Baby's 24th week checkup

September 18, 2007

Today is our 24th week checkup with Vietnamese OB, Dra. Nguyen Thi Tan Sinh. We were supposed to go and see her last month but she was out of the country. We found out that she attended a doctor's conference in Greece. Wow!

Dra. Sinh was recommended to us by Dra. Helen Ng. We've heard and read that she's the best OB here in Hanoi!

"Dr. Nguyen Thi Tan Sinh: Gynecologist and Obstetrician (Vietnamese)Dr. Sinh is one of Vietnam's leading specialists in women's health issues, trained in France, Vietnam and Australia. She combines a busy practice with writing research articles on gynecology and obstetrics for publication in both French and Vietnamese medical journals. Dr. Sinh headed up the Gynecological and Obstetrics Department at the Vietnam International Hospital for three years, before joining the Hanoi Family Medical Practice in 2000. She speaks fluent English, French and Vietnamese."
Text from: http://www.vietnammedicalpractice.com/our_doctors/hanoi.html

With her credentials, it's understandable why she can charge $30 for foreigners. Ouch!

Our appointment was scheduled at 4PM. Ric just worked at home and we left around 3:15PM. We got there too early and the clinic was still closed so we just waited at another clinic just beside Dra. Sinh's clinic. It was a pediatric clinic and the nurses looked ok except that they were wearing slippers! hahaha Uniquely Vietnam!

They started talking to us in Viet and I couldn't understand a word that they were saying. After many repetitions and hand gestures, they were asking us if we were Koreans. We said no, from the Philippines. I can't count how many times people here taught we were Koreans!

First impression of Dra. Sinh, she was very accomodating and answered all our questions. She can converse well and was also excited for our coming baby.

Our checkup went well, baby is well and also mommy :) She had a machine to check the urine and the result was ready in minutes. Everything was normal :) I now weigh 130 lbs! Kinda scary huh? I was 116 lbs before I got pregnant. But I know I need to gain weight for our baby.

Also one thing that made our visit to Dra. Sinh memorable was that she used a fetoscope instead of a doppler to check our baby's heartbeat. It's our first time to see one of those and it was so cool! We didn't know that a thing like that existed!

Now time to celebrate! We went to Quan An Ngon for dinner, well an early dinner! :) We ordered Vietnamese pancake, crab in tamarind sauce and rice. But we were not yet satisfied, especially me, so we ordered a bowl of Pho Bun Hue. Then for dessert we each ordered Che. Che is like their version of our halo halo and ginatan. Yummy!

It was a great day! Spent the whole day with my husband, healthy baby and mommy and ended with a good dinner!

Last weekend

I'm a week late again. Oh well as they say...better late than never. hehehe

Last Friday, Sept 14.
Ric and I had dinner at our ever favorite porridge place with our Singaporean friend, Edmund. He's back here in Hanoi for meetings and would also attend a wedding of one of his engineers in Saigon.
After dinner, we went to the night market and I was able to buy 4 kitty cat pouches. But I think these are over runs of those being sold in Vincom and is originally made from Japan. Because the ones being sold at the night market was way much cheaper and also you have to double or triple check the quality. Some have stitching and zipper problems and a few small stains here and there. Then we walked a few blocks to buy some DVDs.
We saw a lot of foreigners/backpackers having Bia Hoi (draft beer) on the street. This was an amazing sight for me because I had this impression that they would be in a nice and cozy cafe instead. But they were sitting on the plastic blue chairs, having their drinks and some even chit chatting with the locals.

Damn that yellow light!....
When we got home, I checked the pouches again and I saw some damages on two of my purchases! Grrrrr! Oh well, I'll know better next time.

