Week 33 - Pre-Natal Check Up at HUKM

Yippie! Hubby managed to take leave from work and he could accompany me for my check up this time! Easy, he just dropped me at the entrance and meet up with me after parking the car. We reached early with our McDonalds breakfast in hand.

Needed to pay RM40 again this time for the check up and ultrasound scan. As usual, got my waiting number, took my Blood Pressure, Weight, Urine Test and then waited for my turn to do the ultrasound scan.

The waiting took quite a while but it was okay since we took our breakfast while waiting for it. Read a bit of the newspaper and then it was my turn. A young man did the scan for me this time. Hubby was allowed into the room with me. Little boy was head down whereas Little Girl's head was at the top of my belly. They were both about 2.1kg each now.

After a short while, it was my turn for Doctor's consultation. This time, Doctor commented that the level of amniotic fluid for my little girl was okay whereas my little boy a little more, borderline. The shocking thing at this appointment was that, the Doctor asked if I would like to consider vaginal delivery. Never came across to me since my first appointment with my Gynae at the Pantai Cheras Hospital that I would consider vaginal delivery. He told me from the very first appointment that I would have to go for C-Section for my twins' delivery since my 1st Little Jen was delivered via C-Section and the fact that I was carrying twins made it riskier to consider vaginal delivery. However, of course, I was delighted at the thought of having a chance to deliver my twins vaginally.

The Doctor scheduled me for my next appointment 3 weeks later which would be the 36th week. Hmm.. carrying twins.. I thought appointments shold be closer now but he scheduled to see me only 3 weeks later and that week, he would look forward to an answer from me on my decision to either deliver vaginally or through C-Section.

Week 31 - Pre-Natal Check up at HUKM

This time's check up, I had to go on my own again. That meant driving to the hospital and go through the check up and then drive home on my own. Too bad Hubby could not accompany me since he had to work. Okay, I thought, I could do this, not a problem. I woke up early, sent my Little Jen to my mother in law's place and drived through McDonalds on the way to get a set of breakfast meal with an additional ala-carte egg mcmuffin. Planned to take my breakfast while waiting at HUKM.

Unfortunately, it took me A WHOLE HOUR to look for a parking spot! I finished the Hash Brown in the car since I was already too hungry to wait. I was basically stuck in a merry go round in the parking lot for the whole hour looking for parking spot and the whole area was jammed with cars!

My appointment was at 10am and i reached the parking lot at 8.45am. Usually, the patients will arrive half an hour to an hour earlier than their scheduled appointment to drop their appointment book and wait for their turn. I arrived on the dot this time.

Paid RM40 for the check up and ultrasound scan, got my waiting number, took my Blood Pressure, weighed myself and took the Urine Test. While waiting for my turn to do the Ultrasound scan, I took one of my McMuffins. This time, a young lady did the scan. She asked me to lie down and then, she went out to speak to her colleague on something. I had to sit up while waiting since I could not lie down for long, my belly was just too heavy and I could feel cold sweat on my forehead already. That was not too nice, by the way. Oh.. and no ultrasound pictures for mummy too..

Waiting for the check up after the scan took really long. Finished my other McMuffin while waiting since I was already hungry. It was already past noon and I was still waiting. The Doctor said that I had too much amniotic fluid and that might be a sign of diabetes. So, despite having a negative glucose test in the previous check up, I had to go through another round of glucose test. Both my twins are at about 1.7 and 1.8kg now. Very close to 2kg! Great.. just hang in there for few more weeks..

As they were worried about my high amniotic fluid level that they said might lead to premature labour, they scheduled my next appointment 2 weeks later.

Week 28+ - Detailed Scan at HUKM

Interesting day today. I shall be able to see my twins again.

UNFORTUNATELY, Hubby could not take leave from work and I had to go on my own to HUKM. I went early and reached slightly past 8am but by the time I reached, there was a heavy downpour at HUKM. I wanted to use the Valet Parking service but it was full. So, I had to go for the normal parking. Looking for parking slot took a little time and effort since I had to stop my little car at a spot and hope for a car to leave. Finally.. managed to get a good spot. BUT then, my umbrella was at the car boot! Oh, gosh. I had to push my driver's seat to the back and then climb out of my seat to the back passenger seats to reach for the umbrella. Imagine me with my big belly doing that!

Walked through the heavy rain slowly and went up the long flight of staircase at the parking area as carefully as I could. By the time I reached the building, I was feeling damp all over. My feets were soaking wet.

I waited for about an hour for my turn to scan. Luckily I brought the newspaper along.

