8dp3dt: BFP on Clearblue strip

8dp3dt. New Years eve. 

I Thot wat the heck, is there's anything or not I might as well try my luck with home kit.

Could this be real? 

Will 2014 be a happier year?

I'm holding my breath. 

Tmw is NY so I can't call the hospital for early Hcg blood test. 

We shall see.

As per what my man says, we can only b happy if it actually is born alive n healthy. 

The last interrupted short lived experience has def muted any joy or excitement. Looks like it ain't just me alone. 

8dp3dt. No implantation symptom....

8dp3dt

This is my second 2WW and unlike the first time round where I was more "atuned" to my body and excited with anticipation, this time round, I didnt carry much expectations and days do zip by. I didnt even realise I have reached the 8 day mark, only because I had to go back to test my progesterone level did it make me realise I have reach the half way mark in the 2WW.

Unlike the previous 5 days transfer where I felt very precise and exact pain, which I realised now is implantation pain, I didnt feel any cramp or just pain this time round. What I did experience though was a sharp navel button tug twice during dinner last night. This feels completely different from the sharp pain previously.  It's more like someone is pulling your belly button from the inside and yank it down towards your pee area. It was over in few mins. Strange.

Which to be honest, does make me a little sad to think that this FET round may not have work. With the sore throat I have since Xmas and trying to ward off a cough, all these without medication, makes me feel like a lonely battle against fate. Seemingly so much obstacles as usual.

I have also been extremely lazy this time round.

I didnt eat as well as the previous time, I didnt feel as hungry as frequently as previous and I hole up at home to watch TV more. Well, primarily coz its cold out there. The only thing that I still do is drink a lot of water. I feel so dehydrated all the time and with the sore throat, I felt I need to sip warm water every min.

My man has been trying to plan for a holiday to go somewhere which is hard since we dont know when I can fly till after 6th Jan and alot of hotels and airline expect payment by 1st Jan. Sooo Soooo Soooo annoying.

The nurse tried to reach me today to tell me if my progesterone level is enough but I was fast asleep till 12pm. Dead tired. Just Surprised that they didnt bother to leave a message. I tried to call them back but as usual, the line is always unanswered.

Will try again later.

Speaking of progesterone pills, unlike the previous crinone gel which made me itch, this tablet format works better with lesser itch at night. However, it disturbs my sleep because it constantly discharges this watery discharge at night which will soak thru my panty liner. So while I didnt get the other itch effect, I get the constant wet feeling which forces me to wake to change my liner. I tried using a pad instead but somehow that made me itch. I think the discharge when dried up, leaves a powdery residue that irritates my outerskin of my vagina somehow. This is soooo frustrating. So I have been sleeping in a 3 hour cycle everynight...

3dp3dt: Dealing with a super bad sorethroat the non- medicinal way

I cannot even imagine how the hell I had this sorethroat considering I ate nothing fried, heaty and I slept early! WTF!

Since I couldnt eat meds, I resorted to natural methods of gargling with warm sea salt water. To give it extra kick, I boil ginger water, mixed it with Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) and gargled the hell out of my throat. I also drank the ginger ACV mixed with honey. It tasted quite nice really.

In less than 2 days, the sore throat subsided. No kidding.
I can finally talk without feeling like I have a fish bone pricking me from my throat!
Thank goodness!

I think the ACV with ginger really nailed it better than the salt water but it could be my imagination.

Healthy homemade porridge loaded with my fav seaweed mixed in.

I am crossing my fingers that the cough dont develop.

2dp3dt: Merry Xmas and down with the worst sorethroat

Merry Xmas all mums to be and wannabe (like me).

Since ther's only me at home, I didnt see a point to set up a Xmas tree.

Went to relative house for hot pot. Bad idea. Now I'm feeling sick.
My sore throat is acting up and I think a dry cough may be on its way unless I can ward it off.
The sorethroat is REALLY BAD. It's the prickling pain sort that hurst quite a lot when swallowing.
Damn.

I couldnt take the meds since u know, there's a fertilised egg in me waiting to implant (cross fingers). Will Santa grant me a wish and gives me my Xmas wish for a baby next year?

Anycase, had insomnia last nite. Went to bed at 1am and woke up at 5am.
watched Tv till 9.30am and fell back asleep till 12.30pm.

I am feeling so shitty now.

23dec: IVF round 2: Frozen Embryo Transfer #1 (FET)

Finally the day is here.

Initially we thought about using 2 embryo but Dr Lok said we can consider the single embryo since she thinks its good quality. At this point, I honestly dont have an opinion and left it to her.

My man has already flew back to Australia on 21st Dec and so this time round, I am on my own.

It's fine really. No fuss, no high, no excitement.
In fact, all excitement had long fizzled out since the last failure and so I'm just going in as if it was just another day. In fact, I had been pretty laxed and didnt take my estraferm on time and I even got the dosage wrong. The scan had revealed that I had a uterus small polyps which wasnt there before...I suspect its the hormones pills...anycase Dr said its small and most likely not cancerous and so we can leave it unless it becomes an issue in future..

My appointment was supposed to be at 14:30pm but since there were 5 others doing the FET, mine was delayed till 3.30pm. Which was fine since I went to pee at 2.15pm as I couldnt hold my bladder and I had to replenhish with another 4 cups. So I needed that 1 hour for my bladder to refill.

I think I over did it and I was really suffering in agony from full bladder. Dr Lok came in and told me I can go pee so long I dont empty my bladder. Since I didnt know exactly how much pee I have and I didnt want to botch my op from empty bladder (hence poor visbility on the screen), I let off only a little since I knew once the main flow gets started, I may not be able to control and stop myself from not emptying it.

Because of the Polyps, there was small bleeding which means your discharge is pink instead of white.
I saw the embryo again on the screen, bright like a star and all I can do is pray.
I dont even dare to hope anymore.
I guess that;s what first failure does to you. I dont know how some can go through so many rounds.

Before Dr Lok left, she told me that I have 6 frozen em left and I replied "I hope I dont have to use them after this" She gave a chuckle and agreed and wish me good luck.

I went back home famished.
I just made chicken soup and ate some corn and egg.

The nutrition advice is completely different this time.
There was no special mention except to avoid papaya and banana.
I think I will still stick to no liver as well and eat my eggs.

It will be another long 14 days (2WW) wait and on the 30th I have to go in check my progesterone and 6th Jan for blood test. I think before that, my HPT will tell me if I;m successful or not. Based on the below chart, I have 9 more days to wait.

