35-weeks pregnant

While I'm still able to sit in front of computer and have sometime for myself, I would try to allocate the time to update my blog as much as I can. But at the moment, I can't sit too long anymore now that I am entering my 35th week of pregnancy. My tummy is growing bigger it makes me difficult to sit on a soft couch and to get up again, especially if I have to get up after sitting on the floor. Sleeping, walking, and breathing have been proven to be more and more problematic during this period. I cannot walk too far and too long anymore because I will run out of breath and I will experience strong Braxton Hicks contraction at night. It's so strong it can take my breath away and I'll be gasping for some air while praying and whispering to the baby to stay longer inside my womb.

I do not want my baby to come out prematurely. My first child was born exactly on the 36th week (2 weeks earlier than the due date) and it was a very easy and quick normal delivery with no epidural involved. While the easy and quick normal delivery part has always been what I ask for in my prayer, the earlier-than-due-date part is not what I want. 3 of my son's cousins were born earlier than the due date as early as 32 - 35 weeks. I talk a lot to my baby inside the womb to stay longer at least until 37 weeks. I do not want my baby to come out too late as well (overdue). Overdue baby usually is quite big so I'm afraid I will have a difficult and long labor not to mention the possibility of having Cesarean Section.

Cesarean Section is never my preference because then I will have to stay longer in bed, feeling the pain after the big surgery and still have to take care the newborn and worry about when I can recover because I have another son to take care, a hubby that cannot wait to go for his overseas assignment, and a long list of my duty as a wife and a mother as well. But then, if C-section is the only way to deliver my baby, then I just have to cope with the problems later.

At 35 weeks pregnant, I'm supposed to enjoy the time with my other half as much as I can, but unfortunately, his work always comes first. I wanted to take him to go for a movie but it never materializes. He would say, "Tomorrow, tomorrow. I'm very busy today." and that tomorrow means "wait long long lah!!" Aiyoh!!!
I can just go by myself to the cinema and watch The dark knight but then I'm afraid if anything happens to me, no one will help because at this period, the preparation of my body for labor is getting more and more obvious. Anything can happen anywhere.

I have done some preparation for the baby and for staying in the hospital. I've packed the baby's bag and mine. I've washed everything including the breastpump but I haven't sterilized it. I've informed my maid to do it once the baby is out. I still have quite a number of things to be bought such as the baby mattress + bed sheet, the baby bottle/cups to store the breast milk, and the baby car seat. I'm still looking for the most suitable baby car seat around because my car is very small and I have installed 1 car seat for my 1st child. If I want to put another car seat, I have to make sure, the car seat is slim enough to fit the back seat of my car and still have some space for my maid to sit. Oh yes, my maid always wants me to take her whenever my hubby and I go out. She complains when she has to stay at home. When my parents came over to visit me, she had to stay at home because the car can't fit too many people and my maid was not happy about it. She scolded my parents for coming over and causing her to be left at home during family outing. My hubby and I have no plan to upgrade the car soon because we still have no budget for that. Besides, big car means more petrol. I still need to allocate the money for more urgent things like all the newborn needs and the house that is still under renovation. I want the house to be completed as soon as possible because the apartment I stay at the moment is getting smaller with the new addition to my family.

Ok, I think I've been sitting here quite sometime and I need to end this post quickly because my back is starting to ache and I'm getting hungry. Oh by the way, so far I've only put on 7Kgs in total and my body weight keeps going up and down. When I was pregnant with my 1st child, I gained 10Kgs in total for the whole duration of 9 months.

Potty training

My 3.8 years old son has just completed his potty training project. Now he is completely free of diaper, day and night. Yeah..I know..I know...it's a bit late but I am very satisfied with the process and the result. Basically, my son has already passed his potty training project for no-diaper during the day long time ago when he was only 2.5 years old. So, the potty training project this time was only for the night.

Only about 2 weeks ago, I finally got a green light from my husband to potty-train my son for no-diaper at night though I've been quietly training him as and when my hubby was not around but no good progress because my son knew he could still wear diaper when daddy was around.
My husband was very concerned about my son's lack of sleep if he had to be waken up in the middle of the night to pass urine and worried about me not having enough sleep if I had to wake up my son. But I believe, he was just very lazy to wake himself up to help my son to go to toilet at night and he didn't like our maid to put on her long face when she had to do more cleaning and washing of bedsheet, etc.,so my hubby requested me to keep my son diaper on longer.

So, after some jokes about my son not being able to let go his diaper until his teenage time, my husband finally opened up his eyes and agreed to help me to wake my son up and even to carry him to toilet every night to pass urine.

The project didn't go well for the first 1 week and of course, my maid really didn't like this project because she had to wash not only our bedsheet but also the blanket and pillow covers (though we put mattress protector, my son just couldn't sleep on 1 place), but she had no more supporter anymore since my hubby was on my side..wha..ha!
After the 1st week when my hubby was not around, I had to do the job of waking my son up and drag him to toilet (I'm pregnant so it's imposible to lift him up). Everynight before he sleeps I keep on telling and whispering to my son's ears not to pee on the bed. Miraculously, up to present, he nevers fails to wake up by himself and wake me up instead to help him to go to toilet.

Wha..ha..ha..I'm so happy that my son and I completed the project successfully only within 2 weeks. I thought it would take longer. This is great because then I don't have to buy more diaper for him. The cost can be allocated for his baby sister later.

