Catholic moms / moms to be

Hi all, I'm with Church of Divine Mercy, expecting my #3 now.. it's a boy... thought of the name Alejandro Jonas..
#1 - Cristiano Julius
#2 - Alyssa Louise

And my EDD is 6th July
 


1bean: thanks! My second was at KK so I will be going KK too this time. My antenatal checkups are at polyclinic near my place so it's walking distance and with company claim I pay less than $2 per visit!
 
1bean: not really, i think the waiting time is less than private.. And the tests like blood pressure, urine are same at a fraction of the fee at private
 
Hi, this is such an interesting thread. I am not usually active on SMH and just so happened to chance upon this.

I am a catholic and with the grace of God, i'm a mom to a beautiful, healthy and normal baby girl. She's just about 15 months now.

I'm ttc a second one (BTW it took me awhile to figure out what ttc meant..LOL).

When i was pregnant with my first, i went to Novena church for the novena services every sat. I know that it was our Lady's intercession & prayers that my baby girl is what she is today. I've been trying to go for novena services on saturdays again. But sometimes i find it too difficult though i know i should be.

I am just curious, are there any moms on this thread who go for novena services at thomson rd?

Anyway for all of you who are currently expecting, i pray that you will have a smooth pregnancy and delivery. I'm glad to be apart of this thread.

Keep it going : )
 
Jumpingbeans: Welcome! To be honest since i had my first kid, I find it difficult to concentrate during mass. Kid's moving about and the nursing and crying too!

I'm very blessed with two kids and one's on the way.. We didn't have much difficulty conceiving.. After this I'm worried about how not to conceive again.. Three is pretty much just right already.

I havent exactly been to Novena service at novena church.. Just visits and hope to do so someday!

All the best for ttc (took me a while too)
 
Hello all, I am new here, this is my 1st pregnancy and going to deliver in Oct. Now, counting days to reach my 2nd T :D.

I am planning to deliver in Mt. A too.. anybody with Dr. Fong before?

Is there any prenatal class in Mt.A?
 
bunny: my #1 stays over at my parents' place on fridays. they bring him to Novena on saturdays. usually 10am service. I used to go with my mom b4 i got married.
then one thing led to another, i became lazy.. so i seldom go novena. It's already a blessing if i ever make it to Sat evening mass @ SMOTA *Bt Batok* for 5.30pm service.

I'm currently having another due in June
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With GOD's grace and of course with my darling son praying all day long for a baby sister. We got the gender we want
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Wenty: You referring to Dr Fong Yang? He was my gynae and I delivered at Mt A. He's a very nice and approachable gynae with good skills!

Yes, Mt A has prenatal classes. You can call them to find out the timings. For Catholics, when you deliver there, they will come to your room in the morning to give you daily communion. Plus there is the baby blessing at the chapel when you discharge.
 
Marisa: Yes, Dr. Fong Yang, I am with him now. Wah... thanks for the feedback, I really do not know whether he is really good or not, since he is not working in hospital like other gynae.. and also it's my first time... a lot of consideration and confusion..
Did you have natural birth/ c-sect?

As I stay in the mid -area, I got to St. Bernadette/ St. Theresa, depends on the timing
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Any mommies go to same church?
 
Welcome Wenty and Marisaand ms bunny
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@ Ms Bunny - I think praying helped helpped me conceive too. After trying for almost over a year and 1 mc, prayed for direction and the signs that I got was to take a break from work and don't worry.. God will provide. So last year during this time (Lent)I bit the bullet and called it quits from work and got preg shortly after, now I'm due in May. This made me appreciate Him more. My mum goes every week to Novena and she said that she's been praying for me.. so I'm sure Mother helped
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@marisa and Wenty.. congrats.. fun times ahead. I must say that being preg, is an interesting experience.. sad that the man can't experience this..
If you plan to deliver and take prenatal classes, I think it might be worth it to apply for the Mt A ladies card. There will be discounts for both. Also now as part of the card there's free 6mths insurance coverage for bby under Great Eastern. So I think its good cause not many insurance covers bby at birth.
 
Don't worry Wenty, he's very good and popular with hubbies too. I recommend my frens to him. I had twins by C-Sect. For me, the whole process from delivery to recovery was painless. The most troubling part was breastfeeding and adjusting to sleep deprivation!!

1Bean, same as you. I also tried very long and although I continue praying, was quite depressed at one point. But God knows best when the timing is right. When I finally let go, got my health into better shape, grew more patient, he gave us twins!! So to those TTCing, your time will come.

FYI, I think the insurance coverage from GE is only for personal accidents??
 
@ Marisa, you are right. The free 6 mths covers:
-$25k accidental death benefit
-$100 daily hospital cash benefit when hospitalized due to accidents (up to 10 days)
- up to $1,500 for medical reimbursement due to accidents
 
Hi everyone!! I didn't know there'll be a thread for Catholic mums
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Haven't read the posts yet cos now is very late. Will read them soon to get to know the rest here.

