Pre-natal massage

I love massage!!
Practically any kind of massage.
Thanks to my  in laws,
I tried a facial and massage in Paris.
For the facial, the lady spoke too much
and for the massage, it lacks the hard aching kneading..
The shiok aching feeling.
Anyway, i dont know whether is because both were groupon
thats why is not so good.
Oh to add on, i even tried shampoo here
but it didnt have the asian head and shoulder massage with it. 
And since the pricing is in euros,
i always feel that massage here is expensive
especially when i compare to the prices in south east asia.

Every yearly trip back to Singapore means is massage time!
I even got husband hooked on this yearly massage routine,
that he did like daily massage in bali because it was so cheap...
However, this year, we had to give massage a miss
because im early in pregnancy
and google says no massage for 1st trimester.
So, i definitely want husband to suffer along with me, haha.
It helped that we visited hongkong this year,
less temptation of cheap massage.

However, with the pregnancy,
i was really aching all over that i badly need a massage.
During my jb trip,
i was disappointed again to know that prenatal massage is doable
after 4 months of pregnancy.
Arrrgh, i was so desparate that i went for hair shampoo sessions
so to enjoy a little of the head and shoulder massage.
Google says i should wait till 2nd trimester for prenatal massage
so i tortured husband for giving me massages.
Finally, im in my 17th week 
and i managed to find a prenatal massage near home!

The experience is defintely different from a regular massage.
Im unsure whether is is also because im not in asian.
The kneading is soft but at times, she did press some 'shiok' aching points.
The biggest difference is the massage is done with me on my side,
supported by a maternity pillow
and no fixed position for my limbs.
I did hope to have strong pressure on my aching back,
yet, it was so relaxing that i almost felt asleep.
I have never really tried to sleep in massages,
to fully enjoy the massage 
and sometimes too pain to sleep, haha.

Im having some post massage aches
that i guess is normal?
It was 60eur / 60mins
that i think ill be going back again for next few months...

17th weeks + scan

Baby is the size of turnip!

Symptoms of the week:

- acnes on neck 

- motion sickness 

- backache when in the same position for too long

- energy up and down on days

Finally is time to meet the baby again!

And the week to find our whether is a boy or girl..

As usual, my preference is a boy

and the husband's preference is a girl.

Before we left, we told baby to open his/her legs for the scan,

i even drank 7-up before the scan to make sure baby has sugar rush!

And, the results is...

Our baby girl was sleeping soundly with her legs wide open!

A bit unglam but at least the job was done.

The cyst that was found in the last scan grew

but its positioned in a way that does not affect our girl

and gynae does not seems bothered by it.

Actually husband and gynae totally forgot about cyst

and i had to ask for her to scan for it..

Crazily, she gave us photos of the cyst 

instead of the usual baby photos 

that i think that is pointless to post.

Gained 2 kg since the last appointment

and gynae says i should only gain 1.5kg

(which i didnt know)

Oh and my blood test results from early oct 

indicated i need watch my sugar level..

must be the daily bubble tea from sg, hehe.

Shall go for blood test again and hope is back to lower level...

The greatest good news is trisomy 21 test results is back!

Apparently the risk for down symdrome is 1:1200

so is really low risk and need not go for further test!

Woohoo!!!

We get to hear the strong heartbeat of baby

and i guess we are just happy that mother and baby are healthy!

I should be able to feel baby movements soon

or at least it should starts in few weeks

I cant wait to feel the girl

but i hope she wont drive me crazy with karate kicks!

16th Week

Baby is size of avocado!

Motion sickness still continues 
that im not a big fan of taking any form of transportation.
Sadly, we have a wedding to attend this weekend (out of paris).
With the memories of my wedding that lasted till 5am,
with panadols i  hope i willl survive the day well.

Sleep has improved!
I dont know is it because now i request for bigger area on bed
or im getting used to the tummy
i spend more time lying on 1 side
then needing to turn every hour.
Please let this comfort lasts for as long as possible.

Oh, but my nose started to be blocked last night.
I actually have difficulty to breathe 
that i dreamt of having difficulty to breathe!
Hopefully is just a passing phrase...

Other symptims:
- Acnes in the neck still continues..
(Much worse than photos can show)

- To a certain extend, i think energy level is getting better
- Cant stand in the same position for too long
- aching back 
Finally, im able to book prenatal massage now!!

The happiest news is that we did not received the call from the gynae.
It has been close to 3 weeks since my trisomy 21 test
and no call means good news!
All will be known on the upcoming appointment next week!
Cant wait to see baby and hope that we can know the gender...

JB trip with the mummies

I cant remember the last trip that i went with the girls.
Probably it was many years ago to bintan for massage.
Crazily, we managed to squeeze in a trip this year to go JB!
We didnt really planned much except that it will be a time of shopping,
nuaing, doing relaxing without the husbands and kids!
Thankfully, the girls helped to plan and book the trip,
that i get to be the pregnant free loader.

