bad enough that I sometimes feel like a whale and my self esteem dropped a notch, if I'm not allowed to put on makeup to make myself feel better, I'm really gonna flipped. Actually someone once came up to me and told me to stop putting on make up because the chemical will hurt my unborn child. Seriously? Which era are you living in?

I was furious but held my tongue since it is not worth it to argue with Mr. Know-It-All.  I did what I did best in these kind of situation. I ignored them totally. 

Since I'm feeling like my old self again, I started to be more laid back and had my cold drinks. Yes, I was totally off cold drink during the first trimester because people have been advising me so. I did asked my mom is it true but she brushed it off and said just eat whatever I want but in moderation. Even my doctor said so too.

So if you must know, cold drinks has no effect to your pregnancy. I was told to be off tea too which I'm sad about because I love my green tea. At first, I followed it diligently but the more I've researched into it, I've found that a little caffeine won't hurt you or your unborn child.

Pfft.. these people with their old wives tales! I really get tired of listening to people preaching to me about what pregnant woman can eat what cannot eat because mostly those are the old wife tales. I know certain stuff I really cannot consume eg raw fish/meat, raw egg etc. 

Luckily the husband is on my side all the times and even fed me my ice cream craving

I love bubble tea too

My appetite maintain the same but I've started to love junk food more now. I tried to limit my junk food intake but I really loves ice cream. I always sneak a scoop every nights because it is so good. Give my any flavor and I'll polish it off.

My weight during second trimester

At this point, I think I've gained around 5kg. When I went to polyclinic for check up, I was told to watch my diet because the weight gain is too rapid according to the nurse. But most of my friends commented how skinny I am even though I'm pregnant. Actually I eat a lot but in smaller portion and as much as I love my junk food now, I still try to eat as healthy as possible. Most of time I brought fruits as snack during working hour.

My favourite dinner combo is rice and fish 

These are my portion when I prepared my own dinner

The only time I ever wear maternity top, I was around 6 months pregnant here. 

I'm really grateful that my pregnancy has been a smooth sailing journey so far. Now that we are getting closer to the due date, my husband and I started to discuss about parenting. Both of us are chill, so I'm not gonna be the Asian tiger mom (finger cross I won't turn into one) that only emphasise on academic for my children. I want them to have the childhood that I've had. I've spent majority of my childhood exploring the world outside. I played with stick and dirt, I ran around with my siblings, we played doctor/house and anything that our imagination took us and my parents took us to playground or swimming pool on weekends. I want my children to experience all of these too instead of gluing themselves to technology that we have now.