Babymoon Day 3 & 4 - Bath

Day 3:
We wanted to had english breakfast at the same pub
but they are only opened for breakfast at 1030
and we had a train to catch at 1100.
So, it was the easy way out to munch breakfast in our room.
As usual, im so impressed with the UK transport system.
It is clean, smooth transits, clear directions, clean toilets at the stations,
and they apologise for all kinds of delays.
On our train to oxford,
the driver even gave a full description of what happened
(Apparently there was a transpasser on the railway)
that delayed our train for 15mins.

After 1h+ train, we arrived at Bath.
Near the train station, it wasn't outstanding looking as oxford.
We grabbed lunch at a small cafe and went to meet the owner of the appartment.
We got a nice appartment in the center of the city,
right next to the city's famous roman bath attractions.
Husband was a big fan of the appartment's deco and old facilites.
Usually, i will prefer staying in a hotel,
but the appartment costs the same as a lousy 2/3 stars hotel,
in similar location and much bigger in size,
so it made sense to get an appartment instead.
Anyway, it was nice to have a little kitchen to cook a little
instead of eating out for every meal.

I was starting to get a little tired from all the trip.
Instead of following our plan,
i decided that we will just visit the roman bath for the day.
It seems small from the outside,
and ticket was expensive at 16.50pounds per pax.
In reality, it was a huge underground museum
that we ended up spending almost 3 hours there!

Unlike oxford, the shops close really ealy at about 1830.

By the time we are done with the Roman bath,

we went to the supermarket to buy dinner to reheat in our appartment.

Thereafter, we took a nice quiet walk around the city to burn my sugar.

I wanted to take a nice hot shower and head to bed.

And the nightmare happened, when i realised that the shower was not really working well.

The water flow was very slow 

and the water went from icy cold to extreme hot.

It was a torture to take a shower!

I decided that i shall not wash my hair or take a full shower till the next hotel!

As expected, there was not as much choice of TV channels in the appartment,

so we just rested early for the night.

Day 4:

The initial plan was to do a half day trip to a small city nearby

but i decided i want to take the day easy

so we stayed in bath and explored.

We went to the royal crescent, which is basically a row of houses in a curve

but the museum was closed for winter.

I cannot missed the chance of hightea while being in UK.

Despite that i am definitely not supposed to eat hightea,

i got a groupon voucher and we went high tea for lunch!

Well, it will be totally impossible for me to have it after lunch and before dinner.

I told husband that it was like my happiest meal in a long long time..

After lunch,

we explored the city and the church beside the roman bath.

But i wasnt really full of energy,

so we had an early dinner at the Sally Lunn's.

It was supposed to be the oldest resto in bath

and famous for their buns.

We were not very impressed by the buns

because i think we are so used to the sweet buns found in asia

and it tasted similar.

Well, it definitely was different from the usual english or french bread.

Since there was nothing much to watch on TV

but there was a dvd machine

and beside the appartment was a 2nd hand dvd, games etcs shop.

We bought 2 old dvds to watch at the appartment

while i packed up our luggages...

PS: I was checking my bank account balance 
to ensure that my credit limit is still enough for the rest of our trip
since we only have my card to be used.
I realised there was a transaction for ebook purchase the night before our trip.
Then we realised that the card associated in the lost ebook was actually my card!
It must be husband lost his card then
and entered my card details to his ebook,
which means we cancelled the wrong card!
I immedately transferred most of the money out of my account
but i guess we will cancel my card once husband received his, arggghhhh

Babymoon Day 1 & 2 - Oxford

I told husband that i need a babymoon, 
a last trip before baby arrives
and i want it to be a non-french city (Preferably english speaking).
Thankfully, there was a sale on eurostar
and we are having a babymoon in uk!
Our last trip to london was in Aug 2016,
so i didnt planned much time in London for this trip!

Husband was worried that i will be too tired or big to visit the cities.
While im worried whether it will be too cold and what can i eat while traveling with diabetes.
Strangely, while we were in UK, the weather was not too cold
and France was freezing with heavy snow.
I guess we had good luck.

