Our plastic way of life

It’s amazing how plastic has crept into our lives. In fact, I cannot imagine life without it anymore. Recently, an article I read in the April 12 issue of the TIME magazine – ‘The Perils of Plastic’ by Bryan Walsh made me re-think the use of plastic in our home. The content of the article is not new, essentially about the danger of various chemicals from the wide use of plastic in our lives can pose a danger to us, especially young children. But we really need these reminders from time to time.

The picture of two kids in front of their bowls of cereal and a jug of drink struck me how our decisions as parents can make a difference in our children’s future. Plastic has been really useful, especially for parents of young children who love to throw their toys, milk bottles and utensils around. I recall when I first heard about the danger of the chemical, bisphenol A (BPA) sometime in 2008, BPA free milk bottles were not even available in most retail stores.

Some people I know switched to glass bottles but I did not. Reason being we had stopped sterilizing M’s bottles by then and since BPA can leak into milk only at high temperatures, I did not see a need to switch. Also, M was able to hold her own bottle while drinking and she has a tendency to throw her bottle around after that. Above all, I could not be sure all her drinking and eating utensils were BPA free too, especially when we eat out or pack food home.

But reading the article and all the potential danger of chemicals such as PVC and BPA, I can’t help wondering if that is still the right decision. BPA is a synthetic estrogen that can cause potentially cause serious reproductive problems for females. According to the article, Canada and Denmark are the only countries to have banned BPA milk bottles.

At the same time, manufacturers have responded and BPA free milk and drinking bottles are now more widely available, though at around 30-50% price premium. I’ve even noticed some toys labelled PVC and PBA free. The question that comes often to my mind is – Is it really necessary? Well, it’s an answer that will perhaps take governments a lot longer to answer because producers of the chemicals will argue that they are safe in small amounts.

But like mentioned in the article, thresholds can be a really tricky question. As consumers, we often have to make decisions without the full set of information. I looked around our home to see how we can minimise M’s exposure of these dangerous chemicals and I have the feeling it’s not going to be an easy task.

Nonetheless, I took the first step of getting her BPA free milk bottles!

Living on drugs…

If it’s difficult having a sick child at home, it’s worse when both parent and child are sick. Last week, my sore throat turned into a bad cough. In fact, I cough just like M and it’s driving Matt crazy having to take care of us both. Needless to say, visits to the doctors became our most frequent outings.

M’s on-and-off cough has now gone on for months and it’s really tiring us out. We’re trying both western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) but things seem to be progressing too slowly. We actually made an appointment for M to get a skin prick test at KK but was not able to do it because she had some anti-histamine couple of days ago. The test has been rescheduled to 3 months later and we went home with 3 months worth of an anti-allergic drug – ketotifen.

Coughing now is umpteen times more painful (around my abdomen area) than usual because of my surgery. I almost have to crouch down every time I cough to minimise the pain. I even wonder if my wound might rupture because it can get so painful!

Just can’t wait to get well!

Our preschooler…

Last week, M turned 3! And fortunately, I was well enough to celebrate with her in school. It was her first time celebrating with friends since her last two birthdays were spent with our families. It was also the first time she chose her cake – a baby blue cake with a train on top, which surprised us. I thought she would have chosen with pinky or princess-themed picture.

Anyway, we celebrated her birthday 2 days early as her school will be closed on her birthday. Since I’m always the one finishing her friends’ birthday party packs, I decided not to give them out. Instead,I baked some cookies and made some balloon dogs (just from watching youtube videos). So each friend received oatmeal, raisin and choc cookies, a yogurt drink and a balloon – nothing else.

Matt and I arrived at her school around 10am. The teachers brought the students into a classroom and got them to sit around a table. Next was lighting the candles, singing the birthday song and blowing out the candles. And then eating the cake. Since the students were supposed to have lunch pretty soon after that, the teachers gave them small servings. Because one of the student had an ‘accident’ – pee in her pants, the teachers were kept busy for a while. And after the children finished their cake, they lined up to wash hands and go for lunch.

