(2013/11) November 2013


With my #1, my gynae pkg only starts from 5 mths and it cost me $2K. At that time i thought it was the market rate as i didn't do any research.
I wanted convenience & that gynae has a night clinic near my place so i went ahead.

For my current preg, my previous gynae stopped his night consultations, so i switched to another one also near my place.
And to my surprise his pkg is only $650 starting from 4 mths.. i felt so overcharged for the 1st round.

My friend's gynae charges $750 from 3 mths including supplements except fish oil. i think pretty gd pkg but i'm lazy to travel.

But so far i am comfy with my current gynae.. just that this time round i will most prob deliver at Glen E instead of Mt A.
My friend just shared with me, a 1-bedded at Glen E total cost is $6.5k before deductions.
 
Fuzzybear, network still down. XXX should compensate all the agencies lor. waste of manhours.

kayliz, in 2011, i paid around 6k (one bedder, natural birth) after medisave deduction. not before.

hawkers like to black face whenever you remind them you want to tabao instead of eating in. then they say, y never say earlier. it's you never hear properly loh. spoil my lunch mood.
 
Hi mummies... hope all had a good weekend. I went for my OSCAR test last Friday. I reached the TMC level 4 clinic at 7.45am and was second on the queue to take queue number. Subsequently, there were a long queue forming. So glad that my gynae clinic nurse told me for walk-in patient try to be there at 7.30am because there are always queue before the clinic opens at 8am. By 10am I'm done with the Oscar test as well as seeing my gynae. My gynae clinic nurse has called to inform me that OSCAR result is low risk but didn't elaborate the range of low risk category.

Re: gynae package. I was informed to take up the package during my 1st gynae visit which was at 10 weeks of pregnancy. I paid 50% of the total delivery package which includes consultation, basic scanning and urine test up to delivery. The remaining 50% will be paid after delivery.
 
Kayliz: ur $2K is not alot.. my fren told me he paid for his wife's package.. not including hospital charges.. but should be including delivery..not sure wat kind of delivery thou. and visits from week 12.. $4.5K!!!!! wooo~~~
 
oops I suddenly can't remember which mummy is also seeing Dr. James Lee, same as me..
but if I never remember wrongly the package is from 12 weeks, $700 or $750 inclusive of supplements and 14 visits.
 
Hi Silver.. It's me!! I am also seeing Dr James Lee. Yes his package is $700 from week 12 onwards but I am not sure whether it is inclusive of supplements. Tomorrow I will be going down for my OSCAR test and maybe I will check with the clinic assistant about the package.
 
Oh no.. i totally forgot we r not supposed to move furniture during pregnancy.. i just bought a new shoe cabinet and need to dismantle my current one (which is fixed on the wall).
The new cabinet will arrive at my house on Wed and tomorrow i will be removing the existing one.
How!!!! At first i thought can just MIA till everything is done then go home but i read too much that we shouldn't and now i very paranoid!
And i cant possibly delay the delivery until i give birth.. zzz
 
winkle - yes, include epidural. anyway, epidural only a few hundred dollars (if i recall correctly), it wont increase the total price significantly lar. im one of those who don't bother to try to experience the pain. If medical science can offer me relieve from pain, why be so hard on myself.

kayliz, i think it depends on your gynae's delivery charges as well. I recall mine was around 3k plus. If yours doesnt charge so much, then 1 bedder is still affordable.
 
hahaha.. dont read too much la.. i also need to re-shuffle my room in order to accomodate baby cot lei... if i don throw away old drawers..no space for baby cot..
 
SN: yayaya.. im not planning to go thru any pain during birth as well.. as painless as possible...lolz.. don wanna traumatised myself coz my treshold for pain is 1.. i can endure jabbing.. lolz..
 
I paid $6.5K after subsidies for c-sec and 2 bedder at Glen E last year. very ex hor.. personally i just tell myself that it is for 2-3 nights, not worth paying so much for it. after all u can't really slp well cos nurses will be checking on u and sending baby to u to bf every 3hrs. so just tahan in a 2 bedder lor. I will probably do the same for #3 too. Oh ya, do check u bill very carefully when u leave! I realised Glen E overcharged me by 10K cos the ward nurses keyed in too many zeros for some cotton buds that i used. I used 3 boxes, they keyed in 3000!!! crazy!

