My Virgin Brazilian Waxing Experience @ Strip

pic credit: http://www.strip.com.sg/
 
I was in my 39weeks and I heard that most mums will go for brazilian waxing in preparation for labour. I don't know my vagina will be seen by how many people and I will be dead embarrassed if down there is untidy and bushy. If you are have C-section, I heard that the nurses/ doctors will shave the pubic hair for you when you are delivering your baby. It can be embarrassing as they could be males but when you are already at that stage, it might not even bother you anymore. As your tummy is getting too big, it is almost impossible for you to upkeep yourself.

I googled online if it is ok for late pregnancy to have brazilian wax as the skin might be more sensitive than usual. Anyway, my tolerance for pain is quite high, I went ahead to book an appointment with Strip @ Cathy outlet. My therapist was Elle.

During registration, I was asked to sign 2 forms, one of the form was to declare existing medical conditions, the other was Consent to use of personal data. I was passed a hygiene pack that I am to pass to my therapist. Elle opened the hygiene pack and passed me the wipe to clean myself with. After which, there was a towel for me to cover my lower body. Elle was quite professional and the whole process was quick and not embarrassing at all. I saw there were 2 type of wax- chocolate and strawberry pink colour. Saw that Elle was using pink wax most of the time. Elle applied the warm wax on the skin and then I felt the stripping effect which was swift and fast. When Elle was doing certain areas, she will ask me to take a deep breath as it was supposed to be painful spots.

The whole treatment process took about 10 mins. Elle told me each waxing can last up till 5weeks. Elle is quite thorough, she informed me that there could be some stubborn hair that can't be removed and I think she removed some using tweezer. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not pain and 10 most painful), I would rate the pain factor as 3-4.

You can view Strip service package here and they are offering 35% discount if you are a first time customer with them. Strip also has package, if you sign up on that day, the treatment will be waived off.

I was told not to take hot showers and to exfoliate area from day 4 onwards. Today is already my 5th day after my waxing, so far so good, no bumps, inflammation or redness.
I will consider signing up with them on my next visit. I was informed that if I'm having natural delivery, I can only start waxing after 3months and 6 months for c-section.

Love,
Sherlyn

Free Parenting Seminar/ Websites in Singapore

Hi everyone
If you are a first time mummy like me, you might want to attend some parenting Seminar/ talks to better prepare yourself for the arrival of your baby. Most of the parenting talks are sponsored by the private cord banking ie Cordlife/ Stemcord, Thomson Medical/ Mt Alvernia, Abbott etc. It's FOC if you have a gynae card/ first few sign-ups or you will need to pay a minimal fees. You will also receive a goodie bag which usually contains some samples when you sign up. 

Here are some websites which I find really useful:
1) SuperMom Bazaar
https://www.facebook.com/SuperMomBazaar

2) The Asian Parent
https://www.facebook.com/asiaparent?fref=ts

3) Rise and Shine - for happier and healthier kids facebook

4) The New Age Parents
https://www.facebook.com/newageparents?fref=ts

5) Baby World facebook
https://www.facebook.com/babyworldfair?fref=ts

6) Maybe Baby Singapore
https://www.facebook.com/MaybeBabySG?fref=ts

7) Pregnant.sg
https://www.facebook.com/Pregnantsg?fref=ts

8) Abbott Strong Mums Singapore

9) Sassy Mama
https://www.sassymamasg.com/

10) Young Parents
http://www.youngparents.com.sg/

Happy reading! 

Love,
Sherlyn

Confinement Myths: To follow or not.

Hi everyone,
I read that confinement month is the fourth trimester and you will need to recharge yourself, else you may experience a lot of problems later in life. I read with interest some confinement myths:

1) You cannot drink plain water as it causes water retention or will cool down the body too much. If you really have to drink water, you must sip slowly while sitting down.

My take: I will drink warm water. I will also drink brewed longan and red date tea.

2) Cannot bath and wash hair for 1 month as contact with water will cause "wind" and rheumatism later in life.

My take: I am one that needs to shower twice a day and wash my hair daily as I have oily scalp. I have read in forum some mothers are using dry shampoo during their confinement period.

