Items Purchased

Greetings! It has been a while since I wrote.  Very sorry about being delinquent.  Blogging does need a discipline.  Well it is the last day of the year, Dec 31st 2008. As the year comes to an end, do I ponder about the past and reflect.  I guess some but now to reality of looking forward.

As for the shopping list, it is quite done.  So where did we get out stuff.  We were lucky enough to end up being able to purchase the items from overseas due to a correct timing.  My apologies for those who have to get it locally.  We did go do price comparison at various shops, like ToysRUS, Toycity, Parkson Grand, Jaya Jusco, Mothercare, Sunshine, Giant, Tesco, Bebe.  We visited some of the smaller shops that sell baby stuff in Penang and Bukit Mertajam.  What we found was that it was costly for the items we were looking for?  The US made items were really expensive and so were the imported items from European countries.  Even the local made items, though cheaper would set us back a few thousand ringgits in total.  We were blessed with 2 things,  I was able to travel the US in October and Ai Ling had an ex-colleague who was relocating from the US to Malaysia who was kind enough to offer us to bring some baby items back.  We ended up purchasing the following items:

• Baby stroller and car seat, we settled for the COMBI brand.
• Fisher Price Rainforest baby play gym, play mobile, snack tray and booster seat.
• Fisher Price Nature’s Touch Papasan Cradle Swing.
• Safety 1st space saver bath tub.
• Medela Single Deluxe Electric Breast Pump and milk storage bags
• Dr Brown baby feeding bottle and teats
• Graco Ultraclear II Baby Monitor
• Baby bibs and baby clothing.

Another thing is to start shopping around for baby nappies, you can start checking the pricing and wait for the sales to buy and stock up on the nappies.

Well, that is all for now and Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Finding an obstetrician! (con’t)

Greeting everyone! I hope this blog finds you and family blessed this Christmas. In case you are wondering what the surprise finding is in Khai’s previous post ( Finding an obstetrician! ), read on! Our so-called surprise is that the least sought after (at least from our survey) has turned out to be the most reliable so far. We have not come across anyone who went to General Hospital to see an obstetrician when we asked around and all we had in mind is that it must be a long queue to see a specialist in GH. Apparently, the facts has proved us wrong and we feel sorry of the ignorance and the mis-perception. :p I would share on how well they take care of us in a bit and really encourage you to approach the facility near you.

I first came to the government owned medical service through the community clinic near our place. Back in the very early stage of the pregnancy, I was down with high fever and it lasted for about 2 weeks. One of the possible root causes of it was the dengue fever and I was asked to take the blood test of platelet count every day until the fever is gone. Obviously, the Poliklinik Bayan Lepas, which is less than 1 km away from our house, is the nearest and most convenient for me to go for the blood test. Since then, I also went back to them for regular pre-natal follow-up even after my fever was settled down, although I did go back to see Dr Voon regularly.

I found that the follow-up at the government clinic and Dr Voon’s clinic has complement each other very well in my case because they surface out the issues very early in the pregnancy and get our attention to work on before it’s too late. I was offered the blood test on every visit to the Poliklinik, whereas I have only done once with Dr Voon on the 13th week. The blood test did show that I have anemia in pregnancy with very low Hb. The Poliklinik also supplied me with all the necessary vitamin supplements and monitored my condition closely. One of them is the Iberet, by Abbott, which fixes my problem very effectively. Praise God, I’m back to normal now.

One of the service that we don’t get from the Poliklinik at the early stage is the ultrasound scanning. However, we do get to see the scanning of the baby on our visits to Dr Voon’s clinic instead. The scan also indicates that I have uterine fibroids. With that, the medical officer in poliklinik refered me to the O&G specialist in GH. That is how I ended up in GH.

Well, time  to catch a sleep for mum & baby.;)  I’ll write more about my experience with GH in the upcoming post.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas!  Well it is Christmas now as it is 1 am in this part of the world.  I would like to wish all who read this a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.  The Lord’s blessing is upon all of us who receives and believes in him.

