Labour story - Part 1 : Cramps or Contractions?

Since I have some me-time, I shall blog about my labour story for memories sake. Hehe.

Gonna split my entries into the following parts.
Part 1 : Cramps or Contractions?
Part 2 : What goes on in Room 17?
Part 3 : Postpartum Recovery in the hospital

These entries may come in staggered parts by itself, if the entry takes too long. Heh.


So anyway, here goes:

Ever since my HDB key collection wasn't successful (more on the follow ups next time), I have been more than eager to deliver once the baby's gestational age hit full term on the 37th week (15 Oct 2016).

The constant back aches, acid reflux episodes, pelvic pressure, frequent urination (the list goes on)... oh, little buddy, make your appearance already!

Did some talking with the little buddy in my tummy as and when I feel some kicking.

"Come out soon k sayang... Mummy's tummy getting tooooo small for you".

24 Oct 2016:

Wanted to do some perinial massage as recommended by Rafs <3. Was alllll gearing up to try and do it since I have already reached my 38 weeks + 2 days today. 

"Can't wait to prepare for labour anytime", I thought. 

7.30 pm:
Wanted to take my evening shower. At that same time, I suddenly felt some cramps. I was trying to reason with myself whether these cramps were indeed contractions since I was having Braxton hicks contractions few days prior.

Had Mr. J to help switch on the water heater because I just felt like having a warm shower.

Best. Decision. Ever.

7.35 pm: Cramps came again.

7.40 pm: Had a feeling to do my no. 2. Turns out no. 2 did happen (hahahah) but shortly after that, the cramps came again, along with a very strong pelvic pressure - it felt like it was opening bigger down south.

7.45 pm: Cramps was felt again during shower. It felt like menstrual cramps this time round, not the kind of cramps you feel like when doing no. 2.

7.50 pm: Cramps came again, stronger. Held on to the wash basin - breathe innnnnn... breathe outtttt.......

7.55 pm: Cramps came again.

Told Mr. J, "I think...I am feeling THE contractions. But I am not sure. It feels like menstrual cramps....... hmmm... maybe we wait? Till 12 midnight?"

He was supposed to report to work at 12 midnight that night.

8.00 pm: A very wonderful warm shower ended. But the cramps were stronger, still bearable, but stronger.

Performed Mahgrib prayers, with cramps coming in in between the rakaats. Was already shaking, can't even recite the supplications properly.

Performed Isya' prayers shortly after, also with the cramps coming in stronger.

Mr. J already made his decision to apply for an urgent leave & told me, "Let's head to KKH".

"What if this is a false alarm? Nanti kena send balik abes tu waste money......"

This girl ah hahahaha. Still thinking abnout saving money, despite the cramps (or contractions).

"No no no. You're already having such cramps like this. We go KKH now. If really have to be sent home, it's okay. At least we know".

"But no darah tau". (You know, signs like bloody show).

"Takper. We go". Ok boss. We go.

Around 8 plus, got a Grab and by this time, the contractions were really stronger. Grabbed Mr. J's hands in the car, breathing innnnnnn breathing outttttt. I think my constant heavy breathing in & out might have made the driver worry that I was gonna deliver in his car lulz (IF indeed I was already having the contractions).


Reached KKH's lobby at 9pm. Walking was already so much slower cz the contractions were stronger - though still bearable. Had to pause here and there, held on to the pillars, and continued walking to the lifts. Saw some stares around us, but peduli apa. Haha.

Such a slowwww and torturous walk, I thought.

Reached the delivery suite at 9.11 pm.

Told the staff nurse (in the picture) I felt some pain and passed my Gynae booklet with my NRIC. She did the registration & told me to follow another nurse to the triage.

Mr. J was told to stay at the waiting area while they did some checks.

While walking to the triage, the contractions came again.

Had. To. Pause.
Said sorry to the nurse that was walking together with me.