3-Day Transfer

Days Past Transfer (DPT)	Embryo Development
One	The embryo continues to grow and develop, turning from a 6-8 cell embryo into a morula
Two	The cells of the morula continue to divide, developing into a blastocyst
Three	The blastocyst begins to hatch out of its shell
Four	The blastocyst continues to hatch out of its shell and begins to attach itself to the uterus
Five	The blastocyst attaches deeper into the uterine lining, beginning implantation
Six	Implantation continues
Seven	Implantation is complete, cells that will eventually become the placenta and fetus have begun to develop
Eight	Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) starts to enter the blood stream
Nine	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Ten	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Eleven	Levels of hCG are now high enough to detect a pregnancy

Perhaps, I have lesser hope now, assuming I have poor quality eggs...this 2WW doesnt seem as daunting as the previous round. I still pray for the best but I think I am def less excited this time round.

IVF #1: My miscarriage at 8wks and abortion process that took 2.5monthsto complete,

It has been about 3 months since I was last told my pregnancy failed at 8 wks in late september.

Just a quick update as to what has been happening.
After getting the abortion pills for my miscarriage, I went back and got myself prepared for the inevitable.
I bought tons of panadol and stock up on heavy duty pads.

30Sept

- Woke up at 8am and inserted my first pill. I really struggled with pills insertion without an application. Mentally, it was really hard to go thru and I was pretty sure I didnt get to insert all the way in before the pill started to dissolve. Panicked. Wasnt sure if I botched my own abortion process and called the nurse for help advice. She returned my call by 12pm and assured me its ok and the pill should work so long as I didnt leave it right at the entrance of the vagina.
- Just for preventive measure, took a normal panadol. I figured I can always add on the extra strength ones if I feel its gonna be bad.
- By 1pm, I started to bleed. It wasnt heavy but light.

- It was time for the 2nd pill insertion. I couldnt do it myself and so unfortunately I had to rope my husband in to help "finger" the damn pill in. Good thing the nurse gave me rubber gloves in advance for it since she knew it was gonna be a bloody affair. Trust me, I absolutely hated every minute of it since my poor man was more worried about hurting me and was very slow which prolonged the agony of feeling the pill rubbing up the wall sides.

- Assuming that the 2nd pill might trigger the major bleed and supposedly contractions for the uterus to abort the baby, I took another 2 panadol normal pills.

- Normal period like bleeding and didnt feel any cramps or pain. I didnt even need my panadol after this.
I ate dinner went to bed as per normal.

- Inserted the last pill at night but no change in bleeding status. Still light flow

1 Oct

- Still very light bleeding. Getting concerned, emailed the hospital to get advice.
- no pain, no cramps.

2Oct

- woke up and when I was changing clothes, I felt a passing out of a blot.
- I went to toilet and there is was a clot size of my thumb and on it, the beige clump on it.
- I took a closer look and I am positive that was my baby, with a small black dot that looks like its eyes.
It looks like it was laying flat like a panda for a rest.
- wrap the thing up and flush it down the toilet.
- I'm pretty sure my abortion has been completed. or at least whatever they had wanted to be out seemed to be out.

Emotionally. 

Stable. Clinically Detached. Went out to binge on Japanese food

I wonder what does that say about me? I wasnt affected. Because I didnt get to hear a heartbeat. I didnt get to see it grow. I didnt get to feel it move. Is that why I could be so normal as if nothing happened? I didnt want to talk about it either. So apart from my man, only my BFF knew because I had to cancel a trip I had planned with her. She flew in to be with me and I appreciate that. Life for me, was back to as it was. I just wished life could be a little more smooth sailing and kind to me.

The only time when it pricked was another close fren whose wife is pregnant. Same time as I had but hers is all good to go and they are happily sharing pictures of her growing tummy. It does make it harder to watch in Dec since we were the SAME dates and it makes you think "That could have been me too!" Instead now, you sit behind the screen and watch other people sharing their bliss and joy. I'm not jealous, i'm just mildly
sad. And God has to let me bump into them on the streets as if seeing the photos on FB wasnt bad enough, it has to be in person encounter to rub it in my face.

I had said it before, God is sadistic towards me if he exists.


3Oct

- Hospital called and asked me to come in early tomorrow for check up instead of waiting till next Monday.

4 Oct

- Dr did a scan and the screen showed an empty uterus. She was surprised that everything seemed to have been ejected by the uterus and only small mild clots still remained inside which she is confident will pass on its own.
- After the scan, we had a brief consultation.
- I was told to wait for 1-2 cycles of period before restarting my next FET cycle. I asked her how long more before my period will come again. she said to estimate 2-4 weeks once the Hcg comes down. So she reckon we will restart in Dec.
- She told me that if it doesnt happen in a month, I should inform the hospital to come back for scan just in case there are still tissues inside that needs D&C op to scrape out the remaining tissues that wont come out.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October - Nov

I waited and waited but there was no sign of my period. It was already passed the 5 weeks mark and so I contacted the hospital.

6 Nov

- Gone for Hcg test.
- It was still registering at 157.
- I was suppose to return 2 days later but I didnt coz I had gone to Japan for a week's holiday.

14 Nov

- Gone for Hcg since still no period.
- Hcg still at 50+ level
- Told to come back for blood test in a week.

25 Nov

- Gone back for Hcg test
- Register 25 level

2 Dec

- Gone back for Hcg test
- Register at 13 level
- Basically at this point, I realise that it was going down by half every week.

8 Dec

- Return for Hcg blood test
 - Register below 10. I need not return for repeated test.
- Abortion completed.

10 Dec
- Ah....finally my period arrived. My Hcg has finally hit zero.
- It wasnt clot nor heavy. It was just light as medium flow that was done in 4 days. It wasnt scary as what others had experienced in internet posts. I thanked god for that.
- Called hospital and got a consultation tomorrow.

11 Dec
- Dr did a scan to confirm uterus was fine and ovaries are back to normal size.
- We decided that we can go ahead with FET this cycle since it's almost been 2.5 months since my last miscarriage.

I have completely NO IDEA that HCG will fall so slowly and I realised that every positive and then failed cycle will take about 6 months for the process to end before you can restart (unless you get a BFN from the start)

I knew my cycle will clash with my trip back to Australia. I just know NOTHING will ever be smooth and easy for me and so luckily, I book a ticket that I can defer my dates. Dr Lok was going on holiday on 25th dec and so we decided to go ahead with a 3 day embryo transfer on 23rd Dec.

Mourning. Day 2

23th Sept 2013. Mon

Woke up today, listless.

All the symptoms are gone. Nausea and everything. Even the hunger pangs.

I went about cooking and preparing for dinner by reflexes.

