Pregnancy

To any married couples, pregnancy is a joyful thing to be celebrated unless for those who do not plan to have any child due to certain circumstances. Whatever reason one might have, I strongly believe that God has given us the DICKs and VAGINAs (eh hem, excuse me) not just for us to enjoy love making but to produce and multiply. As Psalms 127:3-5 says:

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."

What a beautiful way to describe the birth of a child to the world. Being a first time parent is a wonderful experience. It's a situation whereby there's a mixture of joy and expectancy but also fear and uncertainty. Happy because the child is someone whom you are going to raise up together with your partner, a symbol of love between the couple, someone who is going to be your inheritance. Anxious and worried because you love the unborn child so much (of course you love the mother-to-be also) and it's the last thing in your to let any untoward incidents to be upon them.

I was googling the net, trying to search for more information that I need to know about the do's and dont's during pregnancy as well as the food to take and to avoid to produce a happy, healthy baby. During the first 10 minutes, I was enjoying myself with the vast and useful information provided from articles posted by doctors, experienced mothers and other internet surfers which seemed to be very logical. The advice to avoid over intake of oily and salty food as well as food which contain high cholesterol level, the advise to avoid half cooked and raw food to avoid bacteria infection are common sights to most articles written by westerners.

This is followed by advice to take nutritional food such as fresh vegetables (cooked of course), fresh fruits (washed thoroughly), meat and fish high in protein as well as food rich with carbohydrates. As it is very common for a pregnant lady to be anemic, the articles suggested increase intake of food rich in iron. Folic acid or folate is strongly recommended to prevent birth defects. During pregnancy, electrolytes such as potassium, sodium and chloride are very much needed to maintain the extra fluid in balance when the blood volume expands (it's claimed that the blood volume expands up to 50% during pregnancy).

Articles suggest lots of examples of fruits and food to take during the pregnancy. Bananas, oranges, watermelon(some controversy here during the later part), vegetables, meat, milk and grains are highly recommended food for mothers to be. There are a lot of other food varieties that have been suggested which actually get different kinds of opinions from different people.

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Westerners say: Pineapple is rich with Vitamin C. Good for pregnancy (take in moderation of
course).
Easterners say: Hamik? Pineapple cannot ar. Can abort one you know. People use it to abort
lei.

Westerners say: Banana, rich in potassium. Very good for pregnancy. Can help to reduce
cramps (take in moderation).
Easterners say: Warlau ei. Eat banana. Can not lei. I don't know why but people say can not,
can not lar.

Westerners say: Spinach is recommended because of it's iron contain. Good to prevent
anemia.
Easterners say: You think you are popeye mei. Eat spinach. Can not ar.

Westerners say: Coconut juice has lots of nutritional values. Recommended for pregnant
women (click here for more information). It may even prevent neonatal
jaundice.
Easterners say: Ngai ti. Coconut. Very cold lei. Not good.

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As a conclusion. I only get excited during the first 10 minutes of my surfing the net for information. The rest of the time is spent in doubt, trying to understand each suggestion of the do's and don't during pregnancy... Internet is indeed a place rich with information...

Please feel free to comment and email me suggestions about the do's and don't of pregnancy. I'd love to learn more.

p/s: Easterners: Oi, pregnant liaw, don't change bed sheet hor.
Westerners: Damn, am I going to lay on the same bed sheet for the next 9 months?

Marley and Me...

Marley and Me... A very nice and touching movie.

It has been a while since I last indulged myself in watching a romantic comedy. Although I love fighting scenes and action-packed stunts which keep me at the edge of my seat, there are also times when I craved for more emotional and touching yet hilarious love stories.

"Marley and Me" can be best described as a hilarious yet touching love story for family. The impact of the movie of course will be greater if you happened to be someone who has just gotten married and is gearing up to travel the wonderful path laid in front of you and your new life partner. Although this love story is very suitable to those who are in a relationship (a very good movie for couples) it is also a great one to be watched together with friends.

Directed by David Frankel and starred by Owen Wilson (as John Grogan) and Jennifer Aniston (as Jennifer Grogan), it started with the scene of two of them just married. Jennifer is a person who does a lot of planning for her life. She sticks to her plans and accomplishes them in stages whereas John is a very understanding and easy to live with husband who loves his family very much. Both John and Jennifer strived till the end for the best of their family but there are times when things are not going as smooth as predicted causing them to flare into temper and lose their cool. John and Jennifer kick start their new marriage life along which they adopted a very playful labrador (Marley) which John gives to Jennifer as her birthday present. As naughty as Marley can be, he brings lots of tears and laughter to the couple through their ups and downs.