Upon lying down, she told me to take out my undergarment & placed them into the given plastic bag. She then placed me on the CTG belt for scanning and I was still feeling the cramps. The nurse asked if I wanted any painkillers.

"Ermmm maybe I'll try to endure".
Action hero this one.

All I had in mind was, "No lah, don't need painkillers. Just mild cramps; surely can tolerate".
Talk macam paham only lol.

Then a Senior Nurse came in.

"From 1 to 10, 1 lowest 10 strongest, how's the pain like?", she asked.

"6-7". I think lah? Like how do you actually grade pain? Haha.

She then asked the first nurse, "Is she already on term?"

"Yes, 38 weeks plus 2".

"Ok, we are gonna do some checks ok".

She opened up the drawer under the monitor, took out a glove, applied some gel on it and I was already having thoughts of "Oh my God. Don't tell me you're gonna do the VE on me now. !!!!"

Ya lah so drama because I hated vaginal transducer, so I can't imagine having human fingers doing a similar job down south.


But grrr, before I could think of anything else after that (like reciting some supplications or anything), she already went down south & told me,

"Ok, open up your legs & breathe in..."

*inserts fingers deeply & quickly*

"Yes good... continue breathing in"

*did some digging*

"Continue breathing in"

*dig some more*

Breathed in super super deep, what else. Pfft.

It felt like a rotary machine was inside of me, doing some blending, drilling & digging into my uterus. Not funny seh. Kinda hated it. No, actually I hated it so SO much! Thinking about it now makes me cross my legs each time. To think that I hated the vaginal transducer; this is worst off!

"Nobody gonna insert anymore fingers on me after this". Of course, wishful thinking on my part.

After she was done, she said, "Ok, VERY GOOD!" *thumbs up* "You are 5cm dilated already. VERY GOOD".

She then took out her two fingers and I saw fresh red blood on her glove areas of the fingers that was inserted.

"Why got blood ah?" (sempat interview)

"It's okay. You're already supposed to show. 5 cm already. Will have blood. Plus we also just did a check on you".

I think the conversation went something like that?

I was already panicking by now. 5 cm? Now? What! So fast?! I am not ready!!

But too late. They already started wheeling me out of the triage and the Senior Nurse (who did the rotary machine digging with her fingers) asked the people at the waiting area, "Ok who is her husband?"


Mr. J was still seated, looking at me from afar & putting his right hand up, like a student in a class when his name is being called up. -.-""" lolol. (He later told me that his reason was because "Mana tahu takleh ikut macam tadi ke". Ok good point noted).

The nurse was really loud, I could hear her telling Mr. J, "Very good! Very good! She is already 5 cm. All the best! Follow them to the labour ward".

I was still not ready. I looked at my phone and the time showed 9.26 pm as they wheeled me into the labour ward.

To be continued in Part 2.

38 weeks today

A picture taken when I was about 20 weeks? iirc.

Phew, I thought I would have given birth by now, ever since my 26-weeks-bleeding-episode (which didn't make it to my blog entry).

Ok. Maybeeee I'll share with you a brief background of it. 

Long story short, when I was warded for observation due to the bleeding, the panel of Doctors worry that I may deliver the baby prematurely then. I had to sign some admission documents which consists of some medication to mature the lungs of the baby and so on - didn't happen. Alhamdulillah. But since it's my first pregnancy (well, sorta - that ectopic one doesn't count), they had to give the benefit of a doubt and place this case separately of what it usually is. Reason for the bleeding according to them is that my cervix lining seems raw i.e. soft, and that my cervix is shorter than usual? But anyways, all is well - no more bleeding after that.

So my appointment day came last Thursday, marking my 37 weeks & 5 days.

My Gynae greeted me with a warm "Hello, how are you? Good?" and moved on with the norm.

- Had a vaginal swab done the last visit to test for GBS.
Result: GBS negative. Alhamdulillah.

- Had my scan done & baby's estimated weight was... 2.4kg.

Was a bitttt disappointed. My head was thinking "Alaaa keciknya anak akuuuu... Dah makan banyak-banyak punnn masih kecik".