I looked at Facebook numbly, looking at all those happy smiling photos of the baby photos my frens posted. It was like a reminder of how useless I am. I'm not even good enough to hold a baby through. I look at the rubbish food they eat, and I wonder to myself, their body is healthier than mine? Really? With that junk diet, they can have a baby and yet there's something wrong with me? Such a slap in the face.

I'm contemplating when's a good day to abort the baby.
My husband has arranged for a get away trip on weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary, which falls on Sunday. This was of course pre arranged back then happily, thinking there will be 3 of us, and now it's only 2 and a dead baby inside.

I didnt want to take the medication before the weekend because I didnt want the horror and memory of the cramps while purging out the dead baby to be something to live with during the weekend.

I'm not spotting yet, so my body prob still in denial about the dead thing inside.

I'm thinking Monday. Next Monday will be a good day to get rid of it.
I dont want to be in pain and bloody on my wedding day. It will be too much for me or for anyone I think.

Life is so unfair.
Why do I always have to make hard choices like this.
As if having a dead thing inside me isnt enough, it has to be smacked on with a happy day like wedding anniversary. What have I done in this lifetime to deserve this? I havent been nasty to anyone. I have always been humble and helped those in need. So why does all these shit have to befall on me?

I want to rage. Yet I have no energy to rage at anyone.
It's my own fault.
My own fucking lousy eggs.
My own fucking lousy body.

I think about what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.
I wished now I never embarked on this pregnancy shit.
It's so much easier to live a life that you never know what is missing.
A BFN is so much easier to deal with than a dead BFP.

If there is GOD, he is a fucking sadist.

As expected...the end of pregnancy at 8 weeks.

8 weeks 1 day (Sat), 21 June.

I went in for my 2nd u/s today. When the screen came to live and I didnt see any flickering light, I knew it was over. My doctor wanted to be more firm and she poked around more but from her expression, my husband and I knew it was bad news.

She explained that there are no fetal heartbeat. According to normal progression, there should be a heartbeat but she couldnt detect one. The sac was still growing at 3cm + now but she is positive that it's not a viable pregnancy though she was agreeable to having one more u/s next Thursday just to confirm (I am pretty sure this is more for my sake to accept the facts than for her).

I didnt go hysterical nor did I cry.
I was in an emotional void.
Detachment.
I didnt post myfirst u/s last time because I felt I was gonna jinx it.
It is still jinxed afterall.

I wasnt in denial. I was actually expecting it.
As I had posted in earlier blog, good things never happen to me when I really wanted something.
Which is why I had been cautious in my expectations all these time and the fact that I wasnt suffering from morning sickness, nor any other symptoms was already an early indication of things to come. We presume it was the medication that was stopping the bleeding and natural miscarrying.

So my baby died.

The next thing is to get rid of it.

I was given 2 options, via medication or D&C but she recommended medication. Basically u insert the pill vaginally and let the contractions begin. She mentioned 60% complete the miscarrying this way successfully and 40% will require D&C later to remove those bits that wasnt flushed out. At that point I still wasnt sure which I wanted. D&C comes with scarring and risk of infection but via medication involves cramping and pain. So we said we will think about it since my man left the decision to me.

We went off for a quiet lunch.
Honestly, it was abit hard looking at other pregnant ladies and wondering why the fuck am I so fucking unlucky. We hear about all those unwanted babies, lousy parents and here we are one those mentally prepared to be good parents with the means and yet we are deprived of one.

I dont know why I said sorry to my husband but it just felt like acknowledgment of his disappointment too. It wasnt that I thought it was my fault, I know it isnt but I know he was disappointed too and I didnt know how else to validate that feeling. He hugged me and told me it's ok and he was more worried about me but I told him I was fine. I wasnt lying, I was emotionally stale.

I went home to read about process and experience about miscarrying via medication.
I have about enough horror stories to last my time and mentally more prepared now.

The only issue is that next weekend is our wedding anniversary and I didnt know if I should perform the miscarrying before or after the weekend. I guess after will be better since I wont be feeling halfdead, visualising the passing of the blood clots to mark my anniversary forever for the rest of my life.

He will be on a business trip in 2 weeks time and I guess I have that window to do the necessary since I have read that it is crucial to have someone with me while I miscarry. Always good to be prepared. I need a "fetcher" and food provider I suppose more than anything.

That's my update.
I dont know when I will start grieving.
I havent told any friends about it so I guess I am spared the agony of verbally saying I have lost my baby.

This is my 2nd miscarriage.
God willing, I honestly hope there wont be a 3rd.

Coming to end of 6 weeks. One more week till the next scan

12 Aug 2013 (Thurs)

I should be 6 eweeks 6 days today. I am assuming my little one is still growing inside me.

Had my first scan last sat, which marks the growth as 6 weeks 1 day.
Doctor did a trans-vaginal scan to confirm 2 things. It is not an ectopic pregnancy (AMEN to that) and that there is a sac and yolk growing in the right place. Amen to that too.

Maybe i was just relieved that all is in place that I can't say I was excited or emotional looking at the scan. I think partially it still feels unreal, and also because we are not out of the woods yet so there isnt anything to get particularly excited till. There is another 6 weeks more to safety zone so I guess maybe for emotional self protection, I didnt inject too much of myself into this yet in case sometime goes wrong later.

The doctor said that the size is still a little small less than 2cm so there wont be heartbeat yet though the growth rate seemed ok. So rather than coming in at 7 weeks, we both agreed that it's better for me to come in 2 weeks later at start of 8 week. At least hopefully if all is well, there is more things to see?

Symptoms

To be honest, even though there isnt morning sickness, I have kind of lost the urge to eat. It's not that I find food repulsive, I have images of food in my head but I just dont want to crawl out of my bed to eat. I am happy to just comatose in bed and drink water.

My water intake has also taken a hit and decreased.

The only thing I didnt mind having was green apple and mango, though those Taiwan mangoes are damn hard to come by these few days. So annoying.

Lunch, because I feel so lethargic, I did the unthinkable of cooking instant noodle. I cannot help it. That;s the only thing I wanted.

I felt like there is something at the back of my throat stopping any food desire.

I had fish and chips yesterday, without the batter. Bad mistake. I thot the Dicken Pub @Hotel Excelsior HK would serve decent fish and chip but it was fishy in taste, not to mention expensive.

My body has always hated potato but because I was hunger (not not hungry at the same time) I had a few chip and I felt like shit and dead weight the whole day. It was horrid and I vow not to touch another crappy fish and chip anymore. It was a disaster.

need to figure out what is easy to cook is one thing, having to cook my partner's dinner is the tiring part.

24dp5dt....Into the start of my 6th week. This is real right?

6th August 2013 (Fri)

24 days past 5 days transfer.

