35 weeks

Hello peeps. I am now 35 weeks into my pregnancy. Last weight was 73kgs. It's looming nearer and nearer and I am kind of nervous. But I am so happy to report that so far things have been great. My check-up last week was good. Still negative protein and glucose in my urine. Normal blood pressure. Also did vaginal swab so any follow-up required from that test will be done at the next check up... Just in time before the baby comes out. 

Apart from my legs, currently my fingers are also quite swollen. I have been complaining on and on about it only to find out that it is just edema/water retention... quite normal to feel it in the hands also, apart from the legs. Another new thing during this pregnancy. Heard stories from a friend about a mother, who had diabetes during 3rd or 4th month pregnancy. She needs to keep checking her glucose level in her blood and need to inject insulin regularly. Also another mother who had varicose vein around her private part, where it is painful for her to even walk/climb up the stairs especially when she is stressed out. So what I have is nothing to complain about. Yeah, should stop complaining and learn to be more thankful. =) But actually I do feel a bit stronger this pregnancy. Only started to pray on a chair recently, when last pregnancy I started around 7 months or so. Also up until now, I haven't experienced frequent leg cramps at night. Maybe once or twice in the past trimesters. Mom said it is still too early to have that but if I remembered correctly, it happened quite frequent during my last trimester last time. Every time I stretched in the morning, I would MOST definitely get a leg cramp. This time, topped with my laziness of taking my calcium supplement, it is quite amazing I haven't been experiencing it yet. So yeah, add to the list of things to be thankful for.

Baby is also in the right position already. She is so good. We have been telling her to adjust her position before she became to big to move around in my belly and she DID. So her head is down there now but not engaged yet. Still too early for that, I guess. She is now supposedly around 2.5kg or so and looking good to cross the full term mark. Hubby and SIL said maybe next check-up I can tell the Dr to induce already. Then, I don't have to wait so long. But no no.. that's not what I want. I want it to be on time or at least just a week before EDD. 1) Because my confinement lady couldn't come earlier than that. 2) Induce labor is more painful, I heard. I would prefer to go natural, as much as I can. 3) I want to go to Taylor Swift's concert on June 11th while I am still on my maternity leave. So it has to be after March 11th. Hehe.

Honestly, I am quite nervous that my MIL is going away for a 2 weeks holiday end of March. I need herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I hope the confinement lady will be around the whole time my MIL is away. Wahahaha. I sound so spoilt. No wonder my own mom didn't want to leave me. My cousin was supposed to get married in March. I told my mom to just go and attend the wedding but my mom said she won't be leaving me. So the wedding got postponed to June. I feel like so special. =p Wahahaha.

Last but not least, I made my pre-admission registration last week. It's getting so real now. =p A sneak peak into the oven. Can you see her chubby cheek? Ngeee  ^_^

My full-of-surprises hubby

My hubby is known to be full of surprises. Although he is not the totally romantic kind who celebrates my birthday or even our anniversaries, sometimes he does caught me off-guard.

Last last Sunday for example, on a random free Sunday, after we attended a wedding in Putrajaya, we actually went to Melaka... supposedly to attend his cousin's event but we went to Ayer Keroh instead of Alor Gajah, where the event was held. Since we were already there, we went for a foot massage, had dinner at Portugese Square and then went up the Menara Tamingsari. What a wonderful unplanned date.

Friday night was supposed to be Valentines Day and since we don't normally celebrate Valentines Day, it was just like any other night for me. However, on my way back, I was on the phone with him and maybe it got sentimental somewhere because suddenly, he told me he wanted to make a quick stop at JJ Seremban, which was not very unusual so I let him. He came home with a cake and ushered me into the jacuzzi with Tricia. I came out to this.

The house was actually lit up with candles but I can't show you the whole picture because it was very messy. Haha. He even dressed up for the occasion in pants and shirts. I was half naked in towels. So not fair. It was very very sweet of him and totally unexpected that I cried. He said, this is not to celebrate Valentines Day but to celebrate you. I scolded him for buying me flower on that specific day, when they are more expensive than usual. His reply was... I celebrate my wife whenever I feel like doing it. Doesn't matter what day it is.

