My Stay at Mount Alvernia Hospital

Due to our good delivery experience (with Julien) at Mount Alvernia Hospital, we decided without a doubt to go back.

And how was our 2nd delivery experience and stay there?

SUPERB!

For the following reasons:

1. Awesome customer service

Every single nurse that attended to me were friendly, motherly (for the older nurses), very patient, caring, knowledgeable, personal EVEN THOUGH they were running short of manpower that weekend. More than half of them would ask about my family, my delivery.

In one instance, while I was being wheeled into a 2-bedder maternity ward (as all the 1-bedders were unavailable that busy weekend), the hubby stopped the nurse in her tracks and requested for a change to a 1-bedder room in the medical ward instead. (The 2-bedder was too cramped for our liking!)

The nurse immediately pushed me out of the room and made arrangements with a great can-do and will-do attitude… no signs of displeasure or complaints! She even apologized to us for what seemed like a hundred times, for the inconvenience caused due to the lack of rooms! And not forgetting it was a very busy day and we had seen her running in and out of the delivery wards.

The hubby also went back to the hospital after we were discharged to settle Jensen’s birth certificate. He took the shuttle bus provided by the hospital and was very impressed with the bus driver – he was smiling and saying his ‘Thank you and Goodbye’  to the alighting passengers!

AWESOME!

2. Affordable rates

Our hospital bill came up to be $5k+ for a natural, unassisted delivery with epidural, a comfortable stay at a Single Deluxe Room, companion charge, doctors' fees and baby's stay...… Very affordable as compared to the other private hospitals.

3. Comfortable room

Here are some pictures!

My warm and cosy room

Flat screen TV with HBO movies to entertain me

Nice and spacious bathroom

Sofa cum hubby’s bed

There was a mini fridge and lots of cabinets and drawers to accommodate our stuffs as well!

We definitely enjoyed our short stay there!

Do share with me your hospital stay experiences if you can, enjoyable or not so enjoyable.

Now signing off with a picture of Jensen at Day 7!

Jensen’s Birth Story

Ok, I hope you are not expecting any water bag breaking, sudden contractions type of birth story from me because you are not going to get one.

In fact, as mentioned in my previous post, pregnant me was fast approaching my EDD and NOTHING was happening. We fixed a date for me to be induced and everyday before THAT Saturday, I would be doing something to desperately try to get Jensen out.

Walking an hour+ everyday, drinking pineapple juice, eating spicy foods… and ZILCH. Nothing exciting happened.

So on Saturday morning 7 Jan 2012, the hubby and I headed down to our doc’s clinic at Thomson Medical to be induced. And here goes the timeline…..

(Me trying to look excited as I leave the house… I was really quite nervous actually!)

9.40am – Had a prostaglandin pill inserted. Nurse did a VE and commented that she could feel the baby’s head but cervix was still far behind. 0 cm dilated. Then I was monitored on the CTG machine for half an hour.

10.20am – Already feeling contractions. It was quite painful or was my threshold of pain low?

Nurse asked me to walk around for about half an hour then come back to see Doc at 11 a.m. If I cannot wait, I can go straight to Mount Alvernia… the birth hospital of our choice.

10.30am – Walked only downstairs and I told my husband that my contractions are really painful and getting stronger and closer together. About 5 mins interval..

Mount A, here we come!

11 am – Checked into the Delivery Suite. Nice room…

Spacious toilet!

Jacuzzi (Don’t think any patient has the mood for this!)? Or is it the bathtub used for water birth?

The nurses put me on the CTG machine

.

As you can see, the contractions are coming really strong and close together. But when the nurse did the VE, I was only 1cm dilated!

I requested for the epidural early this time. Dr Tan agreed as from my last delivery, it seemed that the epidural sped up my dilation… Perhaps without the epidural, I was feeling too tensed.

The wait seemed so long… Tried to watch TV… Not too interested really…

12.30pm - The anaesthetist arrived with the huge syringe. Yes! My ‘salvation’ is here!

Honestly, even after my epidural, I could feel the contractions. The nurses told me that the prostaglandin probably worked so well for me that it’s hard for the effects of the epidural to catch up with the very strong contractions.

My contractions persisted intensely and thank God baby’s heartbeat all these while were strong and stable. And finally before the clock struck 3, I was 10cm dilated!

