Pregnancy updates

I'm much better these days compared to the first 4 months. I'm nearly 5 and a half months now. I do get tired now and then but I feel it's way better that it was before so I'm not complaining. Hehe.

But in terms of weight, actually size, I'm amaze at how big my tummy has grown! I think I should have added 5-6kgs now and although this is lesser compared to Rye Li's time, my tummy is really bigger than hers. I'm wondering whether it was my 'left-overs' that is being pushed out or the baby is actually bigger?! I hope it is my left-overs as the thought of having a big baby scares the hell out of me!

Ok, not just my tummy is getting big, so is everything else especially my bum. So I do look like daisy duck at the moment and I still got 4 months plus to go! I will try to get a preggy shot and you do the judging for me but mind you, I will only show the nice shots of course.

Lately, I get a lot of questions on the gender. As much as I want to know, I will only have to wait till next Saturday for my next checkup and I hope that we get to know too. If he/she is like her big sister, we will not know till I'm 6 months plus! So let's hope not yea.

I also get the questions what I want. Well, I don't really care but I know if I get a boy, most likely I will try for another girl. And if I get a girl, I don't think I will be bothered to go for no. 3. Rye Li has too many nice stuff that I would like to have another girl to share these stuff before I ever give them away.

Where my motherly instincts are concerned, I don't think they are accurate at all. I mean initially I thought that Baby 2 may be a boy since I'm experiencing some differences like the weird taste I get in my mouth. Then lately as my tummy grows bigger, its shape is looking very much like my 1st pregnancy so now I'm feeling that it could be a girl too. So this is back to 50-50 again. Not much help huh?!

And Rye Li's prediction? Well, she wanted a ti-ti (little brother) initially and it remained the same the last few months until recently. Now she wants a mei-mei (little sister)as one of her friends at the daycare just had a new mei-mei. Also not much help here. So we shall just see....don't worry, I will immediately post the gender once I know as well. ;) ....stay tuned!

Maid still not here

It's Saturday and our maid is not here and yes, the medical report is still not out. This is really weird as I remember the agent mentioned it takes 2-3 days last week but now they said it takes 7-10 working days. And we had to call the agent, not the other way round!

So I should be picking the maid up next Saturday which really upsets me as my own checkup is on that day too. It looks like we will be having a hectic Saturday then as now I have to pick the maid up in the morning, rush her to her checkup and then I will have to postpone mine to the afternoon and she will have to tag along with us for my doc's appointment.

And poor Rye Li will also have to tag along for this the whole day! I wanted to leave the girl at the daycare for half day today since they're open as I didn't want her to tag along while we take the maid for her checkups (it will be at 2 places since the one that does the blood and urine test which I can have the results in 3 hours don't do x-ray). But now that the maid is not ready, and the fact that they daycare is closed next Saturday, my plans are all screwed up, no thanks to the darn agent!

The agent better not charge me for the maid being in their hands. I still have yet to pay the maid's upfront 6 months salary to them and I only intend to pay her salary starting July onwards and not June. I feel we're being taken for a ride as I don't have people telling me that their agents sent their maids to them before the medical report is out or that the medical report takes more than 3 days. The lady at the agent sms-ed me to say that it is the norm and I'm really doubting this.

Maid agent nightmare begans

This post is gonna make me sound like a complainer like how I’ve been with my other posts! LOL…this is not the intention but how can you not be frustrated when your maid agent all of a sudden starts showing its true colours after you have paid them?!!

Last Wednesday, hubby received an sms from the lady at the agent to say that the maid has arrived after medical and that we can collect her on Friday. Hubby was in Shanghai then and called her to say that I will call her the next day to make arrangements.

I called her to find out she was on leave and was given her mobile number. I called her mobile but she didn’t pick up so I text her to tell her that we can’t collect the maid on Friday but Saturday morning instead and to let me know when is a good time to call her. No reply at all till the next morning and that also she text me back to say to confirm the collection time asap so she can make the arrangements. I called her at her mobile, no answer. Called her at the agent, not in yet. And by now I’m getting really irritated. I mean if it’s urgent, why can’t she call me?! So I had to try several times after that at the agent and she was mostly engaged with customers. I happened to call at 1 plus in the afternoon and was told that she was having lunch.