On Saturday, we went for our check up in SJMC. Relaxed at home the whole day after and took Tricia to the Dr in the evening because she was coughing non-stop. Apparently, she had tonsillitis but her body was strong enough that she didn't have fever with it. So had to take another course of antibiotics, which wasn't surprising because the week before when we did the blood test, the was some indication of viral infection. That night, we hang out at Mak Long's house in Bangi before hubby took us out for a drive. Unfortunately, Tricia got into a coughing fit halfway and vomited in the car before we managed to reach home.
Since we didn't do anything Saturday and had no plans on Sunday (was supposed to go for a cancer charity walk in Bangi at 7.30am but I only woke up around 9am), hubby just drove us without telling where we were heading to. When we passed Sg Buloh tol, I insisted he told me where we were going. He only smiled. Then only I realised we were going to Cameron Highlands. So random!!! Although it could be tiring to keep up sometimes, especially in my final weeks of pregnancy, I just love the spontaneity in him. I love him for making an effort to keep things alive between us and how he includes us in his crazy adventurous life. The love of my life. I am so very lucky indeed to have him as my husband.

Potty training

Hubby was down with food poisoning last night so he slept early. My daughter, who is nocturnal, of course couldn't sleep that early so I had to take over watching her. She got bored because I dimmed out the lights so she couldn't play with her toys. She asked to watch Monsters Inc again and again. 3 times to be exact! Towards the end of the 3rd round, I was already sailing into dreamland. Heard her crying for me to change her pampers, when actually I just changed her pampers like an hour or two before. I knew she didn't poo... she just peed. But she really insisted... And when I ignored her, she finally gave in to ask for milk instead.

Well, I did change her pampers again before I went out for work this morning. But the incident last night made me think... maybe it's time to potty train her as she can tell you already when she peed. Quite nervous to start though. Don't want to have urine spots all over the house. Maybe we'll start when mummy is on maternity leave, if you are ready baby.

Baby hatch in Malaysia via OrphanCare Foundation

Heard about the launching of babyhatch centres a few years ago, where babies can be "abandoned" safely but still hear news where newborns were killed or dumped by the roadside etc. Was wondering why wasn't this facility used. Tried searching for it and it took me sometime to find the baby hatch centres and organisation, which means it must be difficult for these mothers to find them too. Was thinking maybe I could make this a cause close to my heart. Maybe I should find a way to get more involved with the organisation. So let's just make a note here. I just found the foundation's website today: http://www.orphancare.org.my/

Tricia's Low Hemoglobin Level

I mentioned in previous posts that around end of last year/early this year, Tricia had high fever on and off. I took emergency leave on 2nd January 2014, first working day of the year when it was very busy and Soke Yee was on leave because I couldn't wait any longer. So I worked from home first half of the day and took Tricia for a blood test at her Paed in Seremban in the afternoon. I was impressed that the Dr only need to prick Tricia's finger to do the blood test. No need to draw blood from her vein.

Result in January:

The Dr explained that not only Tricia was having a viral fever, she also had bacteria infection. (I only learned yesterday that it was explained from LYM% and GRA% reading. High Lym = viral. High Gra = bacterial) That was it. What my mom saw was a different thing. Why was her hemoglobin level very low at 8.4. She freaked out and kept pestering me on and on about it. Good thing was, she went and investigate Tricia's milk content and found out it was not the milk's fault but it was actually our fault. We prepared her milk not according to the right level so her milk was super diluted. 1) She didn't get enough nutrients. 2) Her milk didn't taste good. We also went to search for food with high iron content and went with Cerelacs Honey and Wheat (not any other type) to be mixed into her milk.

After a month, yesterday, we went to see Dr Oo again to follow up with the hemoglobin reading. We actually asked a few other clinics/labs beforehand whether they can do the same blood test by pricking her finger rather than taking a whole chunk of blood from her veins but no luck. So off we went to Seremban. Lucky mummy didn't have anything else to do so I got to drag her along since she was the one that was freaked out with this whole episode and kept thinking it could be some minor thalassemia disorder/G6PD/iron deficiency disorder. I was pretty sure Tricia didn't have any blood related disorder because no one else in the family has it and Tricia had been pretty strong so far. Granted she fell sick on and off but it was never that serious. She was never admitted YET (touch wood) so I really didn't think she had any kind of blood disorder, which was supposed to make her prone to falling sick.

