Jaundice

Chantal 1st visit to doctor Malathi which supposed to be her regular visit turn to nightmare, She has to be admitted for Jaundice.

I knew that something happen to her, when on the second day i looked at her, and she had this yellowish color on her nose and chick, then i asked my mother about it, but she told me that it was nothing and that she has to drink more. I heard about this jaundice, and it is commonly happen to a premature baby, but chantal was born normal, not premature though.

The only reason that i could think of behind her jaundice was the weather condition in Singapore, it's been quiet unhealthy since a couple weeks ago, thanks to the burning forest in Indonesia, which gave such a bad haze to Singapore. Thus, she has to be treated under UV lights, and because she is on total breast feeding, i will need to stay with her.

So we both were admitted on the same day, and she is straight away being placed in one of those horrible bed. First, she was crying her heart out, due to her being strapped with only diaper on, and being placed on flat surface which made from acrylic material. Then, the good nurse, came back with the nicer bed, made by Medela, it has a rubber surface which made it a little bit comfy for the baby.

As soon as she was placed on that bed, i couldn't help myself to cry, she had those eyeband, and was so hopeless. I know that everybody trying to comfort me by saying, it was common, and within 1 day, the yellowish will be gone. All mother will feel the same way i did when they child has to be hospitalized.

The night that we spend in the hospital was hard, i couldn't sleep, i kept looking at her, and try to wake her up every 3 hours, to fed her. I have to monitor her passing motions, and how her feeding. The good thing is her appetide has stayed the same, she still drink plenty of milk, and passed motion regulary.

The second day, her condition is getting so much better, can't hardly see the yellow, though the doctor said it is advisable to stay for another night. Her blood test came out that her Bilirubin are 195 which usually normal.

I was just so happy and couldn't wait to be discharge from the hospital, the 3rd day when the doctor came and check on her, she said chantal look perfectly fine now and can go home.

Chantal Nauli Setyoko

The Happiest Day

16th October would be the happiest day of my life,
The day when our precious one come to the world..
We named her Chantal Nauli Setyoko..
She was born at East Shore Hospital with the weight of 2.9 kg and height 49 cm at precisely 16:30 pm Singapore time.

I was in labor for 4 and half hours, the first 4 hours was painful though I was on epidural since the time I was admitted to the labor room.
The specialist who did the epidural asked me how's the pain in a a count of 1 to 10, and I said it was still bearable , so he only put 5 cc on the machine and told me I will be able to feel a little bit of pain for the 'pushing' phase.

As the dilation went bigger and the pain came more frequently,
i was squeezing my dear hands so tight that I think I might be damaging his fingers,
then when the midwives came to check my dilation, and saw that I was in pain, she called the doctor and asked whether she can increase my dose to help me with the pain.

However, when she did increase my dose to 13 cc, I was already 9-10 cm, and she jokingly told I suppose to be smiling when I am on epidural, not holding my face like that.

She asked me to exercise some pushing before my gynea came, and said i am ready to push but have to wait a little more for my gynea.

When he arrived, everything suddenly went very fast, at first i could still push my heart out, but then because i haven't had enough sleep the nite before, and i haven't had a any meal since morning, I'm totally exhausted when its time to push more.

They kept saying one more push, even my dear was encouraging me to push by saying "dikit lagi sayang.." and trying to be strong to hold my hands, wiping my face..but i guess i didn't push enough, so doctor said he will use vacuum to help speed up the process.

Then at 16:29 pm, she came out, and the first thing that i heard was my dear saying "udah sayang...cantik sekali anak kita, look..cantik sayang...kayak mama". Then i opened my eyes to look at her, and indeed she is so beautiful, and i can feel the tears came out from my eyes, as i said to my self, Thank You God, for the best gift He had just given me.

A new camcorder

Last couple of weeks ago, when we were browsing around at the Best Denki, we came upon a camcorder stall, then realized that we will be needed one of those camcorder for the new arrival. But what to choose? there are so many of them, and we didn't know which one will be sufficient enough with the right price for our pocket.

