Shrinkx Belly & Hips Ultra

When I was about to due, I asked around in mummies fb groups and forums about recommendations on postpartum belts but there weren't much responses because many mummies do not use postpartum belts. I'm so glad that My Miracle Baby SG reached out to me and offered me Shrinkx Belly and Hips Ultra to try out.

I personally love the Shrinkx Belly! Because I can really see a significant shrink in my belly and waist after constantly wearing it for 3weeks. I started wearing it from day 3 after I was discharged and my body felt more comfortable. It doesn't feel too warm to wear it daily in Singapore's super humid and hot weather. I can wear it and moving around comfortably as the material is very soft.  

Usually, I will put my trusty Bio-Oil on my belly before wearing it. I personally feel that putting slimming or firming cream would help to have more significant result. Unfortunately, I did not prepare any slimming or firming cream and I could not leave house to shop during confinement, so I have to make do with my Bio-Oil. 

The front of the Shrinkx belly. 

It has additional 2 compressions from each side to further tighten the belly and waist. Also, I can adjust the straps to the areas which I would like to focus on. 

The back of it has built in boning to provide better support for my lower back and improve my posture. 

Like most mummies, I am worried about my hips after giving birth and its one of the areas which is most difficult to slim down. It helps to narrow my hips by guiding it back to pre-pregnancy position. I started wearing this about 5days later than Shrinkx Belly as my wound was feeling pretty bad and I only feel comfortable enough to have Shrinkx Hips around my hips. 

Similar to the Shrinkx Belly, it has 2 additional compression straps on each side so I can adjust the amount of compression.

After 3 weeks of wearing both the Shrinkx Belly and Hips Ultra, I no longer need to wear them as I have reached the maximum. 

Postnatal Massage With The Outcall Spa

As mentioned previously from my Prenatal Massage with The Outcall Spa post, I am so in love with The Outcall Spa (www.theoutcallspa.com) so I have continued with them for my postnatal massage as well.

Its definitely not easy dealing with all the postnatal symptoms and overwhelming chores. Lucky for me, I have The Outcall Spa to help out with my flabby tummy, water retention body and aching arms/back.

What I really love about them is that I do not need to leave my house during my confinement period to enjoy the massages. We all know during confinement period, mummies ain't allowed to leave home due to some traditions. Imagine those mummies who stay with their In-laws were to go out during confinement period just for massage, I think those mummies would get into troubles with their In-laws who follow the confinement traditions strictly. But most importantly, I can attend to Nat who is just a room away from me if he needs me.

My postnatal massage package was completed by two masseurs, Cynthia and Flora. To be honest, I can decide I prefer which masseur more because both masseurs are really nice and equally good in their own ways. My first 3 sessions was done by Cynthia who is focuses more on the aching points on my shoulders and back. She is really good at easing all the tight knots and it feels shiok rather than pain. After each sessions, my aches seems to be better. My last 2 sessions was done by Flora. Her style is more of gentle and comfortable strokes yet still able to take the body aches away. Flora's style is more of a relaxing way of getting away the aches away as compared to Cynthia's style of pressure pressing to get rid of the aches. And also, many new mummies like me who are new to breastfeed will tend to have blocked milk ducts. The masseurs will massage and unblock those ducts too. After every massage session, my pumping sessions will be so much easier and smoother because all the blocked milk ducts are being unblocked by Cynthia and Flora! At the end of every session, they would apply ginger cream on my tummy and wrap it traditional bengkung binder. It gives a warm sensation at the tummy area which I feel it helps to get rid of the "coldness" in the tummy and burn the fats. They also gave me 2 packs of the bengkung binder so I can alternate clean and use them. After each binding, I can see that my tummy is firmer and more shaped. 

Another amazing point about The Outcall Spa Postnatal Massage is that they have a Thermal Blanket Therapy. I would usually hear about this therapy in those atas massage places and it surprised me that The Outcall Spa would bring the whole Thermal Blanket Therapy experience into my home too. They really bring everything to me which is really convenient and hassle-free for busy mummies like me! The therapy helps to reduce water retention by making the whole body sweat in a warm environment. Its similar to a sauna actually but you get to enjoy it in the comfort of your own home! All I have to do during the therapy is to lie down on the station bed and enjoy the warmth. For better result, you can use to apply serum, slimming cream or body lotion on your body so it'll be better absorbed by your skin during the therapy.  