A little bit about myself.. my baby was born on 5 Feb but EDD was supposed to be 18 May. She was born at 25 weeks 517g which is also small for her gestation age
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was very very worried at the start. I cried in church during the first mass I attended after getting discharged from hospital. Even worse when I saw parents carrying babies in church. Could have been postnatal blues?

Anyway, I've made it a point to attend Novena every Saturday and pray for my baby.

Must have been God's grace that my baby has no major problems. She's just in NICU to grow mostly to grow fat.

Looking back, it was a traumatic birth. Started with a routine checkup which became a hospital stay cos the sonographer detected no blood flow from the placenta to the baby. Doctor said I had to be admitted and put under observation cos of preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy). I was fine the first few days then suddenly on a Saturday night, I had very bad gastric pains and headache. BP shot up to 190. That's what I remembered cos I was a bit in a daze. Doctor advised me to give birth as that was the only way to bring the BP down.

I'm fine already
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But I do seek your prayers for my baby
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She's now 780g so still a long way more to go.
 
Sunkissed, thanks for sharing your story! Both u and baby are very strong! Pls talk to someone if you feel down, never ignore post natal blues.. Hope baby can be back real soon!
 
Hi Sunkissed. Will definitely pray for you and your bby. What is your baby's weight gain rate and which hospital is your bby in?

Be positive. Thank God for the sonographer who detected it. I'm not even sure if this is one of the things that my gyn looks at when I have my scans done and I don't recall having my BP taken when I had the detailed scan. I had to ask him to check if the placenta moved because I had low lying placenta. Like Jas said, don't ignore post natal blues, so do what you have to and I hope that your family is aware and can provide you with the support that you need.. if not there's all of us here too.
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Are you feeding your baby breast milk? I think you can express and feed it to her or you can express to keep your supply going till she's ready to nurse. Read that physical contact helps too, so if possible rest her on your bare chest or stroke her as much as you can.
God Bless.
 
Hello 1Bean,

Baby gains about 10g on good days but recently like the growth rate is very slow. She's in KKH NICU now.

The thing about this condition is that you don't feel anything. It just suddenly hits you. KKH will take my BP and do urine test (part of routine checkup) every visit. So it was always fine. Even after I was admitted, I was feeling perfectly fine. I was quite annoyed about being hospitalised actually. Cos they just strapped the CTG to my tummy to monitor the baby's heartbeat and I couldn't get off the bed at all. Couldn't bathe, couldn't move too much, and they made me fast at the start cos they thought I would deliver very soon.

But luckily I was hospitalised after all. If not I wouldn't know how to handle it if I was at home. Had a follow up checkup few weeks back and the doctor said I had shown signs of preeclampsia so she asked for me to be hospitalised back then.

Before that had a few problems along the way also so my husband and I wanted to switch to a private gynae (we were on subsidised rate in KKH). That very day was supposed to be my last checkup at KKH. But who knew, I ended up being hospitalised. Blessing in disguise also cos the bill for NICU will be very high. Luckily we were on subsidised rate.

I've been expressing BM but my baby consumes less than what I produce so my freezer is really full. Can't store anymore in the hospital freezer cos no space there as well. =/

Anyway, the "post natal blues" just made me feel emotional or get irritable easily. I won't feel suicidal or have any extreme feelings cos I know God is always there for me
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Wanted to upload a photo but it's too big. Lazy to edit it :p

Unfortunately, she's still small and incubated so I can't carry her yet. Been stroking her recently though
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At first she seemed so fragile to touch so I avoided it cos I developed a cough while in hospital also.

She's strong, not me. She is handling everything extremely well, esp being poked with needles when she's so small. So proud of her!!
 
Hi Sunkissed, God really has his ways and i'm sure he has his guardian angels watching over your little one.
How are her organ developments? Did the doc say they are on track? If they are she'll gain more weight faster in the later part so don't worry too much, i think the energy is being spent on development instead of fattening. Did u sing or play music to her when she was in your tummy?continue singing or playing the music, it will remind her and make her feel safe, your talking voice will also help.

For the breast milk do you freeze them? You can donate them if it's frozen. Since it's stored at the hospital you can try asking the nurses to help you donate it to mums who's milk supplies are not in yet or who had to stop expressing for a while. If you store it in the bags, make sure u put dates on it, so you can give the 'older' ones away first and the mum's know how 'old' the milk is.
 
Hmm, think her lungs are not well developed yet. She's still relying on oxygen to breathe..

Nope I didn't sing to her. I think I played classical music once or twice but my pregnancy was "cut short" so not much chance to. Only talked to her when she was in my womb
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so I will keep talking to her when I visit also.

