Category Archives: Baby Matters

Apr 24

Baby names

“Have you chosen a name?” is now the most popular question asked by friends and family.  Since we still have two months to go, G and I aren’t too worried that we haven’t come up with the perfect name.  Technically, we also have two weeks after birth to pick a name and turn in Jr’s registration papers.  So it may come to down to pulling an all-nighter before the deadline, furiously brainstorming over a pot of coffee (just like my college days).

Naming is an important task.  In the hierarchy of ways to emotional traumatize children, I’d rank choosing the wrong name close to the very top.  Other kids can be very creative in coming up with not-so-nice nicknames, so it’s no wonder that there are scores of websites and books available to help keep parents from inadvertently choosing names like Richard, Woody, or Fanny.  In fact the last chapter of Freakonomics discusses the socio-economic impact a name has, and the importance of timeliness.

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Apr 18

A lifetime of worrying

We’ve been worrying about the size of our belly/baby even though the gynae said that we’re within the average range. At the same time, we’ve also been wondering whether our son should be kicking more especially since we’re supposed to be monitoring his kicks regularly from now on. I guess such is the fate of parenthood; the beginning of a lifetime of worrying about everything and anything.

The app we’re using (BabyBump) has a kick counter that helps to record up to 10 kicks or 2 hours, whichever comes first. We’re planning to start counting at least every other day before or after dinner time.

In the meantime, we’re looking forward to our next gynae visit in Week 29. Our gynae, Dr Ann Tan, doesn’t have any packages so we have to pay for each visit as we go along. She also only operates at Mount Elizabeth hospital (not exactly one of the cheapest places to deliver) so we have been (and will continue) burning quite a substantial hole in our pockets. However, she is very recognized in her field of expertise and I feel more comfortable with her, despite her no-nonsense approach, than my previously also-renowned gynae.

Apr 7

Day 188 – Hypo-thyroid

BabyBump reports: Baby Size ~ 36.8cm (cauliflower). Baby Weight ~ 0.907 kg

This week your baby looks like a thinner, redder, more wrinkled version of what he will look like at birth, but in the next few weeks more fat will fill out his appearance. Your baby’s immune system is continuing to mature as are your baby’s lungs which are still practicing breathing amniotic fluid.

It seems like it wasn’t too long ago when I was having a minor breakdown from not feeling any kicks to feeling kicks all over my belly today. Not sure if it’s psychological but it feels like Junior has been kicking a lot more vigorously since I’ve started taking the medication that the doctor prescribed for my hypo-thyroid condition that was diagnosed in late March. Hopefully the euthyrox is helping to increase the hormone production and increasing our overall energy levels.

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Mar 28

Busy weekend, lazy week…

Mango Egg Yolks

This past weekend was a festive chaos of cooking gone wild, family dinner night, an aborted attempt to relive my youth, friends’ baby birthday, and the Lion King.  In no particular order, I learned that:

  • the Koreans have created a near-perfect venting system for their bbq
  • there are restaurants in Singapore that don’t allow children – shame on you Kuriya!
  • the in-laws now ask with every new dish – was this cooked sous vide?
  • egg yolk-sized spheres are easy to make
  • the Lion King musical rocks.  Go see it.  Seriously.  And if you don’t want, hakuna matata
  • I’m definitely too old to stay out past midnight.
  • there are at least three different types of baby wipes: oil-based, water-based, and for the hands/mouth
  • bacon makes food taste better (not new, but always worth stating)
  • Perla’s pastry makes a fruit tart that’s almost as good as La Farine

So after a hectic month and a weekend chock full of activities, G and I are off to Bali for babymoon, part deux.  Since we both have excess vacation days and we’ll likely not have any time to ourselves in the foreseeable future, now’s the time for a quick getaway to veg on sandy beaches that weren’t man made.  See you all in a week!

Mar 27

Seriously swollen

Ankle-less feet at week 25

During our gynae visit on Friday, the doc expressed concern over my seriously swollen feet. I’d thought it was a common condition in an earlier post and have been told that having swollen feet means that there is enough water for the baby to swim in. However, apparently it is just not normal to have such swollen feet this early in the pregnancy so the doc prescribed me some daflon.

The doc also chided me for wearing shoes that allowed my feet to expand further when I had purposely bought the softest and widest pair of Crocs I could find. It just seemed counter-intuitive to keep my feet in a covered-up shoe but the doc said not only should I switch to sneakers, I should also wear socks to help increase compression! Fortunately, I hadn’t gone out to buy a pair of the soft+wide Crocs in a few different colors just yet.

