(2008/09) Sep 2008

<font color="119911">Goldfish (goldfish1395) - on the combined new generation pills, there are several other than Diane 35. I have been taking Diane 35 for the longest time now, and there are no side effects for me. It varies person to person thou - my colleague started Diane 35 but had to discontinue cos it made her gain weight and had terrible menstrual-like cramps. You have to see what suits u best, and yes, have to take it from Day 1 of your cycle.

Sore fingers - My fingers are abit sore also
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Think its cos of water retention/carpal tunnel syndrome. Suppose to be quite common, and goes away after delivery.
I don't have any pelvis pain (yet) thou, so walking &amp; getting in/out of bed is still okie.

Baby movement - are mommies babies' movements becoming more intense now? Mine is, and it feels like he is pushing my belly to come out sometimes!</font>
 


Shazz
My hubby got piles and my bedsheet kena blood stains and it soak through the mattress protector and into the mattress!!!
He was very apologetic and I din blame him cos I afraid ‘karma’ cos I am oso equally concerned tat my waterbag or wat mucus plug or next time will be mense to stain the bed!!!

Oh.. how u settled the stains on the mattress itself? How to ‘wash’ them? Cannot possibly lug the heavy mattress to washing oso… :S

Skinny Pig
U kena the sore/stiff fingers oso?? I thot I clenched my fist to sleep or I hugged my teddies so tightly with my fists that it goes stiff!! So it is due to pregnancy hormones lah? I cannot bend my ring finger cos it hurts wor.. the rest of the fingers works fine.. erm..
 
goldfish / skinny pig: i think both of you have the same problem as me. i also suffered from trigger fingers abt 2 weeks back. It's mainly due to water retention. Gynae said it should go off after we deliver. Meanwhile what we can do is use hairdryer to blow heat at the base of the 3rd finger, with the palm facing up. For me, my company's GP put me on 3 sessions of ultra sound heat treatment which helped tremendously and every morning I will "heat" up my palm by either soaking my hand in warm water or putting my hand round my hot glass of milk
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Oh, and I sleep with gloves on at night too, helps to keep my hand warm..
 
shazz &amp; flos,
I am worried cos i am a GB mommy. Must control my diet even stricter now..cant afford to pass the sugar/carbo to bb. Sonographer mentioned something abt my boy at 70-75cm! I am shocked..cos thats v long for a bb??!! Any view? Or I heard it wrongly...
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Shazz, i really hope to go for natural birth..I want to feel this v special gift God gives to women
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Goldfish, can try vingear to get rid of blood stain? read from mag..

Flo,
Went to Kenko and asked for Sunnie last sat..she is good. After that session, was itching for more, ysterday i went for full body massage at Spa House again cos south bridge rd too far for me..
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pelvic pain
no way to ease the pain? anyone?

Help after birth
My mom will be helping after i go back to work, she is 64 but v able and fit. My MIL is 56, but not so able and fit..guess it depends on individual's health condition. Wont be hiring a maid for my mom cos she says she can handle + v expensive to pay for a maid + her "salary"..might even over exceed putting junior at infant care..
 
Hi ladies, which is better...Stemcord or Cordlife?

Already at KK hospital last friday to sign the consent form to donate baby cordblood but last min hubby refuse to donate and want to store it.

Any suggestion?
 
goldfish
even thot of asking yr hubby to remove the piles? cos my hubby used to suffer from piles, its v v painful and when they bleed, it is really bad..and ppl with piles tend to be v skinny and dont have good appetite..yr hubby like that too?
 
Bigtoes
the maternity pacakge rates do differ with room type. check the web page again...anyway, as u said, the bill will come and we'll just have to deal with it when it does!! :p

Fingers
Mine are so stiff in the morning i have to pry my left hand open with my right hand....sounds damn jialat...and it is!

Baby movements
Yeah, very distinct now...!!
 
Yup. Initially I thought I got rheumatism, cos its damn painful whenever I clench my fingers. Subsequently I found out that it's due to water retention cos I have serious water retention in this pregnancy.
I can easily put on 2kg per week due to water retention.
 