New result:

Hemoglobin level up to 9.7. Yeayyy! Joy. Although it is still very low from the normal range, at least it is improving. Mom was very happy. She wanted to have some reticulocyte count or something from the blood test. I called Dr Oo's clinic before and the nurse said they don't have it. Mom asked Dr Oo personally and he said it could be explained by other measures. I didn't understand what they were talking about but mom looked satisfied so I guess it is good. Dr Oo told me very low possibility of having all that blood disorder thing from the reading. No wonder he didn't point out anything before. 

Mom, finally satisfied with the explanation, said that was exactly why Doctors cannot treat their own family members because it is easier for them to freak out when it comes to their own loved ones. Amazing what food intake could do to one's overall health. So what we should do now is to continue to monitor her food intake because it is very difficult to make her eat solid food. Unfortunately, mom kept reminding me that she inherited that from me. =_= Now that her milk is not so diluted anymore, she has been drinking a lot more but in return, reducing her solid food intake. As long as she gets the right nutrients in, she is on the right track to recover from the low hemoglobin episode. To all my family members, thank you for helping us in monitoring her food intake. Your contribution is very much appreciated. ^_^

Tanjung Jara Resort - part 1

Late June last year, before I knew I was pregnant, I made a booking on Agoda to go to Tanjung Jara Resort in January 2014 (where it was half the normal price being at the end of the monsoon season). I've heard so much about it and since it is under YTL, I surely have high expectation of the place after our Pangkor Laut Resort experience. Glad to say, it was not disappointing at all. Invited our 68 Beechfield Road gang but only Mimi and Azmir could make it. And of course, my mom and my brother.

Initially, booked to go 18th-20th January. But when the 2014 calendar was announced, 17th January was a public holiday for Thaipusam. Quickly I changed our bookings and let Azmir knows. So we went 17th-19th January, without having to take annual leave if you don't want to. (I did anyway because I knew how tired I'd be after our Lake Kenyir trip.) Quite lucky because my brother just started working in PwC after leaving RHB Investment Bank so he couldn't simply take a day off after only 2 weeks of working. Since we confirmed our booking this time, I cancelled my older booking (free cancellation policy) and upgraded to Serambi rooms with balcony, instead of the cheapest Bumbung room. I was so thankful I did that because I did not know that Bumbung room was on the first floor. Serambi, on the other hand was on ground floor so phew... got lucky there.

We went 3 separate cars. Supposed to start our journey around 9-10ish but ended up leaving our Bangi house around 11.30am. Stopped for lunch at Jalan Belamy first. Then met my mom and bro at a petrol station at the beginning of Karak highway. Mimi and Azmir left their house around 11.15ish and made their way straight to Dungun. They arrived around 4.30ish and we arrived about an hour later. Tricia had fun on the way changing cars as and when she likes. There was this one time she went for more than an hour and I did not receive any call from my mom that I nearly cried because I thought she did not miss me. Wahahaha. Clingy mother I am.

When we arrived, they sounded the gong. Then a staff came out and asked whether I am Ms Farah Haida. Huu, impressive. They ushered us in, gave us cold napkins to freshen up and wipe our faces, and welcome drinks. Mom couldn't take sweet drinks so asked for hot tea instead. Little that she knew that tea was not free. We got charged RM12 for it. Haha. The reception area was already so beautiful.

When we arrived at our rooms, I knew instantly I fell in love with this place. We just arrived then but the first thing I said was "I don't want to go home. I want to stay here longer." Our beautiful room:

Mimi and Azmir who were walking around that time saw us at the reception area so they accompanied us back to our rooms. They stayed for awhile, then gave us space to freshen up before we met again for dinner. For muslim visitors, not only they show us the direction of the kiblat, but they also provide us with prayer mat (sejadah), which few hotels do. We went for dinner at Nelayan restaurant. It was by the seaside and near the swimming pool. Food was rather on the expensive side but our dinner for the 4 of us cost around RM300, which we think was okay. Average food price about RM40-80 per plate. Some of our food. Not all because I was too hungry to be taking pictures at that time. On top of the appetiser in the picture, we were also served with bread and butter, which I LOVE.