When it was my turn, the Sonographer told me that he would have his trainee to scan me for about 15 minutes and then he would do the scan again for me to re-confirm. However, in less than 10 minutes, I was already feeling hot flushes in my cheeks and cold sweat appearing on my forehead! The Sonographer realised that I was too quiet and asked me to take a break. He said that normally for twins pregnancy, Detailed Scan would be done at week 21 and never later than week 24. He had a twin mummy passing out during the scan itself once and he understood very well the burden that I was carrying. It was just too heavy for me to bear while laying flat down.

After the short break, he did the scan himself - Thank God for that! And, he allowed me to lie sideways with raised back instead of flat. He first scanned my little twin boy. My boy was so cooperative, he managed to get all the required details at one go. He even gave me a 3D picture of my boy's face! He looked so much like his Daddy!

Then, he allowed me to go for another break since scanning each baby would take about 30 minutes. Throughout the scan, he kept asking me if I was feeling uncomfortable and needed a break. I was his last patient that morning and he told me that was why he could take his time to finish the scan.

My little twin girl was not as cooperative. The Sonographer tried and tried and even spoke to her but she just refused to turn over him to have a good look at her. After a total of about 45 minutes, he gave up. He said that she was just too active and shy at the same time.

Overall, they were both healthy and actively moving inside. Mummy had too much amniotic fluid which meants Mummy would have to suffer carrying the big belly with extra weight but they were both having fun inside due to the extra space. Hmm.. :)

Week 24 - Check Up at Pantai Cheras

This month, Mummy weighed 67kg at the clinic (but at home, the scale was only showing 65). Got a comment from the Nurse, "Wah.. Manyak gemuk.." What a comment but I could not blame her. I put on 7kg this time based on their records. This round I could not blame the festive season for the extra weight since it was history.

Ultrasound scan showed that my girl was about 735g whereas my boy was about 635g. Doctor mentioned that the weight difference was okay. However, I only got the ultrasound picture for my boy. Was not able to get my girls' because of her position.

I got a referral letter from Doctor so that I could go to HUKM for my subsequent check ups. Doctor was very neutral on our decision to consider delivering at HUKM. He even advised to go for the fully government and not the private UKM since we stated cost of delivery as a reason for the consideration. I fully agreed since the private wing of UKM's cost could easily matched my own Doctor's. If so, no reason for me to change my Doctor.

Government or Private Hospital..

Have chatted with a few Mummies on an online forum regarding their C-Sect experience with HUKM. Glad to hear some good comments as in the stitches were great and they had fully support and guidance to breastfeed their newborns after deliveries.

A Medical student that graduated from UKM commented that only Doctors were allowed to handle C-Sect whereas Medical students were only allowed to assist in normal deliveries. If this is true, hmm.. there should not be any harm in trying out for a C-Sect at HUKM.

Anyway, having twins is a good enough reason to be classified as a high risk case, I guess.

This Saturday shall get a referral letter from my Gynae. Then, next week, shall go to HUKM to register and make an appointment. They do not accept walk-in cases, according to the nurse on the other line. >.<

Twins via C-Sect - Where to deliver?

Headache.. Now that I am a month away from my 3rd trimester, I am really taking into consideration the cost for delivery of the twins. My Doc at Pantai Cheras is great and has been taking good care of me and my precious twins. However, the total cost for delivery via C-Sect is really a mind-boggling issue.

We paid about RM7000 for my C-Sect including a 3 days, 2 nights stay, medicine, baby care and lab testings when I delivered Little Jen in 2010. It was a planned C-Sect and all went smoothly. This time with twins, we are just afraid that the bill may be really high. At least we know that the cost will not be double unless if any of us need any special care/treatment.

Checked with HUKM today and the cost of delivery via C-Sect for twins will be RM1855 all-in. From my tele-conversation with the nurse on the other line, the drawbacks of delivering there to my opinion are (1) You will get a team of Doctors to attend to you instead of one personal Doctor and (2) Visitors including Hubby are only allowed to visit during visiting hours. The good thing is that Hubby can be with me during C-Sect. Forgot to ask about trainees being present during delivery..

The private wing of UKM, UKM Specialist Center on the other hand allow visitors at all time and patients are allowed to choose their Doctor depending on availability. No trainees will attend to Mummies and Mummies will only be attended by Doc and nurses. The cost for C-Sect to deliver twins - RM6000-7000, provided it is a normal C-Sect without any complications. In case of any need to admit the babies to the NICU, they will be sent to HUKM. UKM Specialist Centre does not have their own NICU facilities.

Hmm.. I shall have to discuss with my Doc on the estimated cost when I see him next.. this Saturday!

Week 20 - Twins.. A Boy and who?