Goldfish (goldfish1395): yah, no point scolding your hubby cos it's not that he did it on purpose, I'm sure he dun want that to happen too. Depending on what is the material of your mattress, if it's the normal one, think can use bleach stick or spot clean using Vanish O2. Dab on the spot, leave for 5 mins, then use a wet towel to dab and scrub, see if it works. My mattress' top layer is memory foam, so I'm ultra careful! Once kena stain, I dunno how to treat it manx.

Swelling: sigh, I finally kena water retention and swelling on my nose, feet and hands ... or rather everywhere!

Baby movement: yes, I feel that baby's movement is much more forceful now, think cos they don't have much space to move and they're much stronger now. Suffering from pelvic pain and pain in rib cage! But the boy is not kicking much, which is good, if not I can feel my urine coming out when he kicks!
 
grace,
my colleague who stored her bb's cordblood says Stemcord is cheaper. My colleague also v shocked why we choose to donate instead of saving it..cos two of them saved theirs in private banks. whats yr take on it?
 
crayonshinchan
I think you got the order of painfulness right (in decreasing order of pain) in your list...but my memory is a bit foggy.

Bacon&amp;egg
70-75cm is LONG..sure or not? i thot babies around 50+ cm were considered fairly long already ... according to that babycentre site, at 43 weeks, 51cm is average. adan was considered long at 53cm.
 
Grace Toh (rain_toh): I heard that only one of the 2 companies are certified. You may want to call the companies to check. Both their websites claim that they're licensed and have accreditation.

http://www.cordlife.com/sg/CordLifeAdvantage/CompanyStability.php

http://www.stemcord.com/whystem_advantage.html

If I were to choose between the 2, I would choose Stemcord, cos it's started by doctors and they spilt the cord blood in multiple units.

I chose to donate mine. Simply because, if there's any problem with the child, there's a high chance you can't use back the same cord blood. So it's better to find a match from the public bank. Secondly, if you bank privately, when you retrieve the blood, you need to spend $$$ on testing to make the cord blood work and match the condition etc. Hence, there's no guarantee that the cord blood that you bank can be used. In the end, you'll probably do a search under the public bank as well.

My personal take is to donate to the public bank if you can. I sincerely hope we don't have to use it at all, but if it can save someone's life, why not?
 
bacon&amp;egg (baconegg) : wow, 70-75cm is very long leh! and I thought I was long at 60cm at birth! haha. Maybe that attributes to his weight!
 
bacon&amp;eggs, i think 70-over cm is unheard of! the norm at birth is 40-something to 50-something cm only leh.

bigtoes, i think (and hope!) you've miscalculated the rates too. 9–10k sounds more like a mt e or gleneagles package! i interpreted the charges the same way ava did.
 
Ava: I also had to do that, there was even a point in time when it was so painful I didn't even dare to pry over my finger. But I used Fastum Gel to massage every night, from the bottom of my palm all the way to the tip of my 3rd finger and now it's alot better! but gynae said to use juz a little bit..
 
cordlife is the one which has the certification and they seems more pro in handling the cord blood..
yes stemcord is cheaper so depend on which u are concern of, the storing or the money...
 
Shazz, bb is growing damn fast.Within 3 weeks his weight increased from 2.3kg to 2.9kg...600g leh...scarry. Not sure what is the full term weight.Now i trying to cut down on sweet stuffs and oily stuff....Not sure whether can help or not...:>
 
dmbb
Thanks for tip!

C-Sec
Gals who are going for elective c-sec, is there a specific time your docs usually do c-sec? is it usually in the morning or can u decide? I may have to consider c-sect depending on position of babies at tomorrow's gynae check...
 
yes stemcord store it in multiple unit but if really any of their storage system is faulty its pointless to even save that 1 or 2 tubes out of the four..cos an adult needs more than what the cord blood can provide. The cord blood from one cord can only save a human being of up to 40kg. cos we will need more than the number of stem cells one cord can provide for an adult. So whether to store it in multiple unit or not its dosent matter cos ultimately u will need to consolidate all the units into one for usage (if it happens when one is below 40kg).
Theoretically we should store 2 cords to be able to save an adult but again depended on the compatibility of the stem cells if its from a sibling as theres a 25% that it will be a 100% mismtach..
 
My plan is to donate the cord blood then next time will store the no.2, called up SCBB thinking that since I don want to store it, I might as well donate to the public bank, maybe can save a life...why not? So done with phone screening test, fixed up appointment. Finally, last friday seated face to face with the SCBB officer, but my stupid hubby showed the type of bo chap attitude during the whole session, then finally said something...I want to store the cordblood. I was so paiseh, and quickly wrap up the whole session.

