18 - 26 Weeks Pregnancy Update

Hello ladies!

I know it's been a while since  I last updated this blog, I'm sorry but I did not abandon this I promise! I will be back in the swing of things soon as I'm gonna be a stay-at-home mom (or soon-to-be-mom) so I will have more time in my hands... well at least while my little bun is still in the oven.

Anyhoo, let me share with you my latest two videos that I uploaded on my youtube channel. Hope you enjoy watching :)

Baby dust to all!

Ciao bellas!

My Pregnancy Journey at 6 weeks

Hi all!

So... I'm 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant as of this writing. Yay!!! I had my first "official" OB check-up last Tuesday, June 25, and finally saw and heard our little baby's heartbeat! That was such  an emotional experience. As cliche as it sounds, knowing that there's a living thing growing inside of me is just absolutely amazing. It's a miracle.

So let me explain first why I said first "official" check-up. Last 18th of June, I had to leave work and visit my OB on my 5th week because I had some brownish discharge when I went to the bathroom during my lunch hour. I didn't know what to do so I called in and they asked me to drop by that day if possible. At first I didn't want to panic and even told the nurse that I will just come the next day when I'm not working but after sending the photo to my hubby (yes, I took photo of the tissue I used to wipe. TMI I know, lol!), my husband right away called me and asked to go to my OB that instant. Hearing the the panic and concern from my hubby's voice, I started crying non-stop (and it was in public while I was eating my lunch). As soon as I got back to work, I talked to my manager and asked if I can take medical leave and sure enough she let me go.

I took the taxi and arrived at Raffles Hospital in less than 15 minutes and immediately registered to see my OB. Once I was in, she did an ultrasound to see if there's any bleeding inside but luckily there was none. She said some women experience it and it is quite normal. It could be an old blood from the implantation and there's nothing to worry about. My baby looked fine and that gave me a sigh of relief. She prescribed me a medicine Duphaston to be taken twice a day for one week to stop the bleeding and it did. Thank God.

So anyway, since I was so elated and inspired from our last visit to my OB, I decided to make a video on our journey. I am planning to do a regular update on my youtube channel (search: babynibeans) and let you know how I'm doing and show my growing belly as well. I hope you can join me in this journey and subscribe <3

Thank you all for reading (and watching)!

Talk to you soon! Baby dust to all!

TTC No More

Hello ladies!

If you still haven't guessed from the title well yes, WE'RE PREGNANT! I don''t even know where to begin because if you remember my last post, I mentioned there that I don't have any high hopes for that cycle since we only got to BD twice last month. Well lo and and behold, great things really do come when you least expect it. 

So what triggered me to take the pregnancy test? Well first of all, I'm 5 days late today. Although that really doesn't say much because there was a time when I was a week late but still turned out to be negative. However last night, my DH noticed that my "girls" are getting bigger. I actually don't see it myself but I can feel it though. My breasts have been tender for the past few days on the week that AF is supposed to come and that is one sign that I've never had before. I normally experience soreness a week before my expected period not during the week. Aside from those two symptoms, I have been feeling "wet" down there recently {sorry TMI} for the past week to the point where I would run to the toilet with a napkin in my pocket thinking that AF finally came.

Aside from those mentioned, I didn't have any more symptoms that was really obvious. I wish I could have listened more to my body. I used to be paranoid about it before and write down every single "symptom" I used to feel but then I kept getting negative HPTs so I stopped it. It was one thing that stressed me out, I think. Lol!

So how did I break the news to my dear hubby? Well let me tell you, I have been orchestrating a very elaborate way of surprising my hubby with the good news in my mind but today, it proved that I am not capable of pulling off a surprise like this. I took my HPT at around 9 in the morning while he was bathing {our toilet and bath are separated} and as soon as I saw the two lines, I started to cry my eyes out! It was so surreal, I couldn't believe my eyes so I hurriedly went to the bathroom and asked  my hubby to hurry up with my voice cracking up from my hysterical cry. I knew he panicked and went out immediately. As soon as I saw him, I showed him the test and I started to cry even more. He gave me a hug and hushed me to stop crying. He said I might stress the baby and as soon as he said that, I slowly stopped crying. Later on he told me that he thought I was crying because AF came, so in a way, it was still a surprise for him. Hehe.

Since I wanted to be super sure, I headed out to Watsons and bought me the Clearblue digital pregnancy test. Sometimes the regular HPT can still trick your eyes so I wanted the digital that says if I'm really pregnant or not {although I know a blood test would be most accurate way}. So here are my results... I've been staring at them for the whole day now with the fear that it might change, lol!