We then, look around and find this particular brand with function that we think should be sufficient enough for daily use. It was this Canon DC100, and it was on special (promotion). My dear said, that we should buy that instead of those expensive one.

However, when i went to buy the camcorder, the sales person who attend to my interest was so presistant that i should get the newest model instead. It was the DC20,as he showed me the different between them, i called my dear and said that we should take the DC20 as the price is on promotion and mind as well get the best one if we want to keep it for quiet sometime.

So there it is, we have a camcorder for our new arrival. It was already tested by my dear, he took some shoot and pics when we were at the Clark quay on saturday.

39 Weeks

I am now 39 weeksill hasn't feel any major contraction, my weight now is 62.8 kg and my blood preasue falls in normal 70/120. She is now approx 3.1 kg. We did another baby monitoring again, and she was doing the movement again.

I am hoping she will came out as soon as possible, the doctor said he knows i want the baby to come out soon, but he suggest that we wait and let the nature do the rest. Azizah, the nurse told me to do some walking, i guess i didn't walk enough since my parents arrival. We always took cab and never walk to long or far enough.

So as soon as i get home, i ask father to accompany me to buy some congee down at the station (my dear have to work from home) and then walk again to mc donald to get my mom some french fries.

After that, i took some rest and take a nap, woke up, took a shower and took my mom to eat her dinner at sushi tei paragon. Then we take a cab to clarke quay for dinner. We ate at 'clarkquay riverside' restaurant.

38 Weeks

I am now in my 38 weeks, the baby still moving very actively, i haven't experienced any major contraction, only some here and there. Nothing to worry about, said my doctor, between now and 20th october it's the time for "wait and see".

We took some monitoring of the baby hearhbeat and monitoring whether there's some contraction. The test it self took 20 minutes, and it turns out that she is very active inside me, cannot stop moving, and her heartbeat seems to be perfectly normal - fast and steady.

My weight is 62.4 Kg, my baby's weight is approx 2.7 kg, my blood preasure fall in 70/120 - everything seems perfect.

A total fraud..what a liar...

I couldn't believed what my brother was telling me when he was here, i didn't notice that he did wrote a comment on my previous post about "a million little pieces" by james frey.

It turn out that he wasn't all true about his book, it was totally a made up stories, he didn't experience all that, let along was charged in 3 different stated in US.

And he told Oprah about this lies when he was interviewed by her in a national television across the nation and probably across the world for that matter.

There was an investigation by the smoking gun that reveal about his true lies. A complete report on how and what can be found in here.

A lady name Pauline

A lady name Pauline came to my place this morning to help me with some cleaning around the house, which also include some ironing. My hubby insist i look for a cleaning lady to help me cleaning the place once every week. I had her number from my dear friend Anne, who get her number from her other friend. The lady live in Pasir Ris, so she doesn't have to travel too far from where she live, and she is from Philippine, around 40ish and had apparently a singaporian citizen, so it is legal to hire her as a part-time helper.

As soon as she arrived, we had a small talk about the weather and how she get here, and then she is ready to start the day, she clean very well though...every single corner of my place was shiny and smell so fresh. Although my place wasn't that dirty to start from, i least from what i saw, she is rubbing everything, even the wire that attached to my rice cooker. :)
Uh and one other thing...she is a very happy lady, because while she clean the place, she always sings. This is a sign of a very happy person.

I am so glad that she is helping me with those small details. Thanks ms Pauline.

Kolak

Yesterday after discussing whether i should make my own kolak or look for a place where they sale them, i went to geylang serai and search patiently for kolak to saviour my sweet tooth.
disappointed, there were no kolak around, i ended up buying "paru balado" for my dear instead, hiks...Malaysian born singaporian didn't consume any "kolak" during fasting month in singapore.