As for storage, heard that Cordlife is more creditable and they have a successful transplant featured in the newspaper. Cordlife having promotion now so the fees for both bank is about the same now.

My gynae clinic tie up with Stemcord so I believe is cheaper than Cordlife. If I'm not wrong after all the discount it is only $909.50 with 1st yr annual FOC, second yr onwards is at $250.

Being convinced by hubby, so now decide to store it, just that not sure is with Stemcord or Cordlife.
 
<font color="119911">xuanting (xuanting) - think the rates are correct. Flos also said that her SIL paid $8k+ last year &amp; I know that the charges have been raised since. Note that natural birth is abit cheaper ($1k+ cheaper I think)....anyway, can use medisave to offset some cost lah. TMC charges are not any cheaper than Mt E and Gleneagles. My SIL delivered naturally at Mt E last year &amp; I think her's was quite a bit cheaper.

Cord blood - if i were to pick between the 2, i would opt for CordLife. However, we have already pleged ours with the public blood bank. Btw, met the lady from SCBB yesterday &amp; she mentioned that they have done 9 matches to date (since 2004), but all of these were with strangers (not sibling to sibling or baby reusing his own stem cells).

Ava - time for C section. Mine was fixed by Dr Tan at 2pm on a Sat, just cos she has 1/2 day clinic in the morming. Don't really care what time - I am assuming I can eat in the morning &amp; don't have to starve till after surgery thou!

bacon&amp;egg (baconegg) - wow, cannot be 70+cm lah, unless ur hubby is basketball player or something! Most babies would be 50+cm at birth.</font>
 
Grace

I'm choosing Stemcord cos my FB has G6PD so we cannot donate to SCBB. Like Shazz said, they store the blood in multiple units and with the push for stem cell research so strong, don't think it will be that far in the future when if need to use, *touch wood* dont need to use all 4 units at 1 time.

Jen Kate
Why must your gynae ceasar you a week before the incident "in case"? My gynae never mentioned anything like that even though i also had partial abruptio with FB. In fact, my doc is going on holiday this week! So i have to rest and make sure bb Jonathan doesnt decide to show up until she returns...
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bacon&amp;eggs: Oh, so it was you who visited Sunnie!!! She told me about a pregger! I thot it was Ava, so I told her 'you're' expecting a pair of twins!! LOL.

I just used up my last credit at Kenko and won't be renewing it until after my confinement.

Agree with some mommies here that 70-75cm is really not correct...50+ cm is the norm...maybe u shd ask him to measure again?

Bigtoes: Your calculation is absolutely near accurate. All the breakdown etc. are the same as my SIL's. She is seeing an off-site gynae who uses TMC facilities only, not like Dr Tan who is a WC Cheng &amp; Associates partner/resident gynae of TMC.
 
dseptkon (dseptkon)
mine is not partial its major..that time if my gynae did not ceaser me in time i will lost my gal..according to him my gal is in a slight fright stage when they bring her out and she all covered with blood..its lucky that she feeds well and sleep well after she calms down.. he told me this is the normal pactice when one have an incident of majoy placenta abrutptio..

cordblood - unless and until the scientist come out with cell extention its not possible to not use all 4 at a time to save a person of 400kg and below..if cell extention is possible it will only means that it can save a person weighing more than 40kg..so no matter what the cord blood stored can only be used once..more of stem cells available also means greater chance of success fo the transplant...and to differentiate stem cells (primitive cells) into targetted cells also has a rate of failure and success..so thats y if theres more available it will be good but never can it be used more than once for one cord blood..
 
Hosp fees
Wah, surely costs can't have gone up so much in 4 years...or maybe they can...my last bill came up to $7000+ but i stayed for SEVEN days in total and that also included all gynae, pd fees, hb staying in for 3-4 days etc...
 
ava: oh yes they certainly CAN go up so much in 4 years...inflation, property prices (rental of hospital beds expensive), GST 7% on all medicine and services...

After what Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said to the media yesterday, I guess it'll be paternity benefits that will take centrestage for this year's BB incentives. Perhaps one-month paternity flexi-leave, childcare leave pegged to male married employees, etc. Good also lah...otherwise, married female employees are always the one kenna stereotyped and stigmatized by employers and interviewers.
 