Congratulations, you should be 6 weeks, 1 days, pregnant!


Time really flies and 2 weeks have passed since I received the call from Dr Ingrid to confirm my pregnancy.

Symptoms:

Luckily, I still have not experienced much symptoms except for slowing down of my appetite. I'm back to only eating 2 meals aday because that's about all I feel up to. However, the portions are still normal and not increased nor lessen. The only difference is that I tried REALLY HARD to incorporate greens into my diet at least once a day at this stage. I dont always feel like vege everyday. So now that's the biggest change for me to date.

Still not putting on weight either which I assume I am eating constant.
Good.

And because I am not exhibiting any anticipated sickness (yet), my husband seemed to forget I am pregnant half the time. The thing that really annoyed me was him asking me last night if he needs to be there for my first doctor appointment tomorrow. I felt like smacking his head and screamed at him and asked if I'm the only one having this baby.

That brings me to another point.
I'm feeling easily provoked and in a PMS mood.
I feel irritable pretty easily.
That's not a good thing since I'm not good at mood swings.

Urination in the middle of the night is still a pain in the arse.
Still peeing religiously at 1 and 4~4.30am.

It's seriously disturbing my sleep pattern.
I get incredibly thirsty in the middle of the night too and its a vicious cycle.
Pee drink pee.
And my tits are getting itchy every other day.
I read that its normal because the skin is stretched but damned, I feel like ripping my tits off!!
Also noticing more zits popping on my face. Not sure if its hormones or my reluctance to use my skin care every night now.

A little concerned over my seemingly normal bodily functions, I went to get another digital test just to see if there are any changes. Frankly I am more worried if the readings dropped but thankfully to God, the readings has changed. Cautiously Happy. Everything rides on what the doctor says tomorrow.

I pray to god all is well and this baby will be normal and delivered healthily.

17dp5dt. Still no symptoms?

30th Aug 2013 (Fri)

17dp5dt

I woke up feeling paranoid today.

Sleep quality was bad last night. Even though my eyes were drooping off by 11pm in bed, my brain was alert and unwilling to fall into deep sleep. Not sure what was going on there. My tummy was uncomfortable prob from all the gas builtup.

Got up at 1am to pee.
Got up at 4am to pee.

Despite having a good bowel movement earlier in the eve, fart like hell last night. Long loud ones and packed with omphf!Gotto be the black bean soup I had for last night.

I finally fell into deep sleep by about 7am, but my alarm woke me at 9.30am for my estroferm pill intake. I groggily took my pill and fell back asleep till 11.30am. Time for progesterone vaginal insert. Then I had the greatest sexual urge ever and before I knew it, I had an orgasm. Feeling guilty there since i read that it is unsafe to have orgasm during 1st trimester due to contractions. Well it isnt my fault my body is behaving this way!

Putting it behind me, since what is done cannot be undone...cooked myself some chicken lunch with rice. To top up my evil list for today, i drank a fresh coconut. All Chinese mothers will tell you its a No No because coconut is thought to be too cooling and will dislodge the baby. I might regret this but I couldnt help myself. I needed the drink. I wanted the drink.

Read alot about blighted ovum last night.
I am kind of concerned if it might be my case since I have no symptoms, no cravings, and its progressing as if everything was per normal. Like I said yesterday, pee stick is my only reminder of my pregnancy but that doesnt tell me if my hCg levels are rising normally.

I have said before that when I get too excited about something, it always gets taken from me? That's what I am really afraid about this baby. Maybe I am too happy way too early.

Take for example, I was just planning what to do on a nice relaxing weekend by myself this weekend as my husband was supposed to head to India for a fren's wedding. He had everything booked, visa paid etc, and just 2 days ago, suddenly he told me plans cancelled due to his biz trip on Monday. So there goes my weekend alone.

That kind of seriously jolt me back to reality and got me worrying abit if I had been thinking too much about baby's future in my head that it might be taken away from me.

I know people will mock me at my silliness and superstitious nature.
However, unless u are in my shoes to experience all those "let downs", you wont understand this inexplicable fear.

So I pray.
I pray for a safe first trimester, and a safe healthy delivery....

Symptoms

Hard to fall asleep. Hot flushes in the middle of the night.
Farts...plenty of farts.
Decreasing appetite

Cooking recipe for pregnant ladies. Chicken broth porridge.

I just thought I would share some of the simple light easy to digest food I have been cooking for myself. It's so frustrating to plough the web and see alot of sites that say eat well without telling you how to make them.

So for those who might like chicken broth porridge, I am sharing my recipe here.

Hope other pregnant ladies searching for a change in flavor will find it usual.

Chinese likes porridge because the nutrients are easily absorbed by the body.

It fills you up nicely too and the soup makes it easier to swallow down food and low calories.

I would poach leafy greens separately and add them into the final produce towards the end.

Recipe: Chicken Soup Porridge with minced pork and fresh prawns.

Note: You can play around with the ingredients to include other seafood as you like.

The key to this is having a nice chicken broth to make the meal tasty, without the use of sugar or excessive salt.

You will need to prepare the chicken stock before hand.

Chicken stock preparation

Ingredients for chicken stock

- 2~2.5 litre of water
- 4 fillet of chicken breast.
- 1 inch of smash ginger, without skin
- 3 stalk of spring onion, only the lower white half.

Chicken stock cooking steps

1. Boil 2.5 litre of water. Add the smash ginger and spring onion. Bring to boil with lid cover
2. Add the chicken breast and turn the flame down to medium and close lid to boil.
3. After 30mins, the soup should taste of chicken stock, reduce flame and boil for another 45mins to hour at small flame. Once the soup taste naturally sweet, you are done.

Ingredients to make the porridge

- to serve 2 pax,
1 cup of jasmine white rice.
- minced pork, portion for 2
- 1 red carrot.
- prawns (optional)
- 1 rinsed spring onion, chopped.
- some sliced ginger
- sliced garlic
- shitake or fresh chinese mushrooms

minced pork cooking steps (after chicken stock is ready)

1. Rinse rice until water is clear. Add to cooking pot.

2. Add enough water to cover the rice by over 3 inch. (doesnt matter if its more since I will be throwing the excess away. However, it cannot be too little)

3. Cook the rice over medium flame and stir occasionally to prevent it sticking to the pot base.

4. Throw away any excess water when rice is almost ready and add chicken soup to cover rice into the rice pot. Continue to simmer.

4. Meanwhile in separate pot, stir fry sliced ginger and garlic with sesame oil till slightly brown. Add minced pork, chopped carrots (and whatever ingredients you like to add to your soup porridge) and stir. (For those who like heavier flavor, u may add salt, soy sauce and pepper) Add a dash of sesame oil for fragrance.