So finally I managed to get hold of her before 3pm on Friday. Told her that we can only come the next morning (Saturday) and she asked what time as she would be busy the whole day (what cheek of her!). I asked her how long will it take since this is our first time and we need to know the “do’s and don’ts” and she replied about 20-30 minutes. So I told we will be there before 10am in the morning. Then I asked her if the maid’s medical report is out yet and she said no. I was shocked and she said she didn’t mention to hubby at all that the report is out and that it will usually take 2-3 days for the report to be out. And then I asked her, “you expect me to bring the maid home first?!”. She then replied that she understands as I have a young kid at home. I told her not only that, the fact I’m pregnant as well and also the maid is to follow Rye Li to her day care on Monday morning and how can I take the risk of sending the maid to the day care?! Think she realized my tone of voice and she quickly added that she will put in my file to wait till the maid is medically fit first before pickup. I told her that I won’t be able to pick her up during the week and that I will pick the maid up the following Saturday only. And she went “no choice-la, we will keep her”.

I was really mad and lucky for her, I managed to maintain my cool but I was bitching away to my friends and family after that about this. I mean isn’t it standard practice for the report to come back first before releasing them to families?!!! I will definitely ask the lady at the agent this when I see her this coming Saturday! Anyway, I also intend to take the maid for another medical check up when I pick her up, only thing is I have to wait a few days for her x-ray results to come back. So at least I will know her blood and urine test results the same day. I hope she is really medically fit, if not, I will definitely bombard the agent more.

Their image was already ruined when I can’t seem to get hold of this lady all the time before this when I wanted to know when my maid will arrive. We submitted the documents for application early May in which she told us that it will be really fast but when I called her towards the end of May, she said our application has not been approved yet! She has the cheek to say that it takes 1 to 1 and a half months for approval! So when I called her up first week of June, she said our application was only approved end of May and now we have to wait 2-3 weeks for the maid to arrive. And now this?!

After this incident, I got a feeling that this is only the beginning of many more headaches to come. I’m really disappointed in this agent as they are not cheap and I thought with the number of years they have been around (15 years) with an ISO cert some more, they are at least professional in handling these things but they have not proofed this so far to me! Anyone else dealing with Philimore who share the same experiences as me?!

In the last 3 weeks

• Over 3 weeks back, just after our Kuantan trip, I had a discharge. One '50 sens' blot of brownish, slight reddish-pinkish discharge. This is like after months of non-spotting so I got kinda worried and went to see my Obgyn. My only consolation is that there were no more after that one time spot. I had an appointment with a client which I cannot cancel so I was late for my appointment with my doc who was kind enough to wait for me. He gave me medication for 10 days again, saying that discharge like this is not common now. Thankfully, baby was fine - doc had to show me the heartbeat from many angles to ensure me that Baby 2 is alright.

• Then we were off to Camerons since the girl's daycare is closed for a week last week. I was having backache the whole time and it was tough managing the girl as well in my condition.

• After Camerons, we were off to Penang as hubby had to work (i will post on this holiday at the girl's site when I'm up to it). So while hubby was working whole day, I had to look after the girl and by this time, I was really exhausted. My 'hoo-haa' was also feeling sore which got me worried as the last time I had this, I was in my last month with the girl. And to have this now at 4 and half months is not exactly normal.

• We came home last Friday night and I was having fever, probably from being exhausted from the whole trip. The fever sent chills right into my bones and I had no choice but to take panadol through the weekend to control the fever to less than 39 degrees. The highest it went was 38.8 over the weekend. I couldn't see my Obgyn on Saturday as it was a public holiday and since this is my first time having fever while being pregnant, I was so tempted to go to ER to do my blood test on Sunday when my fever still didn't go away. Hubby persuaded me to wait till Monday. My appetite was totally gone throughout that weekend and I had to force myself to eat so that I can take the panadol. I have never slept so much before.