SnowWhite80 (snowwhite80) : your bb's growth is normal. Now their growth is about 200-300grams/week. So yours is on track, 3 weeks gain 600grams, it's good. Dun worry if your gynae didnt say anything.

I gained weight very fast and baby was big, so gynae ordered the glucose test early cos she suspected I got GD. But turns out I dun have, just have darn good appetite, my record weight gain was 4kg in a mth! Have since been watching my food intake even though I get hungry easily.

Grace Toh (rain_toh): I did my Strep test, it's juts a simple swap from a stick, faster and painless as compared to Pap Smear test.
 
ava, shazz, xuanting,
exactly! i thot 75cm is too amazingly long!
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i must have heard the sonographer wrongly..

shazz,
i agree with you on public cord banking..thats what the lady told me too..we bank and hope we never have to use it but hopefully it will save someone else's life..
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Hi all, hoping someone can help me clear my doubts.
recently, i feel that my bb movement is not as forceful as b4. I have to be very concentrate to feel her movement. is this normal? cos recently i had a very cough and get the med frm the doc when i last went for check up. the med made me drowsy after taking, was wondering, does it make my bb drowsy too? i only took it at night cos i was working in the day.
also, can we feel our bb's heart beat? I got this 'tub tub' feeling? wonder was it bb's heart beat?
seem my q seem a bit stupid. :p
 
bigtoes, but it seems kind of absurd if the hosp charges everyone for, say, c-section w/epi differently just because of their choice of room, meaning one-bedders pay $3083 for their c-secs while two-bedders pay $2239 and four-bedders pay $1928 for theirs... not logical since it's the same procedure – why should someone pay over $1k more for the same procedure just cos they opted for a single room? still think it's more likely that they lumped everything up as a rough estimate (minus bb, misc &amp; specialist fees), ie no need to add $410 x 3 to that figure again.
 
Grace
After you give birth vaginally, you'll never be paiseh to open again...LOL

Jasmine
Sometimes movements slow down on occasion. If you are worried can go to hosp for CTG test. the "tubtub" feeling is probably your own heartbeat.
 
xuanting (xuanting) -hmmm. i just had a look at the TMC link from Ava again....and yah, think u are rite.
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No need to add $410X3 days, but just the add ons (companion stay, baby care etc). So my rate is $410X3 cheaper in that case. But yah, u are right - doesn't make sense that they charge quite abit more cos of the room option. Not like the equipment use or nursing care is any different. How about those opting for the suites then ($1100 a nite for room rates)? By their logic, then the charges would be like $6k instead of $3083 or $2239 or whatever.
 
Dmbb,
Oh.. seems like it is pregnancy syndrome!! Tat is good cos I thot I need to see a physiotherapy! I will try the heat treatment to see it works or not.

Ava,
The way u describe how u ‘peel’ ur fingers open is so dramatic!!! Phew.. I am glad tat a few of u suffer the same plight as me.. makes me feel at ease
:p

Bacon&amp;Egg
My hubby went to see doc just now and was told to try the medicine and see whether it works. If not, need to go for minor op (rubber band technique??) to remove it??
Ur hubby went through the same treatment? I was told by him that his anus is sore sore nia.. bt he not skinny yet.. maybe if this persist for long then probably leh!

Shazz
I thot of using detergent or whatever to rub on it.. bt dunno issit ‘er-xin’ cos it will be soapy and the soapy water will be soaked deep deep into mattress? .. or it is ok one? I not a guru in this actually

Haiz, now I feel like sleeping on a cheap mattress on the floor when I am abt to due.. If my waterbag and wat bloody show happened on bed… I will be so ARGHHH!!!
 
Bigtoes/Xuanting
I think they charge different rates cos they assume if u can afford single bed, u cna afford higher fees, ALSO the room rate is included in those package costs which changes the overall fees...they make these things so confusing so when you get the bill you just dont ask anything and PAY...
 
at first i tot the 'tubtub' might be my own heart beat, so i get my hb to feel my pulse and at the same time put his hand at my tummy, he too find the different. i will keep look out for another 12 hrs, if still the same, then will get my hb to drive to kkh.
 
ava: dirty but we must still face it. must brace ourselves for the recession ahead. pte property prices have dropped, car prices too, shares prices too (bubble burst after the BJ Olympics), even the housing agents got their 2% commission scrapped. haha. i last heard Macau casinos are losing $$ and axeing staff. so much for our IR that is opening next yr. tough yr ahead...

very dirty talk indeed...
 