5. When ingredients are cooked, add to the porridge simmering in chicken soup stock.

6. Only Add fresh prawns now to the mix if you like to have some.

7. When prawns are cook, remove form flame and scoop into bowl. If you prefer it to be more soupy, add more soup into the porridge.

You are done. You may add dash of pepper and fish sauce for taste if you like but its optional.

16dp5dt... Did another digital home test to see if my hCg is rising.

29Aug 2013 (Thurs)

16dp5dt. Still over a week before my first scan.

Woke up with the same feeling of a swollen left. It isnt swollen exactly but it just feel sort of like its in a pressurised cooker since yesterday. I hope this isnt one of the side effects from the estrofem.

My appetite since yesterday has actually slowed down.
I dont feel as hungry as the first 2 weeks and I am farting less, and also my thirst level has actually gone down. However, I am still determined to keep up my fluid level.

After a bowl of leafy greens yesterday, I went out to Senryo Sushi joint, and ordered myself a steam egg, fried prawn maki roll, and a salmon fish collar. That should complete my 2 fish servings a week, with one as oily fish Salmon. For a quick lunch nutrition boost, I juice myself some asparagus, celery, half apple and some grapes with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Again, that's the fastest way to increase fluid as well as the necessary vitamins for myself. Will need to buy broccoli for juicing soon just to switch the mix around.

Dinner last night was just simple watercress pork rib carrot soup.
I wasnt very hungry but still finish my soup with white rice.
I dont understand why alot of American posts I had read said Chinese food is bad for pregnant ladies. It's so incredibly plain and simple with little sauces, I find it way way way healthier than the western diet. Maybe the Chinese takeout in America is really bad... being altered from their original form to suit the western taste with the heavier flavoring...

Today, for breakfast fried myself 2 eggs, with avocado and orange capsicum on toast. Then I had a mandarin to round it up.

Feeling nicely full, I went to POAS again.
Since there are no other test, the digital test was the only way to see if my hCg is rising.
While I dont have the actual figures, the stick now says I'm "2-3weeks" which that I shall comfort myself, means that I'm still in the race. Thank god.

Symptom
Last night was the first time I didnt have any cramping. Which is also why I decided to do a pee stick today just to ease my mind.

My weight is still falling and I'm not having any morning sickness.
This and yesterday morning, I have been registering 49.6kg when I wake.

I am presuming the drop is due to the increase meals, and my body doesnt feel like it needs to store fat. Also, because I have cut out butter with jam on bread for breakfast, that might also be a cause for the weight dipping without the sugar in the jam and fats from butter.

Misc: Baby Carriers?

While munching on my bowl of stirfry greens this morn for breakfast, I came across this blog about baby carriers... It's too early for me but being so forgetful in the world of bombarding info, I thought I should mark the page down here for future reference (hopefully!) and others.

Titled :

Why I’d Never Put My Baby In A Baby Bjorn Carrier

Link: http://megganmamma.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/why-id-never-put-my-baby-in-a-baby-bjorn-carrier/

Article extract:

...included the  diagrams below showing which style of baby carriers could cause hip dislocation in your baby (left) and which style of carrier is safe for your baby’s developing hips (right).  Arg!  What mum wouldn’t want to avoid that!  Of course they’re not allowed to mention brand names at those events, but the style they were warning against were identical to the Baby Bjorn and Stokke carriers.  I was relieved that we’d only worn Joshi in the hugabub wrap and then the ergo baby carrier, because they were both aligned with what she was suggesting were healthy for your baby’s hips.

I must just add here, that I’ve just loved, loved, loved wearing Joshi over the last 16 months, so much so that we’ve literally only used the stroller less than 10 times since his birth.  (Yes, the expensive ‘must have’ stroller that’s currently gathering dust in our storeroom).  I’ve loved it so much I’d go so far as to say that the ergo baby carrier has been the best and most useful baby thing we’ve ever bought.  Anyway, here are a few things I learned from Dr Harrington about baby carrying which I thought would be worth sharing with you:

 

If Your Baby’s Under 6 Months Old, Don’t Wear Him/Her Facing Outwards: This is a message that’s made it into the news recently  -  Forward carriers put baby in danger.  Here’s why …

• The dangling legs of a baby who’s facing outwards may stretch their developing hip joints and increase their risk of hip dysplasia.
• When you wear your baby outwards it shifts their weight distribution from their bottom onto their crotch/testicles/pubic symphysis. Imagine how you’d feel if you were sitting with all that pressure on your privates. ”The sitting bones are strong with lots of padding - designed perfectly for weight-bearing, whereas the pubic symphysis and testicles aren’t,” says Dr Harrington.
• Outward facing has the potential to interfere with normal spinal curve development by flattening out the backward kyphotic curve.  ”An absence of normal spinal curves reduces the strength and flexibility development of the spine for life; and can delay normal milestone development,” says Harrington.

One Of The Advantages Of Facing Your Baby Inwards:  Of course a really great advantage of wearing your baby facing inwards is that they can snuggle into you to seek reassurance from you and switch off from the surrounding world if they want to – something they can’t do when facing outwards.  As an adult when we’ve had enough of all the stimulation on a busy street we can just go somewhere else. Imagine how much more intense the stimulation of a busy street is for a baby and how full on it must feel for them if they’re strapped into this outward facing position they can’t get out of.  When I see babies facing outwards in a busy environment (like a busy shopping mall or street) I often wonder whether there’ll be an extra big stress-release-cry for mum and dad to deal with later.

Always Make Sure Your Baby’s Knees Are Higher Than Their Hips:Irrespective of your child’s age, avoid carriers that let their legs dangle downwards.  (I can’t help but imagine how uncomfortable I’d be being carried around like that rather than in a comfy, more natural piggy-back position).   Your baby’s support has to extend all the way from their bum, along their thighs to the back of their knees.

Get A Carrier that Gives You Good Back Support: The carriers that don’t support the back of the person carrying the baby are those where the straps are quite high on the back and where there’s not much support around the hips.  One of the reasons I’ve loved the ergo carrier is because I’ve felt that my back has been supported by its wide, think hip band.  If your carrier doesn’t support your back properly you’re likely to end up with back pain, so you really need to get a carrier that checks all the ticks for you as well as for your baby.

I hate celery....so I guess I have to juice them for the sake of folic acid.

Lugged 3 big groceries bag home. I have to keep reminding myself not to overbuy stuff since its gonna be pretty hard trying to cary 3 big bags and take a bus home. I have a tendency to over exert myself.

