Pregnancy experience up to WK 31

i didn’t realize that time flew by so quickly that my last post was when i received the pregnancy call from KKH nurse.

From then, a bit of drama as i recalled during our 6 week vaginal ultrasound scan showed that they couldnt find any heartbeat or fetal pole, they only managed to find a yolk sac. I googled high and low and there were many cases that this happens so I held on to hope and prayed more than ever. I had no early pregnancy symptoms and didnt feel anything out of the ordinary so i was left in the dark.

Dr Tan told us to come back 2 weeks later for an 8 week ultrasound  to see baby’s heartbeat and there is nothing to worry about as it might be too early to see anything so another 2 weeks of holding our breath..

2 weeks later, we saw that flickering heartbeat and a tiny peanut in the womb, never felt more relieved.. Dr Tan asked us whether we wanted to continue with him as our gynae or we would like to move back to private clinic. Considering that he is probably the busiest man on earth and the whole experience felt like mass production, i felt compelled to go back to private gynae. I am very thankful for Dr Tan, he explained everything calmly from the first day we met him and always answer our every question. We thanked him and decided to find a private clinic, he recommended to see one on week 10 of pregnancy.

We found Dr, Henry Chieng from Astra Women, lots of good reviews on him , his clinis is at Bishan so it’s more convenient and he delivers at Mt E Novena which was our preferred hospital..

God is good, fast forward to 20 weeks scan, all is good, Oscar test results were good and baby is healthy and kicking..

At week 28 scan, dr realized that baby is well ahead in weigh for her gestational age, 300 grams more than she should be to be exact and her head circumference is bigger too (i blame it on hubs for having such a big head) 🙂 he suspected that i might have high levels of sugar, at first he didn’t want me to go thru the test as my family has not history of diabetes but since baby is growing too well, he wants me to take the test as a precaution.

next post on test results.

IVF Success

So this was our first IVF with Dr. Tan Heng Hao at KK Hospital and after 17 days of waiting with lots of pain……..more than any injection pains combined, we got to the day of beta HCG blood test.

December 12th 2016 – Went early to KK to get our blood drawn out and to find out how many embabies do we have in the freezer. Nurse drew blood out and said all the best! then we moved on to the embryologist area, she mentioned the embryo inside of me is natural sperm meet egg and it grew to be the strongest, we have 3 frozen so we are very pleased with that!

went to eat lunch with the hubs, holding our breaths and look at my phone every few minutes to make sure i dont miss out on nurse’s phone call about the news.

finally phone rang about 1 hour later and nurse said “CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE PREGNANT”. Hubs and I couldn’t stop smiling, all the sweat tears and pain are worthwhile. We thank Jesus for being with us every step of the way.. i called my parents , he called his parents to break the news. My family was squealing with joy.

little did i know that the anxiety doesnt stop at having positive blood test! there is a 6 week ultrasound scheduled for us to see baby’s development. So we hold our breath for the next 2 weeks. i’m taking it easy and try to not stress about it. it hasn’t kicked in yet that i’m truly pregnant.

IVF and OHSS

1 day after  the embryo transfer, at about 4AM, i experienced Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. it was excruciating cramp-like pain until i was drenched in cold sweat as i was trying to bear the pain. My husband quickly took me to the ER and i felt much better when i reached there. ER doctor did a blood test and confirmed that my OHSS has upgraded itself from mild to moderate so she admitted me to the hospital for minimum 2 nights!.While i was waiting at the ER bed, there were 2 other women next to me, i think they were experiencing severe OHSS as they couldn’t stop vomitting and looked like they were in massive pain.

Hospital days were like holidays, i was on drip to make sure i was fully hydrated, food was good.. the only thing i hated was the IV drip needle that they poked me 3 times as they couldn’t find my vein or whatever. it was darn painful. another thing was they needed me to be on catheter! it’s the silliest thing ever and nurse told me it wont be painful but it WAS SO painful when she inserted it. I thought i had enough poking and probing this month so i prayed that all these will be over quickly.

Dr Tan was too busy to check up on me or he thought my case was not serious enough. So during my stay he didn’t visit me at all! My abdomen was like whalesize and it was uncomfortable to change sides on the bed but other than that i had a good appetite, good urination output and drinking input, so i was out within 3 days..

Every night after i came back from hospital i would experience super bad cramps at about 12:30-1AM. i will spend most of my nights in the bathroom (not sure why i felt safest there just in case i bleed / puked / big business i dont know), this continued for about 1 week. i survived on paracetamol and 1 night my husband can’t bear to see me in so much pain he said we better go to the ER. I hated the thought of being re-admitted but he managed to drag me there.

