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,

The Do's and Don'ts of Business Writing

I finally gotten over with my love and hate relationship with Facebook and made peace with Social Media. Although, I am still against people who does unnecessary shoutout about their lives but its their pages so when I see people who's use to this kind of practice, I immediately remove these notification from my own news feed without offending them of blocking. At least they wouldn't know what hit them.

Moving forward to a more sensible matter to discuss, our office conducted a training for all of us in the office about business writing.  We had 2 batches. The first batch was arranged last 22 February. I was on the first Sunday of March. It was a good way to start the month.

To top it all, I finally made a conclusion that I didn't like the content of the topic. I mean, I was looking forward to it and then, at the end of the session, I was like, that's it? It left me more confused than ever on how you property addressed clients in a situation. 

Lets say for example, the trainer is saying that internal clients are more important than your external clients.  For me, this doesn't apply in all department in the company. In a service provider industry, especially as a Customer Service, you expect other departments to do their jobs whilst you, concentrate on providing Customer Satisfaction at all times with your external clients, because this is your job in the first place. Let the Human Resources Department handle the internal clients. Let the Management solve internal conflicts.

Nevertheless, I learned at least a few basic words not to use in a business correspondence:

• But 
• However
• Unfortunately
• I hope - is a dangerous word

In a business letter, below are the Dos:

• Use Bullet points to highlight the important matter
• Always go straight to the point
• Provide solutions

It was a very basic training of business writing. It was more of a team building as we were requested to know more about our colleagues, and even built free standing houses made of newspaper and scotch tape.

Venue of the training was in HardRock cafe in Deira. They have a conference room where we also had our Annual Party. The training was from 9:00 - 5:00 so still no distraction from loud music

They started the music around lunchtime already but we barely hear it from close door and windows.

The best part of it is, Lunch is free. I ordered this huge servings of burger and fries

By the way, we had some colleagues all the way from Doha, Qatar as attendees.

At the beginning, we were told that coffee and tea are complimentary, I was like strike while the iron is hot -  so I ordered one cup of coffee and one cup of latte and still planning for more...

But then, It was later announced that we had to pay for the drinks as it was not part of the package.  The trainer repeated this several times (nuff already). I guess he was concerned, we will all run away  and he will have to pay for it.  Eventually, towards the end of the session, the company had no choice but to cover the expenses as well (Har! Har!). We finally heard the end of it. 

Looking forward to more trainings in the future. I will end this entry with a quote: 

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin. 

All the best,

A Farewell At The Warehouse, Le Meridien

February is almost ending, I have few entries more for the Love month. I will start of with see you someday...

As the saying goes, nothing is permanent in this world but change or better yet, let me rephrase that: Some people come into our lives and quickly go, some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever, the same. 

How do handle changes? Is it difficult for you to get along with new people? I think for me, I am susceptible to separation anxiety, I don't easily open myself to anyone and so I hate when people leave, friends or colleague who became part of of your life one way or the other. But life is like that so instead of wallowing to the feeling, I let myself go to another direction. I remembered, my mom once told me, I'm emotionally unresponsive, I believe she's right somehow. Its better that way - we cannot always hold on to things or people. I don't let my guard down most of the time.

Enough of the heavy, I just actually want to share with you a farewell party we had in Warehouse, Le Meridien. Great Food, Creative Drinks and Fantastic music!

For AED 220/pax, we enjoyed array of food buffet paired with International beers or wine at the European style cafe bar and garden

Photocredits to my colleague, Sylvia (her Iphone6 is better than iPhone 5)

It was a fantastic night. I want to say THANK YOU! to the most amazing and coolest boss who taught me a lot in her 2 years of stay. I will not say goodbye, I believe that's one of the bullsh*tiest words ever invented, because maybe, someday we might bump into each other again.

All the best,

Cruise on a Yacht

I have been in a hiatus. Because of a lot of interruptions I had from 2014, my blog was neglected  for a very long time. I tried keeping up but still could not cope up so I decided to have a break to relieve me of the stress I am feeling for not being up to date with my entries - yes I am THAT affected. Anyways, I kept my Instagram updated instead for the time being. What I love about Instagram is you only get to choose the best photo to post and it tells a story just as well as a large amount of descriptive text.

Moving on, I want to share with you one of the best time I had in 2014, our department won the best team award from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as a reward we spent our cash reward in a 3 hour cruise on a yacht. Cool, right? Start and End point is the Firsherman's Village in Jumeirah. We also get to enjoy from the package unlimited soda/water/ice. Total price is AED 2300 plus AED 350 for a banana boat ride

It was an awesome experience not only because I get the opportunity to experience it for the first time but also because it was part of my A-List.

All the best,

Am I a Hypochondriac?

My friend and I just had a conversation just a few hours ago, that I am so paranoid about being sick. You see, I am feeling a heavy pain in my chest a few week's back. So I had myself check. The doctor ordered x-ray and ECG and all my tests turned out to be normal. But I guess the Doctor felt I wasn't convince, so again ordered several tests for me just to ease my mind.  I again went to the hospital today, after they seek approval from my medical card. Today, they took blood from me to tests my Total T3, T4 , TSH, Na, K, CI (Please don't ask me what are those for...I have no idea) Then I went through 2D echo, where I could  hear the sound of my heartbeat.

and finally, the stress test, where they put sticky patches on me and made me run in a treadmill barefooted, they didn't tell me though when to stop and the rate just keeps on increasing. I wasn't prepared for it and I just lasted for 10 minutes.

