Last night was one of the scariest nights for us so far.
Too tired to write right now but I wanted to document this part of our journey so I asked Fatty to take dictation from me. Here’s what happened last night:
1) Went into the bathroom to pee when I wiped fresh blood came off the tissue paper in gushes.
2) We called the nurses who immediately transferred me to the labour room.
3) I also started having contractions which were coming at intervals of every 4-5 minutes. They put me on a new blood pressure drug which also works to stop contractions. I was in premature labor.
4) One hour later the medicine slowed down the contractions a bit but not enough. By then, they were coming every 10 minutes.
5) Got injected with steroids in case the contractions couldn’t be stopped and Fighter had to come out in the next couple of days. Steroids is a way to accelerate the development of the baby’s lungs.
6) When the medicine didn’t work to bring down the contractions, they decided to sedate me to relax my whole body and hopefully also relax my uterine muscles and stop the contractions. This was at 6AM.
7) I passed out until late today and thankfully by the time I woke up the bleeding and contractions had both stopped *throws confetti*.
8) The bleeding is suspected to be from a marginal placental abruption, which means that the placenta is bleeding or tore away from my uterus wall a bit. So the next step is to just delay Fighter’s delivery until the second steroid injection is administered, which is tonight. After that whenever my body goes into labour again, we won’t fight it, and I will deliver Fighter.
I asked Fatty to help me update my blog with this but he came back with a letter to me instead. He seems in the mood for writing letters after he wrote one to Fighter yesterday on his blog. I asked him if he’s okay to publish it and he said ok so here it is.
————
Dear Shorty,
The past 12 days have been difficult. I know we expected that the road to having kids wouldn’t be an easy one for us, but I’m sure neither of us imagined we would be tested so hard. I have a confession though and since I’m to embarrassed to tell you myself, maybe I’ll just write you.
You see while the past 12 days have been difficult, the past 24 hours had been one of the toughest for me. I knew that from the moment you told us you had vaginal bleeding that it wasn’t going to be an easy night but I was prepared. Every day I remind myself how difficult this must be to you and so I push myself to be that rock of support that you need.
So when there was blood, I stayed calm and called the nurses in. When they tested you and found out that you were in labour, I told you not to worry because there will be ways to slow it down. When you were worried that there won’t be enough time to administer the steroids to accelerate the development of Fighter’s lungs, I confidently brushed it off and said there will be. And when they finally gave you the injection, I squeezed both your hands with mine so that you would know I’m with you.
By the time I reached home that night I was so tired I was walking into walls. I couldn’t sleep though. I was up for a long time, eager for tomorrow to come so I could go to see our Doctor and ask her what was going on.
The next morning when I walked into your room you were fast asleep. The nurse had told me they had sedated you to bring down the contractions and you would be asleep until noon. I saw an eyelid of yours move when I came in so I knew you were awake, You then mumbled, telling me that you had been sedated. I sat around for a while then I decided that since you were asleep I would go to work first and come back 6 hours later when you were awake. But before I left I had to see our Doctor.
So while you were asleep I walked across to our Doctor’s clinic. I will always remember the look she had on her face when I walked in. It was a look of worry. For the first time throughout this episode she looked worried. She went on to tell me how the bleeding was from a part of your placenta and that’s what caused your body to go into labour. That she had managed to slow it down so we have time for the steroid injections to take effect but the situation was unpredictable. She was sure we wouldn’t last another 4 weeks as we had planned and even at 30 weeks, Fighter is way too premature but at least we managed to hold it off for two weeks. The only thing we could do… was pray. I thanked her… grateful that we had such a good caring Doctor during this difficult time and left her clinic.
It had began to drizzle when I started walking to my car in the open-air car park. I knew I was supposed to go to the office but my mind was all over the place. For the first time throughout this episode I felt like there was nothing I could do to make this better. No amount of money, no amount of time I spent with you, no amount of research and no amount of medical care could make this situation any better.
Then as I sat in my car my Father called. He asked me what was wrong with you and in my car in that open-air car park I broke down and cried. For the first time in many many years I cried, not just man tears or anything but the faggoty “uhuk uhuk” crying you hate seeing other guys do (Fuckin pussy… I hate myself for that). I didn’t know what else to do and how else to help you. I spent the next 10 minutes in the car trying to compose myself.
After I pulled myself together I decided that I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I didn’t want to run away from the problem. So I got out my car and walked back into the hospital. I’m glad I did, because when I got to your bedside again you whispered that you were hungry but was too weak to eat or call for help. So I had the chance to help you up and feed you.
When I think back now I realize now why I had that moment of weakness. As much as you often tell me how I am a rock to you, the truth is… even in this difficult time you are a rock to me too. And this morning when you were sedated I felt like I had lost you. That I was all alone.
If there is one thing good that I feel this experience has brought us is that it has tested our relationship and got me to understand how we depend on each other in so many ways. How I rely on your strengths just as much as you rely on mine.
I told Dad and Mum today over dinner…. that somehow, after going through this experience… I feel that I love you even more.
Sincerely,
Skinny (Or Fatty…. poh-tay-toh poh-tah-toh what’s the difference?)