Mar 26

Week 25 – It runs in the family…

We had our monthly pregnancy checkup on Friday, and G had an urge to see Junior’s face.  In addition to a standard ultrasound, more doctors are now able to perform a “4D” ultrasound scan (not to be confused with the other popular “4D” in Singapore).   In a nutshell, a 4D scan is a moving 3D image (or err video) of your baby.  The same types of sound waves are used, but rather than bouncing the waves directly, they are angled to produce a 3D composite view.

So even at just 25 weeks old, we can see what (and whom) our son looks like.  His nose and forehead definitely take after G (and confirms that it is indeed her child).  And the other “trait” that runs strong in this family is a shyness to photo taking.  The brief glimpse of Junior’s face was the result of some prodding (and poking) by our baby doc to get him to move his arms away from his face.  It really was as if he was trying his best to avoid getting his picture taken (just like mum and dad).  Hopefully, photo-averseness is just temporary, and like our chins will be two traits that won’t run in the family.

Mar 22

Homemade soy milk

Between G’s pregnancy and related respiratory issues, the list of foods that she should avoid is quite long and includes basic staples like chicken and dairy products.  As an alternative to cow milk, she’s been drinking more soy, which has comparable levels of protein but significantly less calcium.  Manufacturers of soy drinks do add vitamins, calcium, to enrich their products but also include chemical additives with unknown effects on pregnancy .  So instead of buying our soy milk at the store, we’ve been enjoying it homemade courtesy of our family friend H.

The home version is way better than any store bought variety and really only takes about an hour of actual labor.

Here’s what you’ll need (makes approx 4-5 litres of soy milk):

  • 1 kg soy beans
  • 1 blender
  • 2 or more cheesecloths
  • pandan leaves (optional)
  • raw cane sugar (optional)

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Mar 20

Haul from a baby fair

We were tipped off on a baby fair at Takashimaya (thank you, I!) and made our way there yesterday with our excel list of eighty or so to-buys. The fair was at the B2 floor open area with a decent crowd. We weren’t sure where to start but decided pretty quickly that the stroller variety was not quite satisfactory. More importantly, we were still a few months away from delivery and didn’t have to rush into buying the big-ticket items just yet.

Still, we made a reasonable dent in our list at the Pigeon booth where we spent slightly over $300 on just baby wipes, nursing pads and a bottle steaming sterilizer pack. According to the recommendations on the list, Pigeon wipes and nursing pads are best value for money.

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Mar 7

Day 156

BabyBump reports: Baby Size ~ 29.2cm (large mango). Baby Weight ~ 0.499kg

Your baby is probably quite active by now and you should be able to feel movement or kicks in your belly. It might even be possible to see the movements on the surface of your skin.

After the crazy worrying about not feeling kicks, our son is finally giving me some action. However, as W would say it, my belly is probably too lined with fats for us to see any movements on the surface of the skin just yet. He kicks a few times a day and sometimes gives a series of kicks around meal times. I’m also getting the feeling that he’s a fussy eater because he makes me puke food out even when they’re not that bad. And it’s not because I’m too full either because the first time I felt him kicking (and it was a series of kicks), I’d eaten A LOT of food including two whole bowls of Zosui (Japanese porridge).

We’re also wrecking our brains trying to think of names for the kid. “Junior” and “Wengr” are probably not going to help him survive high school. Fortunately, the responsibility for coming up with his Chinese name has been assigned to the in-laws.

On a more positive note, we are at least getting some headway with the crazy excel list of things to buy. Categorized according to areas like Feeding, Changing, to Travel etc, we are looking at a big hole in the pocket that we are trying to control by doing as much research as possible before buying. Today, we walked into Motherswork (a local store) and looked at strollers. They didn’t have a lot of models for us to select so we could only really look at the Bugaboo Cameleon and the Stokke Xplory. But more on strollers in another post…

Mar 6

Back support

Carrying a baby in your womb for months is not easy on the back and I’d been feeling lower back pains as early as in my fourth month despite a good night’s rest. So after doing some research on maternity pillows, I found a model that had nearly 500 reviews and a 4-star rating on Amazon. The Leachco Back ‘N Belly retailing at US$58.49 with free shipping.

Thanks to W’s 1k status, he was able to lug a suitcase with just that pillow in addition to his other two suitcases from his last U.S. work trip. And thank goodness for our awesome friend, L, who offered her office address (and got weird looks from her coworkers for all the bulky packages that came through) for my online purchases.

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