Overall, I really love their massages and customer services. Every single one of them is extremely friendly and passion about their job. Even the guy who delivers and fixes the portable bed, he always smiles and greets every time. On top of it, they are always arrive 15min before the appt time and never once late. They have a couple of promotions going on every now and then, so do try it out and give yourself or spouse a good treat!

I have received the above services from The Outcall Spa  to facilitate this review. Post sponsored by The Outcall Spa. All opinions are my own. 

Confinement with Mummamia

I am so glad to have Mummamia for my confinement. It definitely made my confinement period so much more manageable and easy. 

I did not engage a confinement lady for my confinement period so I had the help from my MIL to cook my confinement food. My MIL took care of my meals daily but there's limit to what she could cook as she has other chores to attend to. 

Fortunately Mummamia's Pre-Packed Confinement Herbs came to the rescue! There are many benefits from it but mainly it focuses on the 5 main confinement stages: Expel, Remove, Rejuvenate, Recuperate and Tonify. What is most important is that it is super duper easy to prepare. I would usually blanch the meat(pork or chicken), then wash the herbs and boil all the ingredients in 1.5litres of water for 10-15min. Afterwards cook it under small fire for 1.5 to 2hours. 

The Confinement Herbs packets are labelled in 1 to 5. Different packets have different functions that helps the confinement recovery. So all I have to do is to follow packet 1 to 5 for everyday and day 6, go back to packet 1 again. Every packet is enough for 2 servings so I'll usually drink one for lunch and one for dinner. The packets 1 to 5 all have different taste due to the different herbs in it, so mummies would not be drinking the same soup everyday and get sick of it. My personal favorites are packet 1 and 3! I always look forward to these 2 packets!

Another product that made my confinement easy breezy is the Pre-Packed Red Dates Tea. Drinking red dates tea as a replacement of plain water is a must during confinement. This is helps to avoid excessive water retention and getting "cold". Plus red dates is loaded with Iron and Vitamin C. Usually I would just boil the it with 1.5litres of water, cook under small fire for 1.5hours and its good to go. 

I have been breastfeeding Nat pretty well during the first week but suddenly my milk supply seems to be decreasing and its pretty worrying that my milk supply would not be able to keep up with Nat's appetite. So I've cooked Mummamia's Nursing Herbal Soup to help to increase the milk supply. The preparation is the same as the Pre-Packed Confinement Herbs. I drank it once every 2 days and it seems to be able to increase my milk supply by a small amount every time after the consumption. I believe long term consumption would be able to see the result better as I have only tried 1 box.

My MIL would put a bit of Mummamia's Red Glutinous Rice Wine into my confinement food to promote blood circulation, enhance immunity and lower cholesterol. 

Ban Kah Chai Mom Confinement Herbal Bath is my favorite of all! You know mummies ain't encouraged to shower during confinement and I totally can't even stand not being able to shower for 1day. With the Herbal Bath, I can shower all that I want. To prepare for shower, I just need to soak the sachet into 1litre of boiling water for 3min and add warm water to the temperature I would like my shower water to be. Lastly, stir it well and enjoy my shower! Unlike what I've expected, it doesn't smell unpleasant or feel sticky which is totally a plus point.

All in all, the products from Mummamia really did help to make my confinement so much more convenient and still take good care of my well-being. 

I have received the above products from Mummamia to facilitate this review. Post sponsored by Mummamia. All opinions are my own. 

Hair Colouring with The Comb Hair Salon

Hellooooo peeps! 

I am so thrilled to receive hair colouring service from The Comb Hair Salon!

When I first reached the salon, the staff offered me drinks, went thru the colour booklet with me and explained to me the various type of hair colour available. 

