Hello 2nd trimester!

Today is the beginning of my 2nd trimester, Alhamdulillah. I am so thankful to the Almighty considering the ups and downs I had during my first trimester, I have faith that the second trimester onwards is going to be a very happy journey for both Love and me. Insya Allah. Ameen. :)

This post is meant to share (for dear readers) and to reminisce (to myself one day) the ups and downs I've been through during my first trimester.

The first month.
You can read all about it here.

The second month
..was the worst! Feeling sick every morning. Vomiting every evening. No appetite to eat at all, yet hungry every 15 minutes or so! Could not sleep. Tired all the time. Too lazy to go to work or even to get out of the house. Taking leave almost once in every week.

Even worse, I felt so not motivated, so freaking helpless. Mum and hubby did almost everything for me. I did not even have the energy to mandi after work. That bad!

I couldn't eat almost everything that I loved before esp milk and vege, but I super love fruits, but too much fruits lead to another problem..

The threatened abortion made it even worse. I was at my lowest point of my life at this moment.

The third month
Seeing my baby's heartbeat for the first time just lifted up my spirit to the max.

My morning sickness starts to cool down, energetic again to go to work and to settle down after work.

Less hungry, more appetite, some minor back pain but wayyyy better.

...
Now, i'm in my fourth month, things are getting better, Alhamdulillah.

Though my first three months are not all rainbows and butterflies, but I must thank Allah SWT for a lot of things.

I heard that some pregnant women are more sensitive towards their husband, but Love and I.. we had such amazing understanding. He babied me the way i could not imagine possible. He cleaned the room, did the dishes, even bathed me every night.. and.. he was my source of motivation.

Never once he complained.

And mum... just did EVERYTHING else. Too much to write in words.

BFF Maria cheered up my days and Dr. Sumay was there everyday I was in the office, just made my days brighter.

I must have been blessed.

And I thank everyone that helps me throughout my first trimester, in which without them... i just could not bear the thought.

The one that gets hurt :(

In life, there has got to be one couple that you always look up to..

Whether it's the friends that match your definition of "the happiest couple ever", or Marshall and Lily from "How I met your mother" or your favourite relatives or even perhaps your own parents.



But when it all falls apart, some might wonder whether true love still exist. But to those who live in a fairy tale like me can only hope that they will eventually live happily ever after one day.

Almost always, we often forget that these break ups affect other people as much as they affect the affected couple.

Remember the episode when Lily left Marshall, best friend Ted was hurt because of the break up too.

So to my epitome of "true love", I know you're reading this, you will forever be remembered and be missed and be loved.. even when you're now continents away. Love, forever your niece :)

First purchase for My Precious

Upon entering my second trimester, my baby bump started showing already, which also means.. I need maternity pants!

Very unfortunate for petite like BFF Maria and me, Mothercare and Modern Mum do not have our size! Discrimination!!

But fortunatey, BFF Maria got pregnant first before me. So she knew where to buy stuff already, I just follow her lead.

Since I'm getting better nowadays, Love and I shopped for my maternity clothing at Alamanda on Saturday. But then, we saw this..



Baby cot idaman sebab colour putih and adjustable and cost us ony RM200! Kat Carrefourre ok!

So terus beli :)

The next day, we went to Baby Fair at Ampang Point.

And we found this Nike romper, comel bangat!



So.. there goes, the first item and the first baju..

Kapal and Ikeen Fly to Seoul

I just got back from Korea, y'all!!!~

Of course travelling as a pregnant woman makes it a bit harder (plus the threatened abortion I had), I had a bag of medicine to bring with me, but Alhamdulillah, I was so fine there. I vomitted only once during my whole journey, syukur.

Our initial itenary could not be used due to my condition. So i let mum in law (MIL) and her brother, Wey Samchun (WSC) to decide our itenary. Here goes..

First day

6 and a half hours of flight using Air Asia X for pregnant woman made it very tiring for me. Lesson learned: First, hot seat for more leg room. Second: Seat near toilet due to frequent urination. Third: Day flight makes me constantly hungry and the food provided were not sufficient for me, probably cuz I ate for two.