32 weeks pregnant

I'm 32 weeks pregnant at the moment. Since the day I entered the third trimester pregnancy, I could feel that the most comfortable period of pregnancy has slowly been going away. My tummy is growing bigger everyday and it gets heavier. My body puts on weight as well though it is not too much compared to my first pregnancy. So far, I only put on about 7 kilograms.
My center of gravity has moved too and this makes me walk like a penguin. I have trouble sleeping every night because the baby tries to adjust her position all the time and I feel the pain in my lower hips every time I change position while sleeping. According to the scan, it's a baby girl, by the way. I hope it's right so I can 'close shop' with 1 boy and 1 girl... :)

Two weeks ago, I went for check up because I felt that the baby's position was already very low and I felt a painful cramp in my lower abdomen. I thought I was about to give birth already. But luckily it was only a false alarm. The baby's head was still in breech presentation. My ob/gyn asked me to stop walking too much but to sit up right and stand straight instead so that the baby could turn the head down by the force of gravity. I think this false alarm was triggered by the incident I had during the day when I had to walk up and down the staircase of more than 11 floor because the only 2 lifts in my apartment were malfunctioning.

Today, I went for my check up again and the good news is that the baby's head is already in the right position (cephalic presentation). I also had my tetanus jab (my 2nd time. I had it before when I was small) and now my left arm is very very sore... :(
The bad news is that my urine contains a slightly high level of protein. My ob/gyn is a bit concern about this because high level of protein in urine during pregnancy can lead to preeclampsia condition.

According to this website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050111122343.htm,
if it is not monitored, preeclampsia can rapidly escalate to eclampsia, a condition in which a massive rise in blood pressure causes the mother to suffer a series of potentially fatal complications and forces premature delivery of the infant.

So far, I do not suffer from high blood pressure and my sugar level is still normal. Hopefully my protein level won't bring any danger to my pregnancy and me so that I can continue the pregnancy to the full term and the mother and baby will be in good condition and healthy during delivery. Please pray for me and my baby.

Bahasa Indonesia Baru

Kalau anda orang Indonesia yang telah meninggalkan kampung halaman untuk tinggal di luar Indonesia lebih dari 10 tahun, anda akan merasa sangat sulit untuk mengikuti perkembangan bahasa Indonesia terutama kata-kata baru yang diucapkan sehari-hari oleh orang Indonesia di Indonesia. Apalagi kalau anda jarang pulang kampung dan jarang berhubungan dengan orang-orang di Indonesia.

Terus terang saya sangat merasakan hal ini. Kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia saya terbatas oleh kata-kata yang saya tahu terakhir kali sebelum saya meninggalkan Indonesia sehingga ketika saya berbicara bahasa Indonesia akan terdengar sangat resmi, lucu, dan ketinggalan jaman. Akhirnya, daripada saya menjadi bahan tertawaan, saya memilih untuk berbahasa Inggris saja karena saya juga merasa lebih familiar dan mudah menyampaikan maksud saya.
Akibatnya, bahasa Indonesia saya tidak berkembang dan bahkan cenderung kaku karena saya jarang memakainya.

Tentu saja sebagai bahasa ibu, sulit bagi saya untuk melupakan bahasa Indonesia. Tetapi setiap kali saya mendapat email dari teman-teman atau keluarga saya yang masih tinggal di Indonesia, selalu saja saya menemukan banyak istilah-istilah baru/kata-kata baru yang saya tidak pernah dengar sama sekali sebelumnya. Ada juga kata baru yang sudah pernah saya dengar tetapi artinya dan penggunaannya sungguh berbeda dengan yang pernah saya tahu sebelumnya. Kebanyakan kata-kata baru tersebut digunakan untuk bahasa sehari-hari atau lebih akrab disebut sebagai bahasa gaul.

Seperti bahasa lain, bahasa Indonesia pun mengalami evolusi dan ini adalah bagian dari evolusi bahasa Indonesia. Terus terang saya merasa penasaran untuk belajar bahasa Indonesia baru ini karena saya merasa janggal setiap kali mendengar/membaca kata-kata baru tersebut tetapi saya tidak tahu artinya.

Tetapi sayangnya, setiap kali saya menanyakan/mencari tahu arti dan asal kata-kata baru tersebut, selalu saja saya ditertawakan terlebih dahulu baru diberi jawaban. Bahkan kadang kala tidak dijawab sama sekali karena banyak orang kira saya hendak melucu. Mungkin saya tampak seperti mahluk Mars yang ingin belajar bahasa Bumi. Atau mungkin saya tampak seperti orang 'tempo doeloe'. Untung saja jaman sekarang adalah jaman internet dimana Google.com adalah senjata saya untuk mencari tahu hal apapun termasuk kata-kata baru bahasa Indonesia yang saya tidak tahu.

Selama 10 tahun lebih tinggal di luar Indonesia, sengingat dan setahu saya, kata-kata baru yang saya pelajari adalah:

1. BT (saya mulai dengar kata ini pertama kali tahun 2000) - yang sampai saat ini terus terang saya tidak terlalu tahu pasti kepanjangannya tetapi setahu saya, BT banyak dipakai untuk mendeskripsikan keadaan yang membosankan.
2. Jadul (pertama kali baca tahun 2006) - ternyata singkatan "jaman dulu".
   
3. Jablai (pertama kali dengar kata ini tahun 2007) - ternyata singkatan "jarang dibelai".
4. Kopdar (pertama kali dengar tahun 2007) - singkatan "kopi darat" yang banyak dipakai untuk menerangkan pertemuan yang diadakan oleh mereka-mereka yang sebelumnya kenal melalui internet.
   