Wah sey, all ur pkgs are so affordable.. like i said i already paid abt 3-4K... and i haven't even reach 2nd trim!
 
fuzzybear: my hubby too, told me to stick to 2-bedded since it is only 2 nites. but i didnt have a gd experience sharing with another mummy for my 1st child even in a 2-bedded. well, will see my luck this time round if i chose a 2-bedded.

winkle: i super scared of jabs. my #1 also with epidural.. only blood test i not scared.
 
haha fuzzybear, as long as your little darling is safe and sound, the money is well spent! you spent so much cos of your recent scare in HKG right. I have already spent $1.2k. My package starts at wk 16 and cost $1600, supplements excluded and delivery charges excluded.
 
Kayliz, i had very gd experiences both times i gave birth using double bedders. in fact for my c-sec at Glen E, Day 1 and 2 i was all alone so it was like a single bedder to me. because my hb doesn't stay over with me, i m not too particular abt what happens unless the next bed has super noisy visitors!

Ooooh i hated the epidural! i think gg for c-sec is the worst! at least when u deliver naturally, u will be in some pain when u do ur epidural. In elective c-sec, u are perfectly well and sane and when the needle goes into ur spine.. *shudders* i take naturally delivery over c-sec any day! I went natural without epi for my #1. the recovery time was so much faster!

SN, ya lor.. not just the HK trip cos I haven't added in the 2K spent on medical bills in HK! it's mostly the jabs and the meds. Each jab is $80 and i do it twice a week since wk 7. then i m on dusphaston which is super ex..
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but anything for this baby man..

Winkle, hahaha wasn't funny when we saw the bill! cos Glen E package for c-sec 2 bedder was $2,888. plus my gynae's 4K and anesthetist's bill, it was estimated to be abt 7+K before subsidies at most. when we saw 18K we were like WTF! insisted that they call and check when did i use 3000 packs of cotton balls!
 
hahaha.. think i will ask my hubby buy cotton balls from watson and use..cheaper..lolz...

by the way i dont even dare to try natural without Epi.. scary~~~
 
I don't think the hospital will allow that. Because they are afraid that the cotton balls are contaminated. they can only use those from their supply, prepacked in some airtight container. they don't want u to get secondary infection esp if u have had an episiotomy.

Actually i went natural without epi because i passed out from the pethedine thigh jab.. :p i m sensitive to certain opiates.. was completely knocked out and my attending nurse panicked like hell. hahaa.. i did rem screaming for epidural but by then i was already 7cm dilated when i passed out.. baby came out 1hr later.
 
Wow, everyone's bill so ex! I super budget mummy, remember 5 yrs ago with bb#2, 4 bedder, natural without epi at mt a after all deductions paid less than $300!! With increase in price this year, hopefully wont be much more.
 
winkle: the pain is like severe menstrual cramps that comes and go. i tried the laughing gas but no effect so decided to get epi!

epi was a lifesaver. i really salute those who can go without it. but i shivered a lot and kept vomitting when i was on epi. and due to no feeling, i couldnt push and my bb was vacuumed out. basically totally cant feel a thing until the effect wore off, then gotta endure the soreness from the stitches. urgh! for me giving birth is not so scary. it is the confinement that was a killer. not to mention i had a lot of probs with breastfeeding so i was in pain from top to below. Hahaha.
 
kayliz, wad is the laughing gas for? i heard of it, but how does it assist delivery?

anybody planning to join any prenatal classes? heard tat some hospitals start from 4 months onwards..
 
kitkat: like a mask u put on and inhale. supposed to make u high so it relieves the labour pains..

i'm interested in pre-natal yoga but i stay in the west and found that a lot of it are conducted in the central area which i'm lazy to travel after work.
 
Millie, i paid $0.10 after subsidy for the delivery of my #1! cos went without epi and took a 2 bedder at Mt A. cheap man compared to what i paid for #2. i hope i can do VBAC for #3. hehe..