A month or so ago I wrote a post about the Rexona Move Social Movement.
Here’s an update of how it did!
The original target was to hit 10,000 KM all around Malaysia. Instead everyone’s efforts put together hit 90,000 KM, 9 times more!!!
The intention of this campaign was to to help underprivileged children in every state in Malaysia.
So like how the KM started from Perlis, the Rexona team moved from Perlis to Kedah, Penang and so forth, picking one children’s home in each state to help.
One of the children’s homes.
Kids’ shoes! Sorry I recently got obsession with children’s shoes. :X
Children’s beds. 🙁 Somehow this picture makes me feel quite melancholy.
For each home, a need is identified and the Rexona team goes in to address that need.
For example, in Perlis, Rexona provided educational toys to the home – Lego sets, Monopoly, Scrabble, chess sets, etc.
In Kedah, in keeping with the fitness theme, Rexona provided the kids with a 10 week program of swimming lessons.
In Penang, they organized a half day aerobic session for the kids.
Kids getting very into the aerobics hahaha.
Hehehe the kids very cute ah.
*reminds self to teach Fighter how lucky he is
One group photo!
The team has just finished Perak where they provided educational books worth RM3,500. And they will continue on to each state in Malaysia.
Fatty and me at an orphanage in PJ.
Fat Her loves children and I remember even as a kid following him to orphanages already so I guess this is a cause important to me. What more with Fighter on the way *clutches stomach wtf. What separates him from the kids in underprivileged homes is just a different set of circumstances, nothing else. I’m glad this is the cause Rexona chose to focus on.
For more info on Rexona Move, see here.
Update! I’m still in the hospital wtf. With no sign of being able to leave. T___T
Preeclampsia is a progressive condition so my blood pressure has been steadily increasing. D: When I was first admitted, it was about 130/90 and now without medication it’s up to 180/110. D: I’ve also started getting headaches which are another symptom and more nose bleeds which the nurses say is cause of the high BP.
Doctor is still titrating the drug dosage to figure out what’s a stabilizing figure since my BP is still super unstable. So I guess I’m stuck here for the time being.
Being in the hospital for a week now, I’ve obviously had a lot of time to think. For the past couple of days I think I was also emotionally quite unstable; every time my BP reading came back high I’d start crying and poor Fatty would have to comfort me. But maybe now I’m used to it already. 160? Oh ok *continues watching Modern Family
But like I said, I had a lot of time to think. And I think despite all this I still consider myself quite lucky la!!
1. I’m very popular WTF. No la I mean very loved hahahah. I’ve been here a week and everyday got people come to visit, or at least calling/texting to check how I am! Thank you so much everyone you know who you are. It really does distract me and makes me feel better!
These balloons in particular from Bobo & Jo, and Lay See & Pierre.
2. All the caring messages from readers on social media and email and everything
Mummy Ooi was very worried about me blogging about this; she worried that it was pantang (taboo) because haters might be happy with the misfortune that had befallen us and wish us further ill. But it was important to me to blog about this because… I wanna document this la for the future. And everyone has been so overwhelmingly caring and supportive I’m glad I did! I haven’t had time to reply your comments and emails but I have been reading all and I just wanna thank you guys for cheering me up and being so supportive!
Sometimes on bad days I look at comments that say they had preeclampsia at like 36 weeks and delivered and everything is ok, and feel resentful cos 36 or 37 weeks is perfectly safe and if I was at 36 weeks myself I would be so happy already. All we want is to get Fighter to 34 weeks now!!! But that’s just me in a bad frame of mind and I know that people are just trying to comfort me. So thank you all! I really do appreciate your comments and for making us feel not alone. 🙂
3. At least Fighter is 29 weeks now.
It could be worse. He could be even younger and therefore even more fragile! 29 weeks is still dangerous, but with today’s technology, babies born at 29-30 weeks have a very high chance of survival and while there’s a chance of short term and mid term problems, the incidence of long term disabilities is still better than if he was younger.
I still think I’m immortal wtf so I didn’t think too much about myself but I’m terrified that Fighter will have physical or intellectual disabilities I don’t think I could stand it. T______T But we just keep reminding ourselves that it could be worse.
4. I have an awesome husband
Say before la hahaha. But I’m so thankful that Fatty has been so strong about this and I can lean on him. He’s super optimistic about things too. And best of all, I think our relationship has actually gotten even stronger and that we’re good for each other in times of crisis.
It was our first year wedding anniversary last Saturday!
We were hoping to get home leave to go out for dinner for a few hours but my BP spiked that night so it was a no-no. D: Fatty showed up at my bedside with flowers though as a surprise. T3T
5. We can afford the bills
Some nights I cannot sleep cos I’m fretting over the piling costs wtf. But at least we can still pay la as opposed to news articles of people you see who ask for donations for operations and stuff. T3T
6. It was detected early
I think we were quite lucky we detected it quite early when it was quite moderate! Imagine if we didn’t and something went horribly wrong! Like I had a stroke wtf or Fighter’s development was seriously affected. At least now we know and are taking measures to counter it.
