Pregnancy: Our 4th Antenatal class

We attended our 4th antenatal class last Thursday and it was the longest class to date (3 hours!) The class was all about child care and it started off with a video on Mrs Wong demonstrating how to bathe a newborn. 

The class set up was different from before. Each couple were allocated one big chair for mummy and a smaller chair for daddy to sit. And we were given a newborn baby doll to practise on lol. 

The whole class touched on:

- Carrying baby in various positions like the cradle and football positions

- Breastfeeding positions

- Bathing baby and changing diapers

- Swaddling baby

- Burping baby

- How to soothe baby when she cries 

- What to do when baby chokes 

The class was super informative and quite overwhelming because there was so much to learn! To be honest, I felt kinda worried in the middle of the class because I was struggling w carrying baby the right way etc. In fact, G seemed more confident than me! Really really hope I'll do better when the time really comes. Too bad there's no real baby to practise on so far hehe.

I'm so glad we're attending such classes to get us prepared! At least we know the basics =D

Here are some pictures!

New preggie symptom: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Amidst my throat infection and cough, I've been getting these joint pains in my fingers every night + morning after I wake up. My fingers feel painful when I stretch or bend them -.-

This made me think if I was suffering from gout since it runs in my family. Instead of guessing, I decided to google 'pregnancy finger joint pain' and I got this result instead: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

So apparently CTS inflicts such pains in preggies, more so in the 2nd and 3rd trimester. It's caused by the swelling that places pressure on the nerve running through the carpal tunnel, which runs from the wrist to the palm. According to baby center, this syndrome is usually mild and temporary so I do hope it's true!

CTS symptoms are usually worse at night and this is so true for me! I actually wake up to the joint pains. Apparently, changing my sleeping positions can relief some pain so I'm gonna try that. Gotta make sure I don't sleep on my hand too! 

Argh! CTS be gone!

Reading to our lil girl =D

I bought baby her first books today! Saw them at popular and couldn't resist cause they were familiar stories and the the books had such nice and colorful illustrations! Made me feel happy just looking at them. Here they are:

So when I went home today, G and I decided to dedicate some reading time to baby. And being the crazy hubba he is, he insisted on picking the book of his choice to read to our lil one. Guess what he picked?! Here goes... 

 

-.- I know... So dry. Whatever makes him happy thought lol. I guess at this point in time, the content of the reading doesn't matter so much because we're just trying to get baby used to our voices and the rhythm of our language. Lol. Anyways, maybe G was feeling bad about it because he decided to read the new Cinderella book to baby. So sweet eh! Love my hubba. I hope our lil one enjoyed it because I sure did =D 

Bonding with baby!

Our lil one is getting more active these days. Her fetal movements are getting stronger and we can see them more easily now. My belly used to slightly quiver when she moved in the earlier weeks but now it really bobs up and down! It’s really amazing to see and feel. Can’t believe our baby is getting bigger!

And now she actually responds when we talk to her or poke her (which is equivalent to poking my belly hehe). Just that day, she was kicking and moving around so much when I was playing a game of ‘pitter patter’ with her. I was basically tapping my belly rhythmically, simulating the falling of raindrops. Must have been fun for her =D

Being in my third and final trimester, I plan to bond more with baby since it won’t be too long before she arrives! I want her to feel that we are really there for her and really love her so so so much. Studies have also shown that bonding with unborn baby helps them to get used to you when they arrive and makes them feel safer. Apparently, it also makes them more interactive when they’re born.

I’ve been talking more to baby, telling her what I’m doing or feeling… asking her how she is. I also try to acknowledge her when she kicks or moves around by patting my belly and telling her that I’m here for her. Not sure it’s my imagination but I always feel that she’s listening and happy when I interact with her like that.

And of course, I let her listen to Mozart or Kenny G at night to soothe her and allow me to relax. Apparently, Vivaldi is good for babies too whilst on the other hand, babies don’t really like Beethoven. It’s amusing how babies actually have different preferences even within the classical genre. Recently, I’ve been slacking a lil in terms of playing such music. Need to really buck up!

