7th lunar month is over!

Some 'theory' as to why Nigel ain't coming out yet is because he doesn't want to be a 'chek guey' (7th lunar mth) baby. Ok, today is the 1st day of the 8th lunar month, so boy, are you coming out today? :p

Joshua's 1st Bday

Since Nigel doesn't seemed to be ready to see the world as yet, we decided to goto Joshua's bday party today. Julian was DH's cadet and is one of DH's golf kaki. I do know that he comes from a wealthy family but I didn't really expect that his parents' house would have their own POOL. Yes, swimming pool and no, it's not a size of a bathtub. I reckon it's a quarter olympic size pool.

It's definitely one of the most child-friendly birthday party we've attended ever. Why? Because they have little tables & chairs for kids! When Valerie saw those little tables & chairs, she said "School!" hahahaha. When I checked with Julian, he said his friend owns My Gym and lend him those tables & chairs FOC. And there's also the bouncing castle next to the pool which he rented from a friend at a mere S$200.

During the party, I observed the guests and I realised that most (if not all) are definitely from the upper income bracket. Other than Julian's relatives who are obviously in the same league as them, Julian also invited his golf kakis. And I saw their wives carrying Bottega/Loewe/Gucci handbags, wearing huge diamond rings and expensive watches. All of them with manicure hands & feet. The cars parked outside the party house? Mainly Mercz & BMWs. What do they work as? Private bankers, financial advisors, lawyers etc. How old are these people? Less than 40. It's crazy I tell you.

Do I feel out of place? Slightly, I must admit, but I tell myself, as long as you are happy, everything is secondary. And I must say, I am happy with whatever I have now. :)

Still no sign @ 38wks 6days

It's 1 day shy of 39 weeks and guess what.. nothing is happening! Although engaged, his orientation is still towards my left rather than downwards towards the 'door'. Meaning, it wouldn't be happening soon I guess.

There has been loads of anticipation and anxious since I'm 37 weeks. Telling myself he is all ready to see the world. But I guess the word 'ready' is not for me to say. Every progressive day my joints ache more, the groin feels more pain (sometimes to the extend of experiencing sharp pain) but still no signs of labor.

Although I tell myself that there will always be a chance of me going through c-section again for various reasons, I'll be damn disappointed if eventually I have to go through one because there is just no signs of labor coming even when the due day approaches. Dr Heng has scheduled me to see her again next Thursday (1 day before EDD). She says by then if Nigel still not out, we'll talk about alternatives (ie induce or c-section).

I don't think I will want to induce as I always feel that the failure rate is high. Besides, if Nigel continues to grow inside, he'll prob hit 3.4kgs soon? If that's the case, wldn't it be more difficult to birth him naturally? In any case, I've decided, if he is late, I'll opt for c-section.

BTW, he is 3244gm today. All the beef, durian and ice cream works! But of course.. mom puts on weight too! hahahaha

Seng's wallet

Ordered this for Seng 2 weeks back through Carol's contact. It's a Bi-fold wallet with 8 credit card slots, retailing at S$610 in SG. Unlike my wallet, his is made of calfskin rather than lambskin. Carol's friend's friend is working in Gucci or BV so they can get 50% staff discount. FIFTY, can you imagine. But quota is tight so it's not easy to get. I was lucky, sort of.

But the 'unfortunate' thing was that there were some discrepancy in the stock count recently so the collection of the wallet was delayed. Today, Carol sms me saying that her fren's fren still hasn't contacted them about the wallet (sigh). Carol is leaving for HK tmrw (hopefully she can find her Miu Miu Charm), be back on 03/09 so she says earliest can only collect after she's back.

I guess I'll have to wait another week, at least. But waiting is fine, so long as I eventually get this wallet at 50% discount :p Good things need to be patient right?

BTW, Seng agreed to let me buy another BV bag (with staff discount of course)! But I promised him it wouldn't be now, but I do hope I can buy before this contact leaves! 50% discount is hell ALOT! So.. should I get a Veneta, Sloane or ????

Coach Legacy Stripe Wristlet

Hurray! Esther's fren managed to get this baby for me from US at 25% discount! I've been wanting to get this for some time but local stores don't sell this (anyway it'll be expensive) and ebay sellers are selling it at S$190 (cheapest offer was S$175) when the retail price in US is only US$98.

Eventually I paid S$135 for this (including sales tax & shipping) and now all I need is to wait patiently for it to arrive at my doorstep! Wonderful!

Happy Bday Mom

Today is my birthday. While approaching this day, I kept wondering if Nigel will choose to be born today as well. Some of my friends, even my sis, thought that it would be nice to have your son sharing your birthday.. but somehow I prefer that each of us have our own birthday :p

It was a rainy day, which wasn't what I was looking forward to. But nonetheless we have 'plans' for today. 1) We are going to buy the ice cream cake from Swensen's as I have 20% off; 2) We are going to watch the fireworks at Kae Lip's office and 3) Get and free sundae from Swensen's.

I wasn't 100% sure about the free sundae thingie so I sms around but none gave me a concrete answer. Searching Swensen's website is of no use too coz it wasn't stated. Just before lunch, we headed to Swensen's in PP to buy the ice cream cake. There, I verified with the staff at if it's ur birthday, you'll get a free Birthday Firehouse and it's applicable to both kids AND adults. Hurray!