7. Can see Fighter earlier!
Obviously if can I wanna wait till the bun is fully cooked before taking it out of the oven wtf but you have to take what you can get.
And one of the best parts (barring Fighter being unwell of course) is that we get to see him earlier than expected!!! Confirm he will be here by 34 weeks can only hope he stays in as long as that.
Last week’s ultrasound scan of him. Hemsem or not hahahaha.
And this is a picture of a preemie baby Suet showed me. Chilling in its incubator HAHAHAHA DAMN CUTE. Pillow pattern looks like disco lights some more then wearing shades hahahaha too much.
This photo gives me hope that Fighter will be fine. 🙂
Very free now so can blog a bit.
Here’s the story of what happened.
Angela has been visiting the past couple of days! As Fighter’s godmom she wanted to come along for my monthly doctor’s visit so she came! (separate blog post on Angela’s visit later)
Us makeupless cos it was really early in the morning. Had to come in early to do a blood test. Then went to my gynae for my usual monthly scan. She made me do the usual blood pressure check and pee test… and said I had to be admitted into hospital.
My blood pressure was much higher than normal (normally it’s super low, 90/50. Normal is about 120/80). This time it was 130/90. And my pee analysis showed protein present, which are both signs of preeclampsia. T_______T
I’d only vaguely heard of this term two days ago and now I’m so well versed in it sigh.
Preeclampsia is a condition that only develops in pregnancy. I don’t even have any risk factors for it so I also dunno why I got it. Suay max.
Summarized from Babycenter:
The more severe the condition and the earlier it appears, the greater the risks for you and your baby. But when preeclampsia is severe, it can affect many organs and cause serious or even life-threatening problems. That’s why you’ll need to deliver early if your condition is severe or getting worse. Preeclampsia causes the blood vessels to constrict, resulting in high blood pressure and a reduced blood flow that can affect organs in your body, such as your liver, kidneys, and brain. When less blood flows to your uterus, it can mean problems for your baby, such as poor growth poor growth, too little amniotic fluid, and placental abruption (when the placenta separates from the uterine wall before delivery). In addition, your baby may suffer the effects of prematurity if you need to deliver early to protect your health.
And in worst case scenario, besides affecting baby, it can affect my organs, cause stroke or blindness for me and/or cause death for either of us fts. The causes of it are unknown and the only real cure is to have the baby delivered.
It’s something that doctors take very seriously, especially in my case cos I developed it so early that having Fighter out right now is not a good option.
So in the coming weeks, the challenge is to monitor and control my blood pressure so it doesn’t go too high and give Fighter time to grow more. Every day he spends inside is worth a day more to his health and safety.
If it really gets uncontrollable that it’s detrimental to me or Fighter, he will have to be delivered early. And that will come with another set of challenges — certain steps to take to make sure he is ready for the outside world, and hoping there will be no lasting negative effects on him later. 🙁
A lot of people commented that they or their loved ones had preeclampsia too and all went well! But most of them developed it later in their pregnancy thus a better chance overall but Fatty and I are optimistic! We cannot be that suay right wtf.
Anyway on my hospitalization.
The nurses double checked my blood pressure and found it was still 130-140. Damn stupid la this old fat ang moh man who was in the clinic overheard us and said to me “Don’t worry dear, you’re only 130, my blood pressure is 180.”
HAHAHHA WHY LIKE THIS. He is at least 70 and quite obese leh I don’t see how this is comforting at all hahahahaha. But I appreciate his effort. T3T
Anyway kena hospitalized for observation for a day. Fatty canceled his meeting and rushed over and I’m super thankful I had Angela there with me. T___T
Still upbeat wtf.
Here are some key things I remember:
1. Finally got to sit in a wheelchair!!!! Hahahaha. Quite fun being pushed around. :X
2. Got my blood pressure monitored every 4 hours. Did a couple of blood tests and further pee analyses too.
3. No pain nothing which is good! I did have a headache the night before, which developed into a migraine in the middle of the night, waking me up. The headache was there even in the morning and I felt slightly nauseous; I thought it was the migraine but turns out it’s another sign of preeclampsia. Took Panadol after that and it was okay though.
4. Hospital food is expectedly bland. But super healthy I think cos my heartburn all but disappeared since I’ve been here!
5. My blood pressure hovered around 140/100 which is confirmed preeclampsia but still okay.
So the next day, my doctor (Dr Teresa Chow from Gleneagles) said I could be discharged on a few conditions – that I would have to come in for weekly checks with her and I would monitor my BP with a home BP monitor three times a day. If my BP hit 150/100 twice in a row, I had to go in to hospital immediately. If more than 150/100 once, have to come in right away too.
So I was discharged on Thursday afternoon! Went home, took a nap then had dinner. Jammie came over after dinner and halfway Fatty wanted to show our maid how to check my BP in case he wasn’t around. I got…. 160/100. T________T
He checked it three times and it was still the same sigh. So off we went back to the hospital. My bag wasn’t even unpacked so it was very fast wtf.
I think I took it pretty well before this, but the thought of going back into hospital so soon… well, I couldn’t take it. Literally burst into tears and sobbed until I scared myself.
