[Review] Ocean Spray Original Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

When I had a UTI infection early last year, I did a mountain of research on it and most of what I read recommended drinking Cranberry Juice as one of the more natural ways to prevent it. So once it cleared I was out and about on the hunt for Cranberry juice. However, in KL, Cranberry juice is a rare sight and when I do find them it's either ridiculously priced (RM45 for a bottle? Come on..) or loaded with artificial sweeteners/sugar/preservatives. Desperate as I was to start integrating Cranberry juice into my daily diet, I just couldn't!

Then, one fine sunny afternoon, I saw a packet of Ocean Spray Original Craisins sitting on one of my ex-colleague's desk. My first thought was "Craisins?.. Crazy Raisins??" until I took a longer look at the pack and realised they were actually dried cranberries! Super cool. Instead of paying through my nose for a bottle of Cranberry juice, why not consume cranberries?? However, because she wasn't at her desk, I couldn't ask her where she got them from but eventually I forgot about it..

Until I saw them at Village Grocer in Bangsar - however they were selling it at an exorbitant price (like with everything else at this shop!) so I skipped it. Last Saturday when John and I were going our regular weekly grocery shopping at NSK Kuchai Lama, I stumbled upon it again and this time it was almost half the price of Village Grocer's at RM7.30 per packet. Without hesitation, I immediately grabbed a bag.

Package - Front

Package - Back

I know these are also loaded with sugar, as with other dried fruits (and any health nutritionist would surely warn you against them), but they are an alternative to the juices which are also loaded with sugar and TWICE the price. Here's something that I miss about Australia - the widely available fresh produce and natural health foods.









Anywho, I ripped open this packet in an instant (after purchasing it of course!) and found that they were a tad too sweet for my liking. However, I've found that they go very well with my oatmeal breakfast with natural baked almonds and a drizzle of honey.

You can also add them as part of your trail nut mix (afternoon snack) and even in muffins and biscuits!

Keep in mind that each serving (40g) contains 29g of sugar - that's a whopping 75%! However, eat them in moderation, and you'd still get your cranberry fix in any cranberry-deprived situation you find yourself in - like I have!

[Pregnancy] Week 37 : So close yet so far

Today I am week 37 + 7.

I've been feeling great except for a nightmare I had last night where I went into labour at home and I woke up to a back ache because a pillow was sitting right under me right back!

Went for a CTG at Pantai Hospital just yesterday (Saturday - cost us RM167 all up) on Kamaljit's instruction and everything was okay with lil sweetie. He's been such a good boy this whole pregnancy I swear, I have a strong feeling he's going to be a good boy when he's out too. :-)

Right after the CTG procedure (they strap 2 transducer things on your tummy; one is to monitor baby's heartbeat the other is to monitor uterine contractions), a chirpy nurse came in and told me that because I have a breeched baby, any time I feel any sort of pain or if my water breaks all of a sudden, I'll need to drop everything I'm going and rush to the hospital to undergo an emergency c section, because the labour risks involved with a breeched baby is much higher than a baby who is already head-down.

I've already conveyed this piece of vital information to John and he's given me 5 of his colleagues contacts just in case I can't reach him on time. He was so worried and told me that even if I can't on first try, keep ringing and ringing him. My poor hubs has been working afternoon shifts the past few weeks since the new store opened.. he's definitely lost weight and I can see how tired he looks these days (not to mention the anxiety of an impending birth of our baby).

Now that mums here hopefully we can take some weight of our shoulders!

4 more days till our scheduled C section - I went to see the anaesthetist at Pantai last week and she took one look at my X rays and said a spinal block shouldn't be an issue. I can't wait to hold lil sweetie in my arms and I'm even more eager to watch John as he holds him for the first time. Can't wait!!

[Tuesday Tips] Dealing with a Bicornuate Uterus

As I was trudging through a pile of old documents, I came across a doctor's MRI report from 2013 stating that I have a "Bicornuate Uterus" with 2 uterine horns.

For those who have no knowledge about what this means, a bicornuate uterus is basically a uterine abnormality that affects only a small portion of the female population whereby your uterus doesn't develop as it should when you're a foetus in your mother's womb. Instead of the normal inverted per-shaped uterus that most females carry, mine is heart-shaped with 2 horns and a septum dividing both horns.

One thing I am unsure of though is how deep the septum is & something I would love to find out once I deliver AJ. I'll keep in mind to ask Kamaljit this in the next appointment. Anyway, this explains several things as below.

1. Higher occurrence of a breeched position

Because your little one literally only occupies half the space in the womb, there is a higher chance that he/she will be and will stay in a breeched position. This is especially true if he/she is still breeched after 30 weeks because there is little chance that they will turn given the reduced amount of space and amniotic fluid as he/she grows bigger by the week.

Hence, because of this, and because I am already 2 days away from my 36th week of pregnancy, I will be going to UMSC to schedule my C-section date next week. Kamaljit recommends a C-section at UMSC as it is half the price (8-10k) of having a C-section at Pantai Hospital (15-20k). In addition to that, the doctors at UMSC are more specialised for this type of delivery/surgical procedure.

2. A lopsided belly

Again, your baby is most likely going to occupy only one of the horns, hence your belly will be lopsided for most of your pregnancy. For me, this only got more obvious with time as he grew bigger you could see a more distinct difference between the two sides of my belly.

My more "dominant" horn is the left one, where AJ constantly resides in.

I know he's been trying to turn the past week or so (because his heads sinks downwards) but he never gets past the transverse position and this is most likely because of limited space. My poor lil sweetie - at least he tried.

There are several ways to attempt to turn a breeched baby which I will go into detail in my next post and I will attempt to use one of the more well-known, natural methods (i.e going on all fours every night for 15-20 minutes) in these last few weeks and cling on to the very little hope that he will finally turn before the 37th week.

[Pregnancy] Week 21: Dr. Valli @ UMMC

Finally met Dr. Valli at UMSC after waiting for a month to.

First impressions : quiet, subdued, soft spoken

Her ultrasound machine was pretty old school, images were very unclear and the scan itself was not as clear as Dr.  Kamaljit's. However she was a nice older lady and told me that I needed to make an appointment to see the heart doctor within the same center- UMSC.
Despite the fact that my VSD repair was done at 2 years old it's always better to take extra precautions to ensure my heart health is fine - especially now that I'm carrying a little one in me and his health & wellbeing is of top priority!

Because we struggled to find the specialist center (Drove to UMMC instead at first - hospital side) we were late to our appointment and had to wait after everyone else before we could see her.
By the end if it we were really tired and decided to tour the hospital another time. Since we will be in malacca this weekend, hospital tours will most likely happen next weekend.

Hospitals we are thinking of touring : UMMC, Prince Court, Pantai

Will be posting hospital tour reviews after that! Stay tuned.