(I could still manage a smile before labour, thanks to the epidural)

(Nurses preparing me for the delivery)

And after about 15 mins and under 20 pushes, Jensen weighing 3.53kg arrived into this world!

Tears came into my eyes as I carried my precious! I thank God for a safe and smooth delivery!

(Fluids being extracted from baby’s nose and mouth)

And after baby made his 1st cry, the nurses wrapped him up. Look at his 1st funny little expression…!

And here’s a happy family photo!

The labour process took about 4hours this time as compared to Julien’s 19hours. Thank God this round is a more pleasant, smooth, quicker process! You can read about Julien’s birth story here.

My last gynae visit…

Went for my last gynae visit this afternoon.

Before the scan, Dr Tan was just telling us if baby does not come out, we could choose to wait until 1-2 days after the expected due date before we decide to induce.

However, during the scan, we were all surprised to see baby had grown to 3.3 kg already! (Julien was 3.27 kg when he arrived at 39 weeks)

After the scan, doc advised us that baby could grow up to 3.5 kg if we waited till next week.

And so, we all decided…

IT SHALL BE THIS WEEK.

We eventually chose Sat 7 Jan for THE date of Jensen’s arrival if he doesn’t come out these few days.

Finally! A date to look forward to!

Now, here’s the last we see of Jensen in a scan! (A nice view of his facial features) The next time we see him, it will be 4D, real life!

And here’s Julien zooming around while waiting for his younger brother to come out and play with him!

39 weeks!

Congratulate us! I, or rather Jensen made it through past the new year, almost past 1 January! (Yes, this is a live post)

The hubby is most happy. And now, we are going to try to coax baby out soon! Mummy is growing really tired…. My tummy feels like… (sorry for the lack of vocab here) BURSTING!

I shall be running on the threadmill, doing some squats, carrying weights or Julien, eating some raw pineapple maybe, at 11 p.m. later. Baby, come out soon!

The emails I had been receiving from What To Expect.com are titled “How to Induce Labor'”, “Squat Exercises”, “Planning for a Caesarean” (What?!)… Sounds exciting right?

Well, even though this is my 2nd pregnancy, but I am still feeling a little nervous. It SHOULD happen this week. Let it be a much shortER, less painful, safe delivery!

And before I go, just to let you know, we’ve decided to spell #2’s name as ‘JensEn’, with an ‘E’ instead of an ‘O’!

See u soon Jensen! :)

Nakhon Kitchen (Bedok)

Did I read somewhere that spicy foods can induce labor? Well, it definitely did not work for me!

Last weekend, my family decided to try a highly-rated place by Hungry Go Where at Bedok North – Nakhon Kitchen.

As you can see, it serves authentic Thai cuisine, right at the heart of the HDB flats. And yes, it’s open air - NO AIRCONDITIONING.

But boy was it popular!

When we reached the place less than an hour after it opened for business in the evening, we were #4 in the queue. Even after we left the place, the queue was still long! The food must be good…

Here’s our appetizer – Thai Mango Salad.

I love this dish with it’s fresh mango, onions and cashew nuts!

We’ve read good reviews for it’s Green Curry.

I would say pretty good indeed. It’s tasty fare and I like it for not having a strong taste of it’s spices.

Next up, Phad Thai (Tang Hoon).

Very ordinary… almost bland. Maybe we should have ordered the kway teow version instead…

Kang Kong cooked Thai style…

We chose this instead of the sambal version. But now I know veges cooked in Thai style = veges fried with sliced red chilli and garlic. Simple but honestly tasty enough.

We ordered sweet and sour pork. Very chinese right?

I think the regular zi char stall’s version beat this.

Another food that had good reviews here was the Tom Yum Soup.

Don’t be deceived by it’s clear soup… This bowl is spicy! In my opinion, one of the best Tom Yum soup I’ve ever eaten!

Fried Spring Rolls..

Crispy enough… regular fare.

Pineapple Fried Rice…

It’s definitely not the best offerings around. Presentation was definitely lacking…

We also ordered beef kway teow soup. Broth was good and the beef slices was soft and succulent. Comfort food!

We ended off our meal with some Thai dessert. Red Ruby…

Where’s the chestnut?

Another recommended dish was the Mango Glutinous Rice.

 

Average honestly… The mango was not sweet enough? Glutinous rice was not tasty enough?