While at Swensen's we asked Val to pick the cake and she picked the choc cake (*yummy*). Once back home, she asked to eat the cake (which we originally wanted to eat only tomorrow). It's really hard to say 'no' to her coz she was anticipating the cake since we reached Swesen's so we told her to finish her lunch 1st. Once she finish her lunch, she skipped to us and announced "I finish my lunch already".. so.. no choice, we cut a slice for her, as promised.

Come dinner, we went to Swensen's at PP (again!). This time to have dinner and get my free Birthday Firehouse. She had be mee-sua before coming out so she's full and all ready to eat up the ice cream. Thankfully Swensen's supply some drawings and free colour pencils so that kept her bz for a while.

When the Firehouse finally came, Valerie sang birthday song... to herself! hahaha. Once we blew the candle, the 1st thing she 'attacked' on the sundae was... the WHIPPED CREAM! hahaha The ice cream taste great but the whole event meant more to me than anything. It's a simple celebration of sorts and I enjoyed every single moment of it :)

Ultimately we didn't go see the fireworks as it was a wet day and the rest of the gang decided to go KTV rather than Kae Lip's office, so we headed home after PP to chill out.

Simple birthday, but very memorable still :)

Enhanced Baby Bonus is being back-dated!

The full details of the Enhanced Baby Bonus ("EBB") was announced on Monday (18/08/08). It was meant to have taken effect for babies born on/after 01 Jan 2009. Upon hearing this, naturally I was a little disappointed but since what I "lugi" is the extra 4 weeks maternity leave and the additional S$1K cash bonus, I just shrug my shoulder and said, "ok lor".

But this effective date definitely created ALOT of hoo-ha in the forum, especially for 1st time mothers who will lose out a total of S$7K cash ($1K cash bonus + $6K CDA topup) as well as the 4 weeks maternity leave. Someone started a thread to gather names for petition and the online feedback was flooded with tons of entries 'complaining' the inequality in treatment (2004 vs 2008).

Today, the EBB is in the news (again). The government will back-date this to start wef 17/08/08. That means I'll be entitled (hurray!) but friends like CT, Shannon, Stef will not be eventhough their babies are born in Aug'08. I wonder would moms with babies born between 01/08 - 16/08 will also submit a petition? Esp since the 2004 Baby Bonus scheme was effectively back-dated to 01/08/2004??

In every policy, it's hard to please everyone. I was quite certain that the government will not back-date this as I thought they would have anticipated the outcry when they announce the effective date. I guess I was wrong. :p

Another week?

Just back from gynae appointment. No weight gain for both Nigel & myself. In fact, I 'shed' 0.4kgs from last week (total weight gain to-date stays at 10.4kgs). Nigel is still roughly 2.9kgs today. During the scan, Dr Heng said his head had went further in, signalling that he's getting ready to see the world soon. She reckon next week. *GOSH*

She checked the fluid & placenta and said both are looking good so far. I asked if she'll allow me to go overdue and she said yes as she doesn't want to induce me (due to my previous c-section). And since Nigel isn't too big, I can go for natural.

So I guess I can still celebrate my birthday this Saturday! Hopefully Valerie's cough would be better by then so we can enjoy free ice cream at Swenson's!

36 weeks + 6 days

Technically I'm into my full term! Nigel is estimated to be roughly 2.9kgs now and has engaged. That sort of explains why my groin area is experiencing more pain lately. But not sure why, I do not feel any 'lightening' nor less breathelessness as they said I would.

I've also done the ctg today as well as blood test. Again, my iron level dropped further so I have to take an iron injection. Nurses said I'm not a good patient as I didn't follow their instructions to take TWO iron pill tablets daily (I am taking one daily as compared to one every alternate day..).

The HVS test done 2 weeks ago came back with signs of fungus infection (Candidas Species) and thus Dr inserted medication for me. She was very nice and attempted in doing a 3D scan on my request but we didn't managed to get any good shot of his face coz he's constantly moving. Half way through the scan, he turned to face inside, so end of story!

HB & I were on leave today so we went PP to buy some stuff (my very auntie looking PJs to be worn in hospital, as well as more clothes for Nigel as ESH doesn't supply clothes for both mothers & babies). After that, we headed to town where I got my hair cut and at 330pm we went to watch "Love Guru". It's a funny show, what else do you expect from Mike Meyers right?

Is it a silly show? I would say so too! hahahaha

It's raining babies!

Gosh.. in a matter of days and it seemed like everyone is bombing! Let's congratulate them!

1) Stef + Damian welcomed their whooping 3.9kg boy, Jae Joseph (JJ) on 9th August (yay! National Day) @ 1647 hrs. Rest well Stef!

2) CT + HB also received their 2nd bundle of joy (Clive or Caleb? decided yet? :p ) on 9th August (yay! ANOTHER National Day baby!) at 2359 hrs!

3) Patrick + Shannon finally met their little girl Kayla today! HB rec'd an MMS from Patrick and gosh, this little girl is indeed pretty! Like her mommy! Congrats & rest well!

Not forgetting my friends/colleague who delivered in July! Congrats to Liuxiang+Telly as well as to Magdeline!

Guess what.. next would be ME!

Happy birthday Grandma!

Today is MIL's birthday. DH's eldest & 3rd sister (and their family) came by to celebrate. DH bot a blackforest cake from Royals (for the kids) and see how happy those kids were? Valerie is exceptionally happy coz she had cake AND ice cream today! The cake was so tasty that she asked for a 2nd helping!

When DH was busy taking all the pictures, he said to me "Wouldn't it be nice to grow old and celebrate birthday with ur children & grandchildren?". And I couldn't agree more.