Winkle, erm the pain is like ur worst period cramps like Kayliz said but 1000x times worse.. i think u keep thinking that there's epidural so u naturally will cave in to that.. actually when i passed out, in btw contractions, it was really not painful. when the pain comes, u just basically forget to breathe correctly and hyperventilate.

Kitkat, laughing gas supposed help with pain relief.. but it doesn't.. it makes u disoriented and high.. u are like on too much oxygen. the only effective pain relief is if u have a spinal block i.e. epidural.

U can try TMC's Mrs Wong's prenatal classes.. always fully booked. she is very interesting unlike some of other hospitals' nurses who can be quite boring. because her dad is TCM doc, she explains which chinese herb is used post delivery etc. can start booking in ur 20th week and go for the class in the 27th week. go too early and u might forget what was taught.

Kayliz, i agree with u abt delivery.. that's nothing compared to the first month with ur baby man.. the stupid confinement rules, the broken slp and the breastfeeding.. i rather deliver 100x without epi than to go through 10 confinements. :p
 
You can't use your own cotton balls but you can buy your own sanitary pads. hahaha.

I did the epidural the moment i admitted into the hospital. At that time, I didnt have any contractions yet, only bloody show. So...my epidural experience is the same as when you are well and sane at a C-sec. haha. I still remember when they injected the first needle. I thought the epidural was over. but the anesthetist said "this is just to numb the area." and after that, he injected the epidural. ok lar. not as bad as i imagined. maybe the first injection really numb the area a bit already.

I didn't vomit after the epidural, but i was shivering. when my gynae came in, he lowered the dosage by alot, most likely to prepare me for pushing. but still i didnt feel a thing. and jsut listen to the nurses when they tell me it's time to push. haha.
 
You can't use your own cotton balls but you can buy your own sanitary pads. hahaha.

I did the epidural the moment i admitted into the hospital. At that time, I didnt have any contractions yet, only bloody show. So...my epidural experience is the same as when you are well and sane at a C-sec. haha. I still remember when they injected the first needle. I thought the epidural was over. but the anesthetist said "this is just to numb the area." and after that, he injected the epidural. ok lar. not as bad as i imagined. maybe the first injection really numb the area a bit already.

I didn't vomit after the epidural, but i was shivering. when my gynae came in, he lowered the dosage by alot, most likely to prepare me for pushing. but still i didnt feel a thing. and jsut listen to the nurses when they tell me it's time to push. haha.
 
More afraid of the side effects if epidural than actual labour pain. Shivered uncontrollerbly with #1. Very unpleasant.

The laughing gas made me feel like vomitting so didnt use that as well. What help me thru the contractions was gospel music and happy thoughts...once the pain started to become unbearable, body auto start to bear down...from unbearable pain to my body completely taking over the birthing process was only 10 mins at most...after that i practically couldnt stop my body from pushing...it was the most amazing experience..a women's body is naturally engineered for childbirth!

Having said that, the epidural is God sent if u can bear with the many side effects
 
wow thank you mummies for sharing your birthing experience man..
think more or less i'll go for natural birth if possible..hehe...just not sure to take epidural anot..
 
Fuzzybear, I'd also like to have a 10cts delivery charge! Heck, I'll willingly switch gynae n hospital lol.

For my delivery I went thru laughing gas (numbs the lips big time) and pethidine jab. Honestly laughing gas only worked for initial stages of labour. The jab was totally useless. By the time I wanted epi I couldn't even say it out loud properly. Anyway the nurses decided it was time to deliver, so no epi. Ladies, just remember, should u ever deliver naturally without epi, concentrate on the gynae telling u to push, cos the nanosecond the kiddo is out, there is absolute no more pain. Omg, I can still remember the hazy bliss after baby came out.
 
i was in the train this morning, sitting down. kept having the nausea feeling wan to vomit till the lady in front of me stepped backwards. after tat she leaned forward and asked if i m okie. how i wish i can take leave for two weeks till my ms subsides.
 
Morning!

Yeah i rem very distinctively that i paid $0.10.. But i think they included the Medisave portion for prenatal checks in the final bill. cos Mt A's double bedder with no epi is $1300++ 5 yrs back. may be there was some deposit.. haha my memory is failing me. sorry to get ur hopes high.. this excludes my gynae fee hor.