When I asked my Gynae about it, she explained, "Your baby is on the smaller side..." tilting her head to the image on the screen, and trying to measure it's body again... "But it's okay. You're full term already and usually once the baby hits 2.4kg, we are happy already. It's good enough". 

Phew! Asked her is there any way to increase the baby's weight/size, she suggested Durians & lots of Milo (which I kinda stopped taking for a while now - guess I should restart my daily mugs of Milo again soon?)

So yeah, had a bowl of Durian Milk Ice right after appointment.

Got it from KKH Kopitiam - easiest find ever!

My Gynae also added, "Small mummies have small babies. So it's good if your baby is not too big. Any larger than 3.5kg, might result in a Caesar. So some mums have to go through Caesar because their baby is too big".

Sounds like she's either comforting me or she's pro-natural - I'd like to believe the latter. Haha.

Anyway, this reminds me that my niece's birth weight was 2.4kg as well and now she's so berat with babat like Michelin lol, so I guess it doesn't matter that much? It's just the thought of people asking, "Eh... Waktu ngandung tak cukup makan ke?" Ohhh people, you don't know how much food I gobble up during my pregnancy! Lol defensive pulak.

- My current weight: 59.5 kg
Yikes! Hope I don't hit errr... 60kg? The number 5 never once hit my health book pre-pregnancy, much less a 6. But even IF it does (I say IF), I hope it's only for a healthy pregnancy - and not because of excessive fats #toovain

- The fluid in my waterbag is doing great
The keeping-a-full-bottle-of-water-by-my-bedside does help in this department.

- Last but not least, the little buddy is already engaged!
It has already turned head down since my 29th week, but to see from the images in the scan I had last Thursday, it seems that the baby's head is much lower right now. I guess that explains the frequent sharp & painful episodes I had to endure when I walk and the urgent need to pee. But good news right?

On another plus side, I am starting to like my Gynae. Used to think that she was kinda cold but during our recent appointments, she's more jovial and warm. Mr. J noticed it too. :)

She also added some notes for me to take away from the appointment:

1) Labour contractions:
"It feels like menstrual cramps... times 100 - you wont miss it".

She mentioned that it wont be a mild pain, so it's recognizable.

"The first few contractions that come, it's about an hour apart. When that happens, you can still time them at home. Only make your way to the hospital when it's about 15 minutes apart. Reason being, it's your first labour, so usually, the time of labour will be very long. It will result you in staying in the hospital for a verrrry long time....it will bore you."

2) Waterbag burst:
"Of course when your waterbag burst, immediately - to the hospital. But you still can have some time to shower and head to the hospital", she laughed a bit after that.

Well, of course I would have my shower first, right?

3) Baby's movement:
"As long as your baby is moving actively as per normal, using your instinct as a mum, it's good enough. You would know the pattern of the baby's movement by now. We used to tell mummies to count the x no. of movements in x no. of hours. But it's very subjective."

Penned down these notes on my mind...but really, now I am starting to wonder....

You've been really active at night and as much as your kicks can be painful to boot, I often wrap both my tiny hands on my overstretched tummy and feel you move. Pregnancy with you may not be the easiest thing to go through, but you are definitely a gift I am looking forward to.

Your Daddy has been asking, "When do you think our baby will be out?"

"I don't know".

Why don't you tell me?

Happy moment(s)

- Is when despite all the trials happening all at one go, we can still perform our prayers together and hoped for the best.
- Is when you do the housework together.
- Is when you look forward towards the birth of your first child, insya'Allah.
- Is when your husband asked you, "Will you want to breastfeed our child?" and when you said "Yes, I'll try", he gave you an assuring kiss & went, "Try your best k. Love you". (Smiled & melted a thousand times over).
- Is when you think of going for a short getaway next year after all of these (trials) are over, and he's thinking the same.

Alhamdulillah.