This time the young ER dr was nonchalant. she ultrasound me and said well its nothing your ovaries are huge but you already know that from your OHSS.. so suck it up and eat your panadol basically! i cant stand her. i mean who would go to the ER in the middle of the night for fun? she didn’t even bother to do any blood test. the urine test shows the double line!! but she said it’s too early to know. ugh.

part of me was happy that i didn’t have to be re-admitted to hospital so we went home and i took her advise to just suck it up.

IVF Journey Singapore

This post is for documentation purposes

March 2015 – Dr Loh transferred us to KKH for IVF as he has cleared us and told us that it’s unexplained infertility as we were both ok so the only other way is IVF. I wasn’t ready for IVF and definitely can’t believe we need to resort to it so taking it is easy for now

May 2016 – OMG i’m getting old, 30 this year so i better buck up and there was an awakening moment that hey i’m ready to go thru IVF so i hope to call and book the dr for next month cycle but little did i know of the LONG KKH process

June 2016 – Finally got an appointment to see Dr Tan Heng Hao basically first consultation was to say hi, check my ovaries, check my history , blood test and they said they’ll let us know the result ( in 1 month’s time)

July 2016 – Second consultation, blood test results are all good to go for IVF, basically was a 5 minute consultation to say see you in 3 months’ time .. The nurse told us we are scheduled for October IVF cycle, so anytime my period come during October we will have to call KKH and they’ll give us further instructions

October 2016 – Went to travel , drank lots of wine, ate lots of sushi and sashimi as i know this will be forbidden soon.. and i think due to too much alco or subsconcious stress or whatever reason my period didn’t come for the first time in my life it skipped a month and it has to be this very important month!!

November 4th 2016 – called KKH to say my period is finally here, and they scheduled me for first check ultrasound

November 6th 2016 – waited 1.5 hours for my turn to do ultrasound, the whole process from registration to nurse probing to doctor explaining and nurse explaining on medication feels very mass production assembling line kind of feeling.. waited another 1.5hr+ for medication and dr and nurse

November 6th – 18th – injection cocktail everyday, on the 18th i went back to KKH to check on follicle growth and as they were matured , they injected ovidrel on the butt at night

November 23rd – egg retrieval day. the only pain i felt was the IV inserted in my wrist

November 25th – Dr consulation for egg transfer however he said we had 15 eggs retrieved and 7 are growing really well, we can opt to wait til blastocyst stage to choose the best embryo to transfer so we come back on the 28th or we insert 2 today but it’s more of a gamble.. so we opt for blastocyst stage

November 25th – 28th – PRAYED HARD that some embryos will make it to blastocyst stage otherwise we are left with nothing this cycle

November 28th – Dr happily told us there are 2 very good grade blasts that are ready to be inserted but he recommended 1 to insert and decision was mine, it took me 3 mins to say please insert 1 (not ready for twins seriously) as he was warning me multiple times it will highly likely that i get twins

NOW WE WAIT FOR THE LONGEST 17 DAYS OF OUR LIVES til BLOOD TEST……….

 

Scalp treatment using Essential Oils

Living in a humid country has made my scalp really oily (yucks). My scalp area would turn oily by late afternoon even when I have only washed it the night before. My scalp normally will start becoming oily after 2 days’ wash (sorry tmi). I started to wonder if it’s because of stress or my hair has started to hate my shampoo and hair serum or the weather has turned to more humid and hot or it’s a combination of everything!

I started researching on which oils that could treat this problem as i prefer to a more natural chemical free treatment. I found out that this recipe helped and would like to share with anyone reading out there!

Oily scalp blend:

6 drops of peppermint

4 drops of lemon

2 drops of lavender

i diluted the 3 essential oils blend with 3 drops of olive oil just in case it’s too strong for my scalp and it would damage my hair as peppermint essential oil can be quite spicy on the skin.

i mixed the blend in a ceramic spoon and started applying it from the centre of the head and massage the blend thoroughly and rub it out so my whole scalp was covered in the blend. i leave it on my scalp for 60 minutes. the experience was very calming and pleasant as the lavender and lemon have sweet scents. i proceed with washing my hair with my daily shampoo kiehl tea tree shampoo recommended for oily hair.

i totally LOVE the immediate result!! my head smells SO good and my hair is shiny (not oily) full of life without the use of any serum. i will repeat this regime once a week and will update you on my scalp’s condition.

i only believe in young living oil. here’s a sneak peek of hair result 🙂 taken from a mobile phone no edit etc even the ends are shiny normally its a bit dry and brittle with oily scalp..

 

blessings,

Pris

Bergamot Young Living Essential Oil

I recently bought Bergamot Essential Oil from Young Living.I usually diffuse it in the morning and at night, mixed it in with Lavender so 4 parts Lavender and 2 part Bergamot in my 100ml diffuser. It smells so refreshing and it has a calming effect at the same time. As I am trying to conceive, many told me to relax, dont think about work too much so I decided to give this mix a try.

