Overnight oats

My supply has never been fantastic..i could only pump20- 30ml max in the first mth. Now going into the 3rd month, my supply is at about 80-100ml max.

I'm struggling to keep up with baby's requirements and will try all methods. I've been advised to take supplements like fenugreek, lacating teas & cookies, oats etc which might have helped in my expressing journey.

Jts my version of overnight oats in a glass container:
8 tablespoons of oats
1 cup of yogurt
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
Handful of reduced sugar cranberries
Meiji milk to soak overnight

Able to get these ingredients from NTUC....

Tada! It simpoly tasty, not too sweet or too bland. For those with sweet tooth, you might choose to add chocolate milk instead!

Let's carry on in this moo moo journey!I will diligently try this for a month, to see if it really works for me.

Heavenly Health Store

Heavenly Health Store was my final choice for the placenta encapsulation service. I paid a deposit of $50 to confirm their services and with the Babycare Voucher, I was entitled to express collection service of within 2 hours and samples of their booster set. Total damage is $300.

I sent a message to the number given to inform them that I'm on my way to deliver and followed up with another sms once i delivered with ward details.

True to their promise, a staff came and collect the placenta within 2 hrs after my delivery at my ward. Its all professionally done, with a cooler bag. My placenta was made into 200 pills and here's what i received within 1 week:

200 pills, the dried umbilical cord, along with the complimentary booster set

I've been taking the pills daily for about 2 weeks and I do feel that i'm energised and not easily tired, despite waking every 3 hrs to pump milk and no naps in between the day. Maybe it is physiological effect but i would encourage my friends to give it a shot since no harm in trying and you only have that ONE chance!

You may refer to my earlier post on the different vendors for this service. :)

My Journey with Mt Elizabeth Novena

It's been nearly a year of relationship with Mt Elizabeth Novena and it has been a fruitful journey.

Gynae, Dr Roland Chieng
My gynae, Dr Roland Chieng has been most helpful and is a cautious doctor who had advised me well thru the conception of my baby till post delivery. I delivered at full term, 40 weeks + 2days and Dr Chieng has given his full support for natural birth with induction and offering me C-sect if I'm feeling weak from the labour. I'm glad that I had listened to him to wait for another hour after enduring for 15 hrs as my dear boy was welcomed by Dr Chieng thru natural delivery with epidural at the 16th hour! My wound has healed well due to his care and his concern not only covers the physical pain suffered but the emotional well-being of a new mother. I'm grateful for the support rendered...


Delivery at Mt Elizabeth Novena
At the labour ward from 5pm to 10am, the midwives were experienced and had been most helpful in taking care of me. They would check on me from time to time, changing my position every few hours so that i would not be feeling numb from lying in the same position etc. They had assured me that they will guide me when its time to push and i really managed to do it under their instructions! The only thing was to make sure your level of epidural shld maintain at 7 and not any lower if you choose to lower the level of epidural (here's the smart one who requested and the nurse lowered it to level 3..its OMG painful!)

The maternity ward is superb, with butler service and the nurses are attentive. As it is relatively new, the environment was quiet and was best suited for mothers to rest well. The nurses are friendly and they will introduce themselves at the start of each shift. The nurse will appear in about 5 mins each time i call for help. I love the identification tagging whereby a melody will be played whenever the baby is carried to the mother or placed in the bassinet to ensure the right baby is being brought. Here are some photos taken, pardon my poor photography skills which did no justice to the actual rooms/food provided:

The toiletries were from Crabtree and Evelyn and both my hubby and I enjoyed our bathtime. The food menu changes daily and they do provide confinement food for the mother. Overall taste rating: 8/10. Cleanliness of the room :10/10 as daily room cleaning and changing of the sheets are provided.

The lactation consultant is on the move, do call for her if you need help as its chargeable once you are discharged. We also attended the free parenting class to guide us in bathing the baby etc. There's also a free massage from Beauty, Mums & Babies and a masseur will visit ward by ward during your stay.

With all that said, Mt E Novena is not one of the cheapest hospitals in town...my takeaway is you paid for the quality of service and stay. On a side note, my total bill came up to nearly $10k, before medisave, for a 5D4N stay (additional 2 nites for other reasons). You can check out my comparison of prices here.

After service
Good - You will enjoy the hotel standards' of "bell-boy service" whereby there were staff to help you with the bags of stuff to be carried home after days of stay! The discharge was fast and so was the billing, get a number and you will be served with the bill when its your turn.

Bad- I had lodged a case with the Business Office to clarify some items on the billing and took them more than 1 month to close the case!

Placenta Encapsulation Services

I have been rather undecided whether to make my placenta into pills. During the weekend, there were news (The Newpaper & Mypaper) on such services and claiming the goodness of the placenta such as "improved skin complexion- no pimples for past 2 years..face is glowing ."

Quoted from Heavenly Heath Store, placenta can help:

• balance your hormones
• enhance your milk supply
• increase your energy

Finally, i decided to Google for such service providers:
Heavenly Health Store - $300 for collection before 6pm or $400 for 24/7 collection. A subsidiary under some TCM provider, seems to be very popular with the mothers.
Four Trimesters -  $300, collection within 24 hours hence need to prepare cooler bag and ice pack to store the placenta before the collection.Their packaging seems to be the nicest and additional service of drying the baby cord.
In the Womb - $300, no collection after 8pm. Surcharge for weekends & PH
Caring Mum - $300, collection 24/7

All of them charges a surcharge for last-minute registration hence do call for the service earlier if you have decided to take a go at it. I'm going for to try and see if this is a miracle or fad!