So i took a courage to ask some help, i send an email to ISM and ask anyone who ever bought or saw a place where they sell kolak. And yes...within a couple of minutes, those nice mum in ISM come to my rescue. One mum told me they do sell 'em at jl pisang in bugis. Yihhiiiiii....at last, a bunch of thanks to ISM Mum...

PS: for those who doesn't know what kolak is, it is an indonesian sweet beverage made from coconut milk, palm sugar, bananas cutlet and "singkong", usually made during the month of Ramadhan. They are absolutely delicious , especially for people who love sweets foods.

A nice short visit

I have received an email from my older brother that he will be stopping by for a half day on his way to Kobe, Japan. At first i thought his flight was on 2nd oct, but when i received an sms from him this afternoon, i was shock that his flight was actually today arriving at 4pm in singapore, and his next flight to japan will be around 1 am at night, and that 2nd oct was the day of his meeting in Japan.
Luckyly we didn't have any plan for this afternoon, and beside the weather looks pretty gloomy,

i think it will rain quiet heavy today.

And...whoooalaaa...the rains pouring so heavy we have to close all the window in our apartment. (we does have a lot of windows in our apartment). So i sms my brother, telling him not to take mrt to our place, and ask him to take a cab instead.

When he arrived, it was already 4:30 pm, and the rain had finally stop. He does lose a bit of kilos, and kinda look skinny for that fact. And because his skin is always be the darkest from 4 of us siblings, after loosing that kilos, he is back to his original skin, which is tan or more likely dark! Hehehe sorry bro...

Around 5ish, we took a cab to orchard as my brother want to go to Kinokuniya, it is the only place that he had interest (yupe, he is such a book lover), we ended up buying 5 books too. Heehehehe.

After that we grab some dinner at Pepper lunch, and then we head to cosmopolitan at Wisma to drink some beer and chat. No..i didn't drink any of those beer if you guys wondering, a glass of ice chocolate milkshake for me please...:)

A little bit of review, a little bit of complaining

Lets start with a little bit of reviewing, i bought this remarkable book on 18th september after looking for quiet sometimes, and due to its popularity, this book was out of stock for nearly a month.

When i first start reading this book, i started from the very first page (i don't usually read what the author said) where the author was giving a brief notes.

Then as soon as i start reading 'em...i couldn't put it down, i kept on reading...and reading...it's so moving, it's so real comes to the point that it's scary to even imagine what the author has been through...

The part that i like about this book, is not how he describe his life and his afford of trying to get sobber..but how he stand by his point, that what happen to him was purely because of him, not trying to blame other people for it (specially his parents), didn't even look for other source to be blame. It was like what i've once told my parents, when they were telling me the story of how so and so child's was a junky, or a drug addicts and how the parents was to blame. I told my parents, it is unfair to blame the parents of what happen to those people who "choose to use drugs".

Using and not using a drug is a choice to make, and for a child to be addicted to it, and blame it to the parents, for me it was just absurb!. Learn to accept the consequences of what you are doing. And this book its all about that...i would give a 10 star for this book, i already told my friend Anne to read this book.



Now, lets's talk about my complaining...
As you can see, at the corner of the book, there was a highlight on the page number. I didn't highlight them...yupe, i was surprise to have a highlighted page on my new book which by the way, i bought it from a very reputable japanese bookstore in takashimaya...So book lovers, please please check your book before you purchase them, don't just check on the cover, if you can...check every pages, and look whether someone highlight something, or you've have just purchased a second hand book instead!

Fire Alarm

at approximately 1 am, the fire alarmed in my tower went off, it was a very loud noise and when i tried to find where it came from, i opened my apartment door, and the sound was actually from the level where my apartment is.

i went to the back to our apartment to where the laundry is, look down from the balcony and there was the old man whom always cleaning the place and i saw him trying to contact somebody from the building maintenance.

then after about 15 minutes, there were a fire bridgade in front of the premises..i went back to the laundry area again, and saw them at the other tower, they looked like they were looking for the switch or something. when the sound was turn off, in 5 minutes it turn on again, and it happen even untill the fire bridgade had left.