Bergamot Historial data: Christopher Columbus is believed to have brought bergamot to bergamo in Norther Italy from the Canary island. A mainstay in traditional Italian medicine, bergamot has been used in the Middle East for hundreds of years for skin conditions associated with an oily complexion. Bergamot is responsible for the distinctive flavour of the Earl Grey Tea and was used in the first genuine eau de cologne.

Medical Properties: Calmin, hormonal support, antibacterial, antidepressant. The fragrant relieves anxiety and has mood lifting properties.

why dont you give it a try, check out my new website http://www.livingoils.myshopify.com

blessings,

Pris

The Waiting Game

Waiting is such a testing game that requires an enormous amount of patience, immense amount of positivity to hold on to Hope. Whether it be something trivial like waiting for your meal to be cooked when you are famished, whether it be waiting for the bus to come when you are late to work, whether it be waiting for the dentist to come when your tooth is killing you, whether it be waiting for your turn to ride on the roller coaster or waiting for a baby to enter into our lives, we develop some form of anticipation, excitement, disappointment and anxiety at the same time.

I’m not sure if i can tell myself to “enjoy” the time of waiting.. the season of waiting seems to be here for a long time.. however when you know the value of what you are waiting for seems to outweigh the agony of waiting then hold on to Hope for surely God will never fail me..

holding on to hope,

Pris

Soaking in the Sun, Sand and Sea of Phuket

I’m truly fortunate to live near one of the best beaches at this side of the world. I was missing the beach for the longest time, as Singapore doesn’t have much of a beach. The best ‘beach’ around here is the Palawan Beach at Sentosa Island which is basically manmade, the sand is perfectly places, the trees are perfectly manicured, it just wasnt the same. Palawan Beach~

My husband decided to take both of us for a real beach getaway. Purely just beaching everyday (if there’s such a word).

We went to phuket which was a 2.5 hour plane ride from Singapore. We landed in Phuket around noon and we have previously ordered an airport pickup from the hotel The WESTIN Siray Bay hotel. However i learnt that there were plenty of taxis at the airport which offered half price of what the hotel quoted us. Nonetheless no regrets as the driver was a very polite man and the Toyota Camry they provided us was very comfortable.

We went straight from the airport to our Westin hotel which was about 45 mins drive. We were welcomed by the magnificent view of the bay at the lobby. We have the same view from our balcony and dining area. i can live here forever! 🙂

We booked phi phi island the next day thru panya tour and he was reliable, the driver came to pick us up to the pier and it was only a 15 mins drive to the pier instead of the 1 hour drive to patong so i was glad we chose Siray Bay as our first hotel.

I was expecting Phi PHi to have murky waters as it is deemed to be very touristy but boy was I wrong.. the boat ride experiences was like on a constant roller coaster as maybe the water was a bit choppy that day despite the sun shining in all its glory. I was applauding the older tourists that were on our boat, they seem to be taking the ride better than some of the younger ones.

we went to the usual Maya Bay, Viking Island and Monkey island. We also went for a bit of snorkelling and the rainbow coloured fishes were very enchanting. no filters for the photos below:

We stayed at the Westin for 2 nights. it was enough to enjoy the resort, sat by the pool, immersing in the sunsets and of course the sun. It was enough to enjoy the whole day of phi phi and had a very good night rest in their heavenly bed series.

On the third day we moved on to Novotel Phuket Resort at Patong beach. i was feeling a lil sad to leave this piece of paradise thinking that the Novotel Hotel wont have facilities as high standard as the Westin.

I was again, greeted by the magnificent view of the sea from Novotel Hotel Lobby and again the sun was smiling happily on us!

We got upgraded to a sea view balcony and I felt so blessed to know that God slips in little surprises like this and throughout this trip had the priviledge to marvel at His creation.

 day view sunset view

Patong beach was a stone’s throw away. The sand was white, the water is clear blue, we dont really need to go out to the islands if we cant be bothered with the 1-1.5 hour speedboat journey.

On the 4th day, we decided to book through Panya again to go to Similan islands. It is further out into the sea, the water is less choppy compared to going to phi phi island but it was definitely a much longer ride but it was worth it.. the beaches are almost untouched and the water was crystal clear

