Preparing for Baby S!

Determined to give my best for Baby S and our soon-to-be little family, Stanley and I go into preparation and organisation mode. I guess this is has been what we are both good at and also how we dealt with both our wedding and home renovation and thus, this is how we best know how.

The preparation process was made easier with many tools and apps which can be easily found online. Therefore, would like to share them here and hopefully mummies or mummies-to-be will find them useful as well!

1. The ultimate pregnancy to-do list by Babycenter

This website and list created by Babycenter gives you a list of items to do during each trimester. It helps pace you through the pregnancy; so that you would not panic at the start and actually just take your time and enjoy the process of being pregnant.

2. Ovia Pregnancy App by Ovuline

This is actually an app which you can download to your phone, it follows and tracks your pregnancy allowing you to know the various symptoms, do's and don'ts and more. It also answers many frequently asked questions at various point of the pregnancy. So I do find this really good! It even have weekly video of one of their staff pregnancy which you follow through, is kinda like having a friend who is also pregnant with you.

In fact, Ovia even have a range of app which begins from trying to conceive to after the child is born. How great right? 

3. 2017 SG Mummys Group on Facebook

We all have Facebook, but not many of us have friends who are pregnant at about the same time as us. So having a support system beyond home is important as we may need to rant sometime. Else it is also good to have a group of people who we can check what is normal what is not with in times of emergency; with your Obgyn is closed over the weekends or public holidays.

I was very lucky to have friends who are pregnant together around the same period as me, in fact the school with I am teaching in have 4 of us who are all preggie around the same period of time; edd from November 2016 to January 2017. Despite that, I still find the Facebook Group very helpful as we see all the different mummys problems and how we all are able to stand together and support each other. Great community spirit!

4. Baby Checklist

Manage to gather a baby checklist of the items to buy with the help of fellow mummys from the mummys group and I excel my list. I also used the list to record the items I brought and note the items which I need to get. You know, pregnancy brain so the need to record everything.

I am sharing my list here for all to download and view! Do feel free to edit the list to your personally liking as this is just what i have prepare for my little Baby S.

5. Supermom Seminar by Supermom 

When you become parents, everything goes back to zero, as it is a new unknown ground for all of us. With that being said, it is a lot of learning and reading and understanding, kind of like going back to school all over again. 

After knowing that we are expecting baby S, we sign ourselves up for a seminar with Supermom in their August 2016 fair @ Suntec. Attending such seminar prepares you for parenthood; the theory portion and also give you the network to fellow first time parents and also experience parents. 

It also give you an idea of the things you need, their prices and the product that are available out there. 

There are also other baby fair out there like Baby Market and Baby Land, but what is special about Supermom Fairs is that it always comes with seminar which parents can attend! So definitely a must go for first time parents! 

6. Thomson Parent Craft by Thomson Baby 

Being a Thomson Medical Mummy, with the First Born Incentives Card, Thomson Parent Craft Center is directly link to the card and therefore one which we will visit, but even if you are not giving birth at Thomson, you can attend the class by Thomson Parent Craft Center. And I will share more about their antenatal class after we are done with them! 

So do stay tune to our blog! 

Will end this post with this and we hope that this sharing help fellow first time parents! The journey to parenthood is never easy but always rewarding! 

Fighting all! 

Our Rainbow Baby; Baby S

Stanley and I found out that we are pregnant on the 24 May 2016.

This news to us was received with mixed emotions. We felt fear, excitement, joy but of course hope, grace, faith and mainly happiness and bliss as I do know how much Stanley love children and how much ever child is a gift to their parents.

However, having been through one molar pregnancy, it was not easy for us to face the next without having the fear that something will too go wrong.

Not known to anyone around us; our parents, friends or relatives, Stanley and I was also pregnant last year; 2015. However, it was a molar pregnancy which ended in a miscarriage at week 10. Having a molar pregnancy not only means we loss the baby, it also put my life in danger of having a tumor which needs to be treated by chemotherapy. It was scary, depressing and saddening. Teachers' Day 2015 will always be remembered as the day I lost my first pregnancy. I was very upset, but deep down in me, I kinda of fully understood why it happened. Believing that everything happened for a reason and having faith that good and something better will come out of all this learning.

