Friday, March 2, 2012

March 2012

2 March 2012 I'm very sick today. I've totally lost my voice, I can't even manage a croak. Went ahead to school because I'm rushing syllabus for the kids. Used the physics lab because labs have mics. Felt terrible after 3.5 hours of lessons, so went home very soon after lessons... but still not soon enough to catch the doctor. The clinic downstairs closes at 2pm on Fridays, and I reached home at 2:05pm unfortunately. I didn't feel well enough to go anywhere else, so I rested. MIL made lemon honey for me, which was really sweet and nice of her. Was planning to go out with colleagues for dinner, but in the end I napped until 7+ and luckily the dinner was cancelled because of little positive responses. MIL cooked porridge for me and I've just had porridge. Feeling slightly better in energy, but my throat still hurts super badly and I can't talk at all. Sometimes I feel a little crampy in the ab and that got me worried. But I thought I've read that crampy feeling is due to the uterus expanding, so I hope everything is okay. Going for a baby seminar tomorrow afternoon. I really hope I feel better tomorrow. If I wake up feeling really sore, I may have to go see the doc in the morning before the seminar.

The sore throat is not the only thing that's hurting me now. My eczema is getting really bad too. My neck, underarms, inner elbows and chest are infested with scaly red skin and blistering wounds from my scratches. I know I know... I know damn well I shouldn't scratch but it was just toooooo intolerable!! The heat is totally killing me. My underarms, being the place that perspire super a lot, has been in pain due to open wounds drowned in perspiration. My neck is in a horrible state too. :(


3 March 2012 Went to see doc in the morning. Gotten med for my voice box infection, cough and flaring eczema... cost over 90 bucks. =/ The nice lady doc says I'm not allowed to talk for the next few days and gave me MC for Monday and Tuesday. Was worried for baby because I've been coughing rather vigorously day and night, but doc says since I'm into my 13th week, baby should be quite stable so not to worry. I've signed up for a baby parenting seminar that's happening today and I've been looking forward to it, but I'm not going now... need a lot of rest so better to stay at home. I know this is rather last minute, but anyone interested to go in my place?

1pm: Hubby's nephews came. His sister very good... youngest son with my MIL, who doesn't have a choice but to bring him along for her hairwash in Chinatown (yes yes, she's a pampered lady who only has her hair wash-and-blow in Chinatown on every weekend) then just sent the 2 elder boys over to my place as hubby and I are not going for the seminar anymore... I was watching TV, the only cable TV at home. The moment they arrived, without asking they switched the TV to the Kinect and started playing the gruesome and bloody game Assassin Creed. =( I hate watching them play that game as it's really bloody... like if you cut a person with the sword, blood will splatter out all over until he fell over on the floor. When I accidentally saw it on the TV screen I squirmed, but the boys will laugh. URGH. I guess SIL must be happily shopping alone right now... as her hubby's overseas at the moment. But again, probably she's appreciating the me-time. Maybe next time I'd love to have someone else babysit for me and have my own me-time too as I'm someone who really treasure my private moments.

Next week onwards I'll be home alone for over 3 weeks... plenty of me-time. Hubby will be overseas for work from 5th to 28th March, and PILs will be going over to SIL's place to help her with her chores and her 3 sons as her hubby's also overseas for work. Unfortunately my term break is packed, otherwise I would really love to be staying at my folks' place back in the west. Any dinner kaki who can join me in the northeast region of Singapore on school days? Text me or leave a message here! =)

5 March 2012 On 2-day MC. Decided to utilize the MC that the doc gave me as I have not recovered and I still have no voice to talk. I know I really need to rest my poor neglected body, and not just ignore the MCs like in the past. I just hate to miss lessons. Frankly I'm not gonna miss the students, but the syllabus is so tight that once I miss a lesson it's almost guaranteed that I'll need to have make up lessons, or rush like crazy and risk the students not understanding a single thing I've taught. I hate that.

Hubby left early this morning at 4+ and I woke up when he kissed me goodbye before he left. After he left I cried. I miss him already! I know I've been looking forward to my me-time but reality hits me late and hard... I'll be on my own for the rest of the month... no one to sayang me when I'm in pain or had a bad day, and no one to fetch me for work or dinners or gynae appointments. Furthermore my term break is totally packed and I will have no time to rest. My only rest day is Friday, and I have a gynae appointment at 9:40am. This will be a super sucky March. =(

6 March 2012 Going to a gynae nearby for ultrascan... just to check that baby is okay after my vigorous coughing all day and all night. It's gonna cost at least $190... money spent just to have a peace of mind. Sigh. It's tough to be pregnant! I hope I won't fall sick again. My throat is still sore and my voice has not recovered. Please please please, let me get well soon!