I guess getting discharged I foolishly thought I was over the worst, even though Dr Teresa cautioned me to watch out for it. I stupidly thought I’d have more time before going back in the next time, and I was terrified that it was still so early (I’m only at 28-29 weeks) and already it was spiraling fast.
So yea went back in, got rushed into a wheelchair, blood taken again, and got stuffed with medicine to bring the BP down.
And so here I am. With medicine, my BP is about 130-140, but without it zooms back up to 150-160. Crossing fingers that I will be released tomorrow though!
I am very thankful that I am so loved and cared for though. T____T
My parents, brother and Sherlyn who came and hung out the whole day in my hospital room, providing me with company and love. Mummy and Fat Her couldn’t sleep two nights cos of me and Fat Her came to the hospital and fell asleep and snored damn loudly hahahaha. Luckily he didn’t stay overnight with me or else my blood pressure sure spike again wtf.
Angela who was there before Fatty could get there and helped me check in and keep my spirits up. My assorted friends who came to visit and sent flowers!!!
My in laws who called every hour from Penang to check on me and who are making plans to come down to KL now. Lucked out with them! My brother and sister in law who rushed with me and Fatty to the hospital when I was admitted.
And most of all, my Fatty who has been a complete rock in this. We still have a few days to our first wedding anniversary and this is the most major test in our relationship yet. And he was there for me every step of the way! From hugging me tight when they inserted the IV needle into my hand and sleeping on a cot in my hospital room, he was there every time I needed him. I really married the right man and I couldn’t ask for more.
More updates later, hopefully when I’m out!
Title also damn drama!!!
Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in front of my computer (as usual) when I felt like a twinge in my back. Thinking I wasn’t sitting properly I shifted in my seat and continued clicking on my mouse.
Suddenly from one twinge, it turned into two. Then it shifted front and gripped my entire torso in an iron clutch wtf.
It was so painful I started breaking into cold sweat WTF.
I sat there stunned for a while just absorbing the pain. T______T I always kena diarrhea and stomach aches so I’m no stranger to stomach discomfort but this pain was so huge that I couldn’t tell what was causing it or where it was stemming from. It was like the worst stomach cramps ever times ten.
I decided maybe I’d try to go to the bathroom to see if it would ease. I couldn’t think straight and ended up yanking off my pants before going into the bathroom WTF for some reason I thought I would feel better with no pants wtf.
Managed to get myself on the toilet but nothing seemed to alleviate the pain. T_______T I was doubled over on the toilet seat and I realized I was moaning by then.
I could feel wave after wave of hot blood rushing to my face but I was still cold sweating. Sweat so much that the entire toilet seat was drenched lolol and I was slipping off the seat fml.
At this point I was thinking omg omg am I going to have my baby here in this study toilet whose flush doesn’t even work properly. And I haven’t even gotten anything ready for him and I haven’t packed my hospital bag yet how to take pictures in the hospital if I don’t bring makeup with me. LOLOL.
I remembered my old boss Joanne telling me that there were a few signs of labor – contractions, bleeding and water bag bursting. I’m reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting but haven’t gotten to the chapter where they describe contractions yet so I didn’t know what to look out for! But I thought it couldn’t be contractions cos it was just one huge block of constant pain. And I wiped myself, no blood or water wtf.
Then another wave of pain washed over me and I thought omg I am going to faint in this toilet right here. Then when they come to look for me they will find me with no pants on.
With that thought I somehow managed to stagger out of the bathroom, put on my shorts and collapsed on the sofa. *minor success
The maid was downstairs but at that point I couldn’t even talk, much less call for her. I waited for a while and thankfully the pain subsided enough that I felt I could talk. Luckily my phone was on the couch so I called Fatty. He didn’t pick up. T_______T
I called Mummy Ooi next. She said she and Fat Her were coming to take me to the hospital but I felt like fainting again at the thought of getting into the car to drive to the hospital.
I called my doctor but they were already closed FML. Finally got through to Fatty who said he was coming home to get me.
But by this point I could feel the pain subsiding. Still painful but at normal stomach cramp level. It just felt like a bad stomach pain although I still couldn’t sit up or straighten my body. Called my sister in law who’s a doctor and she asked if I could feel Fighter moving. And yes throughout the ordeal I could still feel him moving around inside me.
And today I’m totally ok. So I guess it was just one of my stomach upsets, just the worst one yet. ಠ_ಠ
I remember thinking though that if this is how painful childbirth is I don’t wanna do it anymore. Seriously give me ALL the drugs!
(title sounds like an essay topic or not hahahaha)
But I was doing my usual baby research — this time on diapers — and I came across Drypers.
Before I couldn’t even differentiate diaper brands — they all seem to have a picture of chubby cute babies naked except for a diaper on the front only hahaha. But a few of my mommy friends mentioned they use Drypers la so I went to look for more info.
Wah diapers also can be so high tech one ah! Ok la sign me up.