I will bath in warm water and use those Confinement Herbal Bath and dry my hair with hairdryer. I also read hairdryer is not recommended as you will introduce wind directly to your head.

3) Cannot be under aircon/ fan as this will cause wind to enter.

My take: I think it is perfectly fine to be inside a cool room but I will not have the fan blowing directly at me. I don't think my baby will like me to be sweaty and smelly while carrying/ breastfeeding her.

4) Consume alcohol and all the nourishing stuff

My take: I have read that if you are breastfeeding, alcohol may affect your breast milk which in turn will be passed to your baby. I have friends who take very nourishing stuff during their confinement until they and their baby break out in pimples. Hence, I would consume in moderation.

5) Others
Can only consume old ginger and not young ginger.

Can only consume hen but not rooster.

Here are some of the basic confinement herbs you will need to get:
- Daifonai herbal bath. Hock Hua is selling @$2.20 per pack, Qoo10 ($45.80 for 30packs) or Mummamia ($9.42 for 4packs). 

Mummamia's pack seem to be more hassle free as you will only need to soak pack in 1L of water for 3 minutes or hottest temperature of water heater for 10-15 mins. After which add in warm water. 

The traditional Daifonai requires you to boil the sachet with 18L of water for 10-15 mins. I bought 7 boxes from Mummamia given the amount of time saved.

My confinement nanny boil 2 packs of Mummamia herbal bath as I wash my hair daily. I then top up the herbal water with cold water heater water. The herbal bath smells great and it makes the skin and hair very soft and shiny.

- Red dates (seedless is more expensive)
- Black dates
- Unsweetened dry longans
- Wolfberries
- Black fungus
- Dan gui 
- Bei qi
- Yok chuk  

- Dang shen   
- So Hup Pills, $19.90 from Eu Yan Sang 
- Bak Foong Pill, $49.90 from Eu Yan Sang. Eat after when menstrual is cleared.

I got my herbs at Bugis next to OG Albert Complex. Here's a recipe for red date tea from pregnant.sg. Hope you find this article useful. 



Love,
Sherlyn

Best Chocolate Fudge Cake in Singapore

Yesterday was Hubby's birthday and he loves chocolate cake. For the past few years, we have been getting from:

Four Leaves Coco Exotic $41 for 21cm/ Chocolate Classico $38 for 21cm/ Blackforest $38 for 21cm

Rive Gauche Guanaja $48 for 14 by 19cm

Bakerzin Chocolate Amer $55 for size 6 18 by 18cm

Awfully Chocolate All Chocolate $68 for size 8

Hence, I thought this year I will get something different. I was comparing between Lana's and Vicky's cake. In the end, I got from Vicky's, it's $45 for 1kg. 


When I collected the cake, I was kinda disappointed that the cake is very old-school. The wordings were made of butter cream and they were packed in plain cupboard box with their company logo sticker. They didn't even have gel ice pack and I was worried the cake will melt as I will still be outside for the next 1hour plus. Luckily the weather was quite cool yesterday.

The family members asked where the cake was from as this was unfamiliar to them. Everyone was pleasantly surprised of how good the cake was. The cake was a bit saltish at first bite but this was the moistest chocolate fudge cake I ever tasted. The cake wasn't too sweet either. Will I be ordering from Vicky's again? A definite YES!  It was so good that I didn't feel jelak (overkilled) even after 2 pieces. Still thinking of the cake as I am typing this.

Vicky's also offer baby first month cakes which I might consider getting for #bumptham's baby shower. Found a hidden gem in the west.

Address:

833 Bukit Timah Road

Royalville

Singapore 279887 
Tel: +65 6466 4000

Love,
Sherlyn

Free OhBabynMe.com Membership and Welcome kit

Received a phone call from OhBabynMe.com earlier. I have forgotten I have signed up for their free membership on their website some time ago.

They have a welcome kit which has to be personally collected at their office. The Welcome Kit consist of:

1x Similac mum 900g

1x Similac mum insulating bag

1x Similac milk powder container

1x $10 Shopping E-Voucher to use at OhBabynMe.com

Feeling very thankful to all the generous companies for all the free samples, gifts for mummy and baby.