After seeing gynae: The doctor says that pregnant women will take longer to recover and whenever I try to talk, the swollen sores on my throat will rub against one another and worsen, so I'm not allowed to talk. I've heard that, yes. And she gave me 3 more days of MC?! When I tried to explain to her about my school's level-wide programme (no lessons for the last 3 days of term 1) and I'm not going to teach, she just told me that I should stop talking, and should sleep all the time for my throat to recover. (o_O)!! And she told me to help myself recover, I should not drink anything cold (I've been taking cold HL milk and there's still some in my fridge, think I'd have to microwave before I drink or mix with hot Horlicks, just bought instant Horlicks on the way back) and also should not wear shorts... (-_-") I wore shorts to the clinic, yes. She also gave me more lozenges, more cough syrup, and vitamin C pills. On a positive note, the baby is doing fine and dancing away in the ultrascan. It's now 10.8 cm. =) Time to snooze and be a good girl. ^^

Later: Home alone and cooked my own dinner - a small serving of porridge with diced potato (more potato than rice! ><) and chopped ginger, and heat up some frozen mock siew mai.


7 March 2012 Today was back in school. HOD spoken to me about MCs and stuff, told me not to slip even when I'm pregnant as it may affect me and I may risk getting into a D area, although he assured me I'm nowhere near now. HOD told me he's speaking to me because my RO's very concerned. My RO is a very nice lady and she really cares a lot for her subordinates so I can totally imagine her freaking out when I take MC in the past 2 days, and ask my HOD what to do about it. Because yes, in my school, MC may affect where you stand in ranking. RO's out to KL, the trip which I was supposed to go but was pulled out when the HOD in charge of the trip get to know that I'm pregnant. Good thing now that I'm not going, I'm still sick and they are already in KL now! Did went to school early to send the students and teachers off though... their buses left school at 6:30am this morning. Managed to cope through the day without raising my voice as I was just sitting in at workshops conducted by external vendors... however the facilitators in the class I'm attached to were not able to keep the hyper NT class engaged and they were really restless and noisy towards the end of the day.

After school left soon after 2pm, one of the earliest I've left school. Went to nearby foodcourt for lunch with 3 colleagues, one is pregnant and due next month. She was telling me about how wonderful the Dreamgenii pillow is as it helped her sleep soundly. So now I'm glad I've ordered it on Gmarket after reading about the raves... spent $105 for the pillow and $28 for the pillow cover. She bought the pillow without the cover at $159 off the shelf. Some forumers bought it at $130 off the shelf after discount. Waiting for it to arrive. =)

Went home to nap after lunch and took quite long to fall asleep. I believe it's already 5pm when I eventually slept, and I woke up at 8. I had the rudest shock of my life when I woke up... I thought it's 8am and I'm late for work! Almost gave me a heart attack... seriously?! Yes it's only 8pm... right, time to make myself some dinner... it's really getting late now!

Later: Made vegetaran fish soup today... taste more like tomato soup though, overwhelmed with lettuce and tomato!


8 March 2012 Happy International Women's Day! Took this photo this morning...


Yellow one is for my throat inflammation, orange one is Vitamin C given by the gynae 2 days ago, black one is flaxseed oil to replace fish oil, white one is folic acid, and red one is prenatal supplement. Have finished all those antibiotics, anti-cough, anti-pain, anti-itch, anti-congestion pills etc... but I'm still not well! *sob* In addition to these, I have calcium pills (was instructed not to take together with the red pills thus not in pic), lozenges and cough syrup.

9 March 2012 Going into another bout of depressionist period. On the LRT platform at Punggol while on the way home, was coughing so badly that I was literally seeing stars. I had to force myself to stop coughing so that I will not vomit, and I can actually see properly... but hard to hold, keep coughing on and off nonstop... been coughing all day and all night. Was imagining if I was standing near the edge and cough until see stars and fell off into the track, tomorrow's headlines maybe "pregnant teacher blah blah blah"... but then again I think too highly of myself. Definitely I'm not the kind of material to appear in the headlines. Anyway... I was thinking so morbid that I updated my Facebook: "Fall sick + expecting = deadly combo... After 3 weeks, 3 docs n at least 12 different kinds of meds, i'm still coughing madly till seeing stars. on the verge of throwing myself out of the window..." If not, onto the tracks. Hope this new bout of emo-ness goes away soon. I'm too busy for this! Tomorrow I'm bringing students out for competition, Monday and Tuesday going for workshop at my CCA's HQ. Wednesday and Thursday will be spent in school, with Wednesday night possibly spent in school. And finally, Friday will be my next gynae appointment. By the end of term break and all those buzz, I will also be expected to have set 4 papers - sec 2, sec 3 combined science, sec 3 pure science (all 3 MYE papers) and a standardized test. What a term break. I seriously wish I have a real break.