Today, I went out to get myself some celery. I just feel that I have not been getting enough greens....which prob explain my loose stool. Also, I read an article that indicated that diarrhea is an indication of low folic acid and that the baby neural tube defect (NTD) is due to low folic acid intake. However, what most people didnt realise is that the closing of the spinal cord supposedly ends about 5-6 weeks into the early pregnancy!!!

Link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prenatal-care/PR00112

When I think back...crap...I better up my fresh level and so I thought while I HATE THE RAW taste of celery (my least fav veg), I could put up with it if I juice it.

So for lunch to go with my 2 fried eggs white, I juiced 5 stalks of celery, 1 stalk of asparagus, half an apple (to lower the sugar level in the juice), and 4 slices of mandarin. I forgot the lemon but it will do. It tasted quite nice actually. Dont quite know where the salty flavour comes from though.

I guess I have better start juicing a glass of celery a day to up my folic acid since I dont know how much is destroyed in the process of stir frying my asparagus.

14dp5dt... can't believe I'm at this 2 weeks BFP milestone.

27 August 2013 (Tues)

Today marks exactly 14 days have passed since my 5 day embryo transfer. I'm still alittle wary and feeling surreal because all I had was a phone call last week to tell me I was pregnant.

Congratulations, you should be 4 weeks, 4 days, pregnant!



Since thankfully I still havent had much symptoms (I read it kicks in at 6 weeks and I'm only at my 4th), I needed some mental assurance and did another HPT today, just to convince myself my baby embryo is still there! Yes, the HPT line has grown much darker and even more than the horizontal control line now. Phew! I felt abit more relieved seeing a darker line.

However, I keep telling myself I'm not out of the woods yet. the next 2-3 weeks are critical.
A thousand and one thoughts flashes through my head. Alot of what ifs...and all I can do is pray.

Symptoms:
In the day, I'm generally feeling normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, it did slowly come to a slow realisation that I tend to feel a little unwell with my tummy by night time after 11pm. It has been like a standard routine. I dont think its cramp. Then again I dont suffer from much period cramp to know if what I have is considered as cramp. So all I can say is that, it felt like I needed to clear my bowel kind of heavy feeling.

All I need to do though is to lay down in a fetal position and take deep breaths. The feeling of heaviness and discomfort will pass after about 10-15mins.

What I do notice down is that I seem to establish a routine of going to bed about 12.30am, getting up to pee about 3 or 4am in the morning, and then I will sleep till about 9am where my brain just wakes automatically. I dont feel particularly tired but last night was a bit of a torture because my husband snores woke me up at 3am and I couldnt fall back asleep till very much later...

Bowel:
I'm still heading to the loo like clockwork now every morning but it has been less firm than I like these few days. Not sure why since I havent changed my diet much except for the increase of water from normal.

Diet Appetite:
It's kind of strange but I think I am eating like clockwork too. At 11am, at 2 or 3pm, at 5pm, at 7-8pm. During the first 10days, I ewas constantly hungry, I ATE ALOT. Now, I felt like its kind of slowing down. Every time my tummy starts to feel a little "off" (like tummy ache) I would grab something like fruits or soup and will feel instantly better.

Still am not eating crackers because I dont like processed food. Plus I have never been a snack eater except for ice cream and cakes, so I need to formulate what to have for munchies soon...

My water in take is also slowing down. However, I do make an attempt to drink something every 1-2 hours.

13dp5dt...Massage? Yes. No? Sesame seeds? To eat or not to eat.

Usually I would have home massage once a week, every Sunday for the past few years. I still had my massage after the embryo transfer and so I figure I prob could still have my usual 1.5hr massage yesterday.

However, it didnt feel very comfortable and my lower back felt really sensitive and I have to tell my therapist to lay off the strength on the lower back. 

When I was done, I went to google and realise to my horror, many sites claim that pregnant ladies in first trimester is not suppose to have massage, esp deep tissue for fear of causing miscarriage in the early weeks. I swear I never knew such a rule existed. Of course, there are other reports that said that such fear is unfounded if the therapist is well trained in prenatal massage and any miscarriage has more to do with chromo abnormalities than man made actions. 

Still, because I didnt enjoy the session  as much as before, I decided to skip next week and check with my doctor in the week after for her opinion.

This morning, I decided to fry 2 eggs and sprinkled some fresh sesame seeds on them to fried away. I thought it tasted really yummy. Then as you would expect, I goggled the web and to my horror, again more articles that claimed sesame seeds will possibly cause miscarriage?!

Link: http://www.livestrong.com/article/476934-why-should-you-avoid-sesame-seeds-while-pregnant/

Considerations

Some physicians may recommend avoiding sesame seeds in the first trimester if you have concerns about miscarrying, according to BabyCenter. While there is no medical cause-and-effect relationship between sesame seeds and miscarriage, it is possible for babies to be allergic to foods like peanuts and sesame seeds in the womb. To reduce this risk, you can avoid sesame seeds if it provides you with peace of mind during your pregnancy.

OH NO!

Seriously?

What have I done?!

A momentary of panic descended upon me.

Of course when I delve further into forums, I have other mums that claimed they ate sesame seeds and nothing happened to them. That kinda gave me some relief. Then I searched further and chanced upon this, which indicated sesame seeds as an ok food to eat for calcium and iron.

Link: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/pregnancy_eat_003744.htm

What special dietary needs do you have?

• Calcium helps a baby's bones and teeth to develop properly, and protects the mother's. You need at least 700-800mg a day - this can be obtained from a large glass of skimmed milk, a pot of fruit yogurt and a matchbox-sized piece of Cheddar cheese. Non-dairy sources include; fortified soya milk, tofu, dried figs, oranges, beans, spinach, canned fish, sesame seeds and white bread.

Link: http://www.pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/articles/945615/10-foods-every-pregnant-woman-should-eat

Sesame seeds

Many people do not realize that sesame seeds are loaded with calcium that you baby needs for proper bone development. Sprinkle a few in your salad; add them to plain yogurt or over stir-fry. You can also use a sesame seed paste known as tahini in the foods that you prepare.

To be frank, I never knew being pregnant has so much food restriction.

I'm overwhelmed by all these conflicting claims about what is ok and what is not.

My husband was wary about me eating tempura prawns last night but I really had a craving for it. Since I was eating everything cooked, and tempura with deep frying will leave no room for undercook, I just ate it. I couldnt feel more satisfied I m telling you. Prawns I figure has a good source of protein, zinc and selenium....so if its fully cooked, I am assuming it will be fine so long as I limit the quantity to under 4 prawns in a day.

 

12dp5dt...Life is immediately back to normal

Ok..the feeling of high is kinda over.
So life is back to normal or as normal as I can try.