Today, I saw on mummysg that reading to unborn babies can be a really good bonding activity. It helps baby recognize your voice better and associate good feelings with reading. I shall start doing this soon! 

According to babycenter, it's never too early to start reading to baby since she can already recognize voices from the womb. Reading really helps to simulate baby's listening even though she can't really understand the words at this point in time.

Gonna read to baby for about 15 minutes every day. Think I’m going to begin with nursery rhymes or fairy tales that are short and entertaining. Time to look for good books and online resources! I hope I manage to convince G to participate as well. I’m sure baby will enjoy bonding time with daddy too =D

Pregnancy: Our 3rd Antenatal Class with TMC

Last week, we attended our 3^rd antenatal class by Thomson ParentCraft. It’s held at AMK Hub’s My little Skoolhouse and conducted by the very reputable, Mrs Wong Boh Boi. Even though I’ll be delivering at Parkway east Hospital, I chose TMC’s antenatal classes because of Mrs Wong. I’ve read many excellent and wonderful reviews about her on forums, thus my choice! It also helped that the classes are conducted at AMK Hub instead of the highly inaccessible TMC.  

There are a total of 6 classes for the entire antenatal programme. Each class has about 25-30 couples (so many preggies together!) and we’re all made to sit down on mats + pillows provided on the floor for the first few classes. This was still manageable since most of us ladies aren’t that heavily pregnant yet. G and I always sit right behind so that we can learn our backs against the wall hehe. Sitting for 2.5 hours without any back support can be awfully torturing!

For our 1^st two classes, G and I learnt the following which we found super useful:

-          Correct postures for sitting/getting up and sleeping

-          Stretching and strengthening exercises

-          Massage techniques for daddies to practise on mummies

-          Bonding with unborn baby through touch, words and music

-          Recommended diet

-          Confinement myths (yay I get to shower!)

-          Pelvic Floor exercises

-          Breathing techniques for adoption during childbirth (deep breathing + shallow breathing)

-          Types of Pain relief (eg. Epidural)

For our 3^rd class yesterday, before we revised all our stretching + pelvic + breathing exercises, we watched a video on 6 different childbirths. These included natural delivery, water birthing and Caesarian section. To be honest, I was quite overwhelmed and traumatized watching the videos as they were rather graphic and totally not censored at all. They practically show babies coming out from expanded vaginas and you can see the pain that the mothers go through. -_- It made me wonder whether I should just opt for C Section! Lol.

During the class, Mrs Wong also shared on what happens during childbirth and how a baby actually moves out through the cervix/birth canal (i.e baby first faces downward then turns to the left side before coming out). Found this really useful because now I know what to expect during labour. More importantly, we had a practical exercise of simulating childbirth where all the mummies had to breathe with chin in, lean forward and pretend to push whilst exhaling. We were taught that when the midwife/nurse calls ‘stop!’, that means baby’s head is already out and there is a need to halt the pushing by panting. This gives the midwife/nurse time to ensure umbilical cord is not strangling baby’s neck and make the necessary adjustments. So many things we learnt about!

So far no regrets on taking the class! =D

Can't wait for our class tomorrow!

Our active lil one!

Baby's been moving a lot more this week! Especially at night. Her movements are getting stronger which is a good thing cause it means she's gaining more energy =D sometimes I get a shock when she makes a big movement in my belly. It's an amazing feeling that's difficult to describe really.

I'm just trying to appreciate these moments because I know a lot of mummies miss this feeling after they give birth! So move all you like baby! Hehe. ❤

Our home reno: Kitchen + toilet shopping and Reno details finalized

We got many things done today. That's why G and I are so exhausted now! We're just stoning on the bed at the moment.

We met our Id at 11am this morning to shop for kitchen + toilet accessories. We first went to El Bano at Geylang, which is pretty close to Heritage bathroom gallery. Honestly, it was a tiring experience for us. Because we had to look at new options (eg. single kitchen sink instead of double, non mixer kitchen tap, new brand of storage heater), compare against heritage's prices and haggle with the shop's assistant. We decided to go back to Heritage to double confirm the prices but eventually did not purchase from them since it would be more difficult for our ID to coordinate for us. Since the price differences weren't huge, we decided to go with his other business partner, Bactera. 