May not be a big deal to some but I just wanted to jot it down to remember this day. :)

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In relation to the above note, I haven't watched (and don't think I'll watch laaa cz plot cerita selalu gitu gitu je) Suri Hati Mr. Pilot. I am sure you may have heard of it. But judging from the status in my Facebook feed, my girl-friends, married or not, are gushing over the lead actor's character of being oh-so-romantic & sweet & wonder whether such a man exist. Like I said, I haven't watched so I don't know to what extent is the sweetness of this character that Fattah Amin is playing, but reality check: I am sure every husband has their own kind of romantic language that they present to their better half. It may not be as literal as the one in dramas, but it's the kind of gesture and language that will only be for you. I guess that is more than enough to sweep us off our feet :)

Parenting: My favourite child

Having grown up in an environment where favouritism is evident (yes, clearly spoken), makes me wonder whether I'll be the same next time.

I'm not a parent of one yet, so I can't speak for two (or more). But it does make me wonder. Even though we always hear parents say, "I love my children all the same", but is it really? How many times do we observe & notice how different the kind of treatment each child receive from our parents? Or say from other parents who has young children?

Eg.
Child A shows tantrum, parent reprimands.
Child B shows tantrum, same, if not worst, parent keeps quiet.

And then there's also an argument raised that the reason the treatment(s) is/are different is due to the fact that not all children are the same - aligning all our fingers altogether; they are not of the same length. Every child is different.

Eg.
If we reprimand Child A, the child might understand the seriousness of it & don't do it again.
If we use the same technique on Child B, the child might be more rebellious. Hence, this technique doesn't work on the child. A friendlier approach works better.

Is this how parenting works?

But how would Child A then feel on the different treatment he/she receives?

He/She might start to develop ill-feelings towards his/her sibling & start to feel that the parents are not being fair.

Farfetched huh? Belum give birth, dah fikir macam-macam. Lol.

Had a discussion with Mr. J on this and he said, "Alaa kita just redha, and accept life as it is".

So I guess....at the end of the day, the child has to learn and adopt this (matured) mentality someday and redha that life is just as it is huh? Haha.

Well, let's just say I'll experience it myself first hand in the future when I have two (or more) of my own. Insya'Allah.

But seriously though, just curious: Do all parents have a favourite child secretly? Hmmm...

37th & counting

Received some news from HDB the other day with regards to our appeal. Not so great, but I'll leave that for another entry (note: already drafted).

To distract myself away from all the recent negativities, I made a loooong list of to-do(s), and finished only two so far - ironing a week's worth of clothes & Mr. J's uniform plus putting in my hospital essentials in ziplocks & labelling them into categories. Feeling so proud of myself but come on, baru dua chores je dah penat. (What third trimester does to you). Alone times like these when Mr. J is having his day shift(s) are great, because I get to take my own sweet time & do my chores as and when I want to. Not that with him around is bad, but most of the time, we'll end up watching downloaded movies together (and maybe sleep away lol). So unproductive. Lulz.

Braxton hicks has been really strong of late & I think...my mucus plug has been slowly discharging itself from my system every other day. No obvious bloody show so far, which made me researched a bit about it and mummies who shared at forums also mentioned that you don't necessarily need to have a bloody show to be in labour. I seeee....

Speaking of which, I don't really like it when Mr. J is away for his night shifts because what if contractions come in realllly strong in his absence? I cannot be manja and step nak pengsan all hahahahha. Kidding. Well, we have placed all the important stuff at the corner of our room, all packed and ready to be brought to hospital. He has briefed me on what to bring & who to call first when it happens. But please please pleaseeee, hopefully he's around when it happens - not because I nak manja manja, but I can't imagine being alone at such a timing.

Anyways, we have passed the 37th week mark, Alhamdulillah. You can make your appearance already, little buddy. You will no longer be dubbed a premature baby anytime from now :) So excited to meet you already, insya'Allah. In other words, cepatlah keluar.......my petite size can't handle you anymore!

