Seren's Blog and Music 心弦の博客与音乐 ♥Blog 博客页♥

Hey everyone, just wanted to post that baby and I are doing ok. She was born more than a month ago. It was natural birth with no anesthesia of any kind. Which is great because I am afraid of needles. LOL.  My parents-in-law have returned home, but my mom would be with me for a little longer. I am exclusively breastfeeding my newborn, and it is very demanding on my time and energy… Finding time to come online is so difficult.

I don’t know when I could adequately be able to resume good housekeeping, grocery shopping and cooking without help. Hmm… I wonder how other moms do it.

Anyway here’s me and my little girl. I like calling her “Kylie-yo”. ^_^

My Sleeping Baby

These first 2 pictures were taken by a hired photographer when she was 3 weeks old.

Peekaboo!

Caring for a baby is lots of work!

Washing her hair before dipping her in for a bath

Take care everyone. I won’t be coming online or making any videos for some time. Hope you guys understand.

Love, Seren

I just wanted to post a quick note that I’m 37 and a half weeks today, and between now till the 42nd week of pregnancy, I could give birth any time and the baby would be considered full term. I don’t have time to come online much, and my parents/parents-in-law have now arrived in New York. So more time has to be spent with them, and spent around the house and my baby nursery. I’m gonna miss all of you online!

Anyway here’s one picture taken when I was 35 weeks along, one of the last pictures I took of myself in a hurry.

35 weeks along

Sorry I don’t have time to post any more pictures up, even though I do have other pictures of myself on the computer. LOL

The baby’s arriving and I don’t know when I’ll be able to spend time online again. Oh well, if I don’t come online any more this year, Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 in advance.

Love, Seren.

OK, I’m back for an update! I’m 27 weeks along today! Yes yes, big and fat now… my baby feels so heavy sometimes.

Speaking of baby, I promised my husband that from now onwards, I will try my very best not to post any more pictures of my baby, for privacy purposes. Perhaps she wouldn’t like people seeing her pictures, and until I know for sure, I shall just protect her and let her choose what she wants to do with her pictures when she’s more grown up.

Till then, here’s a side profile of me that I took last week.

People on the train stand up to give me their seat nowadays! lol

Can you believe it, I have less than 3 months to go!

Remember at 8wks, I had 5 viles of blood taken from me?

At 16 weeks I had another 6 viles taken from me again, for more testing of genetic diseases. The results came back, and all was well.

And last week at 26 weeks, it was time for MORE blood tests. My appointment was in the afternoon, and I quickly ate my lunch which was leftover soup from dinner (“Ang Moh Tng”, a soup with pork, carrots, tomatos, onions and potatos.). I had lots of yummy potatos in the soup

Then off I went to the clinic and they handed me this.

It was a glucose drink. Orange-flavoured, YUM!

One hour after finishing the drink, they drew 2 viles of my blood.

Ouch, so painful

And I’ve got sad news (albeit temporary) to tell you guys…

… …

The clinical manager called me 2 days ago and told me that I had to come back in for extra blood tests.

… …

Because something was wrong

… …

… …

My blood glucose level was above the normal treshold…

… …

Not too high, but high enough to warrant a fasting 3 hour glucose test. GAH!

OH NOOOOOOOO

Might I have gestational diabetes?!?!?!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

… …

The lady assured me it wasn’t very high. It just slightly crossed the borderline.
Whatever it was, “fasting” meant that I am supposed to not eat anymore food after 12am, and come into the clinic at 9am for another bottle of glucose drink.

I took milk at 10.30pm and went to bed, and next morning, arrived at the clinic slightly early.

The nurse took 1 vile of blood from my arm. This is to be my baseline blood glucose level.

Then she gave me a bottle of glucose to drink.

This time it was “fruit punch” flavoured. YUCK! It tasted bad, not like the orange one which tasted nice.

I had trouble drinking it, but decided to finish it and ask for water.

But the nurse said “No, no water.”

“No water, no food whatsoever until the test is over.”

-_-”!!!! …ok….

======================================

I stayed in a comfortable room with a magazine and my books (about gardening) that I borrowed from the library… and got sleepy while waiting in between the next three blood draws to take place 1 hour, 2 hours, and lastly 3 hours after drinking the glucose.

…zzzzzZZZZ..zzzzzZZZZZ…. *morning nap*

The clinical manager popped by into the room at about 10-11am and asked “Good morning… do you feel tired often?”

“Err…no, not really. My husband comes home late from work, so I stay up to be able to see him and spend time with him… that’s why I nap in the morning”… I was coming up with reasons for her, and I wondered if I was not supposed to be sleeping during this 3 hour blood test.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s ok to say that you’re tired”, she said. “You’re anaemic”.

WHAT?!?!

“Your blood tests came back, and remember we took 2 viles of blood? One tested that your sugar was slightly high, and the other tested that you were below the lowest range of what’s normal for blood iron. You’re going to have to take iron pills from now on ok?”

She handed me the prescription. Now I feel giddy.

Even if all this was common for pregnant women, it feels dramatic for a first time mother.