Another durian fever

My dear and my mom couldn't wait for me to munch on those durian we bought at the supermarket. The sales told us that these grade was the best one, better than grade D24. So we bought two packaged, and as soon as we get to the apartment, my dear opened them and ask my mom to try 'em, while mt younger brother was sitting far away from where the action was.

Birthday Present

Got these two items for irthday
Its the new gucci bag (embossed style) and burgundy purse..
Absolutely love it !!!!

Action Hero

My brother with his toys, just bought them and decided to put them together. Boys will be boys....:) 

Go reds!

This is the picture of us in MRT (my lil brother took it), my mom wanted to try to ride the train with us. So from bugis junction we took mrt to orchard, stop by at cityhall station and align to jurong east line to reach orchad station.

At first she was very nervous, as it was her first experience riding a train, she never be in a train before, let alone in riding the train in such a speed. But I think she like the experience..:)

A Very Nice Surprise

yesterday, as i was waiting for the landlord of our apartment to come and visit, my brother sms me and ask what was i doing, and give me a hint that he will be in singapore around evening....Whuaaa...i told him not to joke with that, coz i don't want to get my hopes high..and he said why would he lie to his sister, and he would want to be there for my birthday...i almost cry when he told me that...so yesterday, i waited for my brother to arrived, and have a doubt in mind whether my mother will come also. And it turns out that she also came along with my brother...what i nice surprise for my birthday...:)

they both arrived around 5ish, and after spend an hour to catch up on things, we took a cab to orchard and grab some dinner at Sushi Tei (the only place that my mom would eat something), then we shopped a little for stuff for my baby..and went back home...

i was so happy, i couldn't stop smilling..:)
thanks bro...thanks mom...love you so muchhhhh!!!

Pork Chop

My dear cook this dishes lastnite, it look delicious doesn't it. Well it trully yummy..Although it was prepared in such a simple way...but the taste was so natural, and not to mention healthy!
Except i was accidentally put to much salt on the gravy Hehehehehe...and still the pork chop it self are sweet and just right...we shall do this more often dear...:)

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom (PCOS)

My close friend who was trying to get pregnant was diagnose by the doctor to have a Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom. This syndrom made the carrier to become infertile, and will also cause problems such as diabetic, irregular menstruation, hormonal inbalance, thinning of a hair, and excessive growth of hair in certain area of the body (manly hair).

She was so down when she heard she had this syndrom, i though that she was just going to have a regular check up at MT Elizabeth Hospital, and the doctor prob just gonna prescribe her some hormon boost or some vitamins, but what looks like a regular and a normal check up, turns out to be a bad news for her and her husband.

I met her for a coffee yesterday, and she told me that if she will not pregnant within the 3 months treatment of all the medicine her doctor gave her, she have to get back to singapore, and undergo some other treatments, and if that doesn't work as well, she have to undergo a surgery, and if the surgery doesn't cured her she have to go through ICSI.

To understand her syndrom i've tried to google on the net, and find out PCOS is usually happen to a woman who has a problem with weight, and my friend is so skinny that people would say she is underweight. Although, she was diagnose as to have a hormonal inbalance a couple years ago when she still living in perth.

I just hope that she will get well soon, as this particular syndrom is not cureable, but it is treatable.

Info on PCOS can be found in here.

Happy 1st Anniversary!!

This morning, i don't feel like waking up too early, so when i noticed my dear had woken up and walk out from our bedroom. I let myself to ooze for another couple of minutes, but then i guess i was totally fallen back to sleep.

All of a sudden...my dear went back in and was giving me a big kiss and hugs me and whisper in my ears "happy anniversary sayang..."

Today is our 1st anniversary, a year full of joys, loves and some ups and down, but we are learning aren't we dear? And with the baby coming,...our little family soon be completed.

Happy Anniversary juga Sayang....I love you and I am so glad You are mine...Muachhhh!