Things start to get a little out of control when Jennifer gives birth to their son. After the birth of their second son, Jennifer has to sacrifice her career in order to be a fulltime mom. Proven from the movie (as well as in real life), it's not an easy task to manage a family. There are times when the exhaustion is so intense that both John and Jennifer get into destructive arguments.

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One good thing about watching a family movie like this is that there are a lot of lessons for us to pick up along the way. Different people in different states of mind pick up different ideas from a same movie like this. As for myself, this movie shows me how important it is for couples to go through hard times together, to actually make time for each other to voice up their discontent and to find solutions together no matter how busy they are. Conflicts that are not resolved promptly will lead to more complication as much as illness not treated soon enough will grow chronic.

It also shows me how important it is for us to treasure the moment we go through everyday be it during the ups or downs and even during the very downs. Life is never a fairy tale. Even a fairy tale has its share of tears and grievances (it's not a happy thing to be poisoned by the apple, neither is it great to have a bad "step" mother who keep on "stepping" on your back). Whether we like it or not, there are not joy without sorrow and there are no laughter without tears. The ups and downs are what give our life it's color. Else, we'd better be robots.

The movie which run for about 2 hours is definitely a must see movie of the year. My thumbs up for "Marley and Me".

Some of the screen shots from the movie:

This is not from the movie (a picture of the Eric Dane-as Sebastian)

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Taken For Granted...

Every week day morning we wake up, we brush our teeth, take a quick shower and changed into our smart and beautiful clothes. We rushed out of our bedroom doors, greeted our parents without even looking at their faces and sink our teeth into the food served on the table. Or maybe not, sometimes we just head to the front door after a short 'bye' before rushing out to work or to have breakfast with friends and colleagues before work.

After the office hour, we were supposed to go back home for dinner but due to the heavy traffic condition, we decided to have a quick dinner outside. If the crowd is right, we chatted till late before going for a drink at a nearby pub only after which, we went back home. Back at home, we were either too tired or we have tonnes of personal things to do either online or offline that most of the time, we were locked in our own room, forgetting the other family members who are staying together with us. By 1am, we slumped onto our bed, recharge our exhausted body, getting it ready for another 'Great' new day 6 hours later.

The same thing happened the next morning but instead of saying a short 'bye' before leaving, we probably complained about the car that has not been washed, or the stained leather shoes that we have just bought before leaving for our next 'important' task. That evening, we probably would not drink at the pub anymore but we might go out for a movie or do some shopping with a few close friends before late night supper after which only will we go home in exhaustion.

Finally, Saturday has come. We go out for drinks and as the alcohol seeps into our bloodstream, we forget that it's time for us to go home and not until the pub closes that we drive home in a drunken state. The following morning, we wake up after the lunch time is over and take our shower to shake off the hangover. Feeling bored at home, we called up our friends before going off for another tea session to chat and boast about how much liquor we have drunk the night before.

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It doesn't happen all the time, it doesn't happen to everybody and it doesn't happen to all the families but more and more people are facing situation like this nowadays. To make things worse, with the availability of wireless modem, high speed broadband, laptops and now super high tech mobile phones, the more we are connected, the further apart we are from our family. We hang out with friends, we strive at work, we try to enlarge our social circle and yet we have absent mindedly neglected the most important social circle of our life.... our family...

When is the last time we actually sit down with either one of our parents to share about our work, our friends and our boy or girl friends. When is the last time we went out with our brother or sister for a jog at the park. When also is the last time we went out for a picnic with our family whom we have neglected because of our commitment to our work, to our friends. When we converse with our mothers, when is the last time we really look into their eyes, trying to really understand and listen to what they have to say about the neighbours' new grandchildren, the new cookware that she found useful while she went to the market or her concern about whether the new chicken dishes that she cooks for dinner taste alright.

Maybe I am too sensitive and maybe also I am exaggerating. Maybe what I have seen is just the minority who happened to be leading a bad lifestyle. Maybe a lot of people out there are actually spending a lot of quality times with their families. They might have just came back from a great vacation and are planning for another one soon. Whatever the maybes are, this entry is for sure one thing I won't mind to be proven wrong...