Day 1
Meals proved to be difficult from the start
with a pregnant woman, who has gestional diabetes.
The train ride affected my meal time, sugar level and choice of food
which was a good learning lesson for the rest of the trip.
Our train arrived St pancras at 1330 and we had to catch our train to oxford at 1500,
so we had plenty of time to catch a proper meal.
However, husband has to left his ebook in the train
so we spent time at the lost and found,
deciding what to do for money since his ebook is linked to his credit card.
Ended up no ebook was found and we cancelled his credit card.
Not a good start for the trip and i didnt appreciate the adreline rush.

We managed to buy some healthy food for the next train
and arrived oxford around 1630.
We checked in our hotel and spent some time exploring the city
before trying to find a place for dinner.

It was a big challenge to find a proper place for dinner
since there was a big football match that evening
and all of UK's good food - mac&cheese, fish&chicks etcs
are normally only found in pubs and bars.
In the end, we managed to find a resto in a small street,
despite the higer price, we chose to have dinner here
and not explore the streets for another 45mins.
Probably we need to eat dinner earlier as all the places seems to be full before 1900.
We explored the city a little after dinner
and finally headed back to our room for a well needed rest.

Day 2:

We had a simple breakfast in our room 

and start the day early to explore the city.

I think the only benefit of my condition is that i need to eat early

and so, we start our everyday very early for the trip.

Despite being a sunday, 

we were suprised that most of the shops and attractions were open.

Oxford was really beautiful and truly a wonderful university city.
We tried our best to explore as much of the university as possible
but didnt signed up for any tour
as the pregnant me needs the trip to be slow paced and often pee pee breaks.

We then had lunch at a pie place in the market

and continued exploring the city.

I told husband that if our baby makes it to study in oxford,

we should sell everything we have to make sure she can afford to study here

and we can become homeless people in oxford...

hmmm, even if is cambridge, im fine too!

We took a tea break at a library nearby

and decided to do some window shopping at the main streets.
We rested in the hotel room for awhile
and left early for dinner,
just in case it will be as crowded as the day before.
Maybe because its sunday, there is no big match,
or because we are early,
it was not as crowded and we had dinner in a nice pub near the hotel
and finally had our mac&cheese and fish&chips...

Because it was so hard to find healthy food,
the plan was to always walk after a meal.
It is always diffficult to do so at home
becasue we are already in our pyjamas by the time of dinner.
However, i think i walked so much during this trip,
that i managed to burn sugar of most of the crazy unhealthy meals in uk.
And i think is the first trip that we moved so much after meals
when we normally prefer to just take a nap or sit and do nothing, haha.

Anyway, we ended the night early to pack the bags 
and watch crappy shows on the food network channel...

Week 25: Happy New Year!

Baby is the size of eggplant!

It was great to be home after the christmas weekend.

I missed my maternity pillow so much, haha.

For my christmas present,

Husband bought us tickets to watch a musical

"Singing in the rain"

and it was cool because instead of the usual theatre,

it was showing in a temporary theatre in a museum!

Well, we thought it was cool till the actual performance.

Because it was not officially a theatre,

the number of toilets were limited,

that i was rushing to pee before the show and during the intermission

and the queue for the ladies was loooooooong.

Luckily i didnt peed in my pants

and still managed to pee in time for the show.

The next problem was the seating,

it was temporary concert-super-squeezy seats,

definitely not pregnant women friendly,

i was constantly in contact with my neighbour.

Each movement i made, 

seems to produce ripple effects on my row.

It was really hard for my big bum and aching back

to stay in the same position for the show.

Thankfully, despite husband's insisting that his corner seat was worse,

i took his seat and felt so much better for the 2nd half of the show.

Despite all my above complaints,

i still think the show is great!

Especially when its my first proper musical show.

The coolest part is the actual "rain" on stage...

I guess probably 1 day we can watch it again 

when im not pregnant...

Normally for New Year Eve,

we spent it with husband's friends.

But this year, i decided that i want to stay home

and spend our last quiet new year eve at home.

Despite husband insisting that he is fine with the idea,

im kinda bored of him repeating to everyone and me

about how is the first time he is not spending it with friends.

Argggh

Anyway, it was my way or the highway,

the pregnant woman has the final say.

To make a nicer "celebrations" at home,

we went to search for some post-xmas sale,

but didnt managed to find much

since the good food normally goes on sale after New year.

However, even with consideration to my diet,

we still managed to have a decent spread.