Love,
Sherlyn

House Purchase

Recently we have bought a house, after almost 1 year of house hunting process. We have been surfing propertyguru almost daily. Thanks to the rising SIBOR, price of house seem to soften. Even though the agents are still advertising at a higher price, some buyers are willing to accept a $50-100k below the advertised price. The sellers are affected mainly of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) ruling which affects sellers who own more than 2 properties. Rental market is also sliding, hence, sellers are becoming more realistic.

Here are some tips which I've picked up:
1) Go to URA Caveat to check the transaction price for the last 3 years. You can filter unit by size and floor number. You will have a gauge whether you are paying around market rate.

2) Propquest
This tool is very useful, you can find out how much did current owner bought the unit for. Eg if they are the first owner, they would have made more than half and prices are usually more negotiable.

- key in project name

- Select the stack number (eg if your unit is #05-01, please select stack 1), change the year from filter accordingly, click submit.
- Scroll down to Past Transactions, you will be able to download the csv file and do your analysis.

3) Singapore Real Estate Exchange
- Select X-Value TM for Real Time Property Appraisal tab
- Input the project name, unit name.

4) Get your bankers to quote valuation
We realised that UOB valuation is usually very high, which is advantageous to the sellers. Standard Chartered Bank seem to be more conservative.

5) Bring cheque
If you are really interested in the unit and want to offer a really low price, we realised that presentation of cheque usually works. Agents will check with the sellers rather than be the bottleneck that block us off.

Here are some of the fengshui considerations we take into considerations:
1) Door must not face Northwest that is when you are standing inside the house and you are looking outside of house. My husband is a sleeping partner of a business, we don't want to eat 西北风.

2) Main door should not face lift/ staircase.

3) Toilets should not be at Southwest sector of the house. This leads to financial loss and marital problems.

4) Kitchen should not be at Northwest sector of house. The family breadwinner could lose his job, lose his wealth, or worse, lose his health. 

5) Unit should not be east west direction else the house will be very hot due to the sun.
 

Hope you find these tips useful.

Love,
Sherlyn

Newborn Essentials Checklist- budget

Edit on 30 Aug 2015 in blue.

I am getting anxious as my EDD is closer and I have just start preparing for baby stuff. Here are some newborn essentials checklist which you might find useful. It does not include outdoor items like pram, car seat etc.

Clothes
Handkerchief (Danrol)
Mittens & Booties   
Short Sleeve Shirts and Pants- 6sets
Pyjamas- 2 sets
Rompers (it can be quite challenging for NB to put on Rompers, would recommend when they are bigger once their neck are stronger)
Parenting hack
Cap (bought from Taobao), here's the link

Bathing
Baby Shampoo (Kodomos)
Baby Bath (Kodomos). I use Sebamed Bubble Bath when my baby had flaking skin
Brush & Comb set (Pigeon)
Infant Nail scissors (Pigeon)- the salesperson recommend that newborn cannot use nail clipper, I nearly made a blunder.
2 small bowls (for cleaning eyes and buttock)
Bath Sponge (NUK) Wash Cloth is good enough, bath sponge is too coarse for baby's delicate skin

Bamboo Towels (Moo Moo Kow)
Laundry Detergent (Pureen/ Kodomos). Get the powder form as it make clothes smell nicer
Changing Pad (Moo Moo Kow) 
Bath tub (non-slip)- Ikea

Breastfeeding
Breast Pump (Spectra S2+)
Breast Pads (Pigeon Honeycomb)
Nipple Cream (Medela/ Lasinoh)
Breast milk Storage Bags (PUR)
Feeding bottles 4-6 
Nursing bib

Everyday
Steam Sterilizer (Pigeon Rapid Steam Sterilizer)
Bottle Warmer (Pigeon)
Bottle Sponge Brush (Puku)
Bottle Cleaner (Pureen)
Diaper (Huggies/ MamyPoko). I got a few packs of KCA initially coz it was cheap. However, the fit is not good and usually leaks.
Diaper Cream (Desitin Blue)
Baby Wipes (Organic Story EcoForest)
Cotton Wool Ball (Pigeon/ Mothercare as the size is bigger)  Get Watson Facial cotton, it's cheap and good.
Cotton Swab regular (Daiso) and thin size (Pigeon)
Cooling Plaster (Pigeon)