Day 1: 
I cant remember the last time that i went to JB.
Luckily, yat has been a regular in JB
that we had no problem to travel from sg to jb.
Her colleague even drew her a map of our hotel and city sq mall, so cute.
We went for lunch at Old town after the customs
and then went to check into our hotel.

Travelling is really different 
with a breastfeeding mum, a pregnant woman and another mum, 
everything is slow and we get to do aunty's things like buy special bread, haha.
We went to shop a little since it was close to mid autumn festival,
there was so many mooncakes and lantern standup stores.
We had a nice teabreak at some korean cafe.
The 2 mummies then went for a massage and i had to burn some time walking alone
since i cant do any massage yet.

Then, it was time for dinner,
strangely i love spicy food since i got pregnant,
so we went for korean spicy dinner!
We managed to buy some water and snacks from the shop opp hotel
and rested in the room with some random TV shows...

Day 2:

Apparently, the latest trend is to go cafe hoping in JB.

We googled for cafes to go for breakfast but it seems that most of them only starts at noon.

We managed to find this place with good hua-ying food

but its more kopitiam than cafe.

We took an uber over and realise uber is so cheap in JB.

The kopitiam was crowded with no proper queuing system

but we managed to get a table quickly.

We then uber back to the shopping mall,

took an appointment at the hair salon and went shopping.

The mummies were nice to give in my request for kenny rogers for lunch

but its really not good, 

i need the old kenny rogers back in singapore!

Initially, i planned to dye my hair

but the shop asked me whether im superstitious about dyeing my hair during early pregnancy,

so i gave up the idea and went to do a normal hair treatment.

Since i was done fast,

i even had time to go tabaoed gong cha for us.

We shopped a little more before ended up in a chinese resto for dinner.

The mummies still have place to tabaoed korean chicken wings for supper!

Day 3:

We munched on snacks and bread for breakfast before checking out late from the hotel.

Nothing was planned for the day except for last minute shopping.

We had lunch at the hongkong cafe and it was time to head home.

Im unsure whether because im still tired from my all the travelling.

I felt so tired after arriving at woodlands customs that i took a taxi home

and spent the rest of the day and next day resting at home.

Not sure when all of us can go to a trip together again

but hopefully our friendship stays strong for the many years to come...

Hong Kong Day 9 and 10: Disneyland

Day 9: 
After munching bread for breakfast,
we check out early to head for disneyland!
It will be husband's first trip to disneyland hk
and definitely not fun for the pregnant woman,
who cant take most of the rides.
The ride to disneyland was long 
but everyone was having fun taking selfies on train.
Husband was so impressed with the special disneyland train
because in paris, its just a boring usual train.

We arrived at disneyland and took the shuttle bus to our hotel.

Sister made a mistake at the hotel name

but thankfully the hotel arrange for a van to send us to the hotel.

If not, we will need to take the shuttle bus back to the park 

and take another shuttle bus to our hotel, so its no fun.

We checked in to the hotel and prepared ourselves for disneyland.

Oh, and we saw goofy in the hotel and took a nice photo with him.

And again, it was a hot hot hot day...

I lost count of the time that i hid in the aircon shops

and partly because i cant take the rides.

Its crazy that pregnant woman can only take kiddy rides

that are mostly rides that makes you dizzy?

Although the kids were nice enough to take "baby rides" with me,

it didnt helped that i had morning sickness.

So most of the times, i asked husband to joined them,

and i waited for them outside.

The day was so hot and humid

that we found it hard to even enjoy the parade.

The best was all the indoor shows with cooling aircon.

In the late afternoon, i was literally burning

that i dragged husband into a resto for expensive dessert

just to have aircon to cool down

while sis went on to take rides with the kids.

We didn't stayed for fireworks since everyone was tired

and we didnt want to squeeze the crowds to go back to hotel.

We ended up having dinner at the expensive resto in the hotel

and rested in the room.

Then my sister had to remind me,

why we didnt thought of buying cup noodles?

Eh, i guess we forgot we are travelling in asian countries 

and cup noodles can save us so much money??

hmmm...

Day 10:

We didnt plan much for the day.

So, it was just a nice breakfast at the hotel

and we managed to catch mickey for some photos.

The kids then went to the pool for a dip

while husband rested in the room to nurse his dripping nose.

It was time to leave for the airport.

Initially the plan was to take the mtr to the airport,

but considering the time and no of us,

we ended up taking a taxi because it costs about the same,

yet only 15mins to be at the airport.

We accompanied sis and kids for their check in

and left for another terminal for our check in.

It was sad to end the trip

yet i was happy to be back in Singapore for a good rest.

It has been a very tiring trip for me.

Since sis and kids were in an earlier flight,

and our flight got delayed 45mins,

we were surprised that the kids wanted to wait for us at the airport

and we all shared a taxi back home...

Hong Kong Day 8 - Cheung Chung

The plan was to visit an off shore island and do a little hike
but the weather forecast was bad the night before with typhoon signal 3.
THe morning looks rainy with strong winds,
we were undecided whether or not to continue our plan to go cheung chau.
While we took the wait and see approach,
sis and i went to the nearby mac to tabao breakfast for everyone.
Sis was very amused by the tiny solo seats available
while husband is still haunted by the bad memory of mac
when he was scolded for being slow at ordering when he went bought breakfast for me, haha.