We wanted to watch the usual effiel tower countdown and fireworks

and started searching the TV channels 5 minutes before midnight.

We almost missed the countdown

because there was only 2 channels showing it live.

In addition, it was not at effiel tower

and there was not the usual concert etcs.

The countdown was not so impressive

that we actually went youtube to look at countdowns of different countries, haha.

For 2018, I guess I not really setting resolutions

but more about wishes for the year:

- Baby to stay inside till full term

- Smooth and safe delivery

- Good health to our baby and family (Husband is sick too often)

- To lose weight after delivery

Merry Christmas!

Probably the biggest event of the year
and this year, husband finally managed to took his week off
to do nothing much
well, he keep mentioned how he havent done so in many many years
but i rememebered that he did the same when i first arrived france. 

Normally we spent at least 3 days at the in laws place.
Since the past 2/3 years, 
the sisters and brother-in-laws spent christmas eve away,
and return on christmas day to our celebrations.
So, christmas eve celebrations is usually just us and the parents-in-laws.
At least, for next christmas, the little girl will be here too!

23/12/17 (Sat)
We met up early with the in laws 
and hitched a ride to Bracieux 
for the yearly christmas lunch with the grandparents.
I think we chose a bad date to go 
and ended up there was bad traffic jams
that a normal 2 hours ride became a close to 4 hours ride.

Although we were later than usual,
we still spent some time giving presents 
and had a good lunch at the restuarant.
Apart from the usual chocolates, we received a baby massage book,
and also received a 2nd hand baby mat and seat from the cousin
Thankfully the ride back was less painful 
and we arrived at in laws place at 2.5hours.

Im unsure whether is because of the long ride
i was definitely not feeling so well in my tummy.
Husband read somewhere that pregnant woman should not take long car rides.
Anyway, is probably my last long ride before delivery.
For the evening,
we spent time at sis in law's home,
but we didnt stayed too long as the pregnant woman is too tired.

24/12/17 (Sun)
Since there was only 4 of us for christmas eve dinner,
there was not much preparations to be done.
We went out for a short walk to the market
and came back for lunch with the parents in law.
The day was spent lazing around till dinner preparation time
and then, was the christmas eve dinner.
Im unsure whether we are getting old
or because i have a slight different pregnant menu.
The dinner was not as long as usual years
and we ended early at 10+pm 
We counted down to christmas in front of the TV.
And for the night, we had a bad blur wefie photo thanks to husband, haha.

25/12/2017 (Mon)

After breakfast,

husband dragged me out for a short walk to have some fresh air.

Everyone arrived about lunch time for christmas brunch

and is definitely much more lively than the day before.

After brunch,everyone went for a long walk

while mother in law and i stayed home.

Then it was dinner preparations, 

getting dressed up and last minute christmas gifts preparations.

We started apero at about 8pm,

earlier than usual for the hungry pregnant woman,

and we spent closed to 1.5hours for gifts exchange.

This year i chose baby related gifts as i dont really have special wishlist

(Considering that i cant really appreciate new clothes or accessories for now)

So  my main gifts are ergo carrier and a baby bag:

As usual, the dinner was looooooong.

By the time we arrived after the mains, 

i was falling asleep, haha.

At least i survived after dessert

and ended the night quickly to head to the bed.

26/12/17 (Tue)

We had a later breakfast due to the last night before.

We then spent time in the chatting with the family

before 1 sister and brother in law left before our late lunch.

And for us, we left shortly after the lunch.

We managed to grab an uber home

but got stuck in traffic for awhile.

Finally, it was home sweet home

and the start of do nothing for the rest of the week.

Merry Christmas!

Week 24 - Nightmare before Christmas!

Baby is the size of corn!

While waiting for the appointment at diabetic center to arrive,

i started my own diet at home.

Well is not really a dstrict diet but i try to make a meal carbo-free per day.

Hoping that my blood sugar will be fine by the time the appointment arrives.

Sadly, the appointment wasnt about further testing or monitoring.

I am considered as gestional diabetic:

- Given the blood monitor machine to monitor my sugar level 6x a day

- Nurse to teach me how to use the insulin 

- a dietician to advise on my diet

- if insulin starts, is till delivery

- the worst: how i should start insulin immediately if my blood sugar exceeds in 48hours

I really hated my gynae at that moment.

