YumBox Bento lunchbox

My mini-ME is not a picker-eater but she wants to eat food in small portion. I tried to find a lunchbox where we could provide her with variety of food while in school but not lucky enough to find them in Dubai. I chance upon the YumBox on the internet but it is not available here either. My friend from the US is scheduled to come home to the Philippines last September 2015. We were chatting online when I suddenly remembered how I wanted to get the YumBox lunchbox. I ordered from the YumBox website and arranged the delivery to her home address in the US. After only a few days she already received the items without hassle.

From Philippines, my other friend's brother is coming back to Dubai from his vacation. Haha! Imagined the travel time of my YumBox! From US to Philippines, from Philippines to Dubai. I was so happy to received them just a few days ago considering my waiting time, but its all worth it as Bella loved her Yumbox and insisted on eating on them even at home. 

I got the Lavande purple and Pink Lemonade from their New 2015 Pastel collection.

The Lavande purple has 6-compartment food tray. Includes exterior box and circus illustrated tray. Five 1/2 cup portions of the key food groups plus dip/treat well. The good thing about it as well is we can pack wet food like yogurt and dips (not water though). This is ideal for toddlers-age 8.

I also chose the Pink Lemonade from their 4-compartment food tray collection which is a 3 cup volume: One 2 cup sandwich/salad-friendly section, two 1/2 cup servings plus a 1 oz. dip/well treat. This one is ideal for kids and adults.

I can mix and match trays and Exterior boxes with the 2015 Paster Collection. Although the previous models are not compatible with it. 

I also ordered the YumBox insulated cooler bag. It is a spacious and sturdy insulated polyester tote bag with removable shoulder strap. This can carry 2 Yumboxes in a flat or side position where you can also add drinks and snacks and other cold packs. 

Its PVC-free, BPA-free, Phthalates-free. Only wipe to clean. 

Its quite big yet for Bella to carry to school. The Yumboxes fits standard sizes totes so we will use her current punchbag.

I am planning to use the bag for breastmilk ones Baby Uno is out and I am back to working.

All the best

My Pregnancy Update

I will be quick with my post. Remember my previous entry were I said that I will be having my glucose tolerance test? After I arrived, they took my urine and blood sample, I had a 70 as fasting baseline. Then after I drank the solution, they took my urine sample 5 minutes before 1 hour, at exactly an hour after, they took another blood sample and the result was 148. I thought that was the end of it. This was the procedure I remembered I had with my mini-ME in St. Luke's Hospital. But then, they asked me to wait for another hour again as they will be taking another urine and blood sample. To my surprised, I wasn't feeling hungry at all, maybe because of the extremely sweet glucose solution and they allowed me to sip water as well. I don't know if this will have an effect with my result but I checked from the internet and found out that this is alright. Anyway, my result was 121 after 2 hours.

Honestly, I'm not really sure what all those results were. I just do my own research from the internet and based from it, I passed the GTT. It was really difficult to come up with this decision. You may be wondering why I am doing this. You see, after 2 days of the test, I was scheduled to see the OB at the clinic, however, it was a different doctor this time as the one usually seeing me was on leave. I wasn't very impressed with this one though. She kept asking the same questions all over again and because of language barrier, I had to ask her to repeat what she was telling me. She also had me ultrasound and she wasn't even saying anything at all. 

And the matter that really got me frustrated was when the Doctor ordered another Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). I explained to her that I already had it a few days back and she wasn't even listening to me. She pointed my name on the computer monitor and ask me if it was my name, I said yes. She pointed at my record folder and asked me again if it was my name and of course, I said yes again. I was feeling really stupid by what she was doing. She said there was no record of procedure but I really don't want to go through the same fasting for 8 hours because of some error so I insisted that I already had it. Then the nurse may have heard our conversation so she went inside and I repeated myself again. Good thing, the nurse said that she will check in the laboratory and asked me to come with her. When we went there, the Filipina nurse recognized me and vouched that I already had the test. The result, that the Doctor wasn't seeing ,was already in the system so she printed the result and gave it to the nurse. There was also another test that she wants me to go through and both of them were saying that the Doctor is known for ordering tests that wasn't on the package. They advice me to  see the previous Doctor I was seeing as she will be back by end of the month. 

The nurse and I went back to see the Doctor again, the nurse, told her that she already had the result of the test. She was already attending to another patient so she wasn't paying much attention to me anymore. The nurse told her to delete the order on my result and to my dismay, she said - "If I remember". How disappointing. Maybe she wasn't aware I was there. The nurse asked if I can go already and without even seeing my result, she said yes.

The nurse told me to get another appointment already and reminded me to see the previous Doctor. Good thing, when I asked for the next appointment, the Admin said, without me saying a word, that she will schedule me back to Doctor... (sorry, I don't want to name names). And I was relieved. 

I am still hoping I made the right decision on the Hospital I chose. 

All the best,

Latifa Hospital and then some

Its been awhile since I found out that I was pregnant with Baby #2. Just like my first, I had to go through the phase of morning sickness. Its probably tolerable this time around but I am still not one of the lucky ones who enjoy pregnancy that much especially the first trimester. As far I can remember, the worst part was over for the 2, 3 and 4 month of my pregnancy, I was still throwing up yellow bile until my 5th month though and 6 month was way better. 

From my previous post, I was choosing between Mediclinic City Hospital (private) and Latifa Hospital (government), the maternity package was almost the same but I decided on the latter. I was hesitant choosing a government hospital at first, but after weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go for it.  I read from my research that their hospital is well-equipped and their NICU was so far the best.

The ante-natal package of AED 5000.00 is a prerequisite to give birth in Latifa Hospital. We went straight to the hospital to register during my early stage of pregnancy, but they will refer you to the government clinic near you to register  and pay the package. You need to be at least 4 months pregnant to be able to register.

The administration can be a little gruff and I sometimes get frustrated as there are some who is still not familiar with the coverage of the maternity package. We were asked twice, on two different occasion, to pay for some tests that is already included in the package. Appointments at the hospital were usually about an hour as well. Its a no frills experience but the OB, midwives and nurses in Mankhool Health clinic were very supportive and detailed. 

I am on my third trimester and so far everything in my pregnancy is doing fine except a small fibroid  outside my uterine wall and a 4 kilos weight gain between 5 weeks interval of appointments. I was a little worried as I never had these issues with my first pregnancy. 

I also had my glucose tolerance test recently, were I had to fast for 8 hours. They took my blood and urine sample when I arrived and asked me to drink an extremely sweet and concentrated glucose solution. I had the 75-gram or the two-hour test. They took my urine and blood every hour for 2 hours.

I will have my next appointment and see where I am at. I am hoping no more hiccup will come. 

By the way, on a lighter note, did I mention, we will be having a boy this time? Yey! My OB was like, I don't have to tell you the gender, he is already showing himself.

All the best,