Flos, my MIL will be taking care of my BB after my ML and no pay leave. She seems very determined to take care so we shall see, although she is one who always goes out now. I hope I won't have to keep taking leave in future if she suddenly decides to go out and there is no one to take care of my baby.

My HB is against hiring a maid, even a part time cleaner, cos he says there is no need.
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Anyway, I think we will have conflicts should we really hire a maid one day cos I've spoken to him on this issue before and we really have differing views on how to treat a maid.

On another topic, what do you all feel about exposing your baby to mahjong from the moment they are born? My HB and ILs are all mahjong addicts and they have to play at least once a week. I told my HB it's fine they play now in our house but not when BB is born. He says precisely he will want to play in our house as he wants to train the BB to be used to the noise. He told me not to be brainwashed by my mom about the ill effects of playing mahjong, and that I'm too conservative, etc. But it's not being about brainwashed or not, I just thought it's really not healthy to expose a child to mahjong at so young an age. Haiz... What are all your views?
 
Goldfish (goldfish1395): that's why gotta dab dab abit of detergent, then use wet cloth to dab dab. Last resort is to use hair dryer to dry the area. If not no way liao.
 
Jasmine,

the "tubtub" feeling is actually the baby's hiccups
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so wonderful right?? tt time i was at my gynae, the baby was hiccuping too, and i asked him why she is "jerking" away,as i always feel that too, but forgot to ask him. he says its the baby hiccupping...my hubby was laughing too! I tot it was bb's heartbeat too, but its not rhythmic enuff. my gyane says that the baby hiccups cos of her breathing, so its normal
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Jen Kate: Wow! Super soon yah! Exciting. I cannot believe we are all popping one by one!

Flos: Who’s looking after baby? Yours truly lor. For me, it’s a personal choice not to hire a maid or CL for that matter. Also I don’t believe in infant care or childcare for the early years. I think you should consider hiring a maid to assist your MIL if she is elderly. Is she very old? Don’t panic... still have time to explore your options.

Stef&amp;Sean: Only 7 kg ah?! That is so little. Haha.... You will just shrink back to your pre-preg weight after you pop. Sharmaine is doing well! But are you sure she is skinny? My gynae keeps saying I better be careful not to let my bb grow big. And he was only 2.3kg at 34 weeks. You’re more petite than I am so I wonder why my gynae keeps warning me not ot overfeed baby. Haha.

Limay: Huh? I thought the nursery charges are all part of the package? Anyhow, according to MOH, TMC average bill size is rather cheap compared to hospitals like MAH , GE, MtE, with exception for ESH which is the cheapest. Anyway, dun worry about the money at this stage already. Money used for this is good investment. You can always earn it back!

Bacon &amp; Egg: 70-75 cm!!!!! The next Yao Ming ah! So long!!!

Snow White: 600g in 3 wks not unusal I think. Have you been eating a lot of sweet stuff tho?
 
wingkei: this is something i'm very uncomfy with too. My MIL is a hopeless MJ addict who plays not at home but at her friends' place. That's why I got upset when she asks me to hire a maid if I wanna park her son at her place next time. MEANING: She will not be 100% committed to take care of my boy full-time, as she will disappear to play MJ for hours! That leaves my poor boy with my elderly FIL who is a HK soap addict! tsk tsk...
 
mobilesuitegal: then my bb 'hiccups' a lot. ha ha ha. forget to ask the gynae last wk during my cehck up. think my hb will laugh also when i tell him is bb hiccups. thanks anyway.
 
SarahMay (sarahmay) - i am usually quite bochap when it comes to charges also (not like we can negotiate), just that Ava had the TMC link yesterday &amp; that got me asking about hospital fees! Think nursery charges are seperate cos some mommies might want baby to room in with them? Whatever it is, baby &amp; my comfort comes first, regardless of the cost
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Flos, I wonder who is worse? Ur MIL or mine ILs? Mine only play at home, not outside, so maybe that is a consolation? But still, I really don't like the idea of exposing my BB to MJ from birth!
 

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