Ok, so I asked for numbers.
My blood sugar was 144 mg/dL and it was above the treshold of 140 mg/dL which warranted a fasting-3-hour test. You need to be more than 180-200 mg/dL to be diagnosed diabetic, and they needed to be sure, so hence I was there.

I think for blood iron, my total blood count and other levels were ok, but my Hemoglobin was 10.9 (normal range 11.5-16.0) and my Hematocrit was about 31 (normal range 34.5-47.0). She said I just need to take iron pills and all should be ok. In a few weeks time, they’ll draw blood to check again.

Food wise she said eat red meat, chopped liver, dark green leafy salads…but as long as I take the iron pills, I should have no problems whatsoever with my daily intake of iron. Oh, and she said to not drink milk when I take the iron pills.
Finally, it’s past 12pm, and the test is over. My left arm has been poked 4 times to retrieve 4 viles of blood.

So that was how my morning went yesterday.

And GOOD NEWS TODAY! THE RESULTS ARE BACK!

The clinical manager called me JUST NOW to say EVERYTHING IS FINE, I’M NOT DIABETIC!

The baseline was 72mg/dL , 1st hour 132mg/dL , 2nd hour 133mg/dL , 3rd hour 120mg/dL.

I asked her how did my previous high result happen, and she said “I don’t know, but it just happened!” lol

So everything ended well. Just remember to take iron.
Check.

Hope all of you are doing well. I hope to update you guys on other hobbies I’ve been doing. Quiet hobbies This time.

Love, Seren

There isn’t much videos, music or online information on Mother Maeham… all I know is that they are a mother-daughter band from Australia. Their harmonious voices sound really good. I wonder why they’re not more well known. Perhaps by choice.

They dedicated the above video to all preggy mommies. That’ll be me.

I believe the song title is ‘Nevaeh’s Lullaby’.

Love, Seren

 So this update would mostly be pictorial. Enjoy!

妈妈去游泳！

我家楼下的游泳池。

 3D picture of her, with two hands and her mouth.

Ok, size-check! Here I am now. I took this picture a few minutes ago. 以下是几分钟前拍的照片。

22 weeks

22 周I'm pretty big now huh. LOL怀孕 22 周

There are so many things to prepare for a new home and a new baby. I’ve been pacing them out slowly. So many decisions to make. It’s been a wonderful journey, and it’s gonna get more exciting as time comes.

With lots of Love，

 Seren

Wow, another month as passed. I’m 4 months along already! I must say I enjoy the second trimester much more. In the first trimester, I did almost nothing but sleep. Now, it feels like I’m back to normal, back to how it was pre-pregnancy. Which is good, I have been so busy with planning the move to a new place.

Here are some pictures I took a few minutes ago. 刚才拍的照片。

The wonders of black!

Hello! From the front, you don’t see any bump right? Hahaha that’s the wonder of black. From the front at least. 黑色衣服真奇妙，从前面看不出什么。 ;-D

Still pointy at 16 weeks

My tummy is still pointy eh? Perhaps it’ll round out soon.觉得腹部看起来有点尖尖的。过几个星期不知会不会变圆…… -_-”

16 weeks pregnant

The foetus is about the size of an avocado now. Over the next 2 months I am supposed to grow “rapidly”. LOL I feel very bloated already, I wonder how I’d balloon towards the end!

About 2 weeks from now I’m going to find out the sex of the baby. What’s your guess, would it be a boy or girl? 猜猜宝宝会是男的还是女的？过两个星期我就会去查看！

I’m happy with either of course. I just wanna find out ASAP. 男女我都会喜爱……只是自己心里急着要知道……呵呵……

With lots of love,
Seren.

Hello! Long time no blog! lol

I would like to dedicate this entry to my 3 caring parents (love you daddy and mummies!), and to my best friend Hannah. This update is specially for you all! Sorry I didn’t update much…I’m 13 weeks plus now, officially in my Second Trimester!

Sonogram at 6 weeks

Unfortunately, I had a horrible time at the clinic. I did not know that they had to draw my blood on my first visit. I have Trypanophobia.  They must have thought that I was troublesome.

Didn't know I had to draw blood at my first visit.

This is six vials of blood.

They tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, rubella, complete blood count, lead, varicella, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia & blood type

I asked my doctor if she could stay around during the blood draw and she said “no”. I said “why” and she said “because I have to see other patients”. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. After that traumatic tearful experience, I was happy it was over and waited to speak to my doctor. She was a doctor that I saw as a gynae for the past 2 years. She was always nice and patient. but this time…I don’t know what happened… I was asking questions as a newly pregnant mother and her answers seemed to ridicule me. Maybe it was because nobody ever asked her to stay while drawing blood. I was hoping for compassion, after all she would be the lady delivering my child. For example, when I told her that I feel nausea and sour foods seemed to help she said “My, that’s counter-intuitive. Most mothers would stuff themselves with carbohydrates instead.” I’m like WHAT?! o_O” Wouldn’t that make them puke more instead? (And I’ve seen preggie pops sold in Motherhood and Pea in a Pod maternity shops, and these are sour candy to help with morning sickness. Well calling me counter-intuitive is one thing (but not a nice thing). But telling me that “look, I don’t have time for you like this” and telling me to do some “soul-searching” when I asked her about the differences between an Obstetrician and a mid-wife was just alarming. I felt like I was treated like a troublesome person and was subtly insulted during the entire consultation. I felt like I could not have a trusting relationship with her, and I feel frightened to ask her any more questions in the future.