5. Secara (pertama kali baca tahun 2007) - Setahu saya, pemakaian kata ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan kata "dengan cara" + kata sifat. Tetapi sejak 2007, saya penasaran sekali ingin tahu arti pemakaian kata "secara" yang sering sekali saya temukan ketika berkomunikasi dengan orang-orang di Indonesia. Rasanya pemakaian kata "secara" sudah tidak pada tempatnya. Selama setahun saya mencari tahu mengapa orang Indonesia memakai kata "secara" tidak pada tempatnya dan saya baru saja menemukan jawabannya di sini: http://ronny.haryan.to/archives/2008/04/18/secara-goblok/#comments

Saya rasa masih banyak kata-kata lain lagi tetapi saya sudah lupa karena saya jarang memakai kata-kata baru tersebut.

Kalau anda pembaca setia blog saya, anda tahu bahwa saya selalu menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Tetapi kali ini, saya mencoba untuk menggunakan bahasa Indonesia karena saya ingin tahu apakah blog entry saya kali ini akan terasa aneh/kaku bila dibaca oleh orang-orang Indonesia baik yang tinggal di Indonesia maupun yang tinggal di luar Indonesia.

Saya akan sangat bersyukur bila anda sudi memberikan komentar anda.

Happy Father's Day

To all fathers in the world,

May God bless you always and give you health, strength, and guidance to pull through each and every day of your life together with your loved ones.
May you always be great father for your children and great husband/partner for your wife.
Love and protect your children with all your heart and mind. In return, you'll gain their love and respect you deserve.

Happy father's day!!

World Environment Day (WED)

Today, 5th of June, is World Environment Day and the slogan for this year celebration is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy. For more information about WED 2008, visit http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/About_WED_2008/index.asp

What have I been doing to take an active part to celebrate WED?

1. Recycling: I've done this for nearly 6 years now. I separate my household waste into recyclable materials (such as cloths, paper, glass, plastic, and other things that I can send to recycle center) and non-recyclable materials. Some of the recyclable materials I recycle at home by turning them into beautiful decorative items and re-use them. I like to use old printed papers for my origami projects. I diligently send the old newspaper & magazines to the recycle center for some pocket money.. :) Sometimes I can even use the money to pay for the newspaper monthly subscription. So, it's really a recycle thing.. :D
   
2. No Air Conditioner (A/C) when it's not an emergency: Since I don't come from a rich family, I'm used to live without A/C. My skin can cope with the hot and humid weather very well as long as it is not a direct heat from the sun. I can see a huge drop in my electricity bill when A/C is not in use.
   
3. Switch off electrical power when not in use: Every night before I sleep, I'll make sure I only use the least amount of power at home. I unplug all the electricity plugs that I don't use at night. It helps me to reduce my electricity bill and also reduce the risk of fire (from short-circuit). I'm so particular about this until I know exactly which main switch controls parts of my house switches so I can isolate them.
   
4. Switch off the lights when not in use: not only this will reduce my electricity bill, switching off the light when not in use will also help to prolong the life of the bulb.
5. Close the water taps tightly: I get irritated when I hear water drips so I always make sure all water taps are closed tightly and fix all the leak pipes around the house. It saves my water bill.. :)
   
6. No driving when it's not necessary: I prefer to walk then to drive. Driving is a stressful thing to do for me and it can burn a hole in my pocket because of the expensive petrol. Walk is a lot better. It's environmentally friendly and good for my health.
   
7. Sign up for electronic bills/statement as much as I can.
   

So far those are major things I've been doing to support the Green day every day move. Some people very close to me says I am very frugal because they get annoyed when I ask their help to do all the above. they said it's a waste of time. One person even gets very angry with me every time I ask him to reduce the use of paper. I'm just playing my part to save this earth. But unfortunately, these people think that what I've done will not give effect at all so why waste time to save the earth when the rest don't even care.
Hmmmm... I never even think like that. In my opinion, I should start every thing (especially good thing) from my part and spread the good things to others.

There is still 1 important thing that I promise my self to do: stop using plastic bag.
I've been trying to reduce the use of plastic bag as much as I can but I still need to use plastic bag to throw the rubbish. I plan to make a carton box from recycled papers (something like the egg carton) to throw rubbish so that I can stop using plastic bags to throw rubbish.

So, what have you done and will do to support World Environment Day?

Sharing important knowledge

Some of the information below I received when I attended an ante-natal class.

1. Breast milk is the best: I was successfully breastfed my son for 15 months and I can't stress enough how important it is to give your babies, from newborn - 6 months old, only breast milk (exclusive breastfeeding) because breast milk is the only thing that their tiny stomach can digest. Breast milk also provides complete nutritions for your babies to grow while helping all the internal organs to mature and can function properly. It's cheap and convenient. It protects your babies against infection and allergy. You will see that the rest of the information I give below will always referred back to breast milk as no. 1 solution. It is also important to know the correct way to breastfeed your baby, again I stress the word, breastfeed. Not nipplefeed. Make sure baby is latched on properly to the breast so that mother doesn't feel the pain on the nipple during breastfeeding. Many women do not want to breastfeed because they can't stand the pain.
   Visit La Leche League website for more info about breastfeeding or ask guidance from other breastfeeding moms.
2. Breastfeeding moms must be relaxed and happy to help increasing the milk production. For more information about how breast milk is produce, read here: http://www.babies.sutterhealth.org/breastfeeding/bf_production.html
3. Breast milk produces at night so breastfeeding mothers have to breastfeed their babies at night so that the breasts will not be too full. Full breasts are very uncomfortable and painful.
4. Do not put breast milk in a glass because breast milk can loose its important nutrition when it's put in a glass. Use a plastic cup/container instead.
5. No water for newborn to 6 months old babies. Only breastmilk (or only if mother can't produce breast milk, then give formula): According to the latest news I read from Reuters, giving too much water to babies below 6 months old and younger can put babies at risk of a potentially life-threatening condition known as water intoxication because their kidneys are not yet mature. Too much water will make babies' bodies to release sodium along with excess water and losing sodium can affect brain activity.
   You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL76777020080527
   