makes me wanna go back………….. 😀

blessings,

Pris

Facial Disaster SkinLab Medical Spa Review

if you are like me, bought stuff on Groupon on impulse, then you probably can relate. I normally wont buy Groupon unless the place seems credible. So I bought a facial voucher for $18 for facials at Skinlab Medical Spa Wheelock. I’ve been searching hi and lo before i made the purchase to make sure this is not some monkey business. The reviews have been good out there but i disregarded that these bloggers were given the facials for free maybe to write good reviews i dont know. Anyways, my first visit was OK, they convinced me that my face needed the extra vita C boost which cost about $68 on top of my $18 that i’ve paid to groupon. so i was like ok stop pestering me and just give me the vita C boost. after the session, they sat me down in a private room to discuss how was the facial experience etc. I told them that the facial therapist was nice and she knows what she’s doing but i need to review my skin in the next week or so on whether this facial has great result. I told my hubby that i might sign up with these guys because my skin was all glowy and nice. I didn’t like being forced to sign something with them tho. The next month i went back to fulfill my second voucher of Groupon. This time i just wanted to find out how good they are without the vita C boost. so i told them just do the basic facial thanks. but in the middle of the procedure the therapist stopped and told me how i need the infrared i dont know what.. i said no………3 TIMES………..and she called in her senior therapist to talk to me in english about the procedure.. i said no it’s ok.. and she said she is giving me good price and i will totally see the difference in an instance. i’m like OK FINE.. so pestery… after the procedure, they zap every part of my face. it was painful and i didnt like it.. they sat me down in the private room again and wont let me go until i signed up with their OH-SO-EXPENSIVE package eventho they said it’s already 50% discounted. i told them i have to see the result of this infrared thing and come back tothem if it’s really that good! they finally let me go after i said i really need to discuss with my husband before i spent $1xxx on a package.. 3 days later, my jawline starts to break out and it was the itchy kind.. i thought Ok maybe just 1 or 2 and it will clear up.. but it ended up with my ENTIRE JAW LINE full of big painful acnes. And here i am 1 month later still suffering from the disgusting acne marks. i already told them usually it takes 6 months for my acne  marks to go away as my face is sensitive..and they said this infrared will help but instead it gave it more acnes = more marks.. i am so frustrated. moral of the story is STAND YOUR GROUND if you said no then stick to it no matter how much they pressure you. it might not be their fault that i have this reaction but they call themselves medical spa with skin doctors who should know about the skin analysis.. i thank God i didn’t sign up with them and didn’t give in to their pressurizing sales method. i’m tempted to upload my jaw pics here.. but it looks a bit gross..i need to layer it with lots of bb creams to go out..

Memories of Jiu Zai Gou and ChengDu

I haven’t been blogging for quite a while due to work and work.. i shall post lots of beautiful pictures today to de-stress and hey it’s going to be Christmas soon my favourite month of the year! 🙂

This year should be called the CHINA year as we travelled to that country twice. I truly love the culture, the food, the sceneries and i can overlook the behaviour of the people. Just because they behave differently doesn’t make us any upright or better. It’s just ‘different’. You may call it rude in western context, but they were never exposed to western mannerism in the first place and even if they were exposed they were not obliged to conform? but hey that’s just my opinion because my family didn’t like the food or the people haha.

In August, we visited ChengDU the land of pandas they say because Panda originated from there ??and they even have a Panda facility and hospital etc. We also travelled out to Jiu zai Gou. The scenery was breathtaking. The road to jiu zai gou was a windy one and due to altitude a lot of the older people couldn’t take the pressure and lack of oxygen.

We went to visit Hua Long lake and my dad had to stop halfway as he felt short of breath. The tour guide did warn us that some of us wouldn’t be able to take the pressure and might feel lightheaded. He was fine after sitting down and gulped some water down. We took the hike into the Hua Long forest and what we saw was definitely a gem God put on earth. How tempting it was to jump into the clear blue waters! After the trip to Hua Long

we head to our hotel “Holiday Inn Jiu zai Gou”. They turned an ancient town into a hotel area.  It felt very serene in there because we were surrounded by hills and forests. The rooms weren’t that great tho and the bathroom feels dirty as they use the mountain stones for its tiles. The next morning we continued our windy journey to THE jiu zai gou finally.. the queue to enter the national park is ridonkulous. I’ve never been so sandwiched like that before in my life..but once we entered the park it was quite serene (so i thought) there were 30,000 visitors at the park and this is considered low season..i’ve eliminated the real pictures with the gazillion people and took the serene beautiful part of the park: we hiked a lot to get to the scenery spots..was it worth the 5000 steps up and down the mountains? YES! but we concluded that once in our lifetime is enough. If our kids next time would like to visit, they can wait to visit with their spouses maybe? 😀 some random MAO NIU (translation: hairy cow) that were native to tibet. Jiu zai gou was situated very near to Tibet that is why the landscape and culture is very much like Tibet.

We went to try the MA LA hotpot which is basically 1000 chillies in a boiling soup and you throw your meat , meatballs, etc into the hotpot. I LOVED IT. of course my tongue died after the dinner. we never fail to take our PROBIOTIC throughout our china trip and i think it saved our tummy from getting all kinds of disturbance. 🙂

I totally had an unforgettable toilet experience throughout this chengdu jiuzaigou trip. Nobody bothers to clean the toilets and you can do your things wherever whenever you like. I nearly fainted by the smell in almost all the toilets but i had no choice ~!

blessings!

Pris