It’s nice to have a listening ear when one needs it the most. This female colleague shares many of her pregnancy experiences and it’s nice to hear that you are not the only lonely pregnant soul in this world.

Just hope days will get by real soon.

The tops i bought do look like those worn by aunties. My mum teased me yesterday saying that it’s alright. All married women are already officially ‘aunties‘ This I agree to some extend.

Furthermore, if you realized by now, I don’t usually dress up myself on normal days also. I rather spend my hard earned money repaying my parents, bringing them along on tours and treating them good food. Life is short, we will never know how long we can live to spend time with the love ones. So why not?

During the evenings and weekend mornings, I will usually spend sometime on the sofa reading my favorite books. After getting over with the preggie sickness (lasted 2 whole freaking months), I find that my usual reading mood is back. Hubby recently borrowed the book “The Lazarus Strain” by Ken McClure from the library and I was hooked on it after reading the first few pages.

1. It’s on medical stuff once again.

2. The style of writing seems to be as clear as Michael Crichton’s.

This time round, it’s on a deadly influenza virus known as Cambodia 5. This flu virus causes a mortality rate of 90% (meaning, it’s so deadly that out of 10 people, 9 will definitely die from the virus infection). The story started out with a local medical institute loosing its experimental monkeys. Apparently, some external invaders with hidden agenda broke into the lab and release the animals on purpose. All but one were found and killed. The first vaccine was manufactured but was discarded soon after. Apparently it doesn’t cure the monkeys of the virus. 7 people have already been infected so far.

The doctor in charge of researching and manufacturing the vaccine was killed. Time is short for the medical institute to derive the new vaccine based on past existing notes.

Despite all the seriousness of having an infected monkey on the loose, the truth was hidden from the media and public. Why?

This book also tells us how much we should trust the media. They only release news and information that they expect us to know.They provide the pizza but hide the cheese.

Just like what bloggers do.

Sigh, another bad ordeal.

I dread this pain.

1. Sometime it causes headache. (Somehow the nerves are connected. Stupid me, of course they are.)

2. Sometime it causes sleepless nights because I cant find a comfortable position to lie on.

3. I had the habit of carrying my workbag on the affected shoulder. (This makes things worst)

Hope it will recover by itself soon.

Now i got more stuffs to eat everyday.

I must really thank him for bringing out the interest in reading in me.

Why devastated?

I really love his books and had finished reading all the current available series. Though most of the stories are more of the fictional nature, they are closer to reality than you think. Not all authors could write books as “real-like” as him. It’s a waste that the publisher has stopped the publishing of his new book indefinitely.

Last but not least, may he rest in peace.

Restaurant interior

Starter: My favourite crackers

Our first dish: Cabbages

Sweet and sour soup

Fried Toufu:

Chicken Claws:

Fried Chicken wings:

Egg noodles

Yesterday we went back to the hospital to collect our results and for the usual routine checkup. 2 weeks do seemed a long wait for us. Upon entering the doctor’s room, the doctor gave us his usual smile and told us that our blood cells are normal. He only say i have iron deficiency. At that moment, i didn’t realized i had been holding my breathe since i reached the hospital.

I came to one conclusion: I only want one healthy kid. I can’t go through another such ordeal again next time. This pregnancy has cost us a lot of money and time. I am just glad that so far, my employer doesn’t ‘kill’ me for taking so many medical leaves. I feel so bad, it’s not what i wanted. Now i understand why some employers are hesitant about keeping pregnant employees around, especially now that the economy is so bad. This insecurity surely doesn’t encourage more to have kids.

Now the first ordeal has been crossed, more ordeals are coming up. I seriously hope there are no more shocking surprises.

In the end, precious time, money and brain cells are wasted while:

1. Going through many tests at one go

2. Waiting for results anxiously, since baby is the first priority now

3. Spending loads of money all in a short period of time. If all these preparations are done earlier, we could have distributed out our expenses well and also to decide whether to even try for a kid.

Couples who intend to marry and have a child after marriage better take this advice to avoid great anxieties like me:

1. Both to go for Thalassaemia test early. Most carrying a single defective blood gene does not usually show any symptoms. This is categorized as minor condition of this genetic disorder. It’s better to go for tests to rule out any.

2. Go for full body checkup, full blood count etc

i rather that you accept the facts early than to wait till it’s too late. Now i have to wait anxiously to see the doctor in 4 days time.  Too late for us I know. What a dread.