6. When your baby has jaundice (yellow skin): Jaundice is caused by the excessive amount of bilirubin in the blood. It is dangerous when bilirubin level is more than 15 mg. The treatment: Blue light - to help to bring down the level of bilirubin faster, give breast milk NOT water because bilirubin will come out together with the stool not with urine. Water will come out as urine which won't contain the bilirubin. So, beware when someone asks you to give more water to your jaundice baby. Read more about jaundice here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001559.htm#
   
7. When your baby has wind/colic: No traditional herbs for breastfeed moms. Breastfeed more. Do not apply oil/ointment on the stomach because it can caused liver damage (some mothers like to apply oil/ointment such as minyak telon/minyak kayu putih (Cajaput oil) to baby's stomach every time after bath. This is dangerous because after a warm bath, baby's skin can absorb the oil/ointment very well.
   
8. Nappy rash on baby: Change the nappy frequently. Even if you buy the most expensive nappy, you still have to change it frequently because you do not want the urine to stain your baby's skin that can cause the rash.
9. When your baby has eye discharge: The treatment for eye discharge: antibiotic eye ointment or drops, frequent cleaning of the eyes carefully and gently, massage the tear duct which may be blocked.
10. When your baby has heat rash (red rashes on the skin): Do not over-cloth the baby. Bath the baby more to cool down.
    
11. No pacifier: I don't recommend to give pacifier to your babies because: it's unhygienic (your baby can get oral thrush - fungal overgrowth in baby's mouth). Pacifier can cause nipple confusion on breastfed babies, and it's dangerous when it's accidentally swallowed (baby will die because of choking).
12. Sleeping position for babies: Back is the best. Lie on the back to sleep. Never leave your baby sleep on the tummy. It's a common cause of SID (sudden infant death/cot death).
13. Always strap in your babies (children) in the right car seat for them when traveling: the baby car seat must be properly and securely installed at the rear (back) seat of the car. Do not install baby car seat in the front seat and the passenger side with airbag when your car is equipped with airbag. Visit this website for more information: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/womenfamilies/articles/104581/article.html
14. Get as much as information you can and always check with your paediatrician/other specialists before you do anything dangerous to your children.

Love and protect your children. Unconditional love is the most important thing you can give to your children because it will teach them how to love others unconditionally as well.

These are all important information I can think of to share with you for the moment. I hope this basic information can help you to become more knowledgeable and wise parents.

Ante-natal class

I'm so glad I finally managed to drag my husband to attend ante-natal class. He missed the 1st one 4 years ago because of his work commitment and distance that kept us apart.

To me, attending an ante-natal class is a very important part of pregnancy period. Although I have attended before, I chose to attend again on my 2nd pregnancy because I believe the knowledge that I received is very valuable to prepare me and my support person to care for our newborn later. Besides, I needed to know any updated information regarding babies/children immunization, sicknesses and how to prevent them, and also great information on what to do/give and not to do/give to babies.

My 1st ante-natal class was provided by Birthcare (great postnatal hospital) in New Zealand. It was a free (fully subsidized by government) 3-day class from morning 'till afternoon. I was given 2 books containing the course material, one book for the father and one book for the mother. The 3-day class was very elaborate and the information given was great especially for 1st time mother like me who had to care for the 1st born by herself. I learned all about to go through my pregnancy, the birthing methods available, the painkiller options during labor, equipment used during delivery, tips on easy-quick delivery, the importance of breastfeeding, how to breastfeed correctly, and parenting education. Too bad my husband couldn't join me, so for 2 sessions my partner was an empty chair then on the final session, one of my good friends agreed to become my temporary birthing partner.

My 2nd ante-natal class was in Malaysia. It's provided by the hospital in where I am going to give birth later.
It was a half a day class. The fee was RM20 per couple in exchange of buffet lunch and all important things to bring to hospital for delivery. The speakers for this ante-natal course consisted of a paediatrician, an obstetrician and gynecology, a nurse, an anaesthetist, and a physiotherapist. I learned a lot of new things in this class especially things regarding breastfeeding, babies, and parenting in Malaysia in addition to the same knowledge I received on my previous ante-natal class in New Zealand.
My husband and I agreed that joining this class really gave us more knowledge about taking care our children. We learned many things that most people take for granted thinking that they already know when actually they know the wrong things.
It's great that my husband was there with me listening to the same information so that when we face a problem concerning our children, we will react the same way and not blaming one another instead. This is a very important point to highlight why it is very important for me to take my support person to attend an ante-natal class.

If you are pregnant, I really suggest you attend an ante-natal class with your support person (your husband, your mother, your mother in-law) so that every one will get the same knowledge and you, as a mother who only wants the best for your children, will not be blamed for doing things that consider new to your support persons. Your mother/mother in-law always think that they know everything better than you do because they are experience mothers, but if they never update their motherhood knowledge, then they will teach you all the wrong things (old information) which can be dangerous for your children. The knowledge you receive during ante-natal course will act as your mythbusters so you know for sure what to do/give to your children.