Drypers is also running a campaign “How has your baby changed you?” (hence the title of this post)
I’m not even a mom yet (well technically since Fighter is not out yet) but I already sense so many changes in me. It’s so weird because… well I never thought this would happen to me. Some of these I’ve already blogged about. For example…
1. Thinking about the future
All my angry/emo posts about Malaysian politics and the state of the country? All because I worry about the environment Fighter is going to grow up in.
2. Wanting to set a good example for Fighter
Cue my existential crisis blog post about being a capable enough person — someone my baby can look up to and who deserves to lead him and raise him to be a good human being.
3. Worrying about Fighter’s safety and health
Wah this one I tell you. I never used to worry about myself at all. I’m a very live in the moment type of person and at the back of my head I think I’m immortal, as opposed to Fatty who worries about everything and plans ahead.
Then the other day — this was a few months ago — I wanted to take a shortcut in our apartment parking lot. So I climbed over a waist high wall and jumped down. I was carrying extra weight by then so the landing impact jarred me quite a bit. And my knees hurt after that wtf.
Didn’t think about it until after an hour later when it occurred to me that I’m not supposed to do high impact stuff like that! Then I started worrying about the effect on Fighter. T_____T Of course nothing came out of it, but from being an extremely thoughtless person I now can’t stop worrying about this baby’s wellbeing. T_______T
First three months everyday worry like crazy about miscarriage. Every time I go to the toilet I cross my fingers hope I don’t see blood when I wipe. Then when Fighter started kicking, I worried if he DIDN’T kick. Then worry about whether he’s growing well. Whether or not he will be short fhl. Started worrying about his education now (true story.)
And he’s not even born yet! I can’t imagine when he is lol.
So from those three changes above, it sounds like… I’ve turned into an un-fun worrywart. Thanks Fighter lol.
But I guess this is all part and parcel of parenthood? And eventually it will all be worth it. I very hormonal now I think that my parents must have gone through all this and more for my sake I wanna cry. Thank you Mummy and Daddy T____T
Here’s what some other mommies have to say.
Mommy readers, what changes have you made because of your baby?
Tell your story to Drypers here and win cash prizes!
As for me Imma keep recording my changes here. Fatty and my journey has only just started!
You know how I’ve been saying that my self esteem has been taking a nose dive recently?
Oh I didn’t?
Well now you know wtf.
It doesn’t seem like that from recent blog posts la but within the last week or so, I think I’ve just completely blown up. T____T
Physically, not lost my temper wtf.
I feel super bloated everywhere. My fluid retention is quite bad I think!
Feet have been bloated cos of water retention and the only thing I can wear right now is flip flops, which are havoc on my arches cos of the extra weight I’m carrying around now.
Wrists bloated cannot even wear watches now WTF.
And my calves also bloated up so scarily that my doctor made me do a scan for deep vein thrombosis wtf. My leg was so stiff it even became a bit hard to walk but luckily it was another false scare. -_-
And don’t even get me started on food!
It’s a love hate relationship wtf.
I was never a foodie — I mean I had my favorite foods but I never got extremely excited or ever wanted to take photos of foods wtf. *looks pointedly at Fat Her Ooi. Most of the time I ate until I was full then stopped.
Now I’m always hungry but when I think of food I feel even less enthusiastic than I did before! My heartburn and indigestion is intensifying so the thought of most foods make me feel ill knowing that the heartburn will come immediately after FML.
I think the only food I really look forward to for some reason is chunky peanut butter toast wtf.
Oh that…. and sweet foods.
I used to hate sweet food and dessert leh!!! I don’t even like teriyaki sauce cos it’s sweet wtf. I’ve never even eaten my own birthday cake but the other day as Mummy Ooi pointed out, I willingly ate a piece of her birthday cheesecake for the first time in 28 years wtf.
And I find myself wanting to eat Kitkats and mixing Ribena into my water, and yea eating cake (I used to feel nauseous even looking at cake true story).
My doctor is about to kill me so I’ve been trying very hard to eat fruit instead of dessert when I crave sweet foods.
I swear it’s Fatty’s sweet tooth gene in Fighter that’s causing this.
The other day as part of my sweet craze I went to tapau tau foo fa. I asked for white sugar. Because brown sugar looks like soya sauce to me ok wtf.
Came back and saw the stupid man gave me brown sugar!!!!!!
I wanted to drive back there, kill him then turn the gun on myself WTF.
Never mess with a pregnant woman’s food.
note: this post is probably more interesting for expectant parents. Hahahha
There’s so many things the baby books never told you about before you got pregnant.
Besides the usual pregnancy ailments (rashes, heartburn, etc) I’ve had to learn up on so many things!
Breastfeeding was one. Cord blood banking was another.
I’d never heard about it up to about three months ago.
I was at Naddy’s wedding when Edmund and Liling (another expectant couple) told me they were heading to a baby fair to check stuff out. They said it would be good to go figure out what we needed to get as well as price estimates for budgeting. So ok lo we were free so we went!
The baby fair wasn’t very awesome la. Too many people and too many vendors selling what seemed like useless stuff to me. Manchester United bibs etc. :X
But we found ourselves glued to the cord blood banking companies’ booths. We’d never heard of this before! Actually I did… a blog reader emailed me months ago suggesting I look into cord blood banking. But I dismissed her email cos at that time, I’d only gotten pregnant, 9 months seemed like a very long time, and uhh I was more interested in other things (eating and trying not to puke chief among them).