Anyway, all in all, it was good Thai food. We should be back for it’s mains and skip the desserts.

Notes:

1. There are no baby chairs available here!

2. No reservations allowed so be there early!

Nakhon Kitchen

Blk 136,

Bedok North Ave 3,

#01-166

Tel: +65 6245 5548

Pre-delivery thoughts

I’ve made it through Christmas!

Through days of feasting, LOTS of shopping (aka walking) and gift-exchanging.

(Me and my beautiful colleagues celebrating Christmas! Luv our dresscode! :))

I am quite amazed that I am still around at week 38+… after so much walking, carrying and chasing after Julien… Furthermore, many had ‘warned’ me that no. 2 is normally delivered earlier than no. 1 and Julien arrived at his 39th week.

So here I am, still around, penning my pre-delivery thoughts down. Pardon me for the randomness of these thoughts… Many different thoughts going through my mind!

#1 – Dec ‘11 or Jan ‘12 baby?

For the hubby, he believes babies born earlier in the calendar has a good headstart and advantage and so he is making sure that I get lots of rest and not moving TOO much.

For me, it’s ‘unto the Lord’. I am feeling so ‘heavy’ these days that I really don’t mind popping NOW. Sleeping has become so… tiring. I seem to be able to feel Jenson no matter which position I choose. The pace of my walking has slowed down tremendously. Walking normally gives me stitches.

#2 – Argh, my work!

While people are slowing down at work during the end of the year, I am busy rushing to finish my work before I pop anytime. (It partly explains why I have not blogged for soooo long!) I am hoping I can pop and be confined in peace…

For new mums, confinement period is NO holiday. That was my revelation when I just delivered Julien. The transition somehow caused some depression for me – New things to learn and do such as breastfeeding, caring for a newborn, and trying to work from home… all proved too much for me to handle! History must not repeat itself especially since I now also have a hyper 16 month old son. Trying my best!

#3 – Jenson or Jensen??

The hubby and I still deciding on how to spell J Junior’s name…. Hmmm…..

#4 – Leading a more normal life!

Of course, with the addition of another kid, life will NEVER be the same for me and the hubby again. And of course, we are very happy to welcome this new addition. But what I meant is that… I am really looking forward to being able to see my toes again!

And being able to carry Julien more often. And being able to wash my toes in comfort. And being able to sleep better without obstruction. And being able to wear the clothes in my wardrobe again. And of course, being able to shop for MORE clothes again! Whoohoo! This is a happy thought!

#5 – Learning to love 2… or 3 equally

I am really praying that like Julien, Jenson will be easy, smiley, good-tempered and happy. But if he turns out to have a different personality, I have to learn to be a fair and very loving mum to both.

So with 3 males in my life, I must learn to love all 3 as equally as I can. The 3 most important men in my life!

#6 – So when???!

I wish I knew… But I don’t. For Julien’s case, my water bag broke and so I knew the time had come. I hope for Jenson, it would be as obvious. I kinda forgot how contractions really felt like…

Anyway, I feel like a walking timebomb. Tick tick tick tick….

And I and the hubby are praying that Jenson’s delivery will be a smooth, safe and SWIFT one (very important)!

So, these are some of the thoughts that I am thinking about almost everyday for now. So please say a little prayer for me when you read this. My hubby will update this space with my birth story!

All I want for Christmas is…..

That’s right. A helmet.

It has been 1 week since Julien has started to walk long distances independently. And oh, how my sonny LURVES to walk now.

As much as us parents and grandparents’ hearts were filled with joy and pride, our hearts had also stopped many a times when he became wobbly in his steps.

This past week had recorded the most number of falls, bruises and bumps for Julien. So his daddy commented that we would need a safety helmet for our son to protect his head…. But I guess this is part and parcel of our little one learning to walk! We should… relax….!(?)

Isn’t it the same for all of us in life? If we want to go up the next level in life, we’ve got to try new things and know that falling down and failures are part and parcel of our walk. But if we persist on and never give up, we will see our dreams come to past.

Well, after a week of practice, Julien is getting much better in his stride… definitely bolder.

And we are really glad that by the time Jenson is out, Julien would be walking and running by himself.

So, here’s a picture of Jenson’s home at 36 weeks….

Just FOUR (or less) more weeks to go!!! We can’t wait to see you Baby Jenson!