By attending ante-natal class, you and your support person will be more prepared and relax to welcome the wonderful addition in your family.

Happy Mother's Day

My mother's day prayer this year will be focused on mothers all over the world who are facing difficulties in their life and in their journey as a mother and will also be focused on mothers who were forced to become a mother against their will.
May God give these mothers strength, guidance, and patience, to pull them through each and every day of their lives.
So that with their big heart, these mothers will still be able to give their unlimited amount of love to their children and family and in return, their children will be able to learn how to love others.

To all mother in the world: Happy Mother's day.

Malaysia Airlines VS Air Asia

From 5th May, Malaysia Airlines has been introducing a zero (0) Ringgit fare (passenger only needs to pay for airport tax and surcharges) for its domestic flight tickets. According to the letter from its Managing Director/CEO, Dato' Sri Idris Jala, his airlines has put aside up to 30% of the seats for the these Special Everyday Low Fares.

This is an important move by Malaysia Airlines to be able to compete with Air Asia, which has been giving away zero Ringgit tickets on any special occasions, such as its birthday, since long long time ago.

So now everyone traveling within Malaysia is able to enjoy Malaysia Airlines 5-star service on board of a world's 5-star airlines. They just need to purchase the ticket online at www.malaysiaairlines.com, at least 30 days before the flight departure, and cannot change their mind.

With a ticket price a lot cheaper compared to the normal price, passenger is allocated 20kg check-in baggage allowance, free meal on board, and an allocated seat with seat number (you don't have to fight for your preferred seat).

Air Asia fired back this campaign by offering to pay the difference to any of its passengers if they can find any MAS airfare that is lower than the cheapest offered by Air Asia. This airlines is going to even lower the price of its ticket by introducing sub-zero Fare campaign that will be launched soon.

I personally find this battle very amusing. It's funny to see how Malaysia Airlines reacts to the hard competition given by Air Asia.
It should not feel threatened and compete with Air Asia because these two airlines are in a different class/group which supposed to serve different group of people with different tastes of traveling by air.
Why don't MAS try to focus on giving hard competition to Singapore Airlines (SIA) instead? Try to see any opportunities beyond what SIA can see.
But looks like MAS chooses to abandon the fight with SIA and admitted that SIA is a better airlines. So it shifted its focus to go head-on with Air Asia instead knowing exactly that Air Asia has to go to the battle with its own limited force.

This battle will leave SIA smiling because then SIA will be alone in its class. When there is no competition in the market, passengers will have limited option and this can't be good for them.

I personally has been an Air Asia fanatic because so far I have been able to save a lot and still enjoy traveling to my favorite destinations.
Now, I will have to consider MAS because I would love to enjoy the 5 star service with a cheap ticket.

If I fly with Air Asia, I'll get cheap ticket with budget-style service.
I have to pay more to get any services such as: my check-in baggage (15 kg luggage allowance), priority boarding, and for my meal on board) but then I will fly with new planes (safe, fast, and comfortable).

If I fly with MAS, I'll get a little bit more expensive ticket but with 5-star service.
I don't have to pay for anything extra. My luggage allowance is 20kg. I'll get to board first when traveling with my children (free of charge) and I don't have to fight for my seat.
On top of that, there's free meal on board. Hmmmmm....it sounds a better option than Air Asia.
But then, I will fly with old aircrafts.

Let me calculate again everything and see if at the end MAS will win my choice... : )

Update:
Malaysia Airlines is starting its Everyday Low Fares for ASEAN routes today, 21st May 2008 until 3rd June 2008 for travel period: 1st July - 14th December 2008. HURRY!! HURRY!! It's a very good deal not to be missed!

Maid or no maid?

As a housewife and a mother, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is facing the dilemma whether or not to have a maid (domestic helper) to assist us in our daily chores.

Personally, I do not really need a maid because I can do all the housework by myself. Thanks to my parents who have done great job for allowing me & my brother to participate in doing the housework since we were very small and we grew up to become a clean-freak.. :) (I think my brother is worst than me.. :)).

But then my other half is the total opposite of me. He can't live without a maid or a helper or someone that picks up his dirty cloths on the floor. He said he has no time to do unimportant things like cleaning up papers from his desk or do the dishes. He prefers to have someone else to do the job.

To me, having a maid is a very serious expense that a family needs to think about more than just twice. The cost of hiring a maid can already burn a big hole in my pocket, not to mention about providing her with health care/insurance and personal necessities which she can just ask for top up anytime, plus, of course, her salary and bonuses. I take it like I am hiring a professional worker but then unfortunately, the maid that I hire is far from a professional worker. She did graduate from a high-school but then just like most maid from Indonesia, my maid comes from a very remote area where electricity is something that the people there are longing to have.

Since this is not my first time having a maid, I can understand her situation. Since the first day she started to work for me, I have been teaching and coaching her so that her work performance is able to meet my standard and expectation. Along the way, I constantly have to lower down my standard and expectation and close one eye if I don't want to get depression.
Not just that. I also need to work around the budget to make sure that she won't burn more holes in my pocket because she just couldn't care less about working carefully with my kitchen & household equipments. Before she came to work with me, I had all electronic fancy household and kitchen equipments to help me doing my chores faster and easier. The expensive things I bought are supposed to last at least more than a year. Though I have constantly reminded my maid NEVER TO TOUCH my fancy equipments, it's just her habit of ignoring my instructions. So, I had to hide away those expensive stuffs and bought the cheaper version or just provide her with the simplest equipment possible.