So just another update here on what is happening with us.  We went to see the obstetrician today for our 20th week checkup on Christmas eve.  So after doing the ultrasound, the doctor says it is very likely to be a GIRL!  Yahoo, my wish came true today.  Actually I wanted a girl and Ai Ling wanted a boy.  I got my wish but the doctor says that we can only be sure the delivery day itself.  Well, looking back in our family we have only 1 boy and 6 girls, so this makes it 7 girls now and I think it is most likely a girl.  My brother has 3 girls, my sister 1 boy and 1 girl and my other sister 2 girls.  I feel happy now as this news is the best Christmas present for me.  

Why do I prefer a girl, because in my observations nowadays in Malaysia, a daughter is better as they do tend to be around more with their parents.  There seems to be role reversal.  In the past, sons are expected to look after their parents, well the eldest one bears this responsibility.  In this day and age, it does not seem to be that true anymore.  I am the youngest in my family.  It seems that nowadays, the boy spends more time with the in-laws then at his own parents place.  I realize this to be true also not only for me but my other male friends (the married ones) that I know of and talk to.   The mostly likely reason is daughter and mother will get along better than daughter-in-law and mother-in-law.  I am not trying to stereotype here but that holds true in most cases but I do see situations where daughter-in-law gets along fine with mother-in-law.  I see this in my cousin-in-law’s case where she lives with her mother-in-law.  The typical saying “1 mountain cannot have 2 tigress” does hold true in most cases.   

But this is not entirely true also as there is always some situations that happen that would say “Hey! that is not true to what you are writing here”.  There are situations where daughters do get married and move out of the country with their husband.  Well, this holds true in the situation of YIN and YANG.  

Anyways, I am happy but will hold back full happiness until this coming May 2009.  I will end here now and again to every one a BLESSED MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Shopping List (con’t)

The shopping list is about almost done. The remaining item would be what to bring to the hospital on the special day.

Items to bring to hospital:

1. Clothing for the mom and undergarments.  At least 2 to 3 sets.
2. Maternity pads
3. Baby clothing for the newborn
4. Disposable underwear
5. Instant milk drink, horlicks or milo 3-in-1
6. Biscuits
7. Toiletries – tooth brush, toothpaste, towel, soap, cleanser, moisturizer, powder, comb
8. Disposable diapers for the newborn
9. Handphone and charger
10. Book to read for prolonged labor
11. Tissue paper
12. Purse and money.

Well that is all the list we made.  Hope it helps.

Shopping List (con’t)

Good Morning! It is 6:30 am on the weekend of Dec 20 2008.  Why am I up so early, can’t seem to sleep past 6:30 am everyday if I go to sleep at 11 pm.  Anyways not to bore you further.  The continuation of the shopping list:

Baby Clothing: (depending on whether a boy or girl but I will make a generic list)

1. Baby Hat to keep the head warm (I know we live in a hot climate but we do go into air condition places)
2. Mitten and booties.  Mitten are good for preventing the baby for accidentally scratching themselves.
3. Baby tops.
4. Baby singlets.
5. Baby pants, long and short.
6. Baby skirts for girls.
7. Leggings to keep legs warm
8. Pajamas for sleeping
9. Baby coveralls when going out
10. Baby jacket
11. Bips (Try to look for the ones with the food catcher so that you don’t have to pick up food off the floor.)
12. Baby nappy.  (Get the disposable one or the cloth one if you are into washing)

Note: If the clothing have buttons, do look for the ones where the embedded button base so that it does not scratch the baby too much as their skin is sensitive.

Baby feeding:

1. Milk bottles (2 small bottles, one for milk and the other for water).  If you get the plastic ones, try to get BPA free ones.
2. Baby teats, get the one that is like the natural breast tit.
3. Pacifier 
4. Milk formula container (Get the 3 to 4 compartment ones for each feeding)
5. Bottle brush for cleaning, get 2 size, one big and one small
6. Bottle sterilizer (Just use a pot and boil the water or you can get the one that is electric or microwavable)
7. Baby warmer (Not necessary as we don’t live in a cold climate)
8. Privacy cover for public breast feeding when you are outside.  (There are special made ones but a large size cloth will do).
9. Breast pump.  
10. Breast milk container to keep the breast milk in the fridge or freezer.

For Mum:

1. Maternity clothing – look at Jusco or Tesco
2. Maternity bra and nursing bra (Jusco or Tesco)
3. Disposable panties after delivery
4. Sarong after delivery
5. Sanitary napkins after delivery

Finding an obstetrician!