Saturday, Sept 15.
We invited Edmund to come over to our place for lunch. Ric and I cooked pork adobo (thank you Mama Sita), Vietnamese spring rolls and vegetables from the market.
Then we watched Bourne Ultimatum on DVD.
Luckily for dinner, Edmund invited us to eat at Little Hanoi, his treat! So we went, no second thoughts! :) Dinner was great and as usual the place was packed by travellers and I think we were the only Asians there. After eating, we went again to the kitty stall and I bought more this time and we made sue to really checked the product. Then we went again to the DVD place cause Edmund needs to buy a couple more movies and complilations. Singapore doesn't have pirated DVDs ny the way, that's why he's hoarding!

Sunday, Sept 16.
Just a lazy Sunday for the Simbols :) Our time to just rest and relax!

Hot Mamas!

Being pregnant doesn't mean you can let go of yourself. A pregnant woman can be as sexy as ever! So to all you pregnant women out there....no to frump! :) This is our time to shine!
picture from: Parents.com

I'm back!

It's been over a month since I last posted here. So many things has changed already I don't know where to start. Well the biggest change I guess is that finally I'm with my Ric in Hanoi! The Simbols are together again :) I'm telling you it's really hard to be far away from your husband and being pregnant at the same time. But that torturous month is over and now everything is great! Praise GOD! :)
Oh also, we are expecting a BOY! Happy! Happy!

Now how to start?...I think it would be better for me to just list down the memorable things that happened.

Manila:
August 12, 2007, 8:30PM - Ric is home!
I can't explain how happy I am to see him after a month of chatting, webcam and Skype. Finally the Simbols are together again! :)

August 13, 2007, 4:00PM - Check up with Dra. Betty Yap- IT'S A BOY! :)
I pushed for an ultrasound despite my doctor's hesitation because I don't want to be travelling and not seeing if all is ok with my baby. Praise God everything was normal, the baby is doing good and....it's a BOY! :) Everyone was shocked because majority taught that it would be a girl. Well the Chinese calendar was wrong and also my manghuhula. But for me and Ric, as long as the baby is normal and healthy, a boy or a girl is just fine.
Also I was able to get the doctor's clearance to travel! Yahoo!

August 13- 15, 2007 - Lunches and dinners with friends
After being a "hermit" for a couple of months, it's nice to see and catch up with friends that we will surely miss.

August 16, 2007 - Cancelled flight HCM to Hanoi
I guess this was a blessing in disguise. The fact that there's a typhoon, we were not yet finished packing and the thought of leaving our families really haven't sink in yet.
There was no clear reason why Vietnam Airlines cancelled the flight but we just moved our departure date to Saturday, August 18. More time to spend with our loved ones :)
We also had dinner with my family at Oki Oki in Trinorma. Sad that we were not able to take some pictures.

August 18, 2007 - Flight to Hanoi
The weather was still bad. It's been raining for the past couple of days. But finally we are now ready to go. Ric and I woke up at 3AM because our flight was scheduled 7:30AM. My MIL and FIL drove us to the airport. To our surprise, the NAIA 3 was packed! Super packed! Despite the long lines, Ric and I are excited to be finally together on this trip and with our baby :)

2:30PM - Hanoi
It was all rain in Manila but all sun in Vietnam! My first glimpse of the motorbike city.
We were a bit tired from the trip so we just had a late lunch at My Way restaurant at the ground floor. Then called KFC for dinner. Yes there's KFC here! hehehe

August 19, 2007 - Little Hanoi Restaurant and Big C
HOT! HOT! HOT! Had lunch at the infamous restaurant. I noticed that there were a lot of backpackers here. Oh well, those who are up for adventure are welcome to come.
Also I learned my lesson, never go to Big C (grocery) on a Sunday! Riot! I was so harassed!

August 20, 2007 - The Lonely Planet to the rescue
My first time to meet the maid (Lien) who speak and understand little English. Thanks to hand gestures and the book the Leah gave us at least I was able to communicate a little.