Anyway at the baby fair, we decided to sit down and get the facts straight. It all sounded very scientific and overwhelming and I felt a huge responsibility to make the right decisions when it comes to Fighter. If it’s for myself I wouldn’t even buy insurance if Fatty didn’t insist on it but having Fighter rely on us completely for his welfare (and everything else) freaked me out. Hahahha is this what Fatty feels like about me!
Anyway the decision for us was easy. We’d definitely do cord blood banking; it was only a matter of which provider we went for.
To sum it up for you and to save you the headache, here are the key points I’ve learned over the past couple months.
What is cord blood banking?
Cord blood banking is collecting blood left in your newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta and storing it for future medical use.
Why would you save your baby’s cord blood?
When I was at the baby fair I whatsapped Wendy to ask her this too. Cord blood contains potentially lifesaving stem cells which can be developed into other types of cells, so they can help repair tissues and organs, and can be used to treat a host of diseases.
Today, cord blood stems cells are used in the treatment of nearly 80 diseases, including some cancers, blood disorders, immune system deficiencies, metabolic disorders and bone marrow failure syndromes. For example, cancers, blood disorders, and immune deficiencies. Among these are leukemia, sickle cell anemia, aplastic anemia, thalassemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In a cord blood transplant, stem cells are infused in to a patient’s bloodstream where they go to work healing and repairing damaged cells and tissue. When a transplant is successful, a healthy new immune system has been created.
How is cord blood collected?
This one is Fatty’s responsibility!. The cord blood banking company will provide us a kit which we will have to bring with us to the hospital when I go into labor. Fatty will probably have to be the one who remembers cos I don’t think I can at that point.
We just have to pass the kit to the doctor. After I’ve delivered the baby and the cord has been clamped and cut, the doctor inserts a needle into the umbilical vein on the part of the cord that’s still attached to the placenta. The needle doesn’t go anywhere near your baby or you and it’s painless.
The entire process takes less than ten minutes. Then we call the rep to inform them I’ve delivered and they’ll come pick it up and send it back to the cord blood bank, where it’s tested, processed, and frozen for long-term storage.
Based on today’s developments, stem cells can be stored under liquid nitrogen indefinitely. But for cord blood banking, the stem cells will be stored until the child turns 21. Then the decision whether to continue storage is left up to child since he’s an adult then.
Who could use your baby’s cord blood?
Since it’s the baby’s own cells, obviously it’d be a 100% match for him. Siblings are also supposed to be high compatibility (some sources say 25-75%) but a bit lower for biological parents.
Which company did I choose?
There’s only three private cord blood banking companies in Malaysia doing this and we talked to all of them! In the end we decided on Cellsafe. They took the time to come meet me and explain everything so that helped a lot. ^^
Cellsafe is the only company in Malaysia which employs SEPAX technology, which is a leading technology for cord blood processing.
Cellsafe packages
They have 3 packages to choose from. All come with:
- a cord blood collection kit
- processing of cord blood
- maternal & cord blood testing to check for infection to make sure your cord blood is perfectly usable
- storage of cord blood in 1 freezing bag
- CellCare & FamilyCare benefits
The differences are, Silver Package only allows you to store for 1 year then you can choose to upgrade to Platinum or Diamond. Platinum and Diamond store for 21 years. Diamond is for the most kiasu because your cord blood gets stored in TWO locations, which means you need to collect at least 80ml of cord blood.
I also asked what would happen if say for some reason we need to use the cord blood in future but it gets contaminated and thus unusable. Cellsafe has said they will compensate up to RM100K if the blood is not viable at time of transplant.
There’s also a coverage of up to RM100K depending on situation on transplant expenses involving the stem cells. And if either parent passes away before 21 years is up (CHOI), Cellsafe will waive the remaining storage fee to protect baby’s welfare. 🙂
If you would like to find out more about cord blood banking and Cellsafe, this is their website. Facebook page is here.
Or you can call their hotline to speak to a consultant, 1300 88 2355 (1300 88 CELL).
Someone I talked to told me that they didn’t find cord blood banking necessary. I admit that it’s still a relatively new development (although loads of people overseas have done it) but I guess I see it as a form of insurance for Fighter’s future?
There’s always gonna be new medical developments — more uses to be found for cord blood stem cells for example — so we’re taking it as a form of insurance for our future family. Nobody wishes for a time when they need to claim insurance and it’s the same for this I think.
I certainly hope we won’t come to a time where we will actually need to use Fighter’s cord blood but if we do, then I’ll be very glad we have it available. 🙂
I underwent a LASIK procedure on January 11 this year. The reason why I didn’t write about it sooner is because…. my eyes did not become perfect. 🙁 They improved to a certain level so that I don’t require glasses or contact lens anymore but it wasn’t 20/20. When I drive I still cannot see road signs that are further away.