Anyhoo, a little background of how our month went by:

• May 10 - AF showed up!
• May 20 and 22 - Baby Danced. Kept my legs up, like I always do, for at least 15 minutes then laid still.
• May 23 - Positive OPK

What's funny is that on the 22nd we actually went for a staycation at Costa Sands Sentosa and checked-in in the same room where we were on our wedding night! How awesome is that right? After a year and 8 months, we came back to the same place and turns out, we "conceived" our first baby there. Being happy, stress-free and care-free that day may have helped in a way in my ovulation.

Needless to say, I am still floating on cloud 9 as I write this entry. I cannot contain my excitement and happiness. On the other hand though, I cannot help but worry. I know that the first trimester is the most crucial part of the whole pregnancy and I am hoping and praying that everything turns out good. 

To those who extended their prayers, well-wishes and congratulations, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts! I hope and pray that those who are also on the TTC journey will soon be blessed like we have been.

On that note, I think it is right to say that I am no longer a hopeful mommy-to-be instead a happy mommy-to-be! Baby dust to all!

Hebrews 10:36
Learn to be patient, so that you will please God and be given what he has promised.

Psalm 37:5,7
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act

TTC Cycle 3 and New OB-GYN

Hello ladies!

I'm sorry if this post is quite late but I really intended to update you guys AFTER my appointment with my new OB which was scheduled today.

So needless to say, our TTC attempt last month was a failure yet again. I got my AF on the 10th of May just before boarding the plane from Hong Kong back to Singapore when we had a quick family holiday. What a spoiler right?! Tears fell but got over it after five minutes. I think I'm getting used to this. 

However on the next day, I was on my computer the entire day researching for a new OB Gyn. I wasn't too satisfied with how things went last month with my TOO. I felt like I just flushed our money down the drain. I'm not saying that just because I didn't get pregnant. Overall, I'm just not satisfied anymore with my OB Gyn and her service. I have mentioned again and again about the "waiting time" I did whenever I visit her. I sometimes wait for 2 to 3 hours for my name to be called and when they do, I stay inside her clinic for 15 minutes... 20 minutes max. I just felt like she's always rushing and not really explaining everything. 

Anyway, I still did make an appointment with her JUST IN CASE and then went on to finding other OB Gyn. I first took into consideration the distance of the hospital from our place because it would take me an hour or so to go to NUH from my place and I wasn't really happy about that especially if I get an early morning appointment. The nearest hospital around our area is the Parkway East Hospital and found Dr. Roland Chieng's name in one of the forums I visited. Although I am hesitant of having a male OB Gyn, I still booked an appointment for back up. My search continued and I stumbled upon another OB Gyn's name Dr. Sheila Loh of Raffles Hospital. I googled her and read a number of good feedback about her so I decided to book an appointment as well and today, I finally met her.

My appointment was at 4PM and we reached the hospital at around 3:45PM. Since it was my first visit, I had to fill out forms. They also checked my height, weight and BP for my profile. Though it was an hour's wait, we felt like it was worth it. She's very friendly and has an approachable personality. We gathered more information from her as she explained more in details about my previous test results from NUH (I was instructed to bring them so I don't need to undergo the same tests). 

Dr. Sheila did an ultrasound scan on me just to see how my uterus and ovaries are now at this stage. I'm on cycle day 22 and she said by this time there should be evidence of my ovulation. She checked my right ovary and the appearance is normal, no cysts and it has 13 follicles. My left ovary also has a normal appearance, no cysts and has 10 follicles. She said that it is a good sign that even after going through surgery, I still have good egg reserve so that made me happy! Unfortunately though, she didn't see any sign that I already ovulated but that doesn't mean that I didn't. 

She then went through my hubby's lab test result. All the parameters were good except for two. First is the Vitality or the percentage of live sperms. The limit set by the World Health Organization is 58% and he got 56% which is really not that bad. Another parameter is the Morphology or the form of the sperm. The standard is 4% and he got 3%. Dr. Sheila said if the form of the sperm is below the standard, then it may have a hard time fertilizing my egg. These can be addressed by taking Vitamin C & E which was actually prescribed to him by my previous OB Gyn, Dr. Anu, though she didn't explain it to us as clearly as Dr. Sheila did. Unfortunately though, my husband is not that consistent in taking his vitamins (bad!) so from now on I will be reminding him every single day. Dr. Sheila also asked my hubby if he cycles because that can also have an effect if you do more than an hour and unfortunately again, my husband does! On weekends he enjoys riding his bike as his exercise so now I told him to cut it down. I even jokingly said that I will take a photo of his bike and post it online and sell it... haha! 