We chose our kitchen sink + tap + accessories and bathroom accessories like mirror, stand, toilet roll holder, towel bar, towel hooks and bidet sprays. Total damage was $1,300! 

The next part was finalizing our Reno details and final quotation with our ID. This process took 2 hours but I guess it was worth the time since we got many things sorted out. Quotation wise, our total came up to $36,000 including our electricals and study room. G decided to go for the study room eventually because  he just loved it too much! We decided to stay with the additions like shoe cabinet, TV feature + console and baby room cabinet. Our ID decided to give us some extras like master bedroom false ceiling + additional electricals + down lights complimentary. I guess that made us happier lol. 

So with everything finalized, we can start reno once we make payment for the next 45% of the full amount! They'll first start with the electricals, false ceiling then tiling works. Only when these are complete, carpentry and painting will begin. Can't wait to see our new home! 

Doctor's visit at 27 weeks!

Had our routine checkup with Dr Heng yesterday! Everything was fine except that doctor was telling me that I can't gain weight at the same rate for the next few months! At my last checkup, I weighed 56.4kg. Now I'm 58.8kg! Ahhhh. I can only gain 1kg per month from now onwards. 

We did our usual ultrasound and saw our baby girl! She seems to be growing well! Her weight gain has healthy and she's currently around 1kg. According to her head size, her due date is 27th dec! -.- earlier than what we expected. Still hoping to deliver her in January so she won't be lagging too far behind her peers. Let's just cross our fingers and hope. 

As I draw closer to the third trimester, I'm starting to feel more tired and exhaustion creeping back to me. I haven't been sleeping very well at night. Maybe it's the hormones, backaches and the constant need to pee (due to pressure on my bladder). I've been snoring lately too! Ah so unglam. I gotta learn how to deal with all these new symptoms! 

Here's a pic of me at 27 weeks! Baby bumps getting bigger! =D

Our home reno: Keys collected! =D

Yay! We collected our keys today! It's been an exciting day.

We settled all the administrative procedures at Hdb hub this morning. We had to buy our fire insurance, sign plenty of Hdb documents, pay our first time town council fees and start our SP services. G's parents and my mum came along to accompany us. Before we made our way to Punggol Emerald, we bought some oranges, muffins and joss sticks for our first time open door ceremony =D 

Our ID and air con guy were already there when we arrived. Before everyone stepped in, G and I did the honor of burning some joss sticks and rolling the pineapple into our home with a super loud 'huat ah!'. And then we were in! 

Felt kinda surreal to see our new home. It's small and cosy, like I expected it to be (thanks to all our neighbors who posted their pictures on facebook). It's good enough for G + I and of course our baby too! 

Living room was just nice for us and it was bright and to our pleasant surprise, quite windy when the windows were open. Kitchen was really quite small but that's fine since we don't really need to spend a lot of time there. And that means lesser cleaning too! 

Our study and baby rooms were quite a good size. And the toilets were quite big to me! =D they were also already fitted with sink, toilet bowls and showers so we don't need to purchase these accessories anymore. Last but not least, our master bedroom. This I must say, is really quite tiny. So I guess we're just gonna leave it for resting and sleeping only! We can only fit in our wardrobe, dresser, queen sized bed and side table I believe. Ah well! 

Our ID helped us to instruct his air con contact (Nation cool) to discuss where to run the pipes and install our air conditioners. We decided to get the Mitsubishi star max inverter system 3 (4 ticks energy saving) from them for $3,000. Having read online and Facebook reviews, this deal seemed pretty reasonable. The daikin inverter system 3 was $3,650 and had lower cooling capacity compared to the Mitsubishi so we decided to go for the latter. 

Mr P also helped us to check the defects of our home which was great because we were kinda lost and clueless. He brought masking tape and a pen to mark all those places that needed rectification. We didn't have major defects so that's good =) G just followed him around to note them down on the defects form. Whilst they did this, I was happily walking around taking photos hehe. 