Financing our upcoming home: Part 5 - Key collection

Finally, we are down to Part 5 - Key collection. :)

You may read all the earlier parts here:
Part 1 - The harsh reality
Part 2 - The headache
Part 3 - Finding solutions
Part 4 - Executing the solution

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So the day has arrived.....

...and guess what?!!

We were told that we couldn't get the keys to our unit....... -.-zzzz Surprise, surprise.

After alllll the hard work & effort eh!

Bear with me as this is not the "usual" key collection procedure that you normally get to read. I'll be sharing the problems we faced and hopefully you can gain some knowledge or two with regards to this.

Here's what happened:
- Reached HDB Hub at 12.07pm (Appt was at 12.15pm)
- Got the Queue number
- Went in and met the Sales Officer (not our OIC), and the kakak sales did some keying of figures into the system and raised this question subsequently to Mr. J, "Your wife is not working right now?"

*swings the red flag everybodaye*

She kindly told us that following our current monthly household income, we would need to top up a shortfall of $384 every month. Which, we were fully aware of and okay since we have done our financial calculations and have sufficient savings every month for this shortfall. Plus, this shortfall doesn't quite matter to us, since I would be going back to the workforce insya'Allah after I have delivered. Kira few months kita bayar this shortfall with GIRO, and once I have started working, my cpf contribution can be used to cover this shortfall of $384. No biggy right......? Or so we thought.

Here comes the twist:
Kakak sales said that this amount of shortfall has to be paid via CPF only, through our total monthly CPF OA Contribution. The GIRO option mentioned in this entry here is available only if both of us are currently working, yet the total CPF tak cukup to pay the monthly HLE repayment amount.

i.e. Husband is employed with CPF Contribution while the wife is a self-employed with no CPF Contribution, but able to prove with an income tax. eg. Property agent and the likes

Well, unless Mr. J's income alone could make up the same total household income as we had back then.

Eg.

Description	AMOUNT
Applicant 1 income	2,000.00
Applicant 2 income	2,000.00
Total Household income in 2014	4,000.00
Description	AMOUNT
Applicant 1 income	4,000.00
Applicant 2 income	-
Total Household income at the point of key collection	4,000.00

...which ermmm, doesn't make sense. Nobody gets a salary increment of 200% within a span of 2 years. Unless dia kerja coolie then tiba-tiba join politics and become a Minister ah. But that is besides the point. The point is, our HLE amount needs to be reassessed since there is a decrease in our monthly total household income at the point of key collection.

Just like what we thought about previously.

If that's the case, why did HDB conveniently approve the loan and mislead us kan?

Kakak sales said HDB would assume that there's no change in our income status & give us the same loan amount. Unless we would like to request for a higher loan, then they would reassess - subject to our monthly total household income. In her words, no less "Dorang selalu shortcut. Tapi waktu collect kunci, we will look into your income status. And if there's a decrease, we would need to reassess the loan accordingly. Kalau tak cukup, kena appeal for higher loan".

Kakak sales also told us that HDB would use the CPF contribution of the last 3 months (at least) to assess the loan credibility. Meaning, I need to be working for at least 3 months for them to assess and provide the new loan amount. So many numbers, so much headache.

Kakak sales also told us that she would also prefer to grant us the key collection, but only if our OIC approves this & "willing to take this responsibility". But neh, the OIC doesn't wanna put her name on the line. Ok lor.

Given our "challenging" situation, she directed us to meet up with the COS (Loan) department to appeal - which we went after lunch.

At this point, Mr. J was already pissed with how things were. I tried to be "the water" and reminded him to husnudzonbillah and prayed for the best. To be honest, I was already really really upset. Disappointed. And all other mixed emotions. But I didn't want all these negative emotions to get to our head else we couldn't think rationally and might end up being angsty later on when we meet up with the COS officer :/ So let's avoid that.

During lunch hour, Mr. J and I had a discussion over this shortfall. We thought of two "options/scenarios" that might solve/salvage this financial shortfall that we are currently in.