Silver, no harm getting a taste of how the pain is before u go for epi.. for some women, they don't dilate fast enough but contractions very strong so doc will advise to take epi to relax.. whatever it is, don't think abt it now.. all the best birth plans will screw up some how or another.
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Ankh, haha i just know the pethedine jab knocked me out.. i still can feel the damn pain when contractions come. i rem the baby sliding out of me but i was so out that i couldn't even hold my legs open. zzzzz

Kitkat, pat pat.. hang in there!!

I didn't puke yesterday!! YAY!!
 
Hi ladies,
My 1st post here on this thread =)

Can someone pls helps me to add in my info to the chart?

# of kids: 3
Edd: 4 Nov 2013
Gynae: A/P John Tee
Hospital: KKH
SAHM

Currently still bfeeding my #2. Gynae gave approval to cont but he did warn me that it will be very tiring for me.

Both kids were delivered natural w/o epi so i certainly hope this round can be natural and smooth. =)

Kayliz,
I agree with u! I am ok with delivery pain but the worst pain is aft that. Imagine having to pee with the stitches on, ouch big time!! I am 1 of those who dun follow confinement rules except eating confinement food. I bathed as n when i wan, i go out to shop and run errands during confinements. =p this rd confinement is right at the end of the yr so hopefully nt as hot as during my 1st 2 times.

Kitkat,
Bring a vomit bag/plastic bag with u in case u wanna puke??
 
Val: haha.. yea! i didnt really follow confinement rules last time. i was busy with my new house and had to run around to check on the renos. I wld use it as an excuse to sneak out and have fast food, coke or watch movie with my hubby. I hated confinement food, esp the vinegar pork trotters. i hated eating that by 2nd week i lost all my preg weight. i was given herb water to shower every morn but i wld rinse myself with normal tap water after that and shower every night before i sleep becoz i felt so dirty. but i also think, it's because of the things i did that i didnt have a smooth preg now, with a lot of headaches and body/headaches. so this time round i will really be good and follow all the rules. Like they say, if u nv had a gd confinement, u can "replenish" it on the 2nd round. Haha.
 
I went for my OSCAR scan last Friday. It was horrible. I joined the walk in queue at 830am and was told to go back at 1130am. Personally, I feel that the staff in TMC are rude. Asked them a little more questions, and they give you that irritated look on their face. I remembered my bladder was so full so I decided to check with them when will be my turn. The staff told me 45 min more. So she says I can go empty my bladder. But guess what? When I came out from the toilet, they called my number! I'm like "........". So I asked the staff what happened. She gave me this uninterested look "the doc can see you now then good lor". WTH! Such bad attitude!! Can't she says something like "oh sorry I made a wrong judgement call". So irritated. So because my bladder is completely empty, I couldn't do the OSCAR. So I had to come out and drink more water. Bleah! Spent like 5 hours in TMC. OMG!

Anyone of you feels the same way as me? That the staff in TMC are rude?
 
hi welcome!!

val, i hav plastic bag always with me. but pai seh to take out and vomit. Today someone farted in the train, pple were like pinching their nose and waving the smell away with their hands. haha.

yeah fuzzybear, good tat u got no puking. Keep it up!

i remembered someone saying their office email got IT outage, cannot send email out to external recipients. my hubby oso faced same problem ytd. dun know whether u all in same company?
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Morning mummies!

Emily: the lady at tmc who was at the outside counter was very nice to me. talks in a assuring tone, n even helped me scolded my gynae's staff cos they din really get me an appt. she said she tried to help me to "cut queue" tho i still ended up waiting at the hosp for like 5-6hrs.

when i asked how long more before my turn, the other staff was nice also. she said 30mins more, so i asked if it's ok that i go toilet then later drink water again? end up it was more than a 30mins wait for me.

i think tmc is now too overloaded with mummies gg for oscar test, so maybe their attitude abit less patient now. abit silly i feel, govt keeps asking us to have babies, but dun even have the ability/ enuff facilities to keep up with the current number of preg ladies.
 
