Posts made in April 19th, 2013

Skype took my money too quickly!

Posted on Apr 19, 2013 in Internet | 0 comments

If you are using a free trial Skype Premium service and are going to cancel before the free period finishes, cancel one day before you are supposed to cancel, especially if  you live in North America. Otherwise they will take your money.
In my case, they told me that if I decided not to continue the Premium and cancel it before 17th, they wouldn’t charge me, but on the 16th, they charged me already! Why? I checked the receipt and it said they proceed with charges on the 17th, GMT/UTC, which is London time? In their invoice, they didn’t say anything about GMT/UTC. As I was going to cancel it from the beginning, I wrote it down in my calendar to make sure I canceled it. And then, on the day when I was going to cancel, the fee was already taken and I got surprised and upset. I had no idea that they were setting the due date from another country. They can tell that I live in Canada from my profile and IP address.
I wrote a claim and asked for the refund. I wonder if they would offer a refund!?

….

After 30 hours, they emailed me and told me that a refunding procedure is being processed! Yay!! Skype wasn’t as bad as I thought!
I’m not a heavy user of Skype, even though my mobile sucks when we live in a basement. Very bad signal… Usually I use HK$20-30 (CAN$4) worth per month. And this Premium thing costs HK$74 (CAN$10) per month. So I really didn’t want to pay. Thanks!!

Second Trimester Pregnancy 2

Posted on Apr 19, 2013 in Pregnancy | 0 comments

 

A record of my second trimester, the later half:

Feb 25
2o weeks.
Now I can drink water. Good!!
I’m starting to drink warm water first thing in the morning. Still have a cold.
Skipped a yoga class, as I was still coughing. Will be good by next week!
Started feeling the baby moving.

Mar 4
90% of my nausea has gone! Great news for me. It was such a long time. I don’t want to have that again.
I’m getting better from the cold also. I can sleep much better at night. I slept 12 hours, 8 to 8, the other night. Especially after going to the gym.
I realize I like coffee very much. I started wanting to have some every day as soon as my morning sickness finished. I take decaf.
Even decaf coffee prevents iron and some other nutrients from being absorbed, so I try not to have it during or right after meals.
Last Christmas, my hubby and I bought ourselves a room fragrance (wood stick type). But the nausea made me sick with the smell. So I had to put the cap on it for a while, even though I liked the smell when we bought it. Now my sense of smell returned to normal, and we uncapped the bottle.
Mar 7
As my nausea finished, I started going back to the gym 3 times a week. Easy to get tired. I get sleepy easily and go to bed at about 8 on gym days.
Pregnant women get forgetful, I read. I made Temakizushi (a help-yourself kind of sushi), but forgot to serve rice! Excuse me.

Mar 14
Appointment with my doctor. Even though we have appointments, a 3 hour-wait is usual here.
I had a book to spend my long waiting time, but I had finished reading it the day before. Damn! I’m so stupid.
The doctor looked very busy, but we gave him a lot of questions. He recommended us to take a prenatal class. We wanted to take one, so it’s good he recommended a class that is carried out at the hospital where I’m planning to deliver the baby.
We wanted to ask about 自然分娩 (natural birth) and 無痛分娩 (no pain birth). I wasn’t too sure how to say it in English. So I was calling it “natural birth”. The question I wanted to ask was simply if I could use an epidural or not, and also if we want to make decisions on the spot it depends on the situation. But my words weren’t accurate and he started talking about the definition of what is natural. Oops. Anyway, yes, I can use an epidural, if needed.

Mar 19
Even though I cook almost everyday at home, I don’t break dishes. Maybe once in a few years? But this day, I dropped a glass in the sink… Pregnant women get reckless…
I phoned to book a prenatal class, and found out April is already full. Later in May is available, but we will be busy. So we booked it in June. It’s a 6-hour class on Sat ($75 for a couple).
While sleeping, I got a cramp on my leg early in the morning. In the second trimester, pregnant women tend to get cramps, I read. Because I don’t even walk to work, if I don’t make an effort to exercise, I could spend many days easily without any exercise. Especially these days, my body is needing to work out.
My yoga teacher was recommending swimming a lot. It’s easy on joints and still a great work out. The gym I use has a swimming pool as well. But I’m a bit shy to wear a swimming suit when I’m pregnant.

Mar 23
The baby is moving a lot. Happy to see she is energetic.

Apr 5
An ultra sound is usually carried out twice during the pregnancy, but we had a problem last year, so I did it 3 times. This was the 3rd.
I went upstairs to pay for the class fee, and I saw my doctor in an operating green uniform. I wonder he already delivered any babies this day…
I paid and came back. Usually we wait 2-3 hours, but this day was only a 1-hour wait. Good.
There was no abnormality with the baby. Her head was already down. She would still move around, but we hope she stays in the basic position.
25 weeks. 860g.
No change on the gender; girl.

Ultrasounding baby Ultrasounding baby

Apr 8
Without eating breakfast, I went to a lab to have myself checked for pregnancy diabetes (gestational diabetes). It’s done when it’s around 26-28 weeks.
First, a urine test. And then drink a very sweet glucose drink with an orange flavour (artificial-colour looking!). I was hungry, so it wasn’t difficult to drink it quickly. And then I waited for 1 hour and then my blood was taken into 2 containers. This Japanese lady in the US was also having the same drink for the test. Interesting and funny blog.

Apr 11
Appointment with my doctor.
The day before, I met my friends. One of the mama friends told me that my tummy looks small for 6 months. My hubby and I thought it’s too big for 6 months. So that was an interesting insight.
This day, the waiting time was 1 and a half hours. Shorter than usual. The ideal is within  30 minutes though.
My blood pressure was low and the weight was the same as a month ago.
The doctor checked my tummy and he also said it’s rather small (but still it’s within the range of normal). So my friend was right!
Everything is all right! Except….

Oh no! My pregnancy diabetes test was not OK. Shocked! I am low on cholesterol (nothing to do with it?) and somehow I was confident that I was OK. Pregnancy diabetes is not a life time condition. The sugar in the blood goes up because of the changing balance of hormones and after delivering a baby, the sugar level goes down again. It still give some risks for the mum and the baby. Depending on the situation, some pregnant women get restrictions on their diet, I read.
I was told to go for another test before the next meeting with the doctor. If I fail to pass this one, I’ll be diagnosed with pregnancy diabetes. The next one takes 2 hours, checking the blood after 1 hour and then after another hour. He said it could be because I’m Asian. I wonder if Asians tend to have high sugar in the blood when pregnant. I asked what to be cautious about, but was told no need to be careful of anything and no need to change my eating habits. I had some pie the night before, is that anything to do with it? No, he said.

Apr 15
I had a dream of producing my breast milk… ^^
Now at the point of the end of 2rd trimester, the baby starts having a sense of tasting. When the mum eats spicy food, the baby tastes it and when it’s sweet, the baby likes it too. Is it true!? Because the nutrition doesn’t enter from the mouth but from the umbilical cord, right? After doing some research, apparently the baby drinks the amnion liquid! Wow!
The baby is very active. I let my hubby touch my tummy. Very exciting. She kicks and punches, and I feel something like her elbows or knees ares slowly moving as well. My hubby is sometimes putting his face on my tummy and talking to the baby.
When I go to bed and lie down, the baby start to move a lot somehow. It’s becoming my routine to enjoy her movements before falling asleep. An active baby is a great thing. It’s 27 weeks now.

* Thank you, Yuan, for linking my records: 「80%の妊婦がつわりを軽減!すぐにデキルつわり対策法」. This blog has a lot of useful info about morning sickness.