Sleeping
Blanket (Danrol)
Swaddle (Summer Time)
Bean Pillow (Puku)
Play Pen- passed down from my SIL
Mattress Cover (Baby Safe). I have read online that it is essential to get a new mattress for each baby as there are unknown reasons for cot death. It will also give you peace of mind.
Pillow (baby does not need pillow)
Waterproof Mattress Protector (ordered from Taobao), here's the link

Hope you find the list useful.

Love,
Sherlyn

Choosing a Breast Pump- Medela Freestyle vs Spectra S1+/S2+

Hi everyone
I have done extensive research on buying a breast pump as it is an expensive investment and a good pump is very important in ensuring good breast milk yield.

I have shortlisted Medela Freestyle which was highly recommended and Spectra S1+ or Spectra S2+. Many colleagues have swear by Medela Freestyle. The difference between Spectra S1+ and S2+ is that S2+ is non-rechargeable and is lighter at 0.99kg vs 1.12kg. You do not have to buy the 3 way connector for the upgrade version. To make it a dual pump, you will need to purchase an extra set of shield hose, back flow preventer.

One of the consideration factor was the price. Medela Freestyle was grossly expensive retailing at about SGD$799.

Another factor was Spectra is hospital grade pump and they have back flow preventer which prevent contamination of milk. However, Spectra comes in standard 28mm flange which might be too large for Asian breast.

Where to get it in Singapore?
Bingbling is the authorised distributor for Spectra in Singapore but their price is still higher and they are currently selling the old model of S1 ($379) and S2 ($333). However, their set already comes with 2 sets of breast shield set, hence, you do not have to purchase another set. It also comes with 1year local warranty by bingbling.

Baby Expo pumps are cheaper and they carry the latest model. S1+ is retailing at $339 and S2+ at $299. The set already comes with 2 sets of breast shield set, hence, you do not have to purchase another set.  It also comes with 1 year local warranty by Baby Expo.

I have found 2 Qoo10 retailers selling at a lower rate. It comes with 1 year warranty, however, you will need to pay the return delivery fee to Korea for repair. Battery is under 6months warranty.

BestGmall 
Spectra S1+

The set cost $275.50 after purchasing additional accessory like back flow preventor tip, extra breast shield set. Free Shipping via Express or $9 Fedex from Korea.

You can read more about S1+ here

Spectra S2+

The set cost $223.90 after purchasing additional accessory like back flow preventor tip, extra breast shield set. Free Shipping via Express or $9 Fedex from Korea.

You can read more about S2+ here

BabyJoa 

Spectra S2+

The set cost $218.90 after purchasing additional accessory like back flow preventor tip, extra breast shield set. Free Shipping via EMS from Korea.

I have decided to get Spectra S2+ as I do not think I will want to lug the "rice cooker" with me when I'm out. I might consider getting the Spectra 9+ for back to work pumping. 

Updates:

Very fast delivery. Placed order on 3 May and received the additional order via local registered mail on 8 May. Item was bubble wrapped with a note that breast pump will be shipped from Korea. Breast pump received on 8 May and it came in a brown box. The original box looks ok, no dents. I have tested the pump, seems ok but have not used it, hope it will not disappoint.

 

Breast Milk Cooler Bag

Spectra Cooler Bag
The Spectra Cooler bag retails at about $35 and it consist of gel ice pack. I find that the bag is not compact and sleek as it is meant to keep your portable breast pump too.

I like Medela Cooler set as it comes with contoured ice brick and 4 milk bottles. However, it is still quite expensive at about $59.90. Agapebabies is the cheapest that I can find.

Splurge!

Save!

I manage to find a similar to Medela Cooler bag from Tollyjoy. It retails at $29.90 but it does not come with milk bottle.

Guess I will be getting this instead. I will review the Spectra S2+ breast pump once I start to use it. Hope you find this post useful. 

Love,

Sherlyn