Here are the pics from today! 

Our home reno: 2nd draft 3Ds done!

Today, our Id brought us to confirm our remaining lights at Skies Lightz (spent a total of $2,080) and our tiles at Hafary! Getting more and more stuff done for our home =D

And he showed us the 2nd draft 3Ds for our interior! He did all the necessary amendments after we shared our comments the previous round. The living room seems a lot whiter, brighter and more scandi. He showed us our study room design which we loved (especially G)! Seems very cosy. And he changed the cupboard colours for our baby room and master bedroom to be lighter than before. Overall, we're quite happy with the amended designs! =D

Here are some photos: 

Our home reno: Shopping for the Perfect Dining Set

I’ve been hunting for the perfect dining table for our scandi themed home. I’ve been relentless in my search I must say. The thing is, I have a rather specific design in my mind and that translates to expectations. Our table must be woodsy but it can’t be too dark a colour. So that rules out any table made of timber or any darker wood. The design must be simple, not complex. It has to be rectangle to fit the layout of our dining room. And due to space constraints, the table can’t be more than 160cm in length.

So far I’ve found options at:

-          Ikea

-          Comfort Furniture (found this shop online that customizes furniture)

-          Courts

-          Cellini

-          Star Living

I’ve also looked at other furniture places but couldn’t find anything:

-          Scanteak (wood too dark)

-          OM Furniture (same issue)

-          Vhive (furniture’s too awful)

Ikea

There’s this rather nice foldable table that Ikea sells. Its wood colour is fine by my standards. Initially, I was rather keen to get it since it fits our theme and is super cheap! It has a price tag of only $299. Can get a simple chair for about $55.

But after a while, I had doubts about its quality (ikea isn’t particularly known for this haha). And I was worried about the maintenance of the folding parts of the table.

So I decided to drop this option!

Comfort Furniture

 This shop has pretty nice designs. I was quite impressed with their ‘Butcher’ wooden table range and they actually allow buyers to customize the size of their tables according to their needs. How flexible. They had very nice modern, woodsy chairs for sale too.

After browsing their website, I immediately dropped an email enquiry on the prices of the dining table options and chairs. They responded very promptly! The table I liked cost around $1,000 for a 160cm length and the chairs cost around $150 each. You can tell it’s much pricier than the Ikea option but I guess they’re offering more quality furniture.

Courts (AMK)

I visited the place one day with my dad, mum and sis. We were checking out what refrigerator and washing machine to buy for my place (since they gonna sponsor hehe). Since I was there, I visited their furniture showroom upstairs. I was surprised to see that they carried one dining set which seemed to suit our theme! I was rather excited. The table had a maple woodsy top + white legs and it was pretty affordable at $499. The chairs were really ugly though so I didn’t even both to take a second look at them.

Cellini (Expo Fair)  

When G and I laid our eyes on this dining set, we wanted to get it soooooo much. It was simply tooo nice! But what held us back was its price tag. $1,888 for a 140cm table with 4 chairs. It’s crazy ex I know. I guess it was pricey because of its white quartz table top which is supposed to be anti-scratch, very resistant to stains and wear + tear. The dining table had wooden legs which would blend very well with our interior design.

We were so tempted to get this set that we even asked our ID to check it out.  But by the time he got back to us, it was kinda too late. The expo fair was over so the $200 discount they offered lapsed. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise!

Star Living (Singpost)

This place has pretty nice furniture I must say. I didn’t expect to find anything when I decided to browse around one day.

Then I realized the place has a dining table set that we might really get! The table I set my eyes on had an oak table top with white legs. It had a nicer and more natural colour compared to the courts table. Size wise, it has a length of 150cm which is fine. Pricewise, it cost $499 which is the same as courts. For chairs, there were so many options ranging from $59 for a simple white chair to $119 for the better white/red ones.

After looking at quite a few options, I feel that this is the best option for us. The design and price are just right =D

Can’t wait to bring hubba down to take a look. Feel like confirming our purchase so we can finally tick this item off our list! Hopefully, Star Living is able to hold on to our dining set until our house is ready!