Seems like the hospital doesn't do donations of BM. Cos I mentioned it to the nurses many times, but they did not offer it as a solution. I found a mummy on this forum who does not have enough supply so going to pass some to her.

Did the mummies here go for the Down Syndrome scan? Not sure what it's called.
 
@ sunkissed. Oscar test. I didn't cause didn't cause wantrd to have Faith in God.
Does anyone have a good pedi to recommend? I'll be delivering at Mt A. My gyn recommended Dr Ong Eng Keow any feedback?
 
Is Oscar the detailed ultrasound scan at 20 weeks?

There was a test before that which used 3 things to test for the risk of getting a baby with DS, Trisomy 18 and 21, which I did. Ended up the test results put me in "high risk". Was advised to go for the amniocentasis test but I chose not to cos I will not abort even if I found out that my baby was "abnormal". In fact, the first test wasn't even necessary. My husband said "yes" before I could say anything so just went ahead.

I was reading in another thread about the mid-term termination of pregnancies. Mostly about mothers choosing to abort their babies cos they don't want them to suffer after being born.

So was wondering what would catholic mummies do if they were in their shoes?

Not sure about PD as I still got some time to decide but maybe the posts in other threads may help?
 
@ sunkissed. Oscar is done before the detailed scan. I think 14 weeks or so. Can't really remember now.
Since I tell myself bby is God's gift to us.. so will accept what ever that comes. Fortunately hubby (non catholic) is on the same page
 
Hi all,

Haven been here in a long while..

Sunkissed, hopefully your gal will put on lotsa weight soon and will be able to get discharged soon! Stay strong and keep praying, will keep you in my prayers! As for postnatal blues, I think it is pretty common, I had it too.. I didn't like my confinement nanny and I would always feel very sad when hubby goes to work in the morning. There's lotsa emotional outbursts in the first month but it'll all pass, with the support from hubby, family and close friends, and more importantly, with God's grace. =)

Ms Bunny: my gal is 19 months now and I've started TTC-ing in Oct last year, still trying now, but can get very disheartening at times. Let's jiayou together! =) I think it's very important to have support and to keep each other in prayers.

Sardonyx: I don't think we need to name our babies after a saint for baptism, I''ve checked with the priest before and he said its fine. I guess it's really up to different priests? Or even different parish maybe?

To those who are preggy now, enjoy your pregnancy! I do miss mine, and I hope I can get pregnant soon, so the age gap between #1 and #2 will not be too big.

God bless!
 
1Bean,

My husband is also non-catholic. Is he intending to convert?

Got a bit of a dilemma.. I'm staying with my in-laws until our flat is ready. FIL is a staunch buddhist and there is a huge altar and all those in the house. Husband agrees for baby to be baptised but he said he won't stop his father from bringing baby to temple for prayers and all. Said that's his father's way of caring for the baby.

I'm not sure how to handle this and also what happens when my baby is a bit bigger and she's used to the buddhist stuff in the house? Also afraid my FIL will teach her how to "bai bai" when she's a bit bigger..

He also mentioned to my parents that he is fine to convert. But he later told me that he doesn't want to do it so soon as he doesn't want his father to be upset. I don't want to force him either as I feel he should be willing to convert. My parents keep asking me when he's going to convert since he sort of "promised" them when we got married. I saw that the new RCIA programme is starting and asked if he wants to attend. Specifically mentioned that he does not need to convert, just attend to learn more about catholicism but he came up with excuses like needing to get used to his new job blah blah.

Anyway, how is your pregnancy moving along? Just realised my EDD and yours is very close
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How's your baby doing?

blessed bb,

Thanks for your prayers
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My postnatal blues should be gone. I feel good cos my baby is doing well too! Just that her weight gain is slow.
 
sunkissed,

Good that you are feeling better and baby is doing well.
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What's her name?
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Hopefully her weight gain will pick up soon and she can be discharged home..
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blessed bb,

her name is kyra. just came back from hospital.. now she's 832g
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at least she gained 10g from yday, compared to last week where it was much slower.
 
@Marisa - Thanks.

@ Sunkissed. Great that Kyra is progressing well. I'm sure her weight gain will increase and faster as time passes.
My hubby has no plans to convert and I agree if its something that he doesn't relate to, no point. If he's open to the idea or faith, then I'll get him to join RICA. He used to attend a Methodist church when he was younger, but he's now questioning all forms of religions and practice etc. But like your situation, he agreed with my mum that its ok for the children to become Catholics. So, he said that I'll have to take the lead in cultivating that with the children (aka, if children have questions religion related it would be "ask your mum"). When will your place be ready? If still young and FIL wants to take her to the temple it should be ok, but this is up to the individual. I think its his way of getting blessings for the baby. But I'd draw the line if they burn the amulet and make her drink the ashes etc. For me I'm pro exposing my children to the different religions and traditional practices so that they can understand their heritage and culture and most importantly I want my children have the Catholic faith but respect other people's belief.