Option A: Appeal to HDB & prove that we are able to come up with the $384 in cash every month to pay via GIRO, until I have found myself a job very soon (insya'Allah) and able to contribute to the shortfall with my cpf.
Option B: Request/Appeal for a deferment for 6 months & find a job while at it. 3 months of "self-maternity" leave (or less - whichever works best) & 3 months of work to kickstart the CPF monthly contribution all over again. Just enough time, insya'Allah.

Sounds like a plan.

Lunch hour ended, and we met with the COS Loan department's Duty Manager to explain our situation. Didn't catch his name but we sincerely liked how he attentively listened to us explaining our situation & tried to provide us with solutions (even though he went "by the book").

- He assisted us with an appeal for a deferment
- He assisted us with an appeal for a higher loan following our current monthly total household income based on only Mr. J's income (which is impossible ah, since we already buat homework kan. But ok, we proceeded to try anywayssss)
- He also took note that I will be due soon & informed us that we can notify HDB asap once I have found myself a job. (He kindly included this in the appeal).

We checked with him whether it was possible to prove that we can come up with this shortfall financially and pay via GIRO - you know, just trying our luck. He mentioned that we are talking about 25 years of loan, which is not a short period of time. So even if we can prove to HDB that we are financially able to right now, it can't be certain that we are able to do so for the next 25 years - along with the baby in tow. Okay...

We also checked with him if the HLE amount would increase if our total household income increases (comparing against our combined household income back in 2014), he replied nope. HDB will provide us with the loan amount just enough of what we need. Well, you can never know the funny grey fineprints HDB might have. #justbeingkiasu

The whole process of appeal & approval (if possible aamiin) would roughly take about 2 weeks or so. Noted. So now we wait......for another 2 weeks......hais.

In conclusion, here's a summary of the knowledge to share, learn and & take away from our unfortunate key collection event that happened yesterday:
- For key collection to go smoothly like every other Singaporean couple, both husband and wife MUST be working, unless either one of the spouse's income (read: CPF Contribution) alone is enough to pay back the monthly HLE repayment amount
- Connecting to the above point mentioned, do also ensure that there's no decrease in the total household income between the time the HLE was first approved, to the point of key collection
- The GIRO cash top up option is ONLY applicable if both husband and wife is working, yet the total CPF isn't enough to pay for the monthly HLE repayment amount. No such thing as one person working, and the other is at home goyang kaki, lutut dan anggota-anggota badan sewaktu dengannya, and top up the shortfall amount by cash (GIRO).
- HDB assess the loan credibility using the CPF contribution of the recent 3 months

The only consolation while we were out yesterday was registering our admission paperwork in KKH after the appointment. Glad that we at least got that settled after procrastinating it for days.

Speaking of which, since dah nak kena carik kerja dalam masa terdekat ni, it may seem ridiculous to look for a job while serving confinement. But I was thinking of cutting my self-maternity leave period short and start working hopefully by Dec/Jan. Hopefully by then the job market has picked up. Aamiin aamiin aamiin.

We also need to consider on the care & well-being of our newborn once I have started working. :( Couldn't hold back my tears & broke down at night partially cz of this. Baru satu bulan je dah "kena tinggal". But no choice; Mummy has to find a job, dear. My mum is definitely out of this equation of babysitting as she has openly declared that she wouldn't want to babysit any of her grandchildren even way before any of her children got married. Well noted, mum. My MIL on the other hand, is okay to help out but I wouldn't want to trouble her in any way possible. I am sure our newborn would be in great hands under her care, but caring for a newborn isn't that easy especially since my MIL is no longer young too. Their cries, their constant feeds, their spit ups.

When push comes to shove and we have to resort to sending our newborn to infant care, then no choice :( That would mean an additional financial liability, but like I said, no choice.
To be researched: Does infant care accepts baby enrolment as early as 1 month old?