I waited six months which is by when most eyes would stabilize but mine remained the same. In fact I don’t know I think it got slightly worse. I panicked and called my doctor and we realized that… exactly a week after I did Lasik… I got pregnant wtf.
And pregnancy can really mess with your vision! Fluctuating hormones, as well as fluid retention, and blood circulation can all affect your eyes and your eyesight during pregnancy.
Women who are pregnant or nursing may experience a fluctuation in their vision and would most likely be left with an over-correction or an under-correction after LASIK eye surgery. (source)
So I guess this is a major reason why my eyes never adjusted back to perfect. After I have Fighter and finish breast feeding, I plan to go back and see what can be done though.
I’ve decided to blog about my experience anyway for those who are considering the procedure!
Actually months before my wedding last year, I was contacted by Vista Eye Specialist clinic at the Curve. They approached me about undergoing Lasik before my big day, so I’d have the convenience of not having to worry about contact lenses on our big day.
But because I was mildly addicted to contact lenses and couldn’t imagine not wearing my enlarging lens during the wedding, I decided to delay the procedure wtf.
I also wanted to take time to really think about it la. Before this I had never considered getting Lasik cos I rarely have problems with contacts. I’m also very insecure about the size of my irises wtf so I actually like wearing enlarging lens everyday.
I was also quite fearful of anything going wrong. One chance only wor anything goes wrong how to fix!
So I did a lot of reading and research on it. The stats are that nobody has gone blind from Lasik before la. I thought with my luck I might be the first WTF but it was minimal enough a risk for me.
Also I thought when I got older I’d be less likely to wear enlarging contacts (or contacts even wtf) so I thought I might as well take the chance to get Lasik done now.
Thus started a whole barrage of tests and consultations with the surgeon. I’m sure other clinics are like that too, but my experience was that Vista was very thorough in conducting various tests so that they could be certain I (and my eyes) was a good candidate for Lasik. Because I was also initially very hesitant and kept vacillating and coming back to talk to the doctor and advisors repeatedly, we ended up delaying it like seven months hahaha. But they were very patient and answered the same questions over and over again.
Before I did the tests though, I had to lay off my contact lens and wear glasses for 14 days.
This was the hardest part for me!!! Not to say I super celeb la but because of blogging I invariable had events to attend or shoots to do. How to do shoot with glasses hahahaha. After delaying for another few months I finally managed to clear schedule for two weeks and stayed off lenses.
The tests that I had to do, besides checking on my exact level of shortsightedness, astigmatism and night glare, checked stuff like the thickness of my cornea, eyeball pressure and moisture level of my eyes.
Then on the day before the surgery, I had to go for another round of the same tests! This is to make sure nothing had changed in my eyes since then which would affect the Lasik configuration and results.
As luck would have it………. suddenly the day before the surgery….my eyeball pressure registered higher than normal which could be a sign of glaucoma FML. So instead of proceeding with surgery Vista was very cautious and I ended up spending the entire next day at the clinic doing an eyeball pressure test every hour FML. The pressure of the liquid in the eyeball actually fluctuates during the day so we had to track it hourly to check if it suddenly spiked or remained constantly high.
Turned out everything was ok. -_- Suay max I always have these kinda false scares one.
Anyway we rescheduled the surgery. And again, the day before I had to do the tests again to confirm everything was ok before proceeding.
This time I took pictures!
One of the tests!
I also had a detailed “mapping” called iDesign done on my eyes to determine what needed to be corrected and how the laser would do it.
Then because it’s a surgery, we had to suit up wtf. You obviously can’t wear makeup (especially eye makeup) and they made me wash my face right before I entered surgery too!
With my surgeon Dr Aloysius and Mummy Ooi who came with me for moral support.
Deng deng deng.
Mummy Ooi was watching the procedure from a screen and she was damn freaked out hahahah.
In truth I was terrified too. T___T It didn’t hit me until I had to lie in the chair and and there was this contraption and bright lights above me.
There were 2 steps to it. The first step was to use a tool called the IntraLase Laser to create a flap on my cornea based on the detailed mapping of my eyes obtained from iDesign before vision correction takes place in Step 2 using the precise excimer laser. What I had to do was keep very still (the head rest was shaped to hold my head). There was a ring of pinpoint lights that I had to focus on to keep my eyeball still. If I looked out of that ring, the machine would detect the movement and automatically shut off to prevent any accidents.
I knew it but still I WAS SO DAMN SCARED!!!!!!! Cos it is my eyes after all!
I focused on the ring, and the doctor put something on top of my eyeball — maybe a sort of clamp to hold it in place and prevent me from blinking.
I felt some pressure but no pain cos of the anesthetic eye drops. I saw some colorful blurry stuff going on – I dunno cos of the clamp pressing on my eyeball or the cutting itself. But in twenty seconds, the doctor said ok done.
WAH!
The other eye took another twenty seconds literally.
Then from there, they moved me into another chair for Step 2 – the laser itself.
This time I had to focus on a single orange light instead of the ring of lights. Same thing, clamp, then a feeling of pressure followed by colorful blurry vision.