Finally the morning sickness episode is out of the way and the increase in the weight department is really making progress here. Mummy gained a whopping 5kg in the past month! Dr. Chow made a remark by saying, "Wah, gained so much weight this month!" I casually put the blame on Chinese New Year non-stop dining and snacking.. and of course, I could not tell him that I was having at least 2 slices of barbequed pork every day with avocado and bread! Yummy recipe for mid-morning, mid-evening and sometimes, supper as well!

This time, again, Doc scanned thoroughly to give us the answer we had been waiting for whole month-long. He scanned and scanned and finally after what we described as a long wait, he announced, "The other twin is a GIRL!" Oh.. goodie, we are having a boy and girl twins! Hubby put on a wide smile on his face and I sighed with relief. I finally had the license to buy PINK!

Our boy...

Our girl...

They were about 370g each and were both growing well. Praying for their good health with each and every passing day!

Week 16 - Twins.. Boys, Girls or Both?

In the 4th month visit to Dr. Chow, Doc was trying hard to see the gender of both twins. One was easily identified since the legs were kept wide open for some time. Twin A is a BOY for obvious reasons. By now, we are still not sure if we are having fraternal or identical twins. So, we have to wait for Twin B to show us who he/she is.

During this visit, I was still having my morning sickness.

When I conceived Little Jen, my morning sickness went off by the time I was about 4 1/2 mths and I put on 5kg in my 4th month of pregnancy. I could still remember the nurse asking me, "Selera makan ek?" with a wide grin on her face. The morning sickness made me lost about 2kg and regaining 5kg was good news.

This time with twins, I lost a little weight and maintained my pre-pregnancy weight until the 3rd month, after which I gained 2kg.  Probably cause the twins were not being too choosy on their choice of food or cause I already roughly knew what type of food I could manage down my throat. All I knew was that I was always hungry! And oh, I was also craving for sweets all the time, lots of them.

Doc was already asking me to slow down on my sugar intake due to suspected gestational diabetes in previous pregnancy.. :p

Week 12 - Discovery of the Twins

On the day that marked the 3rd month of my second pregnancy, Hubby and I decided to visit the same specialist that delivered our Little Jen on the 7th of July, 2010. He was able to give us the confidence that everything was well inside and that I would be in good hands when it was time to meet my newborn.

The Gynae was not chosen based on online research or recommendations but simply a walk in case after a sad episode of my life just 2 months before I conceived Little Jen. He is Dr Chow at Pantai Cheras, KL. Not a man of words but he seems sure of what he does and believes.. by the way, he has already passed the standard retirement age.

Prior to the consultation, the nurses were asking me to drink lots of water, "No, that one small bottle will not be enough, my dear. Drink more.." Ops, I could not take anymore or else, I would vomit. So, she said, "Then okay, just don't vomit and don't pee just yet." Morning sickness was bad at that time, even water seemed too difficult for me to swallow.

Actually, before we visited the Doc, I was a little afraid that Doc might just be unhappy that I got pregnant after a C-Sect when my son just passed his first birthday. Surprisingly, they looked happy, the nurses and my Doc.

Before the scan, Doc asked if I had drank enough water. I showed him the small bottle of water and he looked pessimistic that he would be able to scan anything. After a short while with the ultrasound scanner, he showed me and Hubby that there were 2 little sacs. We could not understand what he was trying to show us and the nurse just smiled. He then asked my Hubby, "Can you see 2 inside?" My Hubby turned to me as if saying, how the heck should I know if there is one or two.. What was what?

Then the Dr. Chow announced that we were having TWINS! I was so shocked I started trembling a little. Hubby seemed to have turned white. I asked Doc if he was sure and then still could not believe my eyes, I asked the nurse. Hmm.. yes, TWINS! And, their hearts were fluttering in the scan.

Dr. Chow said that there would be a lot of complications to expect during twins pregnancy. First, starting with morning sickness which would be doubly worse since I would have double the hormones. Then, twins are bound to be delivered early, probably 2-3 weeks earlier.

He was not kidding. I ended up in bed most of the time due to morning sickness which got worse by evening and night. I vomited more than I did during my first pregnancy.

That was the beginning of a 6 1/2 months wait...

Poor oral hygiene can lead to problems during pregnancy?

Interestingly poor oral hygiene does not only cause you to have tooth decay and gum disease but is also potentially risky for your unborn child in your womb. I stumbled upon this article from Cosmeticsdesign.com US.

It was mentioned that Researchers from Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, and the University of Pennsylvania both found that poor oral health during pregnancy contributes to an increased risk of premature birth and miscarriage. It is also stressed that regular checkups are important to prevent gum diseases that has been identified as a risk factor for premature birth, miscarriage and even stillbirth as the bacteria from the mouth can get into the baby’s bloodstream.