Hello!  I am starting this topic which I hope my wife will continue as it would be more of her area of expertise to provide information.

Definition of Obstetrician:

An obstetrician is a physician that specializes in caring for pregnant women through childbirth.  Many obstetricians also train as gynecologists so they are able to give medical advice and treatment concerning a woman’s reproductive system.

An obstetrician closely monitors their patient’s health during pregnancy and delivery. They diagnose fetus abnormalities or health issues of their patient and offer healthy living advice and treatment. They see their patients on a regular basis for health consultations, ultrasounds and any of their patient’s prenatal medical needs including forming a birth plan. The frequency of a patients check up often depends on risk factors and resources.

So we went on our search to find an obstetrician.  The list of hospitals we reviewed in Penang were:

1. Gleneagles Medical Center
2. Loh Guan Lye Specialist Center
3. Adventist Hospital
4. Lam Wah Ee Hospital
5. Pantai Medical Center
6. Island Hospital

Firstly to decide on is whether your spouse is comfortable with a male or female obstetrician.  That does basically eliminates certain hospitals.   Ai Ling prefers a female doctor.

Secondly, decide on which doctor you wish to have.  You have to gather this information by asking around, mainly from those who have gone through childbirth but not too long ago also.  Do be careful with too much information as it does make decision harder.  There will be always one negative remark about any doctor from the pool you draw from normally.

Thirdly, decide on which hospital delivery package you want to take according to your budget.  This also will have impact on the doctor you will select as the hospital with the package you want might not have the doctor you want and vice versa.

Do take note of the items in the delivery package, some hospitals provide a  detail list and some do not, some also charge extra for weekend delivery or public holiday delivery.  Make a comparison chart.   There are the 3 types of delivery considerations: normal, doctor assisted and caesarean.  The former is lowest cost and later is highest cost.  You have to also find out about the doctor delivery preference, some advocates normal delivery, some caesarean.  I don’t think I have to suggest which one is the preferred choice but it is up to the individual couples, more so the wife basically decides.

Also narrow down to 2 or 3 doctors to go see and visit them to get a feel about them yourself.  This might incur some cost but it would be well worth the money spent as it gives you a change to talk to the doctor and find out more about them.

Well, Ai Ling wanted a female doctor so that limited our choices which basically eliminated Lam Wah Ee as all the doctors there were male.  We found the package cost to be high for Gleneagles, Adventist charged extra for delivery on Saturday and public holidays, Island hospital package were considered high also.  So this left us with Loh Guan Lye and Pantai.  We did not really like Pantai even though it was the nearest to our house.  The reason being that the way the doctor clinics are setup are that though they were located in the hospital, they were not part of the hospital and charged separately from the hospital.  Biggest problem is they want cash as informed by Ai Ling.  We did go to see the one doctor there but he does not do delivery and recommended another female doctor.   So we ended up in Loh Guan Lye finally and with Dr Voon who is the female doctor there.  The other doctor is Dr Nicholas Loh and his father.  Only Dr Voon and Dr Nicholas Loh offer delivery package.   We went to visit Dr Voon and found her to be pleasant, friendly, cheerful and bubbly.  She seems to be as excited as Ai Ling during the scanning.  So we decided for her to be the Obstretician of choice.

Next post I or rather Ai Ling will share a surprise finding with you all.

Shopping List (con’t)

Today’s Shopping List covers baby bedding and bathing stuff.
Bedding:

1. Baby mattress – depends on the size of the baby cot or bed you are using.  Type of mattress is mostly the rubber (cooling) type.  I would recommend the memory foam as I read that it reduces flat head on the back of the head.  I found only 1 place that can make memory foam and it is located in KL. Not sure how much it cost.  Will update with address later on.
2. Pillow and bolster.  Need extra ones for those who use the normal bed to prevent the baby from rolling off the bed.
3. Baby blanket.  Flannel blankets.
4. Mattress protector to protect against baby wetting.  Can use a rubber mat.