Husband was on the ball yesterday after seeing the whole patch of molds on the wall, and he scrubbed so hard that part of the paint came off. That really had me cracking up when he went around calling himself "Muscle man". Then of course as his typical self, he loses steam quickly and went off for a snooze after 1 hour of wall wiping. He was eager to remind me how sweaty he was, to which I reminded him I had wiped 3 bedrooms and ALL the 4 walls by myself previously for the WHOLE day. SO yes, I DO KNOW its hard work. Sometimes, I wonder if my man thinks all I do is skive whole day at home.

Dinner last night at Otto E Mezzo @ HK Landmark Alexander Building was fabulously delicious. I was mindful of possible raw eggs in the sauces so before the waiter could start off, I had to tell him my food restrictions from first min so that he can skip those that aint right for me.

This morning I weighed myself and despite have down 3 cups of water, a bowl of soup, a bowl of fried rice with eggs and half a pear, the weighing scale indicated I am at 50.0kg. What? That would mean I must be weighting 49kg++ before food! How did I lose another 0.2kg from few days back? I had to ask my man into the bathroom to weigh himself to make sure the scale wasnt pulling my leg.

Well apparently the scale was working fine. He claimed it was the right weight for him.
My husband did say physically, he did noticed that I felt slimmer to him.

This is very strange.
Maybe it has to do with cutting all the bread out of my diet as much as possible and eating more regularly? Or is it all the hormones? I wonder if any other expecting mums out there has this issue. Losing weight at the beginning?

Maybe I should start drinking milk.
I havent had a drop of milk since before I started ivf, not even during the 2WW, so that should be over 2 months now.
Maybe milk makes me fat.

I know milk is supposed to be recommended but I still have conflicting thoughts about milk consumption since so many sources are saying it depletes calcium rather than increase...Sigh.

My lips are starting to crack despite downing so much water.
What the heck!

Meanwhile, I am also wondering if I should inform my TCM doctors.
I havent seen them since June. I should tell them the good news but something is holding me back. I also dont know if I should take any herbal supplements from TCM during this period....

Questions and more questions.
I wish there is someone to talk to.

11dp5dt...followup up call

The nurse called me about 1.5hour later after Dr Ingrid.

If I'm not wrong, it might be nurse Julie but she didnt identify herself but she happily laughed as she congratulated me over the phone. After which she proceeded to ask me if I am free on the 7th Sept for my scan. I am alittle stun and again, I stupidly asked her "So soon?" She assured me its about right:)

I was about to stupidly ask her again if I can change to weekdays since weekend is always sooo crowded then I suddenly rem, my man prob want to be there too right? Stupid stupid me.

Afterwhich, she told me Dr Lok had prescribed another 2 weeks worth of medication for me but after I told her I have 7 sticks of crinone gel left, she said I should be able to tell the dispensary to reduce my quantity when I go pick it up. So long as the amount is sufficient till my scanning date.

It's still so surreal plucking that date into my icalender in my mac and iphone.
Seriously surreal.

My husband will be off to India for his ex-colleague's wedding ceremony over this weekend and so he should make it on the following sat, if my pregnancy holds.

Fingers cross.

My poor husband has been "suffering" in his diet along with me.

Being conscious about the "hygience" level in HK restaurants, as well as the super generous inclusion of MSG with their food, I have been consistently stuck to making my own simple chicken soup dishes. I have completely cut out most seafood too except for some fish and dried scallops. Besides that, I have also avoided steaks in general and the only beef I had indulged in is the sliced shabu shabu slices which I can cooked to 100%.

Tonight though, we are heading out to Otto e Mezzo for dinner.
This booking was done 3 months ago (yes, that's how popular they are, you need to make 3 months advance booking)

However, recalling how good the food was the last time, I do look forward to this little treat.
As my man had put it across the few days back, this dinner would be either a happy or sad one. I'm glad at least for now, its a happy one:)

11dp5dt..my hCG beta bloodwork result is out.

24th August 2013 (Sat)

The nurse called me at 9.30am. She told me that I could go have my blood test today instead of waiting till Monday. However, she told me to hurry if I would like to know the results today as the blood report may take 2-3hours.

I bathe as quickly as I could and walked as fast as I could to the hospital. I was super duper thankful the heavy thunder rain has stopped!

While waiting for my turn to get my blood tested, I did a quick prayer that all will be well and that this will be a sustainable pregnancy. One of my fav lab tech came to call my name. I was thankful. I said fav not because she knows me but rather because I rem her to be the only one who doesnt prick and leave me in pain while extracting my blood.

Seeing my still wiping my perspiration, she asked if I ran here and I sheepishly nodded my head while sharing with her that the nurse who called me told me to hurry if I want my report results today. The lab tech was soooooo nice, she told me she would indicate to process my blood asap so that the result can reach Dr Lok in time before their sat shift is over. (They close at 1pm)

Blood test cost = HK490

When it was over, I grabbed a cab back with another super taxi driver. I am not kidding when I say I feel like these few months has been smooth sailing after a very hard painful early few months. It's almost like God was giving me a break and all the timing was just perfect, like the raining timing, catching the right nurses, etc etc.

If I say its not an anxious wait, I would be lying. As my life has a penchant for jinxing anything I desperately want or hope for or if I get too happy over something, I try to taper my excitement and tell myself to think the worse rather than the best.

I googled the normal hCG level, trying to see what my level might be when the nurse call me with the results later. I was checking through this blog (link) which has compact info and interesting link.

There is a nifty calculator for IVF mums, and there is a calculator for 5 day blast embryo. I thought it was amazing!

5-DAY PREGNANCY DUE DATE AND FETAL DEVELOPMENT CALCULATOR

After that, I decided to be more constructive and went about vaccuming the floor instead to take my mind off the test results.

At 12.30pm, my phone rang. My heart stopped a beat.

It was an unlisted number and so I knew it had to be the hospital.

What threw me off was the person addressing me by my English name instead of the cantonese name. Then the caller identified herself as Dr Lok. I was caught off guard. I was expecting the nurse to call me and not the doctor. My heart sank alittle until I heard the next line "Congratulations! You are officially pregnant!" 

I am not kidding you when I say that was the foggiest 5seconds in my life. It's like your life was frozen for that 5 seconds with a million flashing thoughts. Seriously?!!! I asked her. She laughed and said yes. 

Then she told me the tingling sensation etc is normal, so long as its not continuous and not bleeding alot. She also told me that the nurse will call me later to confirm the drop in medication dosage. Then she said the nurse will call to arrange for scan in 2 weeks time. Really? Seriously?