Something like that never happened to me before. I spoke to my sis-in-law Jess, and some details of my encounter stunned her as well. She gave me great advise – advise mainly to switch a doctor. Find a good, kind and highly recommended one. “You have to be confident that you can ask your doctor questions because there will surely be a lot along the way. You have to choose one you have a comfortable relationship with to deliver your baby.” And she was right. If anybody ever had an experience like me, please don’t feel  helpless (my husband and I did for a while). It is actually really easy to switch doctors, and you only need to sign 1 form to get your medical records transferred.

At 8 weeks I found Village Obstetricians, and there every patient is under the care of 2 doctors, one male Dr. Mussali and one female Dr. Worth. They are both very warm, very kind, and were recommended by a highly experienced doula. Their expertise seems top notch and Dr. Mussali is even on the board of medical advisers for Johnson&Johnson’s babycenter.com!!!

At 8 weeks gestation, baby's size measured 2 days smaller.

I was very happy to be there…but trouble (most anxiousness from my husband) loomed. It turned out that Village Obstetricians are not in my Health Insurance’s Network. Still, I have out-of-network benefits, and the total I have to pay for such high quality care from my first visit all the way till my baby’s birth is $1250 max, and the health insurance will pay the rest of the customary billing. Very worth it if you ask me! This totally freaked my husband out, and in order to appease him, I spend numerous days over the next few weeks calling and talking to the health insurance company, Village Obstetrics, the other imaging centers that I will be referred to, and the hospital I would be delivering in. I was very sad that my first trimester was filled with such stress.

Finger-prick test at 9 weeks

Hey baby!

Trisomy 13, 18, 21 screening result

And this was my genetic screening result! Counting in my age, my finger-prick hormones and my sonogram measurements, the risk after screening for Trisomy 13, 18, or 21 has decreased to 1 in 10,000. That’s the best possible result. Doctor says that my result is equivilent to a 20 year old. lol so glad.

Finally I have arrived at the end of my first trimester. Here’s a picture of me and my funny looking bump at 12 weeks.

Me at 12 weeks

I was hoping that it would look nice and round…but don’t you feel it looks like a little mountain? Hehe

LOL Such a funny tummy

I’ll try to take pictures of myself every 4 weeks from now on and update you all.

With lots of love,

Seren

A 24 hour flight can be really boring. Most people would watch movies, or play games. But I was keen to check out their music collection for passengers. That was how I discovered some cool Japanese songs last year. ^_^

My plane ride behing me, in a stop-over at Frankfurt.

I try to browse through the Chinese and Japanese albums available, to inspire me for Spirit Teahouse. And lo and behold, guess what I found today…

MC Jin & Hanjin's collaboration album 買一送一

MC Jin & Hanjin’s collaboration album 買一送一 (Title translated: Buy one get one free). I was simply BLOWN AWAY by it. Imma gonna get myself that album and learn all the songs. And perhaps cover all the songs, so watch for it!

It sounds so simple and acoustic, I LOVE IT. Nothing complicated with pianos and violins. Just light percussion (shakers?), a guitar and their voices. It sounds crazy but I was nodding/ semi-head banging throughout the album.

How often would you like every single track on an album? It doesn’t happen to me often, and this time this album 買一送一  has achieved that. It’s so awesome that I felt the entire album was a type of experience. An experience that makes me feel shiok listening to it, yet the lyrics expresses difficulties of simple daily life. Totally different from the typical over dramatic love songs – Refreshing. But you must understand both Cantonese and Mandarin to enjoy it. I indiscribably loved it.

Berlitz's Interactive Japanese learning programme on SQ

Ooh and one more interesting thing…they have this interactive Berlitz Language Learning Programme, where there are multiple choice questions to answer after teaching you, and even a game after that. I chose Japanese out of probably 10 language choices. Go through all four categories of “Numbers”, “Dates”, “Common Words” and “Common Sentences”, and you’ll end up on a page as seen in the picture above – that you have completed the language course, and SQ will email you a completion certificate. How cool is that! I really wasn’t expecting it. XD

I can’t believe it, just as Jake Shimabukuro comes to Brooklyn a show, I fly off at the exact same time. ((((

http://www.bowerypresents.com/event/5560

Oh Jake. Sigh~

I updated my vlog channel on New Year’s day, and today, I finally updated the background for Spirit Teahouse! YAY!!!

So check these backgrounds out:

http://youtube.com/serenkoo 1920′s style background.

And today:

Spirit Teahouse youtube background

Only at http://youtube.com/SpiritTeahouse.

Love.