wahh seh!! so many mummies sharing their birthing experience..

prenatal classes will teach you the correct breathing method i suppose during contractions.. but just like what fuzzybear has said.. once you are in extreme pain i think u basically forget everything on the breathing technic liao..

i had goosebumps all over just by reading... =x.. and i heard my coll telling me to do my pelvic exercise as and when im lying down to prevent my "V" from becoming too loose.. hahaha.. don want later loose already then sighh & sighh... =p
 
Emily: my coll complaint about TMC as well.. also on the bad conduct of their nurses.. because of their miscommunications.. she was asked to stay 1 more extra day, and the hubby was so unhappy that he refused to pay the additional 1 extra day charge to the hospital because it wasn't necessary..
 
Kitkat: how many weeks are u at now? i was like you..hahaha.. so during those few weeks i forced my hubby to pick me up from work.. coz i know i'll definitely puke inside the train and appear on STOMP~~~~~ lolz...

my MS subsided liao.. now at 14 weeks.. but on and off i'll still feel queasy in the evening..
 
Kayliz, i also did what u do.. just took confinement food only.. didn't bother with the rest of the rubbish.. what don't bathe for weeks? how can?? i get lagi more irritated if i'm not comfy. i m gonna cater my confinement food again this time around. that's all lor. bathing etc all the same. no change.

Kitkat, haha we all work for a very BIG company.. so big that the outage is on the front page of ST this morning.. :p
 
Kayliz,
I know. Hb said the same that this is my last chance to 补my body so ask me to do a good one. But i find it v hard la. Asking me nt to bathe or bathe with herbs so sticky...mayb i will cut back on drinking cold water. The only consolation is yr end weather is cooler, wldnt be so hot during confinement ho? Hahaha.

Kitkat,
Thanks! Oh ya, the paisay part. At least u have a plastic bag to standby. I ever saw someone puked on the train flr and the ppl ard all siam! Tts super paisay!

Wrinkle,
Tats why hb is v impt; they have to attend prenatal class to and be there to guide and remind the wife how to breathe. =p my hb was there pycho-ing me "no epi no epi no epi!". Haha.
 
Hahaha u guys are funny.. don't think abt labour now lah.. it's a long way to go. and when u plan this and that, u might end up disappointed when things don't go the way u want. like i have friends who insisted natural without epi. end up because of their resistance to taking epi, they suffered so much for so long and in the end they caved in. after that, they paradoxically blamed themselves for being weak. others plan for natural birth but end up having c-sec and felt guilty abt it. so don't over think for now.. just have some guiding principles like try ur best not to succumb too early if u wanna try for epi free birth. or if u don't want pain then straight away ask for epi.

As for ur hbs, i have heard from some frens that their hbs were put off having sex with them when they saw the baby coming out of their vaginas. cos they couldn't bring themselves to have sex where the baby emerged out. best for ur hb to be just beside u and at most, cut the umbilical cord.
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Val: towards the last two weeks of my confinement, i told my mum not to let me shower with the herbs and later on we learnt that we can just put sliced ginger + lemongrass in boiled water to bathe. It was so much better than the herbs!

btw, the herbs i used were hand-plucked from my aunt's house from malaysia. it wasnt even like those you buy outside in packets. so the residues and dirt from the herbs will scatter and stick all over my body when i shower and i developed very bad rash from bathing with it. LOL!
 


Fuzzybear, aiya, I nebber buy newspapers this morning. online news only got small small mention of outage. M'sia elections news everywhere.

Winkle, breathing techniques? What techniques hahahhaha! I also attended Mrs Wong's class, and by the time I was laboring, everything really blur.. Her class was good cos she can combine tcm/eastern + western perspectives. Like why people in the past used boiled herbal water to shower, it was mainly to kill germs and not get cold during cold weather. our water is now treated, hot on demand. And how u extract calcium from pork bones soup? By cooking with tomatoes cos the acid from the tomato will leach out the calcium. She can advise on the logic behind our traditional practices. I like logic!

Val, my #1 was mid Dec bb. Some days during and after confinement were ccccccccccooooooolllllllldd. My block got the strong year end winds.
 

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