After dinner, Mimi and Azmir went back to their room and my family went out because I forgot to bring Tricia's pampers along. Aih, so much for being a seasoned traveller. One of the plus point of this place compared to Pangkor Laut Resort is that we can drive out. Imagine being stranded on a private island and we forgot the pampers. Haaa... Good luck trying to buy some. At 9.30pm, there was still groceries shop opened in Dungun, Terengganu. So yeah, again, I was impressed. Haha.

Went back and had some pamelo mom bought at the shop. Tricia was having fun alternating between our two rooms. Only around 12am, she settled down and went to sleep.

02022014 - Escape Room round 2

This weekend is a long weekend due to Chinese New Year holiday and Federal Territory day. So we are off Friday to Monday. We spent our Friday cleaning up the house and went shopping for the new arrival on Saturday.
On Sunday, my friends and I made a date for our second (first for most of them) trip to the Escape Room at E@curve. There were 7 of us and we went to Prison Break room this time and surprise, surprise... We managed to escape in 36 minutes!!! Woohoo. See. I told you. Headcount is important and teamwork gave us success. There was me, Hudam and Cyan as the recurring contestants and Asserk, Aizat, Lisak and Shasha Id as first timers. Asserk broke the 1st clue. Hudam unlock us out our hand-cuffed. Was supposed to break a clue on a box and then a pouch. But Shasha managed to unlock the pouch without solving any clue. Cheating a bit there but what the heck. We didn't break anything. What comes next was a bit tougher. A physical challenge, which Lisak successfully completed for us. I unlocked the 4th padlock, giving us access to the next clue, which the team solved together to unlock the next one. And the final one, was again a team effort. Don't think we would have made it with fewer headcount. *I hope this doesn't qualify as a spoiler*. Sorry orn. I knew you would love to join but Sunday is the day with the most people so we had to go with the majority. A few people asked whether it was fun. It definitely WAS. Of course, you have to go with great company but the game was what made it fun, right?

Before:

After:

Since we were all so very happy after the win, we went to celebrate at DipNDip. I didn't know they have a branch there. Luckily someone pointed it out.

Fettucini crepe. The only dish I managed to capture a picture of.

While I was away with friends, mom and brother helped to look after Tricia who was having a blast at Yukids Island. She was there since 2pm until I went to pick her up at 4.30pm. Guess that was quite convenient eh?

My husband's story was kinda funny. He thought he was supposed to attend a kenduri that day, which was why I picked Sunday to spend time with my friends. He woke up late, left the house, then only realized the kenduri was the day before. So he drove to KL and joined us in The Curve. After that, had a drink at Bubba Gump Shrimp before sending mom and bro back home. A happy day indeed.

31 weeks

Hey peeps. I am sooo happy. My check up last weekend was good, except for my rapid increase in weight, that is. It was 72kg, 3-4kg increase from last month but I'm blaming it on the scale as it was a different scale last week. Haha. My urine was clear: no glucose, no protein. For the record, I was so scared that I drank so much water the night before and in the morning that my urine for the test was very clear. I'm sure if I had anything, it would show up anyway so it was not cheating. =p Normal blood pressure = not at risk for pre-eclempsia for now. Baby's weight was around 1.7kg and Dr confirmed that it is still a girl. Next check up in 3 weeks time. Baby's head not engaged yet. She's horizontal, the head was on my left side. No sign of pre-term labour for the time being. Woohoo! Keep praying! Next check up, I can start registering for my room already. Nervous. Huhu.
Having a headache finalising the baby's name at the time being. Hopefully we can finalise with one we are both happy with soon.