Yup my EDD would have been really close to Kyra's. So far so good, other than backaches, swollen hands and feet and tired all the time. What's really interesting is her movements are felt more now. Minus point is sometimes I think she's pressing the bladder and the colon.. so I get that feeling of needing to pee and poo at the same time, and then its hard to move for some strange reason.. then when I get to the loo, she moves and the 'feeling' is gone.. sigh.

@ all mums - Any of you banked your baby's cord blood or donated it? Any idea on the cost of banking it?
 
1Bean,

Yup can't force him to convert. I'll just keep praying that one day he'll be touched by God
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At least he accompanies me to mass and novena every week. I think my parents won't be happy if they know Kyra was brought to the temple. Caught in the middle =/

Haha I read about mummies experiencing the same feeling which you described! So yours is a girl too. Thought of a name yet?

I feel that my pregnancy was so short.. didn't get to experience 3rd trimester and labour.
 
Sunkissed, Yup, mine is a girl too and we have yet to determine her Christian or Chinese name.
My hubby doesn't even go with me to any of the service because he thinks it would be rude and hypocritical if he does (and he usually just dozes off anyways). I'm sorry that your pregnancy was short, but at least Kyra is healthy and well, I think that's more important and I'm sure you'll get to experience it when you you have more children. How many do you plan to have?
 
1bean: nope, I din use preseed. Conceived number 1 naturally, but it's after 1 year plus of trying.. I stopped breast feeding 6 months ago, not sure if it's because of that.. But, nevertheless, I'm still praying n hoping to get Preggy soon..
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my gynae says take about 6 months for the cycle to stabilise..
 
Hi, I have a question regarding baptism. Must the parents of the baby be married in a catholic church in order to have the baby baptised in the church even though both are catholics?
 
Hi Blessed,

Thank you for your reply. I find that really ridculous. Does it mean that if only one parent is a catholic, the child cannot be baptised? That is just a deprivation of getting the baby blessed and baptised in church.
 
I think even if one party is catholic, still can get married in church, just that it is a wedding service, not a wedding mass. Getting married in church is a sacrament, and if the catholic is not married in church, the church doesnt view the couple as married i think. So, its like legally married but not married in the eyes of God.
 
1bean:
I donated my girl's cord blood. From what I know, if really have something, most likely can't use the same cord blood to treat also. That's what I heard, hence, don't see the point in paying so much to bank it. My gynae said its like buying insurance, if we have the means to, then can go ahead.
Cord blood banking quite expensive, not sure how much it is. U prob can check out cordlife or stemcord.
When I donated the cord blood, the blood bank mentioned that the cord blood can only be kept for 15 years max, not sure why the 'private' banks can keep it for 21 years.
 
Hi Ariadne, I'm a catholic but my hubby isn't. We didn't go through a church wedding. My 2 kids were baptised in 2009 & 2010 at Holy Spirit.
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Hi Elvara,

That I din know, cuz when I wanted to baptise my girl, the parish mentioned that we must have a church wedding cert.
 
Hi blessed bb,

I reckon it depends on the parish? My kids were baptized at Holy Spirit main because their godparents are from there. I happened to pick up the Infant baptism form at OLPS after the Holy Thursday mass yesterday. Though it indicated parents must be married in church but there's another option to tick for not married in church...

I also remembered during my journey in RCIA, it was mentioned that as long as one of the parents is a catholic, the kids has to be baptized.
 
Hi mums, here's what I know of. In Singapore, as long as 1 person is Catholic, you can marry in church and it doesn't matter if it's a service or full mass. Only thing you need to fulfill is attending the pre wedding marriage preparation course EE and a form needs to be completed by a priest to 'appeal' to archbishop to allow the mix religion marriage. As long as priest precides the wedding, it's recognized by the church ( there is a registra that the couple, priest and 2 witnesses need to sign).
As for baptism, child does not need to be baptized in the same church as where the parents married, same for catechism class registration (because they know people move). Also, don't need both parents to be catholic for child's baptism.
@ blessed bb, I think you are right about the use of the cord blood.. I think I'll donate instead of banking too.
 
1bean: also, when we donate the cord blood, they do a lot of tests to make sure that the cord blood is ''healthy' and sufficient to bank, however, when we bank it privately, no tests are done and we might even be paying to keep it and realising that there wasn't sufficient cord blood if the need arises to use it!
 


Hi Blessed bb.. Ah.. Good point. I was wondering about the test too. Was told that the public bank does a lot of test, so if it fails any, it will be discarded. Do you know if they will tell you before they discard it?
 

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