Updated review on 25 Jul 2014.

Confinement Herbs

Approaching 39 weeks which also means its time to get the confinement stuff! Along with the family, we went to 3rd floor of Albert Complex, the market opp Bugis Street. The store, Long Ma, is prominent and taking up most of the floor space and you 'll be amazed by the stuff they sell.

Just approach any of the counter staff and they will show you the list of stuff to buy for confinement. Here's the link to my copy. With this list, you can actually get the stuff from anywhere, JB or other local medical halls.

Fyi, i spent about $266, not sure if it will last for a month and I did NOT get everything on the list..mainly only the stuff to drink, cook soup and bathe.

Post natal massage

The time is approaching and I'm in the panic mode to look for a massage lady to "slim" the tummy as much as possible.

There are some recommendations from forums and I also did some online search for post-natal massage. Here's a summary of my research:

Name	Pricing (7 days)	Remarks
Babies & Bellies	430	Excludes transportation fees ($5-$20), complimentary body scrub
9 Months	430	Excludes transportation & binding fees ($20-40)
Sri Therapy	450
Home Massage	550	Complimentary baby massage
Jm Singapore	588	Complimentary baby massage class
Jamu Massage	628	Complimentary cloth binder and baby massage oil
Origins Jamu Masage	648	Complimentary cloth binder and baby massage oil
JamuGuru	750
Beauty, Mums & Babies	751.07	Complimentary ginger scrub
Thomson Baby	802.5
Yati, 91126241	350	Excludes transportation fees ($5-$20). Recommended by friend
Kartini, 90091493	550	Recommended by friend

Wanted to try Yati but its their fasting month in July hence I 'm going to try babies & bellies. I'll do a review thereafter!

Update on Babies & Bellies
Took their 10 days package at $680, including transport. Need to pay a deposit for the wrap which will be refunded to you when u return the wrap. The masseur, Maria sent by them was good and my friend also took her thereafter.The tummy did became smaller after massage but its the maintenance thereafter...you need to continue with a binder etc to keep the tummy tight.

Shopping for maternity (plus sized included) and baby stuff

Shopping for maternity clothes can be a pain and you might prefer to save the money for the baby then to spend on expensive maternity wear.

I did a fair bit of research and bought most of my stuff from the china website, Tabao via 65daigou. Maternity wear, baby bags,. nursing bras etc can be found here. Can browse for baby stuff here.

Pros
Quality -Worth buying from Taobao as even those maternity wear and bras from fairs are also made in China. Quality is good and much cheaper.
Variety - WIDE variety to choose from. Maternity clothes,nursing bras confinement stuff, etc. IF you are a plus-sized like me, you just have to add 大码/ to whatever you  wish to buy. E.g 大码孕妇内裤, 大码孕妇装
Price - Cheaper than SG, even with the agent fee for 65daigou and shipping.
Agent - 65daigou makes ordering easier as they will check the items and repackaged them for consolidated shipping. To order, just paste the url that you want to buy from to 65daigou and indicate the quantity, size, model and color etc. Here's a map to help you locate which warehouse you should send your orders to since they have 2 warehouses in China.

Cons
Language - you need to read Chinese. A Google translator is definitely your best friend!
Currency - Need to convert the prices to SGD to get a sense of your savings.
Preparation - Cannot do last minute orders. You need to wait for the items to be delivered to SG, suggest that you order at least 1 mth before delivery.

Here are some items that i bought...there's alot more not shown, hahaha:

Maternity Tour

Finally went for maternity tours at hospitals that my gynae goes to.

1st tour - Mt Alvernia, located at Upper Thomson is a seasoned player in the maternity field and a hospital founded on Catholic values. Their packages for 2014 can be found here. They have 2 wings and personally much preferred the new wing, targeting at the single bed room.

Maternity tours are being conducted on weekdays from 2.30-3.30pm and Sat at 10-11am /12-1pm. Do register here to attend the tour. They do provide shuttle services to and fro from Novena/ Bishan, check out the timings at their website. A goodies bag will be given to each couple. Overall feel: Experienced staff and relatively new rooms at the new wing, location is not as centralised. 7/10

2nd tour - Mt Elizabeth Novena, conveniently located near Novena Sq hence no shortage of amenities compared to Mt Alvernia. Same, short briefing on admission process, tour to the rooms and a goodies bag given. Pls call them to book an appt for maternity tour. Currently with only single bedded rooms so you are guaranteed of the room once you pre-register with them. The rooms are of hotel standard I would say at first impression. Overall feel : Newly established hence rooms are spacious, new and with contemporary design. Location is good. 9/10

Prices packages
Mt E is on the higher side but includes the charges for 1 companion in the single room. A overview of prices btw the 2 hospitals:

Type	Mount Elizabeth Novena	Mt Alvernia*
Normal/Assisted Vaginal Delivery	$3,058.00	$3,108.35
Normal/Assisted Vaginal Delivery wif Epidural	$3,673.00	$3,369.43
C-sec - Elective	$5,348.00	$4,471.53

* based on Single deluxe room

At the end, its abt the ease and comfort of each couple and not burst their budget. My personal decision is to select Mt Elizabeth Novena since I really only want single room and we are without a car hence the location would be much more accessible. I'll do a review of the stay, whether its worth my moolah after I deliver in July!