No kidding?

I am still catching my breath

I couldnt resist but to ask again "So I dont have to come in for 2nd time to test my hCg again to reconfirm?" She said "No. The figures are good. You dont have to." She still didnt give me the hcg level.

My husband was by my side when he saw my grin mixed with disbelief. 

Finally the Dr Ingrid told me to rest well and she will see me soon. 

I thanked her, hung up the phone and scream in delight!!!

I honestly still cannot be believe it!

I dont even dare to be too excited. 

My man and I are cautiously happy. 

We agreed that we are not out of the woods yet and now is the critical period where m/c is possible. 

I am hoping this will become a nice Xmas surprise for grandpa and grandma when we fly back to Australia in Sydney. I honestly pray and hope so.

For now, I shall get back to cleaning the house and getting my man to wipe off the black moulds off his study room wall which he has ignored for 3 months since my last attempt to clear themexcept those behindthe heavy cupboards..

Wish me luck ladies.

I need it! 

Obsessive compulsive behavior...I couldnt resist another pee test.

23 Aug 2013 (Fri)

Current IVF status.
10 days past 5 days embryo transfer (10dp5dt)

Ok I admit. I am obsessive compulsive. I bought another HPT but the more upmarket clearblue digital test kit.

I know I am paranoid.
I need to constantly pinch myself that this is real.
I felt the urge to test because somehow I keep feeling that it is a dream.

I need to enjoy this moment.
I really really do.

Now, the only other possible assurance that could ease my mind is a rising beta bloodwork reading. I am really counting on this...

I know my TCM doctor tell me I shouldnt drink fresh coconut because it is too cooling but I couldnt resist today. I really felt like I needed it. So I had a small one to rid the building thirst.

This is when I am at cross roads between chinese and western beliefs...
Today, I gave in to my western impulse.

Avoiding renovation work during pregnancy. Myth or truth?

Chinese culture has a custom, pregnant ladies should not have their house renovated.

As my windows desperately need to be fix to prevent water seepage, I decided to google and see if there is a hint if I should proceed. What I found from a medical website is as below and it is also recommended that anything related to paint should not be done in the presence of pregnant lady. So it's NOT a chinese baseless folklore afterall!

More interestingly, I didnt know pregnant mothers should watch out for sun exposure! I always thought moderate amount of Vitamin D is good for health!

Oh crap...What should I do now?
Cancel all the window fixing?

I thought the below information are good to know for those mothers to be.

(Credit source: South Shore Medical Center)

Be Careful with Chemicals

You probably come in contact with chemicals every day at home or work. Some chemicals are known to cause birth defects, but not enough is known about many others. Anything you touch or breathe may get into your bloodstream and reach your baby. So ask someone else to handle any items that may be harmful, including the list below, or at least think carefully before you do so:

• Cleaning: Avoid oven cleaner, aerosol spray cleaners, dry cleaning fluids, spot removers
• Painting: Avoid latex or oil-based paints, varnish, shellac, turpentine, paint strippers
• Lawn or garden: Avoid insecticides, weed killers, fertilizers
• Home renovation: Do not remove paint or do home renovation on any area in your home where lead paint might have been used. Even small repairs of painted surfaces can stir up lead dust.

Always read labels and follow directions and warnings exactly. Wear gloves and carefully wash any skin that touches chemicals. Avoid using paint or other materials that give off fumes, or at least open windows and keep the area well ventilated to keep fumes down. If you have symptoms like a headache or nausea, stop using the item and move to a fume-free area. Before handling any chemical you are unsure of, call your clinician.

Hair Color/Perm

Hair treatments include hair coloring, hair curling (permanents), hair bleaching, and hair straightening (relaxers). The amount of exposure, the timing during pregnancy, and frequency of use may be important factors when thinking about hair treatments in pregnancy. Since many different chemicals are used and manufacturers frequently change formulations, these general guidelines are offered based upon small doses, animal data and limited data in pregnant women.

Hair color and perms are considered to be low risk. Low levels of hair treatment dyes and chemicals can be absorbed through the skin. This minimal amount is not thought to be enough to cause a problem for the baby. If one is to be more conservative, it is recommended that exposure to these chemicals be avoided in the first trimester. Your hairdresser should use the most natural products available and provide a well-ventilated area for you. Because your hair may temporarily change during pregnancy, you should know that you might not achieve the desired result.

If you are a cosmetologist or work in a hair salon you may want to consider limiting the number of chemical processing hair treatments you do per day. Working in a well-ventilated area, wearing protective gloves, taking frequent fresh air breaks, and avoiding eating or drinking in your work space are all important factors that can decrease chemical exposures.

Sun Exposure

Your skin is more sensitive because of the hormones present during pregnancy. Use at least SPF 15 sunscreen during sun exposure. Avoiding UV rays will ensure healthier skin and less chance of skin cancer, hives or worsened chloasma.

There are many different kinds of sunless tanning lotions, creams, and foams that have very good results. Many of the new varieties have minimal odor and provide immediate color. The only concern is whether the active ingredient, dihydroxyacetone (DHA), is able to penetrate the skin. Studies do not confirm that it can, but some health care providers encourage women to wait until after the first trimester, just to play it safe. DHA has been used in cosmetics since 1960 and no problems have been reported. Even if you have used sunless tanners before, try a patch of skin first. Your skin may be more sensitive and irritable during pregnancy.

Tanning beds and booths are not recommended.

Another good checklist to refer to: Canadian Pregnancy Advice.

9 days past 5 days transfer....my 2nd Home Pregnancy pee test for the sanity of my mind.

I couldn't shove the nagging thoughts in my head and so while shopping for groceries, I did a detour to the pharmacy and got myself 2 packs of clear blue pregnancy test kit.

The first thing I did when I got through the main door was to shoot straight to the toilet. I did a quick prayer and pee on the stick for 5 seconds.

I held my breath as I waited for what seemed like the longest 1 min ever.

Unless God is playing a trick on me, but otherwise...I think this looks like a stronger positive line than the one I posted 2 days back!!! I think God has been kind and granted us our wish!
OMG!!! I am seriously NOT imagining this right? This is NOT a false positive right?!

I am sooo excited but also cautiously worried.
The last time I got so excited, I ended up with a M/C.
I am almost tempted to call the hospital to bring forward my blood test on sat instead of Monday but I know I shouldnt.

I dont dare to tell my man in case u know...i jinx it or something...
However, it is exciting. Not as exciting as the first time I saw a plus sign earlier this year when I didnt have a M/C baggage then. This time I am happy, but yet cautious to yell my joy in case it gets taken away again.

Will heaven be kind to let me keep this baby this time?