The moment i hit 5 months of pregnancy, the tummy started to look obvious and people actually do give up their seats to me. Who says Singaporeans are not considerate!
Week 20 (28 Mar 2015)
We went for a detailed fetal scan today! It is usually at this time when your gynae confirms the gender of the baby if you didnt do any other tests. My gynae wasnt the one who did the scan, so we were asked to go to Raffles Hospital for the detailed scan where they checked many things like if the vital organs were formed, blood flow in the womb and if there were any structural abnormalities with the baby.
Baby was mischievous when we did the scan. The sonographer could not take any measurements of his head as he was lying in a position which could not be reached for a proper scan. She asked me to walk around, go to the ladies and come back for the scan. I did, but baby still did not move. The sonographer then asked us talk to the baby to ask him to lie in a proper position while she sees the next patient. Haha, when we went back a third time, all was well.
Overall, all was ok with the baby, nothing much for us to worry about. Doctor told us that our baby was about 434g. When i subsequently googled the norm online, i found out that our baby was bigger than the average! So i studied the report on the growth chart that they gave us on his head, abdominal and femur dimensions - they were all above the 50th percentile. And I have been putting on weight so quickly. I better exercise some restrain to cut down on the food that i eat to avoid having a big baby at the time of birth!
Weight gain: 5.5kg
Week 21 (3 Apr 2015)
I have joined a secret fb page for Aug 2015 mummies, many of them potentially having a national day baby haha. As with the bride to be page that i joined previously, i find this mummy fb page very helpful! Being a first time mum, there are so many things that i do not know and i can slowly learn from this group of ladies.
There are some bulk purchase that they arranged and i thought that they are so useful! Firstly, i bought a Spectra M1 electric double breast pump from the bulk purchase. We got it at $199, about 15% cheaper than retail price. I know nuts about breast pump and the bulk purchase forced me to go read up on breast pumps. Spectra is a korean brand and has got many good reviews online. So what i learnt from the review is that breast pumps better be light and portable esp if you are bringing it to the office after your maternity leave. There is electric pump and manual pump on the market, of cos electric pump saves your energy to pump. There is single pump and double pump and you save time using the double pump cos it can target both sides at once. There are so many brands in the market and i didnt know which to buy. Since so many of the mummies say good things about this and there is a deal, have decided to also ride on the bulk purchase!
And then there is the buckwheat pillow that you put across your baby when he sleeps. This is to prevent him from being startled while sleeping. Yes, have seen many babies owning these pillows but have never seen the shops selling it. And since there is also another bulk purchase organised by the mummies, have decided to get these pillows from embroidery room. The pillows are customised for each client - can put baby's name, choose logo, fabric, colour etc. Each pillow costs $26 and $16 for an extra pillow case. We decided on the animal and vehicle fabric. The blue cloth with white dots, baby's name and meh meh logo will appear on the other side of the fabric. Cute!
And then these mummies also know how to introduce good lobangs! They provided the links to request for free samples like huggies diapers, dumex gift pack and great eastern free life insurance. Heh heh, and i signed up for all these freebies!
Weight gain: 5.9kg
Week 21 (4 Apr 2015)
Did many baby things over the good friday long weekend. First, searched for the photography package for maternity and newborn photoshoot! After enquiring from 10 companies, we have decided to go with Mamamiyo Photography. Their prices are the most reasonable and it is shot by a female photographer (will be less shy when it comes to maternity photoshoot). This is what their package includes:
- $259 for each photoshoot (10 edited photos) or $385 for each photoshoot (all photos)
- $20 surcharge if shoot on weekends (others charge $50 and above)
- $0 surcharge if newborn shoot is done at home (others charge $150 and above)
- $50 makeup and hairstyling (others charge much more)
- Inclusive of clothings and props for the shoot
I am particularly excited by the newborn shoot after seeing her portfolio. She makes your little beanie soooo cute. I hope ours can also turn out as cute! The best timing to do the newborn shoot is when he is less than 2 weeks old. For maternity, you should be about 34 weeks pregnant.
Then I also checked forums for the recommended fengshui master to do name selection for our baby. Found good reviews for Master Chiang from Natural Geomancy Consultancy. He charges $128 for the name selection and would provide a little bit of ba zi analysis. We will go to him after our beanie is born.
Natural Geomancy Consultancy
7500A Beach Road #16-303 The Plaza
Singapore 199591
Tell: 6299 9199 Email: natgeocy@singnet.com.sg
Also did a check on the confinement nannies. After asking my limited number of friends for recommendations of a confinement nanny, we find that the good ones are already taken. We decided to engage an agency instead - PEM. Online reviews were good for PEM, the most established agency. There are good and bad nannies from the agency depending on heng suay, but we think that it wouldnt be so bad because they are afterall contracted by the agency. If customers complain about them, doubt that the agency would continue to engage the nannies. And the good thing about agencies is that if you are not able to work with the nanny, they can provide a replacement for you without charge. Plus, you will never be played out because the agency would have many nannies who can serve you regardless of your date of delivery. The quote provided to us is also very reasonable, more so than if you engage a private nanny by yourself.
Price: $2,300
- 28 days of confinment services, 24 hours baby care
- Cooking for mum and dad
- Laundry for new born, mum and dad
- Groceries shopping if required
We will be signing the package with them at their office next week.
Week 22 (5 Apr 2015)
We signed up for prenatal education class with Thomson Medical Centre! There are 6 lessons and costs $323. The lessons are conducted at Oasis Hotel rather than at TMC. We went for our first lesson today.
Met mum for dinner today and she bought these for her grandson from bangkok. So cute! Thank you mummy.
Week 22 (7 Apr 2015)
Went for a regular monthly scan with the gynae today. The detailed fetal scan was sent to him for records. At week 22, our baby was 507g already, confirmed another time that he is bigger than average. He was naughty for today's scan as he kept using his hands to cover his face. We could only get an ultrasound pic of his side view with his hand covering his face. So shy meh? >_<
Weight gain: 6.1 kg