Update:

G and I brought our ID to check out the Star living dining set today. And he gave a big thumbs up! According to him, on top of suiting our theme, the table was of good quality (not made of chipboard) for the price and the size was just nice (not too squeezy even for 2 big men to sit side by side). He told us the price was good because based on his experience, such tables usually cost around $599 onwards at other furniture shops.

I asked him if we could buy 2 white chairs and 2 red chairs to match and he advised against it. It looks simpler and cleaner by having all 4 same coloured chairs. He added that the best way to decorate the dining table was to use a bigger vase display with red roses/tulips, green colours etc. The point is to use brighter colours to add that pop of colour. Made very good sense to me =D

Given his blessings, G and I decided to make the purchase yay! The entire set cost $735 but we just paid a deposit of $235 first. So happy with our buy! *beams*

Our home reno: Yes! Keys are coming!

We finally have our key collection date! Yaaaaaay! *happy dance* I found out when I casually checked MyHdb website in the late afternoon on Thursday. Honestly I wasn't expecting to see a status change after being disappointed so many times when I was constantly checking the website for the past week. So this really came as a surprise! 

 The date given to us was 14th Oct at 8.10am in the morning -.- The timing was bad so we managed to change it to 10th at 10.10am =D so super excited! 

Hope there aren't gonna be any major defects! After reading our forums, I'm expecting at least some minor ones (eg. windows, wall cracks) that are apparently quite common. 

For good luck, I think we're just gonna buy a pineapple to roll into the house that day! Hehehe. It's gonna be fun! 

It's finally the Baby market fair!

I can't believe that Baby market is finally here! Time really flies. I've been looking forward to this fair for some time. 

I hope we'll get all our good buys today! I've been looking at my shopping list, baby market's check list and brand list to plan our purchases. 

Time to go shopping!

Update:

The fair was crazy! So many mummies, daddies, babies and strollers everywhere. It didn't feel like a Friday when I was there -.- I reached earlier than G + mum and dad to check out the booths and get my bearings. Started all the way on the left and began from the A booths. 

There were so many booths that it felt overwhelming! Thank goodness I did research beforehand soI knew what booths I wanted to visit. Whilst alone, I managed to get some baby clothes (carter's), wash cloths from Shears, bath towels, bibs, socks, Aden + Anais swaddles and sleeping bags! 

My gosh, the Aden + Anais items were on such a great sale. But I did work for it cause I had to queue for like 30 mins to pay for them at the cashier. The cashiers were really inefficient and everyone was getting annoyed at waiting for so long. 

Thank goodness I started shopping earlier cause when mum + dad and G arrived, it was getting very packed! I felt like I was in orchard during xmas -.- we immediately went to the Spring Maternity booth to get our Combi stroller, which was on a slight discount. We bought the purple one! 😄 Mum and G had to go queue first cause the line was craaaaazy. In the meantime, I managed to check out the yellow farm bedding set (super cute!) and a baby pillow so we got those too!

We wanted to get the Medela promos but it was insanely crowded and apparently some of the sets went out of stock. After G queued for a while, we decided there was no point waiting since we could just pay slightly more to get it elsewhere. I could tell G was getting upset at the fair. It didn't feel pleasant having to squeeze and queue with so many people. 

We then hunted for Ergobaby's carriers and had so much difficulty finding the booth because it didn't put up its booth number and the products were quite obscurely placed. When we finally reached, we were disappointed that the carriers had run out! It felt so annoying. So we gave up too, which I guess is a blessing in disguise because I found cheaper online deals thereafter.

We didn't get any baby cots either cause the price seemed similar to that at baby's boutique, so very near our place. 

Anyway, after all the walking, squeezif and queuing, we decided that there's no point in coming such fairs. We rather pay slightly more to avoid the experience haha. But I have regrets coming to the fair since I did get some good deals and learnt that there's no need to come to similar ones in the future.

Anyway, here's a picture of our buys! 

Our total investment today was $760!