I got stucked for almost half an hour in immigration due to what they called "computer error". Had to undergone a thorough checkup, it seemed that the immigration in Korea is a bit strict, but Alhamdulillah.. I managed to get through.

We stayed at WSC's house, have to get used of the floor's and the bed's heater. Temeprature was 7 degrees celcius the first day.

Second day

National Museum of Korea

Admission is free. It is divided to three floors. First: historical gallery. Second: Fine arts gallery and third: sculpture and craftwork gallery. I wouldn't say it was really that exciting, but I just love museum, so if you're not a big fan of museum, you'll find it as just another ordinary museum you ever visited.

Lunch

The restaurant inside the national museum does not served any pork. Mind the word restaurant, not 'foodcourt'. We ordered bibimbap (rice with all sorts of vege and eggs) and seafood pancake. Price ranges between 7000 won to 10000 won. (Exchange rate: 1000 won = RM3).



War Museum

Admission is also free, maybe more exciting than the national museum, my verdict.




Ittaewon



We were given exactly an hour to shop by WSC in this place which for me is the equivalent of our Sg Wang. I found one (and only) halal restaurant here in Korea. I bought my winter boot here, some strawberries, some shirts and jerseys for my family and Love bought his socks and his extremely big shoes since we couldn't find his size in Malaysia. His size is US 15 btw.

Winter clothings are way cheaper here compared to Malaysia. Zara pun murah. But surprisingly, the price of Korean strawberry here is the same as price in Malaysia :( Mahal! Good news is, Ittaewon is THE ONLY place where the salesperson can speak English.

Dinner

Had dinner near WSC's house in Seoungnam. Noodles with lots of seafood, pedas!!!

Third day

Korean's Folks Village

Highlight of the trip!!! Korean's folks village :) My favourite. Must goooo!!! Admission is 15 000 won for adult.

Lunch

Korean's folks village's foodcourt. Organic shop, so they don't serve pork. We had some Mee suah and again, seafood pancake (the best!)

E-mart

Shop around WSC's house. Tengok ni, no plastic bag, no shopping bag, pack your stuff with the box prvided.



Dinner

Again, at Seoungnam, a restaurant where they served only fish. We had grilled mackarel together with MIL's sister, Immo and her daughter and MIL's cousin, Komo.

Fourth day

Drizzling the whole day. According to the news, the rain was contaminated with radioactive from Japan. Tawakkal..

Namdaemun

The cheapest place to buy souvenirs (in bulk). But they don't speak English at all, pftt.. So I was like, "Olmayeyo?"(How much). And when the salesperson mentioned some numbers in Korean that I did not understand I'd be like, "Omma!! Help!!"

Lunch

Had lunch at one of the stalls in Namdaemun that sells vege and seafood (tempura).



Visiting relatives

Went to visit one of Love's grandmother, Komo Halmeni and one of his close uncle, Majangdong Samchun, where we fell in love with this little girl, Na Hyeon.

Dinner

Dinner at Majangdong, Bono-Bono Japanese seafood restaurant. This one is on the house since the cousing worked there. Tengok ni, they ate gold (real gold).




Fifth and final day

Our last typical breakfast. Kat sana pagi, petang, siang, malam makan nasi. Nasib baik dah familiar with all the food there, MIL selalu serve during weekend bila she's in Malaysia.




Had Domino's for lunch, the only pizza we found without meat. Even the seafood pizza pun ada bacon. This is vegetarian pizza with tapioca, pineapple, tomato and corn, weird combiation, tapi best!

Had the rest of the day for just the two of us. Walked along the Seoungnam street, had some coffee..

And finally we had to say goodbye. Sedihnye, both of us cried in the airport. Everyone been taking a good care of us. Tak naik bas sekali pun. Semua WSC hantar :(


If in Singapore, I lerned to respect, because the people there are super duper friendly and very respectful to others. In Thailand, I learned to appreciate what we have in Malaysia. In Korea... I definitely learned to love. Regardless of the different language, the different skin tone, I feel so loved here.


