Oh sparks, got yr email, thks.
The thing is, the CL I've engaged for my 1st child was thru an agency, can't rem its name but it's some ' - care' also. Must go check again.
But it was disastrous! My confinement period was to cross over the CNY, that's why we booked the CL many months ahead and whilst she's here, I overheard her telephone conversation that she seemed to want to go for a trip!
After that phone call, she began to find faults and pushed the blame to me! I don't take much traditional confinement food due to my gastric prob history(and advised by a renowned ch physician to avoid taking Ju Jiao Chu), she also complained. Geez, I wld hv tot it's easier job for her...
She said she wants to go marketing for me everyday 'cos it's a chance for her to have coffee/breakfast/break outside, we said it's ok if she's fine with it, but she later complained that it's troublesome and she always left our doors unlocked when she went out.
She wiped my child's face at the end of the bath and yet she claimed to be professionally trained by TMC - we all know that we have to wipe the baby's face first!
She wld even tell me stories of husbands cheating behind women during their confinement period, geez! I told the agent later that good thing I ddn't heed her 'stories' too much, else I might become paranoid and dev post-natal blues.
She complained that my baby's hard to handle - cos she woke up at nite for feed?!!! And she's not happy that she has to follow us to the hospital for the baby's follow-up check - she even told me at the clinic that she WILL NOT go in with the baby 'cos she can't bear to see what they were going to do to the baby, OMG! It was only a routine hearing check, why make it sound so terrible?!
Many more unpleasant things happened thereafter and on the day she left, I didn't even dare leave my bedroom to look at my baby, an act I always did the 1st thing I get up from bed(I have the right to look at my baby rite?), for fear that she might ill-treat her. Finally, my hubby decided to juz let her go since her heart's not to stay-on for the rest of the period and I was left alone. There wasn't a replacement arranged by the agent 'cos she claimed that she doesn't hv anyone who can work during the CNY week. Then what? We're left on our own? Good thing my hubby was home with me the entire week before we finally got help from my sis' friend who used to be a day-time CL(pity she's not doing confinement work now...)
The CL claimed to be in her early 50s, but she told us later that she's in her late 50s. She's a local and a Christian.
During my earlier telephone conversation and during the interview, the agent told us that there's no agency fee involved but we found out later from the CL that there was. The fees for the CL was also ex(given that it was almost 6 yrs ago) - it was S$2k for normal period and S$2,500 + compulsory S$200 angpao for the CNY period. She even got the cheek to DEMAND for her taxi-fare home on the day she left!
This time round, we're getting a maid, reason mainly to help me pack('cos we're moving home) and help out with the chores during the last months of my current pregnancy. Now, we're wondering if we shld get a CL - pay full price and yet, most of the work wld be done by the maid. There're only me, my hub and my elder girl who's almost 6yo and rather independant,plus we have a maid to take care of all the chores.