After breakfast, the weather didnt seems so bad

and everyone seems to be continuing their life as per normal,

so we decided to went ahead with our plan.

We knew the way to the pier since it was the same pier when we went to Lamma island.

Everyone was still bursting with energy when we arrived the pier,

but the sea became a bit rough and i had to sleep to prevent sea sickness.

However, the rain greeted us once we arrived,

we had to search for disposable raincoats.

But first, we went to a cafe and had some snacks and drinks.

We finally started our "long hike" in cheung chau,

i guess the hike will be much faster if not for a pregnant woman, 

rain, humid, hot and mosquitoes!

At 1 point, husband was so upset that i had so much mosquitoes bites on my legs,

that he is so worried for the baby.

The thing is, there was no way top undo the bites,

all i can assured him was there was no zika in hongkong.

At times, the hike got a little too tiring for me

and i didnt follow the rest to explore the scary paths.

Definitely, it was a much easier hike than the one we did in lamma island,

i guess the weather plays a big part.

Finally, we arrived at the end of the hike.

Husband and kids had fun posing for photos

and we went back to HK by ferry.

I took husband that it will be very easy to catch a flu if he doesnt cover his sweaty self

before entering the mall.

Guess what, he really caught a flu on this day,

till almost the end of the trip

and i had to try 101 ways to avoid catching his flu, argh.

By the time, we went back hotel,

everyone was tired and happy to stay in the room.

We went nearby for sushi dinner

and start packing for our luggages.

It was easy to get everyone to bed since we are leaving for disneyland the next day!

Hong Kong Day 6 & 7 : Sister and kids

Day 5: 
It was the day that my sister and kids will join us in HK.
Since there were arriving at 1430+,
we had plenty of time to eat breakfast,
check out, check in to the new hotel 
and finally picking them up at the airport.
The wonderful part was we managed to get the keys for both rooms early
and the hotel was much better than the previous.
It was only like 1 minute walk from Jordan station.

We waited for them at the hotel

and was glad that they survived the flight well.

The pregnant woman was hungry,

so we had crystal jade at the airport

and then we managed to find our way to the bus to discovery bay,

which supposed to be a big indoor playground near the airport.

When we paid the expensive bus fare and settled down in the bus,

husband realised that he forgot to take his card

after withdrawing cash from the atm.

i guess it was too late to return to search for the card,

so i had him to call back france to cancel the card.

Its quite boring to have his card cancelled

because for the rest of the trip we can only rely on my card.

Anyway, we managed to canx his card before we arrive.

I didnt had the chance to enter Epicland

as each kid only render a free adult.

Considering that i was pregnant and wont be much help in the inddor playground.

I suggested for husband to go in with sis instead.

So at times i had husband outside with me

and at times sister came to chat with me.

According to the husband, 

the indoor playground was big and had many stuffs to do.

After crazy hot days,

the weather went crazy and rainy weathers were expected.

Since there were strong winds and dark clouds,

it was time to head to the hotel,

especially when we still had a long way back to the hotel.

Luckily the hotel was well situated,

that we tabaoed kfc to eat in the room with the kids,

husband and i then went to the 7-11 to buy water, snacks etcs for both rooms

and of course, bread for the hungry pregnant woman

before we end the night.

Day 6:

The plan was another indoor day because 

the weather forecast was thunderstorm and possible typhoon signal.

So, we all took our time to prepare,

went to the nearby cha chan teng for breakfast,

went back to hotel for the necessary toilet

and finally left hotel for the science musesum.

Seriously, the weather looks really fine,

but i guess we still want to trust the forecast 

especially when there were crazy typhoons before the trip.

The science museum was similar to the science center in singapore,

which means tons of hand-ons activites to entertain the kids.

The husband was probably the only one reading everything,

and i was searching for places to rest after a while.

The museum was quite big that we went for lunch nearby

and went back again to explore other parts of the musesum.

We managed to explore most of the musesum 

and decided it was time for another activity.

The kids were interested to visit at a dog / rabbit / cat cafe.

I spent the last few days seraching for one

but all i found was stress on rabbits in cafe,

scandals on dog abuses etcs

And it was not a great idea for pregnant woman to go to a cat cafe.

In the end, i decided that sis and kids to visit a cat cafe in mongkok

while husband and i can walk around.

All went well as planned till we met up again after the cat cafe.

Apparently, issac had allergy reaction to the cat fur

and my sister forgot to bring his medication.

We went to a few pharmacies to ask for the med,

but they do not have it.

Luckily we were in mongkok

and managed to be back to our hotel for his medication quickly.

I dont know was it maternal instinct,

but i was panicking so much.

After the medication;

we went near by cha chan teng for dinner.

The kids probably had too much snacks and were tired

so they left quickly for the hotel

and husband and i finished the food.

We bought water and snacks from 7-11 again and ended the night..