I have been a very self-centered person for a very long time, but through the years of being in a relationship with Stanley and finally marrying him, I been learning on the things it takes to make a relationship works. It is not me but we and not I but us. The old me would never wanted children, but seeing how good Stanley is with kids and how much he loves them, the us now would love to have kids of our own cause I know he will be a great dad. However embarking on the journey to parenthood was not something I am totally convinced I could do, I was unsure if I am able to love my child the same way I love myself but somehow I believe the miscarriage taught me that I could! Cause from it I felt sadness like i never felt before, I was in pain emotionally and crying and I know from that that I am able to love my children unconditionally and am willing to go through it all; all the pregnancy things and changes just to bring a little one to the world.

So after 6 months of monitoring and checks after the molar pregnancy; many many blood test to make sure that the HCG level drops back to 0. we embark on our journey again of trying to conceive. And it was not long after that we were blessed with a little peanut.

24 May 2016, the day I found out about my pregnancy with Our Rainbow Baby. It was joy, fear, excitement and anxiousness. But we try to contain it all and just journey on with faith.

30 May 2016, as I had a previous miscarriage, my gyn; Dr Claudine Tan, asked me to check in earlier for a check to make sure all is going well. So had my first check then at just week 5, Dr Tan was very assuring and deep down I was actually very hopeful too, somehow this pregnancy just feels different but it was still with caution that we head on. So everything was still kept within the two of us; Stanley and me.

21 June 2016, our second check, at that point we are able to hear the heartbeat and it kinda assure us that things are good. However, we wanted to be sure and thus did not want to share the news with anyone till the OSCAR test results are out. Scan looks like a little dolphin, which I like as it is an animal which symbolizes "HOPE" for me and my mum!

18 July 2016, had our OSCAR test and for the first time, we get to see quite a define little being! Too cute and filled with so much hope!

25 July 2016, Got our OSCAR test results, all is good! Thankful for the blessing, thankful for Stanley's unconditional love and support! Honestly just feel very blessed and grateful for it all!

OSCAR Test Results

Week 13 and finally we are ready to tell our parents! All is well and we look forward to the rest of the journey together filled excitement, love and lots of joy. 

To couples who have love and lost a baby or a pregnancy, never loss hope, your time will come and when it does it is all worth it. Promise. 

A day as an Engineer in Micron

Once every 5 years, Stanley's company; MICRON Inc, will have an open house / family day for all the family members to visit the facilities and understand the work processes there! 

So after having worked there for 5 years now, I get to visit his workplace for once, like finally! 

Being an engineering grad, it was an option to join an engineering firm after graduation, but i did not and instead join the teaching force as it has long been my passion and dream. Therefore, after NTU i moved on ti NIE and did my PGDE in Education, which brings me to where I am today; the teaching fraternity. 

So what goes on in an engineering firm has always been a huge question mark to me. Therefore, being able to see a real MNC in function is cool! 

Basically, little known to many MICRON is the company that produce flash memory for all the APPLE products and of course many other company. 

The open house not only facilitates their family day, but also is an open house to showcase their new extension. Therefore, is a rather huge thing!!  

Display.. Flash Chips.

Yup.. EVERYDAY!! 

Stanley's Desk. 

He ensures that it was packed and super neat as OCD me was visiting... hahaha... 

Engineer @ work. 

Cool stuff.

The amount of money their spend on the day is crazy... 

Nice canteen and Cafe in the company!

They have a gym too!! 

It was nice to walk around and see all the cool things which the company have to offer and the work with Stanley do. It gives me a better understanding of what he handles @ work and also the craziness he face on a day to day basis.  

After work, we had a nice meal together and also visit factories in the woodlands area!