Trip to Lake Kenyir

It was year-end and hubby was just itching to test drive his new car. He initially wanted to go for a short weekend getaway in Penang but it was fully booked so he asked me to find a place that was not too near from our place. After doing some research, we settled for Lake Kenyir Resort in Terengganu. It was at least 6-hours drive away and room rate was quite cheap considering the time of the year and our last minute booking, which was around RM 250 per room per night. It was also suitable for nature lover, not like myself but like my hubby. =p

Hubby wanted to go on a Friday but I went ahead and took leave on Monday so we went 28th - 30th December 2013, Sat - Mon. We started our journey around 10-ish from Bangi and met with hubby's friend near Sungai Besi tol. Arrived just in time for lunch in Temerloh, where we had ikan patin masak tempoyak and ikan patin goreng. Yummm. Just after Jabor tol, hubby followed google map's direction and was lead to use the inside road (instead of the beachside road). It was a trunk road so it was bumpy and slow whenever we couldn't over take the vehicle in front of us. Arrived at the resort around 6-ish and by that time, everyone was clearly very tired from the journey already. We had to park our car in the parking lot area, which was quite a distance to the reception and a shuttle car took us inside to the lobby and to our rooms. Luckily the room was not bad at all. It was quite nice considering how "kampung" the surrounding area was. We paid slightly extra (around RM40) to get rooms facing the lake and I would say the view from our rooms was very serene. 

Dinner was not bad. We had rice with some lauk and our friend's son had chicken chop. It costed us around RM 200, which we think was quite okay. After dinner, we went back and slept comfortably in our own beds.

The next morning, we went for breakfast separately. Our friends took their son to play at the swimming pool before breakfast but hubby and I slept in as Tricia was having her on and off fever that time so we were awake almost half of the night. After breakfast, we went for a boat ride, which was really fun!

During the boat ride tour, we stopped at a water fall area i.e. Air Terjun Sauk. Because it was monsoon season, the waterfall was very dangerous due to high water volume so it was not advisable to go for a dip that time. It was a beautiful place nevertheless. The journey up towards the waterfall area was quite a climb for me especially in my condition of 6.5 months pregnant but I made it. Haha.

After that, we jumped into our boat and went to a herb garden. We were shown different local herbs like Tongkat Ali, Kacip Fatimah and don't remember the name of the last one =p, Mahkota Dewa or something like that, which was supposed to be good for your heart and other organs. The guy who took care of the garden offered me a handful of the kacip fatimah herb, which was supposed to be good for delivery and after birth. No cost charged, just give what you feel like giving. One: I don't take herbs. I have nothing against it, just too lazy to prepare all this stuff. Two: I have no benchmark how much to give so I didn't take it.

The reception area and swimming pool

Our friends went back to their room after the ride but we went out to the nearest Klinik Kesihatan at Kampung Tengkawang, which was about 15-20 minutes away because we ran out of fever medicine for Tricia. Even though I knew the fact before, I was still very impressed and excited when was told that the service and medical charge was only RM1. The doctor tested Tricia's temperature using a mercury thermometer under her arms but she dropped it and the thermometer broke. Lucky we didn't have to pay extra charge for that. Ehehe.

We bought some nasi goreng and keropok lekor on the way back and ate with our friends. Hubby and his friend went out in the evening but since it was drizzling and Tricia was not well, we stayed in and enjoy the nice view from our balcony.

That night we went to the lobby area and had drinks there while having some fun playing carom and scrabble. Tricia wanted to feed the fish in the pond in front of the lobby area like she did in the afternoon. Although we kept telling her the fishes were sleeping, she didn't believe us. So we went to the pond and threw fish food into the pond. True enough, no fish came out to eat the food. Then only she believed us the fishes really went to sleep.

The next morning, we walked to the breakfast area. The thing about this place is... you need to climb quite a reasonable flight of stairs. Not suitable for people with knee problem/wheelchair bound. But of course, you can always call the shuttle service to pick you up. Like I said earlier, very suitable for nature lovers.

After breakfast, we went back to clean ourselves and pack. Checked out. And had lunch at Kuala Terengganu. Saw this super cool parking system. This time, we took the beach road back. Had a drink at Pantai Kemasek before splitting our way after Jabor tol. All-in-all, we had fun. Hubby was a bit disappointed that we couldn't visit the Kelah sanctuary because it was monsoon season. Maybe we will come back again but maybe next time, we will rent the boat house instead? Who knows.