But then, this will also present me with another problem. Since it's cheaper, the quality is also less. And since my maid works like a robot with no control, she is able to destroy things in matter of days!! Nothing lasts at least a month! So, I have to keep on buying the new ones so that she can continue her work. This is not to mention her attitude problem that I have to bear every time. Oh well, what to expect? I just have to treat her professionally in 1 direction. I can't hope to get a professional work attitude from her since she doesn't even know what it means to be a professional worker... :\

To my other half, all these things are just small matters because to him, the most important thing is that he doesn't have to clean up after his mess and can keep on creating a mess as often as he wants to.
To me, this is a nightmare because I am the one that has to deal with her everyday and I am constantly worry about controlling my expenses.

But then, I have to admit, the maid helps me so that I can do other things such as updating this blog and taking care of my child and my self.

Oh what a dilemma!!Only I and those having the same experiences like me will understand how it really feels... :| Definitely not my other half. We are in a different boat... :(

Checked Baggage Handling Fee@Air Asia

Pay attention people! If you fly with Air Asia, starting 21 April 2008, you have to pay for checked baggage handling fee of RM3/bag-one way (if you pay online) or RM5/bag-one way (if you pay at the check-in counter).

For more information, please check Air Asia website:
http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/page.jsp?reference=baggage

The sweetest thing

Last night, after came back from the hospital (previous post), again, I had a big argument with my other half in the kitchen. My 3.5 year old son heard it and run to the kitchen to see us. He saw me crying and asked me, "Why are you crying, mommy?" I told him nothing happened. Mommy was just a little bit sad. Then he came up closer to me and tapped my leg and said, "It's ok, mommy. Don't cry! Don't be sad!" He took my hand and asked me to sit down. I sat down (while still sobbing).

Then my son came up to me again with his red ball, gave it to me and said, "Here my ball, mommy. I give this ball for you. Don't cry anymore. Don't be sad, ok?" Then he took his cookies and gave it to me while saying, "Here my cookies, mommy. You can have them all. I give my cookies all for you. Don't cry, ok?" While sobbing, I really couldn't stop smiling. My son saw it and said, "Mommy is smiling. Mommy is not crying anymore. Mommy is happy again because I gave everything for mommy." Then he asked me again, "Why are you sad, mommy?" I tried to put myself together and answered him, "Looks like daddy forgot how to love mommy." Then I heard my little boy said, "Daddy, daddy, you have to love mommy. Come here! Come here! I show you how to love mommy. See..like this (while hugging me and kissing me)." Then he continued, "Now you do, daddy! You hug mommy and you kiss mommy." His daddy did what he said. Then my boy said, "Like that, daddy. Like that. You love mommy. Good daddy!"

This time, I really put on a big smile on my face. My son looked extremely happy to be able to make me smile again. He thought his mission is accomplished and he returned to watch his shows on tele.
My son is the definitely the best medicine for my great depression. This little man is the sweetest person I know and I'm so glad I'm his mother.

Temporary memory lost

Yesterday was the worst day in my life. I had a big argument with my other half. So, to release the anger, I walked aimlessly touring Ipoh town for about 2 hours in the mid of the day. When I got very hungry, I stopped by at the hospital closes to my house to have lunch at the coffee shop there. I was very sad, tired, thirsty, and hungry. In the coffee shop I was greeted by a group of nurses from the pediatric clinic and I also met the nurse from my O & G clinic. Talking to them has made me forget for a while about my sadness.

The nurse from O & G saw that I looked very tired and unwell. So, she suggested me to see the specialist to get checked. So, I got my urine checked first before seeing the specialist. From the urine test, the nurse found out that I was dehydrated, exhausted, and there was high level sugar content in my urine. It was a red alert for every one. So, my specialist quickly assessed my condition and my baby. He suspected I suffered from great depression and referred me to a different specialist from different hospital.

Once every thing's done at O & G, I quickly called a taxi to take me to the referred hospital. When the operator asked me to give my name, my contact number, and the address, suddenly, I just could not remember a thing. Suddenly my mind was blank. It was like a chunk of my memory was removed from my brain. I forced to remember but I just could not!
The operator asked me to read the information from somewhere but I just couldn't get any information to help me remember other than the name of the hospital as my pick up point. Luckily not too long, the taxi arrived and I showed the taxi driver where I want to go by showing the reference letter from O & G specialist. Along the way, I tried hard to remember things about me, but I just couldn't.

When I arrived at the other hospital, I was sent to the right clinic by the front desk officer. In the clinic, again, I had difficulty to give my details for registration. The nurse asked me to sit down and tried my best to remember things about me slowly. Suddenly I remembered that I had a name card. So, I took out my name card and gave the details in there. I was very happy. From there, I could remember my details again.
When doctor saw me, I told him what had happened. He said that temporary memory lost that I suffered from was triggered by the great depression I had.
He prescribed me some medicine, but I think I wouldn't need the medicine if only I had enough support and love from the people around me.

Walk slowly, mommy!!