August 25, 2007 - Robot Dai Chien (Transformers)
To celebrate my 1st week in Hanoi, Ric and I went to Vincom towers and finally watched Transformers. We missed it Manila because I was hospitalized and was on bed rest. Good thing it was currently showing here.
Ric soooo loved the movie! :) I was also amazed that their theater looks and feels the same as watching a movie in Greenbelt.
*Also had dinner with Edmund, one of Ric's co worker. Edmund's family came for a visit in Hanoi so we had porridge and fried sandwich. Yum! We also received our first baby clothes gift from them :)

August 29, 2007 - Great great news!
Ric and I went to an ultrasound clinic with one of his office mate, Gam. She was also 4 months pregnant and we are scheduled to have a 4D scan. To our surprise the 4D scan here just cost P500! Can you believe that! While in Manila it would cost you P3k up. Well Gam said that it was because the clinic was government owned that's why it's cheap.
It's confirmed...we're expecting a baby BOY! Looking at the 4D image, our baby got the shape of Ric's face :) We are so happy! Funny though during the first shot our baby was sucking his whole hand! Then the doctor said I think your baby is hungry then asked me if I was also feeling hungry, I said yes. It's such a wonderful experience to have a glimpse of our baby. Such a wonderful miracle! :)

September 1, 2007 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Went to Vincom again to watch a movie. Better late than never! :)

September 4, 2007 - A day with Edmund (lah!)
Edmund invited us to go to Dong Xuan market over lunch because he'll buy his pasalubong there. This was his last day in Hanoi and he'll fly back to Singapore tomorrow. Finally! :) He has been here the same time as Ric. But he is just here on a project basis and would just go back and forth Hanoi-Singapore if needed. Dong Xuan market is like our 168 mall in Divisoria!
After he treated us for lunch at Fortuna Hotel...Singaporean food! :)
For dinner, we also met up again with Edmund, Lop and Pink and Nikko. Had Cha Ca (grilled catfish). It was just so so for me. I'm not really a catfish person. Then had Che for dessert. Che is like their version of our halo halo and ginatan combined. Dessert was good though :) Tummy is full! Thanks Edmund (lah)!

September 8, 2007 - Hoan Kiem day
Went to Citibank in Hoan Kiem to withdraw some money because we ran out of Dong already. Then we went to Roi Nouc Thang Long ,the Water Puppet Theater, but it was packed with tourist. So we just walked around Hoan Kiem Lake and took some pictures.

Then we went to Bookworm in Ngo Van So "the only English bookshop in Hanoi" as it is said in their card. The place sells second hand English books and we were able to purchase Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for only P800, hardbound! Not bad!
Then we had dinner at Koto- Know One, Teach One.
I ordered their ravioli which was not that cooked then Ric ordered rice noodle with something something :) We got their at 7PM and then had a buy 1 take 1 promo for drinks until 7:30PM. Yehey!

September 9, 2007 - Lunch with the Pinoys
We were invited to a despedida lunch by Dra. Helen Ng. I wasn't really feeling well because of this heartburn so I wasn't really in the mood to socialize and all. Met the other Pinoys here in Hanoi and also their foreigner friends who are now part of their group.
Well this wasn't a good day since Ric and I had an argument about going and not going to the party. What the heck! But we were able to patch things up later in the afternoon. Arguing is just a waste of time and energy and Ric will be leaving for Saigon tomorrow so we should make the most of our day right? Right!

September 10, 2007 - Home alone
Ric left for Saigon and will be back on Wednesday. Sleepless nights again for me :(
*Had dinner with the Pinoys. Girlie invited me to join them. I decided to go since she also lives here in in the same building. I met some new Pinoys again and got to chit chat with them. Some of them are English teachers here. Hmmm....that gave me an idea since I had experience already teaching Koreans. Maybe next year :)

September 12, 2007 - Bi is back!
Yehey! Ric is home :) Guess what his pasalubong for me?....Jollibee! Chicken joy, spaghetti and hamburger. He hand carried it and took great care of it on the plane from Saigon to Hanoi. Thanks so much baby! Our dinner tasted and felt like home! :)

Now I'm updated with my entries! :) Hope you enjoyed reading. Till then...