Again I didn’t feel anything in a few minutes I was done. 😀
I was so relieved but at the same time, Dr Aloysius was very good at calming me down! He’d say what he was doing, like “ok now I’m moving on to the other eye…” and tell me how long more it’d take. It really reassured me la that he was so calm and knew what he was doing and told me what to expect so I wouldn’t be so scared.
After the operation which took a total of about fifteen minutes, the nurses led me out to a resting area where I could sit and close my eyes to rest them for a while. My eyesight started out blur but after resting it would become clearer and clearer!
The nurses also gave me a whole bag of medicine – antibiotics, eye drops, etc – and strict instructions on when to take the meds and how to care for my eyes.
For a week after that I also had to wear these to sleep. HAHAHAHA.
They’re to prevent me from accidentally rubbing my eyes in my sleep.
The next day I went back for a follow up check.
By this time, I woke up in the morning and happily realized that my eyesight had improved leaps and bounds even from the night before!
Dr Aloysius making sure everything was ok/on track with my eyes.
Explanation. Hahaha I look damn panicked wtf.
Nothing is wrong la! Hahaha.
After the 24 hour checkup, I went back for another checkup at 1 month, then I’m due for another one at six months and then a year later. So it’s not like the clinic will forget about you afterwards wtf.
So now it’s six months down the road and these are the conclusions I made:
1. I’m the only person out of everyone I know who has done Lasik whose eyes didn’t go to perfect vision or near perfect. -_- But I’m pretty sure it’s because of my pregnancy. Once my hormones stabilize, we’ll find out if things actually get better for me. But right now it’s still good enough that I don’t have to wear glasses or contacts to see.
2. My eyes did get drier, a common side effect. As a result, cosmetic contact lenses are less comfortable to wear for long periods now so I usually only wear them for events or shoots. It’s good to let my eyes breathe anyway — if before I’d be wearing them for like 18 hours straight.
3. I got used to not wearing enlarging lenses hahahaha. Still cuter with lenses of course wtf but I don’t think I look soooo bad now without them hahaha.
4. My get ready time in the morning and night has been cut down so much! It didn’t really bother me before but now that I don’t have to do it, I do like the freedom to just fall asleep any time without reminding myself to get up to remove my contacts hahaha. Plus I don’t have to lug solution, lens case etc with me when I travel now. The convenience is a huge plus la.
This was my experience at Vista! I wrote down my personal experience so people have more information about Lasik and hopefully it will aid you in making a decision in future whether it’s right for you.
Lasik is an operation after all and is a huge decision so please take your time to figure out if this is right for you, which clinic, etc. Good luck!
The other day I was walking in Midvalley (heading to Mcds if you must know wtf seriously they should just sponsor me hahaha) when a lady stopped me.
“Excuse me, are you Fourfeetnine?”
“Er yes.”
“Audrey Ooi? Fourfeetnine?”
“..yes?”
“My daughter is a big fan of your blog!” And then some other stuff which I don’t remember — I think she said her daughter reads my blog every day or something hahaha.
Most of the time I think I just looked at her in amazement cos she herself didn’t even look that old.
I asked “how old is your daughter?”
She said, “Ten. She’s at school now.”
“TEN!! SO YOUNG!” When she was born I already finished SPM already!!!!
“Ya kids these days grow up so fast.”
And that’s how I found out about my youngest reader yet.
What do I blog about that would be of interest to a ten year old!? I just did a quick scroll through my last few blog entries — pregnancy, babies, weddings, and then maybe makeup and coordinates.
But still which of these topics would interest a ten year old! Please even one year ago, talk about pregnancy and babies would bore me to bits lol. I figure it’s the makeup and fashion then?
Then all I can say is, kids these days are growing up too fast!!!
At ten, I was preoccupied with…. collecting scented erasers wtf. Lusting after Staedtler Luna color pencils (the set with like a billion colors). Catching Clarissa Explains it All and Saved By The Bell on Sundays. Not failing Science wtf. Praying my friends didn’t unfriend me again fml.
Anyway, this is a shoutout to my youngest reader (cos her mom said she’s checking my blog everyday now to see if I mention her hahaha). Don’t grow up so fast! Play more and watch more cartoons please. You’ll have years and years ahead of you to do adult things! And trust me, they won’t be that fun. Hahahah.
I always assumed that my readers are all about my age. But how old are you and when did you start reading my blog? Please comment and lemme know I’m curious now. 😀
Sponsored Mention
Tried shopping at HiShop yet? They’re a website specializing in value beauty and cosmetic products. I made my first order with them and the package came like two days later very impressive!
I got some Stage brush cleaner (I find their products very good leh), diaper ointment for Fighter’s future nappy rash HAHAHA, and a lip brush and blusher for Mumsy.
This is their report card hehe.
A+++ for super prompt delivery. I didn’t expect it for another few days at least.
Payment was secure of course, didn’t get my credit card hacked wtf.
What I felt was good but could be improved was the variety of products and brands they carry, and therefore selection of deals. Especially Japanese products please. ^^ They’re a relatively new store so I’m sure they will add on more in future!
Overall A! Go to HiShop for your beauty purchases.
Made with . All rights Reserved. Colony.