Hospitalisation Plan for Baby

I came across an article by bumblebeemum on hospitalization cost. As a new mum, I have heard from my colleagues children fall sick easily and it is important to get a hospitalization plan or get your children covered under the company medical plan. Else, the medical bills will take you back financially.

As I shared in my previous post, you can redeem Great Eastern SG50 Gift Pack. The gift pack includes a insurance voucher gift (worth S$108 in value) which can be used to purchase a SupremeHealth A Plus Plan ("Insurance Voucher") for all newborns. You can view more info about the Health plan here. Unfortunately, you can't purchase the plan online, you will need to meet up with the Insurance agent and you can only buy 15days after the baby is born.

We are also planning to get a Savings/ Endowment Plan for baby University fees. The hubby advises to get a plan where premium is to be paid for 20 years and the plan to be under parent's name. Else, when the plan matures, we fear baby might not be able to handle such a big sum of money given her young age. Instead of using it for her education fees, she buys a car/ go travelling. I will share more on the plan once we have done our comparison among the various insurance companies.

A few of our friends recommend that for baby vaccinations, growth monitoring and development progress, we can do it at polyclinics. If you have an appointment and you are punctual, the waiting time is quite fast. Some of the vaccines are FOC or you can use Child Development Account (CDA) account to pay for enhanced vaccinations. More info is avail here.

Love,
Sherlyn

Feeling thankful and things they did not tell you about pregnancy

As I looked back at my pregnancy, I feel very blessed and thankful. I felt uncertain and a little fearful when I learnt about my pregnancy cos I wasn't sure if I was ready for parenthood. I wasn't sure if I'm ready to give up my lifestyle eg frequent traveling, new food hunt hopping and movies. However, the thought of a little life growing inside me, I knew I am going to be a better person so as to set good example to my child. 

I am really thankful for:

• not have any morning sickness or nauseousness throughout my pregnancy. 
• a very supportive hubby who would fetch me whenever he can, massage my legs frequently even when he's deep asleep whenever I scream out loud due to the sudden leg cramps, attend pre-natal classes with me and try to be home early to spend more time with me. 
• my mum who cook delicious and nutritious meal for us every Sunday when we visited her. Even though she's still working at 69years old and earning a menial salary, she splurge on bird nest for us and ensure Hubby and I drink a bottle each week.
• my in-laws for making sure I am well fed at home.
• my SIL, friends and colleagues for handing us lots of baby stuff ie clothes, play pen, baby cot, car seat, bumper etc so we can save a lot of money.
• my helpers as they make sure I get a personal bowl of hot soup when I am having dinner.
• my boss for being very supportive and understanding.
• my colleagues for being kind and always ask about my condition and look out for me.
• kind strangers who gave up their seats to me, offer help eg carry my shopping bags, ask me to be careful about wet floor etc.
• my gynae Dr TM Chua and the nurses at Jurong Women Clinic for taking care of my well-being for the last 8months.
• all the companies for the generous free samples for baby and mummy. 
• the recent house purchase. I strongly believe that our prayers to Guan Yin Ma were answered as we did find a house that we like the best after 1 year of viewings and the purchase transaction was quite smooth even though the price was above our budget. My BIL mentioned before if the house is meant to be yours, the purchase process will be smooth and we won't meet so many hurdles. I hope my baby will grow up in a nice and good environment. My nephew and niece can always come often to enjoy the condo facilities. All the kiddos will remain close when they grow up.
• my baby for being healthy and strong cos every little kick inside me makes me feel very happy.

Here are some things which they did not tell you about pregnancy which I learnt along the way:
1) I find I have lesser pubic hair :)

2) Skin darkening from the brown line around the navel, armpit and nipples. After my week 35, I develop big red patches on my thighs, back of buttocks.

3) frequent gum bleeding

4) thick dried nose mucus which contain blood traces sometimes.

5) thick vaginal discharge

6) I develop red itchy bumps around my tummy and chest area when I was at week 39, it itch like crazy and affect my sleep. I read that it's called PUPPP ie Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. Doctor prescribe me betnovate cream 0.025% to help ease the itch. I find that having cold instead of warm showers help ease the itch.

The rashes disappear after the 2nd day of delivery.

7) I thought I was the few fortunate people that does not have water retention. Around week 35, my left feet started to swell more than my right and then I realised I could no longer wear my wedding band easily on my ring finger. The leg swelling seem to go away in the morning.

Very upset that I still can't wear my wedding band 4th day after delivery. Think I have water retention coz my fingers hurt even while I try bending it. Hope I can wear it very soon.

8) tailbone ache, frequent leg cramps and I can't breathe if I'm sleeping upright. I went for my first pre-natal massage at Jamu Wellness Jurong Point but was disappointed they did not massage the ankle or pressure points at the soles. I learnt that we cannot do foot reflexology during pregnancy as it might induce contraction.

9) you seem to be more clumsy with your bump ie lose your center of gravity while putting on panty, drop things more easily and you don't really feel like picking up during your 3rd trimester.

10) Temperature seem to be very hot. I can perspire in an air-con room. I set the aircon to 24deg, on the fan but I still feel very warm. My hubby was freezing away and he keep fidgeting with the aircon controller every night, he will be ticked off by me coz I will complain I can't breathe and there is no air circulation.

11) I have intense craving for iced milk tea, cakes and chocolates. I hope my weight gain is due to my baby and not these junk food.

12) Weight gain seem to stabilise during the last few weeks of pregnancy. When I did my final ultrascan, my baby is approximately 2.9-3 kg.

Baby was 2.96kg when she was born. :)