So to finalize my check-up, Dr. Sheila prescribed me Clomid. This is actually a drug to help induce ovulation and release at least 2 eggs to be fertlized thus getting a higher chance of getting pregnant. This will be taken on cycle day 2 to 6 if I do get my period this June {which I'm hoping I won't}. She gave me 10 tablets to cover 2 months and if it is still unsuccessful, then we may need to resort to artificial insemination. 

So yeah, that's my story this month. To be honest I don't have high hopes this time because we only BD'd twice. Don't judge.. lol! DH and I actually decided that we will just do it only when we feel like doing so and this month was actually busy month after our family holiday. We only got the chance twice but hopefully, the timing was right. All I can do now is pray. 

Oh by the way, something different I did this month was to take Blackmores Conceive Well Gold. I have been wanting to try this for months but I just find it too expensive at $46 for one box (28 days use). But when I saw it on sale for $55 for two boxes I immediately caved in! I showed this to Dr. Sheila and asked if it's ok to take and she said yes. This just primarily contain multivitamins and it's actually good for preparing your body for conception.

Here's the breakdown of fees:

Consultation..................................$130.00
Clomid..........................................$25.20
Practice Cost.................................$12.50 (I actually don't know what is this for?!)
Ultrasound.....................................$110.00

Total Charge after GST..............$297.10

So let me end this quite lengthy post with these inspirational Bible verses..

Hebrews 10:36
Learn to be patient, so that you will please God and be given what he has promised.

Psalm 37:5,7

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.

 

On OPKs and Ovulation

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share with you my OPK (ovulation predictor kit) results from my cycle day 14 up to 18 (which is today).

Okay so before I continue, let me give you a brief explanation on what an OPK is. Basically it detects a surge of Luteinizing Hormone (or most commonly referred to as LH) that is present in your urine. So what does that mean if you have a surge? Well, an increase in LH actually triggers ovulation which is when the egg is released for the the sperm to fertilize it. This does not mean though that  when you get the a positive result, you are ovulating right at that instant. Ovulation occurs after 24-48 hours following a positive result therefore it is recommended to baby dance on the following days. This is the reason why it is recommended to do an OPK for atleast 5 consecutive days starting on your cycle day 10 so you could monitor the surge.

Now, this is not 100% guarantee. Based on what I've read here in the magical world of internet, some women would experience a surge in LH but still end up not ovulating. Hopefully that is not my case.

Anyhoo, after my last ultrasound check up (read all about it here), I decided to get me some OPKs. I've used it before but didn't really find it helpful since I didn't get preggers so I decided to stop it. These stuff are expensive, well atleast for me. But since I have been spending so much money on my ultrasounds, then why not get a better chance in getting pregnant by detecting when I ovulate. Luckily that day, Watsons was having a buy 1 get 1 free on their brand so I picked up these...

I was on my cycle day 14 then and I did my test around 5:45 in the afternoon. It is recommended to do the test around the same time for the next 5 days for a more accurate result. Try to prevent from drinking too much liquid as well 2 hours before you take the test as it can dilute the hormone in your urine. Below are the my OPKs for the past 5 days, I noticed that the color faded a little bit but it is still visible.

OPKs are different from pregnancy tests in terms of reading the result. If you would look at it like a PT, you would think that all these are positive results right? Wrong. OPKs are supposed to show two lines (showing only one line would mean the test is invalid) and the difference between a positive and a negative test is how dark the Test band (on the right) is compared to the Control band (on the left). 

This is one thing that I hate about these OPKs. It is so difficult to figure out if it is a positive or negative. Sometimes when you want something really bad, like a positive OPK for example, you will trick your mind into thinking that the Test band is indeed darker than the Control band therefore convincing yourself that it is a positive result. Raise your hand if you agree. LOL!

Looking at my OPKs above, the only day that I got a dark test band was on the 25th. It doesn't look as dark as it used to be when I first tested but you can compare it with the rest of the sticks and it's the only one that has a test band that is still really visible. So I then convinced myself that it was a positive but unfortunately though, we didn't BD that night because of a petty fight (nice timing right?) but we made sure we made up for it the next day and today! Hopefully my hubby's soldiers will be motile enough and fertilize my egg as I ovulate *crossing fingers*.

Now all I have to do is be patient (which I am totally not) as I enter my two week wait (2WW). Hopefully I can fight the urge to do a pregnancy test earlier than when I'm supposed to which I highly doubt.. lol! 

So there you have it ladies. I hope I enlightened you a little bit on how to use and read OPKs. If you have any comments on my OPK results please leave them down below. I would love to know your thoughts on this. Please keep us in your prayers that we may be able to finally complete our family.

Baby dust to all those trying as well!

Till my next update!

Ciao!

Overwhelmed

Hello ladies! Hope you all had a wonderful day!