A very short affair, really. Maybe because we did not prepare any activities too. Anyway, M was happy and that was enough. We said goodbye to M and she was ok… Even her principle was surprised she did not attempt to follow us. We decided to let her stay on so we can catch up on some rest and couple time. Keke…

On her birthday, we brought her to the zoo in the morning. We were really lucky that it only rained around the time we left. In the evening, Ah-ma brought cousin S over to play and have dinner. It was always challenging managing the girls. Nonetheless, it was a good experience to teach M about sharing her toys.

Now, will someone tell me what comes after the ‘terrible two’ year?

Good riddance…

I had just gone through my much dreaded surgery to remove the 2 fibroids in my uterus. The larger fibroid has continued growing over the past one over year, leaving me with little choice but to have them removed.

My surgery was scheduled early in the morning at 7.45am and I had to admit by 5.45am. Besides having to get up early, I had to take an oral laxative (Fleet) the previous night to clear my bowels which caused me to have the runs till past 1am. l was also not allowed to eat and drink after midnight. Hence, I was groggy when I reached the hospital – Thomson Medical Centre.

As we waited and prepared for the operation, I got more nervous. I was also worried than I won’t be able to take the pain after hearing about how painful it can get. It was such a terrible feeling being pushed into the operating theatre. Once there, it was so cold that I started to shiver. The nurses piled another blanket on me but it did not help.

The anaesthetist came first to prepare me for general anaesthesia. My gynae arrived next, said hello and “have a good sleep and you’ll wake up without your fibroids”. I was given an oxygen mask and told to take deep breadths as the anaesthetist injected a syringe of drug into me, sending stinging pain up my forearm. A few more breadths and I blacked out.

The surgery took an hour or so, after which they transferred me to the recovery room. I can recall flashes of the anaesthetist shaking me to wake me up. Then a few more flashes of nurses pushing me back to the ward and transferring me onto the bed. All that done by 10am.

I was drowsy the rest of the day, drifting in and out of sleep. My throat felt so dry and was allowed only to take sips of water to prevent me from vomiting. I finally had my first drink – a cup of Milo around 5pm. Dinner – fish porridge was served later but I had no appetite, took just 2 mouths.

My gynae visited and showed me a photo of the larger fibroid. Gory! She said that the fibroid actually felt soft instead of hard, indicating that it may be degenerating due to lack of blood supply. Hmm… Anyway, we know that fibroids can recur again. So we should ideally try for a baby soon as I recover. Gynae said one patient of hers who got pregnant 2 months after her surgery already had new fibroids growing again! But at least they are small and not likely to affect the foetus.

I felt much better the day after the surgery. I was taken off the drip and they also removed the urine bag. I took my first steps after breakfast and some painkillers. Getting off the bed was the most challenging and walking got progressively easier as the day went on. Pretty soon I was able to go to the toilet unassisted.

Because of this surgery, we decided over the weekend that M should extend her half-day programme to full-day programme so I can recover without any worries. She started the day of the surgery and so far so good. Matt brought her to visit me after dinner on both nights. Although we had explained to her that mummy will not be able to carry her for a while, she still tried to get me to carry her, crying and throwing tantrums to get her way.

Overall, we had mixed feelings about the stay at TMC. M was delivered at Mt Alvernia Hospital. I would say that TMC scored better in terms of physical room facilities since they look recently renovated. But service wise, they failed to impress me. They seemed rather disorganised – one nurse came in asking where’s my baby, another came in with an x-ray asking me if I’m the person listed on the envelope, 2 management staff came in asking for our feedback not knowing when and why I was there, one staff came in asking if I’m having lunch just before we left. Shouldn’t they have known these things even before they knocked at the door? Also, the discharge took longer than expected. We were ready around 10am but had to wait for the cashier who showed up around noon. Add the exorbitant parking and we really have doubts if we’ll choose it a second time.

Anyway, I’m finally home and still taking baby steps. Crossing my fingers that the fibroids will be gone for good.

I feel discriminated!