In all seriousness, hidup ni ada naik ada turun. Kadang-kadang dengan adanya masalah, kita boleh matang. Kadang-kadang dengan adanya masalah, kita boleh dekat dengan Allah. Yang penting, kita mesti usaha & do'a. Minta yang terbaik. We can't expect family to help us, cz they wont. Masing-masing ada keperluan/masalah sendiri. I know at this juncture, I am mostly to blame since I was the one who stopped working, and yes, fingers were pointed towards me for my actions. But little did they know that even if I have stayed, it wouldn't be long - the very small company that I was working for was already looking for employees to let go. What better way than to let go a mother-to-be that would only incur extra expenditure for the 4 months of maternity leave right? Sigh. Biting the bullet right now.

In a nutshell, as husband & wife, we have to help & support each other cz nobody else will. On top of that, we have to husnudzonbillah always. And always, always, have each other's back during tough times.

Tough times don't last. Tough people do.
To better times ahead. Aamiin.

The pregnant monster in me

Today I woke up around 11plus (don't judge please - I have been having insomnia during pregnancy so I turn in late) - stretched my legs only to experience a reallllly bad muscle pull. Yeeeouwchhh! Had to self-massage since Mr. J was at work. :( Felt super hungry and weak almost immediately even though my first meal of the day was right after subuh after Mr. J has left for work. Foodpanda has been my go-to app recently. Looked at all the available food for purchase. Was inclined towards ordering Nene chicken but the minimum order was at least $18. What can I order with $18?! Delivery charge is an additional $3. While deciding, my energy level has reached weaker than weak and I have turned slightly cold turkey-ish. Had to "rush" to the kitchen and poured the Cocopops cereal messy in the bowl together with my fresh meiji milk. One serving wasn't enough. I had two. And a packet of chocolate biscuits. Still feeling hungry now. :/ *inserts cold turkey*

Regret I still have not made myself any frozen lauk. Could have been a saviour at times like this. (Notetoself#1 for next pregnancy perhaps - frozen lauk for 3rd trimester onwards. Or maybe purchase tingkat meals eh? Hee).

My hungry episodes for third trimester is tahap critical. I must ensure I have food and drinks by my side in the room. So whenever I wake up hungry, be it the morning, afternoon or late hours in the night, food and drinks will be readily available within reach. Yes, I've turned to a pregnant monster. I don't know how I'll be when baby's out and I need to breastfeed. Mummies say breastfeeding has turned them to monsters too. :/ Maybe I'll have a pantry of food inventory at a corner in my room eh? That sounds like a good plan. Haha. Gemok jugak aku nanti tau.

But first, before we angan-angan with all the food and pantry dreams, we need to start packing. Yes, pack to move lah. We need to start somewhere. Notetoself#2.

Oh and packing reminds me of the hospital bag. We have packed most of the stuff in "the bag". We will be using the Avent goodie bag that we got from the first breastfeeding class we attended. It's big enough for all my hospital essentials. Notetoself#3: Insya'Allah I will be sharing on the stuff that I pack in my hospital bag in another entry - for the sake of easy reference in the future.

My body is still giving me signals on hunger. Grrr. Gtg and make myself something easy. Oh, baby... Please don't tell me you're a big eater?

Just a last note to self for this entry - You've turned 35 weeks and 5 days as of today. Dah besar anak Mummy/Ibu. :') *rubs tummy & wipes imaginary tears*

Financing our upcoming home: Part 4 - Executing the solution

A recap on the earlier episodes of this entry:

Part 1 - The harsh reality
Part 2 - The headache
Part 3 - Finding solutions

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Now we move on to executing the solution:
Without wasting anymore time (since time wasn't on our side - what's with the counting down to my EDD & the key collection happening roughly around the same time), we went down to A-X-A Customer Service counter on the 15th of Sept to terminate/surrender our policy. To our pleasure, we found out that we have earned quite a fair bit with our investment (Alhamdulillah) during the investment period of May-Sept this year. Jadilah eh..... even though investment kita tak berpanjangan lol. Yelah, sebenarnya hasrat kita untuk masukkan CPF dalam our CPFIS is so that HDB doesn't wipe out everything from our CPF-OA to zero, and stash it somewhere else. Tapi ternyata, we still needed that sum to finance our HDB. :p Issokeh, we learn...we learn.