March ought to be happy, but so far it's been a really whiny month for me.

11 March 2012 Yesterday was a bad day... just the earlier part of it though. I was whining so much about it. I left home and realized that I have totally forgotten to put anything on my face. No sunblock or moisturizer, and so my naked face is exposed to all elements of the weather, and it's a freaking hot day! On bus, I coughed so much that other passengers didn't dare to sit next to me, staring at me like I'm gonna give them TB or something. And I coughed so hard that I kinda peed a little... I could feel the warm dampness between my legs... disgusting! And I was on my way to school, to bring the students out for competition. Being the only teacher around, I won't be able to run away to get disposable underwear or something. So just bearing with it in my babydoll dress... luckily not stinky. Urgh! Coughed like mad on the bus to the competition ground, until I teared. I guess when on buses, the aircon makes my throat ticklish so I couldn't help it but coughed nonstop throughout the journey. =(

Finally the competition was over, the students were good, and we were back in school, dropped out things back into the CCA room, and locked up the school once more. I took the cab back to my parents' place... and once again, yes... coughing like crazy! Once I'm back... I'm a happy girl! My mum made super yummy lotus root soup. She hasn't made the soup for ages and I super miss it! I was just missing it in the past few weeks so it came as a pleasant surprise. That really made my day! I have the most fantabulous mum~ *LOVE*

This morning woke up coughing... was only 6am in the morning... at 7+ I overheard on the radio (958, which my parents tune into as long as they're at home and not watching TV) this DJ talking about kids and supplements. My mum loves the station for being very informative and she's learned a lot from the radio station. This morning the DJ was talking about how supplements like calcium and royal jelly can adversely affect the growth of a child and many parents, being too ganjiong, feed their kids with too much such "good stuff" but in the end is sabotaging their kid's growth and health. Keywords are still "eat a balanced diet"...

Mum asked me how I want to celebrate my birthday (tomorrow), and where do I want to go for a family meal together. I thought I'd love something really simple this time, and told her to just cook mee sua for me. In the end she put together this for lunch. *LOVE*


Mee sua with my favourite lettuce (which have turned yellow due to soaking in the hot soup) and 2 hardboiled eggs! I asked if anyone wanted to share my 2 hardboiled eggs, but my mum said it's okay, I'm pregnant plus it's for my birthday, so I can take 2 eggs. Apparently some of her friends used to take 10 hardboiled eggs a day when they were pregnant! It was their form of 'supplement' in the past, and both mothers and children are doing well and healthy even now, so my mum says there should be no problem. Hee.

13 March 2012 Yesterday was my birthday. It is now 7am in the morning. I logged in wanting to update about yesterday but there's also some work to be done before I rush out for my workshop and ended up... no time. I'll be back, some day soon!

18 March 2012 It's been a crazy busy week. Holiday? Where's my holiday? =( My birthday came and pass in a blink of an eye. Here's just a summary of the week.

Monday: My birthday. Workshop from 0830-1730, then met some friends for dinner at Medzs, Orchard Central.


Tuesday: Workshop from 0830-1730, then back to school for dinner, campfire and supper.

Wednesday: CCA camp, out with cadets or in school the entire day but didn't stay overnight. Dinner alone at Koufu near school.

Thursday: CCA camp, out with cadets the entire day. Was out with cadets and our guest delegates from Japan for a cultural and city tour in the day. One of the stops was at Little India where many of them get henna art on the back of their hands... there are many sample pictures being displayed and I saw one... wonder if any one will do this on your baby bump?


Met 3 close colleagues for dinner at Suntec Food Fair... our version of ladies' night! =P 4 ladies and 3 girls (a colleague's daughters as she couldn't find help to look after them) dining out together. But seriously don't go. Totally not worth going. I had chwee kwey, portuguese egg tart, yam cake, sweet potato fries. Nothing unique or fascinating there.


Friday: Gynae check early in the morning. Gynae said my baby's doing well, 70% princess, and super hyperactive that he has difficulty scanning because she's constantly moving around! Cousin accompanied me and then we had lunch at Cedele, browsed around at Taka Baby Fair and cab down to her place to chill a bit. For lunch, we shared a large pumpkin soup, an ariabatta pasta and vegetarian patties made from beetroot and legumes. Every dish was great!