I WANT TO GO THERE AGAIN!


Thank you Wey Samchun, thank you Omma for everything. See you in Malaysia very soon :) This journey brought me closer to my MIL and Love's family, Alhamdulillah.

Preparation to KOREAAAAAAA!!!

Since my last entry sucks, let's talk about something fun.

Another exciting news I received after I got back from Columbia Asia is that I am allowed to fly to Korea!!! Went to Az Zahra for a second opinion, and yay!!

4 more days to gooooo... Right after receiving the news, Love and I went to Winter Time to do some shopping.

According to MIL, it's still snowing in Korea, can you imagine, it's March already. Last Friday, it was -6 to 4 degrees celcius. :( I was not a big fan of winter. With 18 degrees pon, I'll be in my sweater and pashmina and socks and still shaking.

Some of the stuff I bought last Sunday..

Can't waitttt!!

The only thing that might hold me back is the fact that I'm gonna miss my boss a.k.a supervisor's farewell party.

Don't worry she's not leaving anywhere, just that she got promoted to deputy dean and hence no longer our HOD.

Sedihnyeeee... How could I miss such party for one of the most important person in my life... :'(

One thing for sure though, no one can ever ever EVER EVER replace her. What should I buy for her in Korea?

Btw, Kapal's phone akan roaming kat sana, if ada anything nak order from there, just drop us a message!

Enough

Very TYPICAL reasons students come and see lecturers after final examination..

1) Minta markah kesian dengan alasan, "I lost my loved ones this sem, so I couldn't perform." Every single semester mesti ada without miss.

2) Minta markah extra dengan alasan kawan2 yang lain semua tiru masa assignment, dia buat sendiri walaupun markah teruk. Berani kutuk kawan depan lecturer you, nampak sangat backstabber!

3) Begged for marks sebab CGPA teruk, kalau turun lagi scholar tak dapat sambung.

4) Tak dapat hantar thesis sebab busy sangat dengan final. Ye, memang lecturer you semua tak pernah kena hantar thesis lepas final ye.

5) Haritu tak hantar project sebab thumbdrive hilang, computer reformat. Baru terhegeh2 nak hantar sebab dah tau final susah. And so, I end up with this..

Tu pun masih ada yang ketuk non-stop nak pecah bilik, berani sungguh.

My precious

I was born an engineer.

I knew I would end up in engineering one day, so in high school, instead of taking Biology like what people normally did, I took Lukisan Kejuruteraan.

Downside is I am totally helpless in stuff like estrogen, progesteron, chromosome, whatever fancy terms that even the name sounds scary!

And having a husband who took biology, who somehow ends up totally clueless like me is not at all helping.

So we were glad that the fate brought us to Dr. Silvam, a specialist in Columbia Asia hospital. (Our first option was Az-Zahra and An-Nur, both were fully booked last Saturday).

And as an engineer, nothing I love better than numbers and statistics and graphs and those were the things that Dr. Silvam managed to present in order to explain to us about the very basic thing of pregnancy and morning sickness.

He said that once you're conceived, chances are 85% it will formed perfectly, so regardless whether you're bleeding or what not, by God's will the baby will be delivered safely. Another 15% are the chances that you will have a miscarriage because the baby is not formed as norm.

And after a long thorough nervewrecking check up, our baby falls under the 85% category because..

.

Awww!! Can you see the head (on the left hand side) and the body (on the right hand side) inside the black thing that looks like peanut (my uterus i guess). The heart is beating ever so healthily.

While the doctor let us watched this precious for what seemed like the best moment of my life, the baby actually moved to various positions, letting us see his/her every angle. The placenta, the food ring.

My eyes were fixed at the screen, the heartbeat!! Who would have thought a two months old baby already have a heartbeat!!.

That's my baby.. growing inside my tummy.. *wipes tears*.