It's been a while! So many things have happened in the pregnancy department since my Week 28 update.

Let's see. Firstly, I ditched Specialist Clinic C in KK Hospital once and for all. To hell with subsidised clinics. Whichever minister that declared our subsidised clinics provide care that is just as good as the private ones have obviously never queued nor get attended by those doctors before.


WEEK 29

The plan have always been to switch to a private doctor when I reach Week 34 or something. But the last visit on Week 29 was something else. Most of the doctors at Clinic C have always been nice although they were young, and very obviously not as experienced. But they try, and I appreciate that they'll move on to be specialists after they gain enough experience points. But not that doctor at Room 10. The doctor in Room 10 looks like she's the oldest doctor in Clinic C and have probably been there for 10 years, and she'll probably forever be a junior doctor there.

After queueing for 4 hours on 31 March, all she asked when I finally entered the room was something along the line of "Do you bleed." No. "Ok you're fine." When I tried to tell her I had been having periodic cramps in my groin area that I never had before, she said "Next time it cramps go to A&E." Oh that is so helpful.

And that was it. I was ushered out the door. I don't think she even looked at me the entire time of 3 minutes that I was in the room.

A few days later, a member from S-Presto; a research study I was participating as a subject at KK Hospital called to inform me that I had an abnormally low Haemoglobin level and tried to confirm that the doctor I last met had already addressed this issue. I was shocked. No she did not.

Well she had my file, she had my results by the time I visited as the blood test was done before the visit, so she should have at least mentioned...? Anyway, be sure to bring it up to the next doctor I visit.

I was so angry when I heard this. That useless doctor! Immediately after that phone call, I called KK Hospital to schedule an appointment in the private suite. I am so done with the subsidised clinic.


WEEK 32

So on Week 32, I'm back under Dr Jerry Chan's care again. Waiting time was a breeze. He did the ultrasound check in the room. In the room! I didn't have to queue in a separate room or anything like that! And, he dropped the bombshell after the scan. My baby is 3 weeks behind in growth. "Oh, but you already know that right"

Huh what? Of cause I didn't! He was confused. He looked through my notes and records. All the previous scans under the subsidised clinics had indicated my baby was consistently small sized.

Hubby and I were stunned. I had always asked the doctors at the subsidised clinics if my small baby bump was anything to worry about and they have ALWAYS said don't worry, scan shows baby is normal.

I was so upset. I am never going to trust these subsidised doctors ever again.

So Dr Jerry Chan says there's nothing I can do about baby's size right now. But we decided to try our wild card: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Hubby's mom has a BFF who is a certified professor in TCM so we visited her clinic for some advice.

My main problem was with my intense pregnancy-induced gastric pain which stops me from eating hearty meals. This was a problem the western medicine haven't been able to solve with their little tablets. So she prescribed me with some medicine for the gastric pain and also to improve appetite.

And it worked! For the past 3 weeks, I have been eating 2 times more than what I used to eat. I still get the pain sometimes, especially if I accidentally take garlic or onions, but it was mild compared to the past.


WEEK 34

So my follow up with Dr Chan last week showed that my baby has grown! He attributed the growth to a 3rd trimester growth spurt. Maybe. Or maybe TCM rocks. As long as baby has grown, I'll just keep doing what I was doing.

Not posting the ultrasound pictures because they have gotten so abstract I no longer know what I'm looking at in the photos anymore.