 At my cousin's place, I was so tired I fell asleep while she played various games in her Wii. I was carrying this super heavy haversack filled with TYS, laptop, supplements, more supplements from doc after gynae check, other medications and stuff. The bag easily weighed more than any toddler, closely rivalling the haversack I carried when I went backpacking last December. And it's giving me very sore shoulders and upper back. =/ I wonder what will happen in future when I have to carry baby and other stuff.

Went back to my parents' place. My mum remembered me mentioning my craving for fish soup and she made yummy vegetarian fish soup specially for me! I definitely feel loved and pampered everytime I'm back at my parents' place. Love my family to bits!

Saturday: Had breakfast with my brother and his girlfriend... I had vegetarian wanton meepok from my childhood all the time favourite vegetarian noodle stall near my parents' place, while my baby bro had laksa.


At home and supposed to be setting paper. Not in the mood. OMG I'm so screwed! Gotta set MYE papers for sec 2 Exp/NA physics, sec 3 Exp combined science - physics, and sec 3 Exp pure science physics Paper 2, plus a sec 2 Exp/NA standardized test paper. Sad. Dinner was at a coffeeshop near my baby bro's new place. He has explored the place and found this really good vegetarian tze-char stall. He offered a treat to the whole family, and also treating it as a belated birthday treat for me. The food was super good! I wanna go back there to eat often!
 

Sunday: Today. Morning went to sao-mu. Had this dull achy cramp in my abs when we alighted from taxi, it was so bad I could hardly walk... felt just like one of those horrible menstrual cramps that I had. Is this normal? After sao-mu, went home and everytime I sat down will have mild cramp, and once stood up from sitting position will hurt more. I hate this, I haven't really started setting my papers! =( I just napped for a while hoping that the cramp will go away, now it's around 2:30pm and feeling slightly better... better start working on my papers now.

19 March 2012 Home alone, burdened with tonnes of work and falling sick (cough has not gone and here comes the flu, nose dripping all day and sneezing all the time) is bad enough. Received news 30 minutes ago that my grandmother has passed away, and been crying ever since. I know it's a relief for her, but I can't help it. Maybe it's being alone and being sick and overbearing workload and this piece of news coming together all at once, making me crumble... I cry, I stop, then I cry again... Will be going to school with swollen eyes tomorrow morning. And tomorrow afternoon I'm conducting a teacher-led workshop at AST. Wednesday afternoon is beach cleaning with my cadets. Everyday is packed and with 4 papers to set... Suddenly feel like I can't handle all these anymore.

23 March 2012 Today is the funeral and cremation of my beloved grandmother. I've lost count of how many times I've cried today. After everything, I went home to nap, then I woke up and I cried again. Now I'm really looking forward to seeing my hubby tomorrow... after 3 long weeks, handling all the ups and downs alone. My cough shows no sign of leaving me, the phelgm's getting thick and green again, my nose is still dripping... and my voice is super hoarse right now. With assignments to mark, papers to set, sickness to deal with and a lost to cope while on my own, my pregnancy is the last thing on my mind right now.

25 March 2012 Hubby was back yesterday. We went out for dinner with his parents and spent a bomb at Imperial Treasure at Tampines One, thereafter we spent another bomb at Uniqlo where I bought some really nice and comfy undies... bought 2 the other time and fell in love, really stretchy and comfortable even for my expanding tummy, thus went to buy more. Hubby's in love with Uniqlo boxers too, and we spent close to a hundred at Uniqlo.

Still coughing madly and MIL has been making this 止咳汤 (anti-cough soup?) with ingredients from medical hall... just chanced upon this website from a motherhood forum... http://www.howtostopacough.org hope it can help!

28 March 2012 It's a mad day. I'm constantly hungry... OMG! I had beehoon AND glutinous rice for breakfast, honey (from a sweet colleague) and muffin (from another sweet colleague) during recess time after 2 hours of teaching, mee rebus and milo at 11am after another 1 hour of teaching, 白木耳糖水 and a mini cupcake at 2pm after 1 last hour of teaching and 1 more hour of assembly, some biscuits near 4pm and still feeling starved after the biscuits... fortunately a sweet colleague (Yet another one! I have lots of sweet colleagues!) messaged me that she's running errand outside school and in the end she kindly gotten kaya waffles from Prima Deli for me and another colleague. I just ate it, it's 4:45pm now and I'm still hungry!!! I messaged my hubby and he said baby is a hungry hippo... ><