Before visiting, I did some homework and search for some samples of my desired hair colours which are super light brown/grey. However, my hair stylist Michelle does not recommend me to do those colour because those colours require bleaching and it will further damage my already damaged hair. I feel that unlike some hairstylists who just blindly try to do the hair colour which I want and in the end my hair become beyond damaged, at least Michelle will give some advices, educate me on the possible end effects and leave the decision for me to make. End up, I decided to just go with normal dying and not bleach. Michelle tried her best to do the hair which I want without bleaching and still keep my hair healthy. 

The whole process only took about 1hour which I am pretty impressed. I think every hair stylist has a helper so they get extra hands to get their customer's hair done in the fastest time. Michelle and her helper really did a very fast but also nice hair service for me. 

The end result of my hair! 

Previously my hair was yellowish and it makes my hair looks very damaged plus my skin looks dull. With my new hair  colour being one tone darker, it makes my hair looks healthier than before. To be honest, my hair feels even smoother and shinier after the hair colouring which was not what I've expected. Usually after hair colouring, my hair will become even worse. So I am really happy with my new hair colour by The Comb Hair Salon!

A big THANKYOU to The Comb Hair Salon!

Delivery of Nathaniel at NUH

Hellooooo!

I have MIAed from this little space for quite some time. Life has been rather different eversince the birth of my little baby Nathaniel. My everyday routine is just mainly pumping milk, changing diapers, feeding Nat, eating confinement food and washing bottles. This routine is just on "Play&Repeat" mode every single moment. Oh well, I guess this is just the life which all mummies go thru. People always say the most difficult part is never the pregnancy or labor part, its the post labor part where you have to deal with the soreness of the whole body and taking care of the baby. I shall share with you guys my experience of post labor in another post sooooon~ 

I gave birth to Nat on 13th Nov 2016 Sunday 2pm. However, my labor started since Friday night and Collin brought me to the hospital the next morning which is Saturday morning. I was warded for a couple of hours and they discharged me as the contractions wasn't consistent and strong enough. We followed my gynae Dr. Shakina's advice to do some exercise such as badminton to speed up the contraction process which works like magic! So by Saturday night 9pm, my contractions was already pretty intense so we went back to the hospital again. This time they warded me and gave me the injection to ease the contraction pain. At about Sunday midnight 12am, my contractions was already very intense and beyond my tolerance. Hence, they ordered the epidural and it was all injected into me by 1am. The process of having the epidural injection was pretty scary but it definitely made me feel so much better. Before the epidural, I was already shivering in pain. After the epidural, I can joke around and etc., so epidural saved the day! 

Being in labor is all about waiting, waiting and more waiting. Due to some complications, we have waited for more than 12hours for my cervix to open up to the ideal 10cm and Nat's head to be in the ready position. At about Sunday 1pm, I was finally in active labor and started pushing. The memories was pretty blurred, all I can remember was just pushing and pushing when I was told to. Thankfully Collin was beside me giving me encouragement all along to give me the strength to push Nat out. Also we are so fortunate to have both Dr. Shakina Rauff and Prof. Mary Rauff to delivery Nat safely. Without their help, I would have already ended up in Emergency C-sect and require a very long process for full recovery. 

My delivery experience with NUH was really pleasant. The nurses in both the delivery suite and ward are all very nice and friendly. Probably because they understand what we mummies all go thru so they are extra patient and nice to us. Especially I have a really great gynae who takes really good of my body. During the entire stay, the nurses encouraged Nat to stay by my side at all times. Plus they are so thoughtful to prepare a special "Honeymoon" meal for both Collin and me to enjoy.

All thanks to my husband who insisted to pamper me, I get to stay in the Deluxe Suite. Its a one bedder with attached sitting area and bathroom. The main reason that Collin wanted to get this ward because he gets to stay with me and sleeps on the sofa bed right beside me, Plus all our visitors are able to gather in the sitting area and no need to crowd around the bed area. 

Below are the photos of the Deluxe Suite which I have taken before discharged so the ward is in a mess. It is really spacious like a hotel suit room. 

It has a TV at the sitting area and another one in the room. It also has a mini fridge. 

A sofa bed for 1 family member to stayover. 

A very big bathroom that is bigger than my house's.

If any mummies are keen to know the bill size or any question, feel free to ask me!

Now I'll be back to my routine so till then! :)