The bump journey

Pregnant women start feeling heaty from week 32. We can start drinking coconut water 2 times a week during week 32 - week 34. Best time to drink is at the hottest time of the day, in between 12pm and 3pm. Apparent, coconut water helps constipation during pregnancy. Try look for real green young coconut without preservatives or additional sugars. From week 36 onwards, drink coconut water everyday can boost the amniotic fluid levels and enhance blood volume and circulation.

New born babies’ immune systems are not as strong as adults'. Traditionally, our parents will sterilize baby bottles using hot water or boiling method. Wash bottles, teats and caps with soup and water, then add hot water or bring water to the boil. Hot water or boiling kills only a certain bacteria, algae, or parasites, and there's other hassle to get the bottles dry. New technology can deal with the hassles of boiling water every day. A few UV sterilizer brands available in the market. They can be used to kill the bacteria, algae, or parasites, and the bottle is drained after that. 3 popular UV sterilizer brands are Hanil, Upang and Simba. I chose Hanil UV sterelizer (HBS-900HK) the Hello Kitty version. I got SGD30 off using Qoo10 voucher, the final cost is SGD 191 (Approximately RM573). Now I can throw my bottles and soft toys inside, and get the items sterilized easily.

When we are at third trimester, we need to count number of baby's movements in a day. I was asked to make sure baby moves at least 10 times from 9am to 9pm. We consider that as one movement if 15 minutes apart. The movements including kicks, rolls, punches and jabs. This way we can monitor baby's well-being in addition to regular prenatal visits. If baby has lesser movement in any day, we must quickly go to doctor. Better be safe than sorry.

Go for baby scan is a happy yet challenging time for me. First time: Fixed appointment on 31 March 2018 (Saturday). When I called on 30 March 2018 (Friday) to double confirm, they told me NIPT Test can only be done on Monday - Thursday. Appointment has been cancelled. Second time: Fixed appointment on 12 May 2018 (Saturday). Nurse informed that has to reschedule the appointment because Dr. Paul has "an unavoidable matter" and we were forced to take a day off on 11 May 2018 (Friday) just to match his time. Third time: Can't fix appointment on 9 June 2018 (Saturday) because detailed baby scan can only be done on Monday - Friday. Forth time (This time): Fixed appointment on 9 August 2018 (Thursday) since early July. On 6 August 2018, nurse informed that has to reschedule the appointment with the same "an unavoidable matter" reason. I think I had enough of all these. And, we changed to Dr. Tan Ay Eeng. Baby growth scan usually will carried out between w2...

I was sitting on a sofa and relaxing. I felt painful at the calf muscle out of sudden. I thought I am well prepared for experiencing leg cramps during pregnancy. However, the pain is different from the usual leg cramps. Tried to do some stretching but still can't get rid of it. I can't stand and I can't sit properly. Hubby tried to help but I chose to hide myself in bed and let the pain goes by time. I Googled the next day and found that best ways to get rid of leg cramps are: 1. Drink plenty of water every day 2. Stop smoking 3. Take Magnesium 4. Do stretching 5. Elevate legs while sleeping 6. Get enough sleep 7. Pre-natal massage The feeling isn't well so I shall drink more water and have enough sleep every day, to prevent leg cramps again. One day, I told an experience mother about my leg cramps. She taught me whenever I have the feeling of leg cramps, quickly stand up. Shall try it next time. Update on 18 September 2018, I had a bad cramp in my right...