According to Dictionary.com, the meaning of discrimination is as follows:

“treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit”

A person can be discriminated against his/her age, gender, race etc. As a SAHM (aka non-working mother), I belong to a minority group of mothers who can’t help feeling discriminated against sometimes. Other than disapproval from those who believe we should be contributing to the economy, we’re also disadvantaged with regards to government subsidy and tax rebates.

Take child care subsidy for example. Non-working and working mothers enjoy equal subsidy of $150 for half-day programmes. However, for full-day programmes, working mothers enjoy a subsidy of $300 while the subsidy is capped at $150 for non-working mothers. Why? The answer from the MCYS website as follows:

“The main intent of the child care subsidy is to support mothers who need to put their children in child care centres as they continue to work. If a mother is not working, she is encouraged to be the main caregiver, and attendance at child care centres would be supplementary. Hence she is entitled to a smaller subsidy.”

Well honestly, I do not disagree with the answer given. After all, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 3 years – being M’s primary caregiver. But as we make plans for a second child, we realise how the above answer does not address needs of SAHMs with more than one kid.

One must work 56 hours a month to qualify as a working mother. That’s around 3 hours a day, given a 20-day work month. Doesn’t sound that bad right?

Guess that’s the whole intent. To drive us back into the work force.

There we go again… GDP still has precedence over birth rate…

Yummy New Year!

Chinese New Year (CNY) has to be about food, food and food. A lot of the significance of this festival to me is linked to the food we eat around this period. Growing up in an extended family, this most important festival to Chinese is also my favourite. And it’s got to do with how my Teochew family celebrated it when I was young.

Besides spring-cleaning every nook and cranny of a 2-storey terrace house (an enormous task for the household of 14 people), the food preparation leading up to the festival is also a very memorable one. I always tag along whenever my mum goes about her marketing and really enjoy the air of festivity at wet markets late at night – CNY is the only time they stay open this late. My mum and aunt home-made dishes like ngor hiang (seafood rolls), kay koy (vegetarian duck), cheng teng (a dessert) and even bake kueh bahru (a snack) the traditional way with metal moulds and charcoal fire.

After the reunion dinner where my other uncles and their families will join us, all the kids would line up to receive our angbaos from my grandfather. We had to say a festive greeting in order to get it. On the first day of CNY, we kids had to offer festive greetings to all adults first thing in the morning. After that, it’s a busy 2 days of receiving guests and then visiting relatives, which means lots of pok-chwee (carbonated drinks), sweets, snacks and of course angbaos!

Even though we no longer celebrate it to the same extend as in the past (after the passing of my grandparents), I still look forward to this festival every year. I hope M will enjoy it as much as I do and I’ve been telling her about CNY as we go around. Last week, we put up some CNY decorations while she was in school and when she reach the door, she asked “Mummy, why is there a sticker on the door? It’s upside-down??” It was an inverted 福 with pictures of a boy and girl.

She even surprised me with “恭禧发财”the other day, I asked her who taught her and she said 老师. Yesterday, she held two mandarin oranges together and said “恭禧恭禧”. She can even sing part of the “恭禧,恭禧,恭禧你啊”song!

How fun… I’m looking forward to bringing her around already!

新年快乐!

Knowing my drugs…

M has been taking medicines for her flu and cough for about a month now. It’s been her longest period of medication. She was just beginning to look and sound better over the past few days, only to start coughing again today! What a nightmare…

We really feel so helpless! It’s just beyond us, even doctors can only do this much.

In times like this, when my fridge is choke-full of medicines, I always only refer to my book ‘Concise Guide to Medicines and Drugs’ for better understanding of all those bottles.

I first bought this book when my dad suffered a minor stroke some years ago and was prescribed loads of drugs. He was constantly asking me what a particular medicine was for and I had no choice but to look around a medicine dictionary. I am a complete idiot with medicines.

Anyway, doctors sometimes do not have the time to fully explain all the medicines to us, including their side effects. I remember one time when M started shivering after she took a particular medicine. We were so frightened then, especially with her shuddering attacks history. Well, it turned out to be a side effect of the drug.

This book has proved really useful, sometimes even better than the medicine