Actually, if you ask me, it is possible to do an investment with CPFIS, but that is if memang kita nya gaji maha besar/I am still working, and the balance in our CPF-OA is enough to finance the balance payment. Because in order to invest into CPFIS with our CPF-OA, the balance in our CPF-OA must at least be 20K. We cannot suka-suka invest everything and leave the CPF-OA empty. That's the limitation that we learned when we did ours.

Taking up loans from banks/relatives were also suggested to us, but Mr. J and I memang bertekad that we wouldn't want to take up additional loans. Say no-no to berhutang if we have other safer avenues to tap into. Like what R.udy M.arican advised in one of his R.udyR.illa episode, "Biar makan nasi, telur & kicap, asal tak berhutang". Yep.

Okay, let's go back to surrendering our policy:
We were told that the process would take around 7-10 working days for the funds to be credited back to our CPFIS account, that was parked in OCBC bank. We will then receive a notification letter by A-X-A to inform us that surrender is successful and thereafter, we will need to follow up with OCBC personally to credit it back to our CPF-OA account. A bit leceh ah but no choice since this is our only resource so far kan.

So anyways, we later received the letter from A-X-A on the 22nd of Sep, after surrendering on 15th Sep. Not too long a wait huh :) Alhamdulillah.

To cut the long story short, we then headed down to OCBC the next day to request for a transfer back to our CPF-OA account by signing a manual transfer form & was told that it would also take around 7-10 working days.

Fast forward to the 27th of Sept, we received a text message from CPF Board that the amount was successfully credited (or refunded) back to our CPF-OA. Alhamdulillah syukurrrrr!

So in summary, the whole process of surrendering our policy and crediting the funds back to our CPF-OA did take up about 2 weeks. Good to plan ahead and give another week extra as a buffer time.

For now... we shall wait for the mid of Oct - which is EXACTLY next week! :)

P.s: Let's just pray I don't give birth before that lah eh... Be a very very obedient baby and make your appearance only after we have received the keys from HDB k little one. Thank you!

Financing our upcoming home: Part 3 - Finding solutions

You may click on the link below for the earlier parts of this entry:
Part 1 - The harsh reality
Part 2 - The headache

After you have done recapping/To continue from where we left off...

We dropped another email to our OIC to raise our concern & enquired with her on how to finance the balance amount for key collection. I received a call the next day and she told us that the balance, if our CPF-OA is insufficient, is to be paid ONLY by NETS (subjected to daily withdrawal limits imposed by bank) or Cashier's Order on the day of key collection. I reconfirmed if it's possible to pay the balance required via GIRO instalments - she said No.

Note: The GIRO instalment is only valid for approved HLE loan should our monthly CPF contribution to finance the monthly HLE isn't enough.

Meaning:

DESCRIPTION	AMOUNT
Amount to be paid monthly for HLE	1,000.00
Total CPF-OA contribution	(700.00)
Balance to be topped up/paid by cash (GIRO)	300.00

Ohhhhh gitu rupanyaaaa....

So...

Backtracking to my ending note in Part 2, we actually have invested both our CPF-OA (leaving only 20K balance each in our CPF-OA) to our CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) account with A-X-A in May this year (through a random consultant that approached us at Singpost pfft). But Alhamdulillah, ada jugak lah hikmahnya. After recalculating our CPF-OA & the amount in our CPFIS account, insya'Allah it was enough to finance the balance payment. The only thing we needed was time (around 2-3 weeks) to credit the funds back from our CPFIS account to our CPF-OA.

So, during the phone conversation with our OIC, we asked for a deferment of the key collection date and managed to push it back to mid Oct! Hopefully the funds are credited back into our CPF-OA by then.

*fingers crossed*