Bathing:

1. Bath tub.  Ensure the tub has an anti-slip mat in it to prevent the baby from slidding down.
2. Baby shower gel.
3. Baby powder
4. Baby lotion
5. Baby oil
6. Baby rash cream.
7. Baby wipes
8. Face towel
9. Bath towel.  Get the hooded one as to prevent the heat loss from the head during bathing.  Preferable an oversized towed also.
10. Hand towel
11. Cotton pads to clean the face
12. Cotton buds to clear the ear

That is about it for now.  Have a great day.

Shopping List

This is the start of our shopping list.  It grew to be quite long after we started collecting information from brochures, friends and the internet.  Sometimes we end up with over-information, in this days of the internet, sadly that happens.  So, we will start the shopping list in some categorized format.  I start of with the easiest category.

Equipment for the baby (Newborn)

1. Stroller.  We decided to get the travel system type which incorporated stroller and baby car seat capsule.
2. Baby Car Seat.  We decided to get the capsule type that fits in the car base for easy removal.
3. Bag for baby stuff, preferable a bag with several compartments.  We just thought of using a normal backpack.
4. Baby changing mat (portable – to be used outside of home environment)
5. Baby thermometer, preferable the digital type, either the normal one or the one for the ear.
6. Nasal aspirator, battery operated.  I have not used this but thought it would be better than the manual one.
7. Baby mobile.
8. Baby cot, we decided not to get the baby cot but to use a close and secure sleeper for newborn and then pillows as the baby grows bigger.
9. Baby bath tub.
10. Baby feeding bottle.  Try to get the BPA free one if possible.  In Malaysia, not many shops list BPA free items.  So best to check out the internet for BPA free brands and shop for the brands.
11. Electric breast pump.  We were told that the manual one takes longer and needs energy to manage the pump.
12. Baby cradle swing, we decided for this after being informed of its usefulness by parents that used them.
13. Baby sling carrier.
14. Baby monitor, you can get the digital audio or video one.  We just got the audio one.  
15. Memory foam mattress to prevent flat head syndrome.
16. Baby Play Gym.

Eqiupment for baby (18 months onwards)

1. Car Booster Seat (as the baby gets bigger, mostly required in the from 18 months onwards depending on size of baby)
2. Baby Booster Seat (used for feeding, 18 months onwards).  We got the one that fits on a chair.

Note: Do check back occasionally as we will update the list as we go on.

Why are we blogging?

So, why are we blogging? Well, we thought of sharing our findings about pregnancy in Malaysia, how it is managed and handled from our perspective and to share information with others who would find it useful. The other thing is to document the birth of our child and to share the events leading up to the birth so the child would know. In this days of technological advancement, things seems easier. We hope the information we share here would be useful and helpful to others.

So after we found out about the good news, well, Ai Ling started to make a list of things to get. The quick items we could identify were: stroller, car seat, feeding bottle, play gym, baby mobile, booster seat, electric breast pump. We made a list and also obtained a list from some friends who were also expecting. So we will post the list later on.

After we made the list, we started to find out the places to go and get these items. The only malls we know of in Penang were the Queensbay Mall and Gurney Plaza Mall. We checked out shops like Mothercare, Parkson Grand, ToysRUs, Toy City in Gurney Plaza and Jusco, ToysRUs in Queensbay Mall. We also checked out other shops like Sunshine Square in Bayan Baru township, Tesco. We went to the AEON Seberang Prai to see the newly open Jusco Store there, it is located at Bandar Perda on the mainland. It was fun shopping around but we finally came to realize the next reality that dawned, the cost of the items. From the information we gathered and also about the features of the items, the cost was growing into the thousands of ringgits. So we just gathered the list and the cost but did not buy anything yet.

The journey begins…

Greetings Everyone. This is the start of our blog. We are starting a bit late but better late than never to start at all.

It all began on Sept 8 2008, I got an SMS from Ai Ling (my wife) saying the test is positive. I had suspected earlier on already, call it whatever but I felt and knew she was expecting. So begins the journey then with her saying “We are Pregnant”. Sounds odd is it not but nonetheless with this day and age of words, she wanted it that way. I felt odd on that statement as I am a guy and probably a little old fashion. Anyways for support I let it be.

How do I feel? Joyful and also scared that I have to be a parent and also to grow up now hee! hee! but I am still me and I guess I will never grow up.

So now what to plan? That is a good question. As with all Project Managers, I asked her to make a checklist. So the journey begins