I haven't been an active writer of this thread but I pop in now and then to catch up on the happenings on the mummies giving birth in the same month as I.
I find this thread very enriching. It's my first source of news on the effective dates of the maternity package from this thread. Last night I was telling my family how unlucky a person I am - I tend to miss out on everything good by a mere bit almost all the time. I'm most interested about the 4th month maternity leave. I hope it really can be extended to us.
Rebecca,
When my gynae felt that my baby was too big at 26th week (990g), he asked me to cut down on my carbo intake (rice, noodles, bread), as well as chocolates and ice-creams. So to gain weight, you might want to try eating more carbo.
Enya,
The dollar to dollar thing was also a puzzle to me until my sister explained it to me:
From the time the baby is born to 6 yrs old, you can take your time to put money into the baby bonus bank account up to $60000, eg. my sister chooses to put in $1000 every year in Dec. The govt will match what you put into the account up to $6000. So altogether, the baby's account will have a total of $12k.
However, this sum of money cannot be used as cash. It can also be used for education purpose eg. tertiary education, local university education, edusave. If it is not used up at the end of the child's education, the money will go to the child's CPF ordinary account next time.
I hope this helps.