I remember that in oct, my sugar level was 0.91g/l 

but she never mentioned to me that when i arrive at 0.92g/l,

i will be immediately considered as gestional diabetic

and must suffer all these bullshit till i deliver.

If then she had warned me, 

i changed my diet,

probably i will not arrive at this stage.

Anyway, the appointment ended with:

- a list of insulin etcs i need buy from pharmacy

- going back to the center 2x a month for monitoring

And a very upset me.

Especially with christmas coming, 

all the food bingeing,

crazy inconsistent timing of meals,

im so dead...

At least 1 good news of the month,

we finally found a real good japanese ramen in Paris!
The shop is always in long queues

and the tiny shop surface really feels like we are in japan.

And the best of all,

our prayers are answered by the ramen god

and the ramen tasted super good

unlike the fake ramen we had in the "Chinese fake japanese ramen shop"

Before we could go back a few times,

i realised that the ramen gives the highest rise in my sugar level

that i am warned to avoid ramen for now on...

Oh well, fuck my life.

22th weeks

Baby is the size of papaya!

Finally is time for the detailed trimester 2 scan!
But before the scan, the bad news are:
- I put on too much weight (12kg now!)
Im suppose to only put on 1-1.5kg per month
but last month i put on 3kg??
I blame the sudden craving of nutella and desserts
at least my friends tried to comfort me by telling me 
that they gained 21kg during pregnancy..
Anyway, i really need to go for a big diet after delivery...

- my urine sugar level is too high that i need to test my blood sugar
Seems like i am in high risk of gestional diabetes
i guess if confirmed, im not so afraid of the daily pricking of finger or med
but i know it will be so hard to reduce rice, bread, noodles, pasta...
all the carbos that i love :(

Anyway for the scan,
we were told to bring along a dvd to record the scan
but without the commentry, 
im unsure whether we will understand or enjoy it.
baby was cooperative or too active (moving alot)
it helps sometimes to find the parts required for the scan
except that she hide her gential area behind my belly button
that we cant double confirm is a girl, haha.

Everything is fine and she weighs about 500g.
I think dr mentioned that she has a big tummy, opps
Is nice that we even managed to get a cute 3d photo of her...

*Updated on 11/12*

Results back for blood and urine sugar level.

Urine sugar went down from 1.59 to 1.01

Blood sugar was 0.98 when the recommended is 0.92 max

so got a referral letter to follow up with the diabetes department

i guess i need start manage my diet before the appointment :(  

20th weeks!

Baby is the size of banana!

Finally 50% of the pregnancy journey is done!

Had a scare this week when i was near home

and suddenly i had a massive cramp 

that it took me so much efforts to walk home.

Immediately laid on the sofa straight

and thankfully the cramp subsides in about 10minutes.

Informed husband that we may want to contact the gynae for advise.

This is when i missed the Singapore's effective medical system,

im sure if im in Singapore, i can quickly find a gynae for a scan.

However, we are in france.

Husband called the clinic to be informed that there is no direct number to reach the gynae.

Husband had to email the gynae and waited for her reply.

The only advise from the clinic was to go to the a&e.

Since the cramp left and i really dont wish to spend hours queuing in a&e,

i told husband that we will wait for the email reply.

In the end few hours later, we finally received the reply from the gynae.

A super short reply that it could be colic, a prescription for a medicine

and to go a&e if pain persists.

Not even suggesting a need for a follow up scan or appointment etc...

Oh well, i didnt feel unwell thereafter,

so we didnt do any follow up.

I hope baby is doing fine and we are going to see her in 2 weeks...

On a side note,
we went to watch our first official theatre: La Famille Semianyki 
Is actually husband's birthday gift from his mum
because i think threatre is really expensive
and mostly in french that i wont fully understand.
Anyway, for this show, there was only 1 show available in november..

The show was not as funny as i expected
despite branded as funny clowns from russian
and definitely not as family-orient/kids friendly as they advertised.
We had to go off 5 minutes before the show ended
as husband had to rush to  the airport for his flight to New dehli.
And yes, it was husband's first offical work trip
I will be happy to tag along but is to India?!
So, is fine that i give it a missed, hehe.
Well, it will be me and baby alone for 4 days, woohoo!