Yesterday morning I fell down in front of the lift of my apartment. I twisted my ankle and bumped my right shoulder on the floor. I didn't remember how exactly that happened. It happened very fast. I was talking to my husband while walking towards the lift. I didn't notice there were puddles on the floor. Suddenly I was already on the floor and feeling a tremendous pain on my left leg. I laid still on the floor, didn't dare to move a muscle. I was in shock. The first thing came to my mind was the baby in my womb. "My baby. I hope my baby is ok." I kept on repeating that sentence. My husband was in shock too. He tried to help me to get up again. He kept on asking me if I was ok or not.

When I finally managed to get up again, I couldn't say a word. I was still too numb to speak and worried so much about my baby. I quickly checked if I was bleeding or not. There was not any blood coming out of my body. Fuih!! Thank you, God! I knew I couldn't blame anyone. It was my fault. I was not careful enough; but according to my husband, my slippers were to blame. He kept on blaming me for wearing the slippers because the slippers didn't have a good grip anymore. Never mind my slippers, it was all my fault for not paying attention while walking. I just prayed hard so that the baby was not affected at all.

The whole day all I could do was laying down on the bed feeling the pain all over my body. I sprained my left ankle. My right shoulder and my right hip got blue black bruises. I hope I fell down on my side so that my baby bump was untouched.

I couldn't come down to pick up my son when he returned from school. When he saw me laying down on the bed, he asked me, "What happened with you, mommy?" I told him I fell down and sprained my ankle. With his serious face while holding my hands, he said to me, "That's why you have to walk slowly, mommy. If you walked slowly, you will not fall down anymore."
Wha..ha..ha..I tried my best to hide my smile and put on my sad face and said, "Oh yes, darling. Thank you for your advice. I'll walk slowly next time, ok?" Then I saw him smiling at me. Oh my boy! He's just the best thing that ever happened to me. I pray so that the second baby will be as brilliant as the big brother.

No dress for a giant

Ipoh is definitely not a place to shop for big size pregnant woman like me. I have been looking for a formal party dress to wear to my friend's wedding party but until today I still cannot find one. I am very frustrated. This is the 2nd week I have been going in and out any women apparel shops in Ipoh just to get a piece of formal dress that fits me. The choices are really limited even for small frame non-pregnant women, let alone for the big frame and pregnant ones.

I did find some models that are beautiful and suit my taste but unfortunately the biggest size the shops have is M-size... :( Even the free-size dress could not fit me because I have big boobs, big butts, and of course, a growing belly.

Oh I miss my personal tailor, Mrs. Junita. She is the greatest tailor I've ever known. She used to make beautiful dresses especially for me. When I had to attend special occasions, my mom would take me to her or she just needed to inform Mrs. Junita that I needed a beautiful dress. A week later I could collect that dress and it just suited me perfectly. Mrs. Junita knew my size very well. The last gown Mrs. Junita made for me was my wedding gown. Since I got married, I've been living so far away from her and my dress size has changed tremendously.

Since Ipoh isn't a place to find cloths for giants like me, I really have to start looking for great tailor that can design and sew special attire for me. In the mean time, I will have to expand the area of hunting to neighboring states either Penang or Selangor. Oh no...3 hours driving just to get a dress??

Update: I finally found 1 very beautiful dress in a boutique shop that sells specially made gowns/dresses for special people like me... :D

Malaysia General Election

On the 8th of March, I joined my husband to drive all the way to Penang just to vote. Oh well, I was kaypoh (busybody) lah abit..:) I wanted to see how the election went on in Malaysia. As a foreigner, of course I am not allowed to vote. I just came to watch and compare with the election in Indonesia.
Along the way to Penang, my husband explained so many things about political situation in Malaysia and about all the parties involved in the general election. After he voted, we visited our friend's house in Penang. They all discussed and predicted the result. I was just trying to chip in as much as I knew about politic in Malaysia (definitely not much).
The next day we read the news that the result of this 12th general election was quite surprising with the ruling party (Barisan National) lost its two-thirds' majority in the Federal Parliament. In Penang, Kedah, Perak, and Selangor, the opposition (DAP,PKR,PAS) won the state legislature. In Kelantan, PAS (the opposition) still ruled.
I personally quite surprise with the result. To me, it shows how the people of Malaysia took the election seriously and realized that every vote could make a different. The internet took a great part to open up the eyes of Malaysians.

In my opinion, it was a pretty quiet general election day. I was trying to remember the last election I witnessed in my country but it was a very long time ago when the late President Suharto was in power and there were only 3 parties involved (PPP, Golkar, and PDI). I didn't even witness 1998 the 'reformation' tragedy led by the students to topple President Suharto. I have left the country a year before. Since then, I have not been really following the news about political situation in my country. It's getting more and more confusing for me since I don't live in the country anymore. What I know is that life is getting tougher in Indonesia. Take Jakarta for example (because this is the only city I've been visiting), every time I go back there, the traffic jam and the road condition are getting worse. The city development with no proper planning has made life in Jakarta is getting more and more difficult. I thought after the reformation in 1998, the situation in Indonesia would be better but unfortunately, the Indonesian people were not ready with the change in power.

I believe Malaysians are more ready for the change in their country and hopefully the country will not go down the same line as Indonesia.

I'm back online

I just could not describe how I felt so relieved when I finally landed at the LCCT after a long vacation back home. As usual, I didn't feel home at all. While I was there, I just could not wait to go back to Ipoh. I wanted so desperately to go back to Ipoh I nearly asked my husband to change the ticket for me so that I could fly to Ipoh early. But I didn't do it. I didn't want to see the disappointment in my parents' face if I had to go back to Malaysia early. They had a great time while I was there. They played a lot with my son who was adapting very well with the situation and with the neighborhood. He has met so many friends who thought he was very cool to be able to speak English very well at such a young age. Every time he spoke, his friends and all my neighbors would stare at him with awe; and for my son, he was very happy because he has become the centre of attention in my neighborhood.