After all the tests, the Doctor told me that all are normal. Except for the blood tests, I need to wait for 2 days to get the result.  I was relieved of course, only thing is that, I can't get this nagging feeling that it isn't. Then I thought of searching this psychological disorder just for the heck of it and come across Hypocondria, the excessive preoccupancy or worry about having a serious illness. I think I have a mild one. Nothing to be worried about. By the way, this is just a thought, that I now intend to forget. 

Anyway, I am just happy that all is well. Just waiting for the final result of all the tests and hope everything is alright. 

I just want to share, 1 funny photo of me after we left the hospital.

Someone left something on me. 

All the best,

Girl Scout of the Philippines in Dubai

I decided to have some time off today from work to make way for my mini-MEs scouting event.  Every year her school is organizing the scouting activity. From KG1, KG2 and now that she is in Grade school, a Star Scout.

I remembered the only time I joined such even is when I was in Grade 3, where I was still studying in a public school in our place. We stayed the whole day camping in our school grounds cooking rice and dishes for the day and setting up campfires. I had to admit that I didn't enjoy it much.  Maybe because I'd rather play then?

So what is really the meaning of being a Twinkler, Star Scout and Girls Scout? I believe its mission is to help girls and young women realize the ideals of womanhood and prepare themselves for their responsibilities in the home, and to the nation, and the world community.  

Do you think its beneficial to add this to our curriculum? Does it really serve its purpose? Its really difficult to say, depending on how you practice being one, but if you will like just stay in school grounds with mock campsites and all? Really? Or better yet why not improve on how school conduct the activities for their students? I watched one of the episodes of Sofia The First (one of mini-MEs favorite cartoons...and mine too) where the girl scouts who went into the forest and have first hand experience on how to survive and be independent in real life situation, that is the ideal activity. although, in my opinion, there may be other things that would be more appropriate trainings in preparing our kids for the future. But anyway, maybe its just me. 

Moving forward,  I just want to share with you some of the highlights of her event.

 All the best,

Title less entry

I can't really think of a title for this, its been a while since I blog, like ages ago! I'm really excited to start all over again. I visited my site from time to time and still able to see some of your comments, Thank you for still reading my entries. I guess this will be a start of a new beginning for me in the world of blogging. Hopefully I will still be able to keep it up and running in spite of my busy schedule.  Far-ouT is also on my case why I wasn't blogging anymore. Well, for one thing, my minnie me, for some reason, manage to spill water on our ASUS laptop and it short out, now typing on its own.  Since then, I have been relying on my Iphone5 which made it difficult for me to keep up with blogging.

My Far-ouT was generous to buy me my new laptop and not just another ASUS or HP one. Its one of A-List (number 28)...My very own, 13-inch  Macbook Air. I am still getting the hang of it so bear with my for a while.

I won't make this entry a long one. I just want my presence felt. I am so back! Hopefully a more informative and detailed entries.

A decade of Friendship, Love and Marriage

Today is a very special day for us. We are celebrating our 5 years of marriage and 10 years of being together. Far-ouT planned on surprising a dinner date for me but decided to tell me earlier because he also want Bella to come with us but unfortunately, at her age, she was not allowed on a cruise.

I would like to share with you the celebration of our anniversary in Bateaux Dubai.

Complimentary freshly baked breads.

Another treat from the cruise, these ones are really good.

Another complimentary from the place, their Spinach soup - you see, I am not a fan of the green thingy but this is really good.

Finally, I thought I will get full with all the treats but the real thing just gets better.

As a starter, Far-ouT chose Smoked Duck with Wild Mushroom Salad

This has Balsamic Ice cream (yes! you read it right, Ice Cream), Pearl onion Confit, Roasted Pumpkin Seed and Crispy Basil Pesto Melba

And I ordered Pan Seared Scallop and Prawn

Cauliflower Pure, Confit tomato, Green Apple-Celeriac Salad and Squid Ink Parmesan Tuille

I have been asking Far-ouT for a scallop because I haven't experience to taste it until now, what a first! Even with uncommon ingredients, it was a surprised that both starters were really good.

Now for the main course, Far-ouT enjoyed his Lamb Loin and Braised Lamb Shoulder.

Roasted Red Pepper Cous-Cous, Baby Spinach, Zucchini and Goats cheese-Red Onion Tart.

And my main is Beef Fillet with Thyme infused Potato Fondant.

I love the Broccoli Puree, Wild Broccoli, Goat's Cheese Ravioli and Smokey Rosemary Jus. Although the potato fondant was bland, that was the only piece that I have leftover.

 And for desserts, we have chocolate

Cheesecake

So much for food, I want to give you a tour inside and out of the amazing floating restaurant

Big dining area

Going down to the kitchen

transparent glass

My favorite - wash/powder room

Our table

More of sights to see

Before the main course - 10 minutes rest

And a toast to more years to come

Hope you enjoyed the tour,

All the best,