• Monday morning came, I went to SJMC to do my blood test thinking that my gynae is closed that day. Spent half the morning there waiting for my results and thank god it came back alright, no dengue (which I was worried about). The doctor said it's some viral infection and that my fever should go away, by this time, the fever was subsiding.

• I called my Obgyn's clinic to talk to his nurse and found out that he was in so I went in the afternoon to see if Baby 2 is alright. My appointment was supposed to be today. Just my luck that by the time I got there, my Obgyn was delivering 2 babies and so I had to wait and wait. When he got back, he managed to see 2 patients before me and then he ran out again (the 2nd baby wasn't delivered yet) and so I had to wait again. Finally he came back and then it was my turn. After asking me some questions, he checked on Baby 2 and said Baby 2 looked fine. Before I can even ask about the gender, he stopped scanning (and I felt kinda bad coz I was talking to Baby 2 before that to show everything and he/she did but my doc didn't even looked at that part and I guess coz I was more worried about the heartbeat). So my next visit is scheduled in 4 weeks time.

• That night, my body started to feel itchy all over and also my joints started to ache all over. Fever has subsided and by this time but it was tough to sleep already (this pregnancy is just like the girl's, I also had difficulty sleeping throughout my pregnancy with her which probably explains why I got sick easily).

• Wednesday night, with joints still aching (as if I ran for a marathon), my tummy had rashes after I took my bath but I didn't really think twice about it. The next day, my whole body broke out in rashes (even on my arms, legs, feet and hands) and so in I went again to see my Obgyn. And just my luck again that he was delivering a baby when I got there and so I had to wait. His nurse was nice enough to let me see him first when he got back. After asking me some questions whether I had measles before (I had my rubella jab when I was young), he suspected the rashes is from the fever I had. I opted for the oral medication instead of the jab since the itch was bearable. He didn't even scan Baby 2 since I was still feeling movements. He said if the rash don't go away the next day, I am to see him again at his other clinic which is nearer to my house since they have a skin specialist there.

• That night, the itch was so unbearable, it was so difficult to sleep. The rash didn't go away completely and I felt I wanted the jab so badly. So after dropping the girl off to the daycare, I went to the clinic, only to find out that my Obgyn will be late coz he had a baby to deliver (again). Out of all these years I've known him, I've never come across him delivering while I saw him for my checkups. This week I saw him 3 times and he had 4 babies to deliver! I need to go and buy 4D now. Anyway, I waited like 2 hours to see him and he wanted me to see the skin specialist but we found out the skin specialist is on vacation so my doc gave me the jab and asked to continue with the medication. If the rash doesn't go away over the weekend, I need to go and see the skin specialist next week. He assured me it's not measles.

• Another thing to note as well, I had another weird discharge on Thursday, one small blood clot. It looked like some kind of dead cells, very black. Because it was only one-off and there wasn't any blood, I didn't bother telling my Obgyn (I guess also coz I don't want to go on another medication again. I've already took the panadols and the other one for the rash, I personally feel I've put Baby 2 through enough medication) and also I lost 1 kg from the fever.

• It's Saturday now and the rash is gone but I'm still feeling itchy here and there. With so much going on and I'm only nearly 5 months, I really feel I'm so done having babies now! As much as I love babies, my pregnancies are not helping me to feel of wanting to have more. Hubby will have to convince me a whole lot if he ever wants more! LOL!

• I'm waiting for our maid to arrive and I hope we can have her by next weekend. With hubby travelling so extensively lately, I really need some help at home. I'm glad that the girl understood about me being sick and didn't really get into her tantrums while her papa was away but she is still her usual self in her dilly-dallying ways and that gets to me! She's alright if I don't read to her at nights as I'm so dead tired by the time I get her ready for bed - before, she will make such a huge fuss if I don't read to her. Anyway, I will post on her more at her site when I find the time.