Overall my trip back home was not as great as I thought it would be. Even when I just landed at the airport, I already had a commotion with some local government officers who insisted to separate my maid from me and my son. I stormed through them and screamed high and low for they were just behaving like a bunch of robots which were badly programmed to do the job. These robots were not programmed to catch some exceptions when the switch button was on. How the hell they even dared to ask me to help them by taking my 2 maids to join the 1500 other maids who had to go through some questionings when they decided to go back home. Who needed help here? Me, the pregnant lady who can't carry heavy bags and traveling with a very active 3 year old toddler, OR these robots?? My 2 maids didn't even intend to go back home when I took them to Indonesia. They landed in Indonesia because I wanted them to accompany me to go back home so that 1 maid could help me to carry the luggages and another maid would help me to monitor my hyperactive son. So, in another word, my 2 maids came back to Indonesia with their boss (me), not like those 1500 other maids who came back for good to Indonesia. It's a completely different case and these robots could not even see it. How mad I was!! I was never so mad before until my heart beat was racing and I could not even breathe properly.

Ok, that incident has been an indicator that I would not feel good coming back home. For the whole 3 weeks I was in Jakarta, the weather was terrible. It rained everyday and flooded here and there. I could not sleep as I had to watch out for the water level in my front yard so that we could evacuate in time before the heavy flood came back.
Then, since my neighborhood has just experienced big flood for the 1st time in 27 years, I could still see big piles of rubbish every where and water mark on the wall that the flood left behind.
I tried my best to be very careful in choosing what I ate until I actually lost weight. As careful as I could be, still I had a food poisoning (again) when I was in Jakarta. I didn't know exactly which food or drink had caused the poisoning. Perhaps it was the milk I drank because when I was there, there was a big news about E.Zakazaki bacteria that has contaminated the milk powder but I was not sure if the milk for pregnant women was affected or not. What I knew I got a terrible stomachache that worried me so much and forced me to have another scan just to check if my baby was alright. Thank God baby was fine, but my son was not. He caught a terrible cough and flu up to present.

To make situation more uncomfortable for me and my son, the Indonesian electricity company was lacking of coal to generate more energy to supply electricity to all customers in Java and Bali Island. So, we had to experience no electricity for hours. Luckily the weather was not too hot because of the rain otherwise I would have melted... :)

On this trip I focused in spending my time with my parents. I didn't even called any of my friends in Jakarta because I wouldn't be able to see them anyway. The heavy traffic jam right in front of my house all the way to where ever my destination would be, has really deterred me from going out of the house. I know I will never get used to this situation anymore. I really respect the people in Jakarta who have to deal with heavy traffic jam everyday. They have wasted their life time on the road too long so if they have a chance to rest, they will just go to sleep. They are all very exhausted and don't have time to do anything else. Thank God I don't have to deal with this anymore.

The only good thing I could bring back to Ipoh as some souvenirs from my Jakarta trip was the fact that Indonesian songs are always the best to me and I just love them so much. My heart and my ears are just so relax to hear these songs.
I'm glad I could find them on YouTube as always. Just in case you want to hear the great Indonesian songs, just watch them here:

Oh no! Not right now...

No one likes to have a terrible flu especially when you are pregnant. This is a bad thing that's happening to me now. I hate it so much. First, it's because it attacks my immune system that makes me very weak and even more tired than I already am. Second, it's because I can't take the damn medicines! Oh..no!! I need at least a paracetamol to help me to fight the headache but since I choose to give a chance to my immune system to fight without any help, I just have to 'enjoy' the feeling of my head is about to split into 2. I can't describe how painful it is. Now I know how Harry Potter feels every time Voldemort is in his head. Since I don't know how to do occlumency just like Harry, I just have to bear the pain and vomit when I really can't stand the pain. Gee, I never know I am too dependent on that bloody paracetamol.

Headache isn't the only challenge to my body defense, it comes in a packet with runny nose and sore throat which are trying their best to test my immune system.
I know my body is fighting the sickness. It fights so hard I feel so weak and restless at the same time. My nose produces liquid actively it doesn't give a chance for me to even run for my handkerchief. The liquid would flow back to my throat and make my throat so itchy and dry as if I just swallowed one bucket of sand. I cough and sneeze so much I'm worry about the foetus in my womb. I pray hard it won't be disturbed by this sickness. Disturb the mother, but not the foetus!

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I feel energetic and alive. At the moment, I just need to focus on helping my immune system to fight the flu before I fly back home. It will be a horrible experience to fly with a nose blocked and pregnant at the same time. Even without the flu, I am feeling nauseous and intolerable hungry all the time, so with the flu, that horrible feelings intensify, plus the sleeplessness every night. Oh...I don't feel well at all.

Gong xi fa cai

In case you haven't noticed, I just changed the template and the header for http://coffeeliqueur.blogspot.com again in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration. This year we welcome the year of rat. I'll use this template until Cap Go Meh (the 15th day of Chinese New Year celebration) though I kind of like this template... :) It's so pinky and so girly... :D

Just like last year, I'm going to take vacation and visit my family back home. So, I won't be able to post anything new until I have access to the internet again.

For those who celebrate Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai, Have a prosperous year of rat.
May the year of rat bring so much joy, luck, wealth, health, harmony, success, and happiness to you all and your family.