I'm just here to say my BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has been very supportive and inspiring me through this journey. Ever since I started this blog my friends and relatives, whom mostly I haven't talk to in years, has been contacting me via Facebook and sharing me their TTC experience and giving me tips on how to be successful in our baby-making journey. Today alone, I received five messages from different people and I'm just so amazed how my situation can bring people together. It's like having my own little support group.

I am so appreciative to all those who have shown their care and concern and willingly shared to me their personal stories. Once again, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I just couldn't end my day without expressing my gratitude. I am overwhelmed.

PS.

We are planning to change gynae if this cycle becomes unsuccessful *crossing fingers that it's not*. For those here in Singapore, please let me know if you have any good recommendations preferably here in the East area.

Ciao ladies!

Sweet dreams and baby dust to all!

TTC Cycle 2

Here we go again.

So I'm back with another TTC cycle post which means our  attempt last month was a failure (booo!). I had really high hopes for last month since it was our first month to try after the surgery but that didn't go well as expected. Anyway, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here and go on and on with my frustrations so let me just fill you in with the details from my last 2 visits with my gynae.

I was scheduled to see her on the 8th of April for a check-up and so I went. I was directed to their Fetal Care Centre for an ultrasound scan. The day I went was the day before my expected AF to come. I did a pregnancy test 2 days before that {so much for being patient} and I got a negative result but I was still hopeful that I can be pregnant. She first did a typical scan on my abdomen and I thought that was it but then seconds after she took out THE thing again... the one that they insert down there. Even after going through that kind of scan for several times already, I still can't help but cringe. Definitely not the most comfortable feeling on earth.

So anyway,  after looking on the screen for a few minutes, the sonographer suddenly asked me if my period is coming soon and so I told her I am expecting it the next day. After that she asked me to wait outside. She must have seen something in there that made her ask that question so then I ditched the idea that I can be pregnant.

I waited half an hour again to see my gynae this time. She reviewed the scan result and said it was all good. I was somehow scared that the cyst may have come back but fortunately, everything's looking  fine. She then uttered "so why is it not happening?" and as much as I want to tell her "you tell me you're the doctor here!" I just kept silent and shrugged. So she gave me a rundown of the next steps that we will be doing to make it a success:

• First, she asked me to call for an appointment for a TOO (Time Of Ovulation) as soon as my AF comes. I have to be scanned on my cycle day 12 {which is today} to see the progress of my egg cells whether it's maturing or not. From there she will tell us when is right day to do our serious baby-making business. Lol!
• There might be a possibility that maybe I am not ovulating so she said if that is the case, she will prescribe me a medicine to help me ovulate. We will try this for 2-3 months and if still unsuccessful then we proceed to the next step...
• ...and that is IUI or Intrauterine Insemination Treatment which basically takes out the fun in baby-making.. haha! This is a process where in my hubby's sperm will be taken and then they will insert it into my uterus on the day of ovulation. Watch this for a better understanding :)

I am hoping that we don't need to do the IUI because first, it will be expensive {around $700+} and second, I want to get pregnant as naturally as possible with less "medical" or "science" intervention. But for the sake of having our own bundle of joy, we are willing to do everything.

Total bill for this visit:
Consulation Fee..........$80.25
Gynae Scan.................$90.95
Total..........................$171.20

********************************************************************************


So today I went back to hospital for my TOO. I honestly don't know what to expect and what procedure I will be undergoing but yeah, you guessed it right, I went through that uncomfortable scanning again. I laid down on that bed for like a minute or two while my gynae checked on my ovaries. She saw a follicle growing on my left ovary but she said it's not big enough and asked me to go back again on Thursday {but I can't make it so we rescheduled it on Wednesday instead} so she can see the progress of the follicle.

That was about it. And oh by the way, she told us to do the deed tomorrow and then after that, no more sex {poor hubby.. lol!} for the meantime. I'm really hopeful, like how I have been hopeful for the past year, that it will work this time. Cross your fingers and toes for us. Hehe :)

The bill for this visit was $90.95. We were only charged for the gynae scan (hallelujah!). We were in and out her office in like a snap so if she would have charged us with $80 again, I will be having second thoughts to come back.. lol!

So that's it ladies! Wish us luck this month. I'm really hoping and praying to get a positive result after this.

Baby dust to all!

*UPDATE ON TODAY'S VISIT 24/04/13*

Had another scan and my gynae said it is still not big enough. She said that it's best to do the deed again tomorrow, Saturday and Monday. That was it! Another $90.95 down the drain. It seems like I paid for someone to tell me when to have sex.. Lol!

Anyhoo, I'm just having breakfast now and then I'm off to work! Good luck to me!

Ciao!