tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33910126400422231392024-03-13T20:30:26.399-04:00lynnism.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-14217655939712586112020-05-21T01:03:00.001-04:002020-05-21T01:20:38.199-04:00Is booking.com a Scam?<br />
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Technically booking.com tries not to be a scam, but their system allows people to get scammed and they don't really do much to help you because they give you a different agent every time you contact them and they just go through a script and you are given the runaround over and over and over again. Allo Housing is definitely a scammer so do not use any of their properties</h3>
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<b><u>In short:</u></b></h3>
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<ul>
<li>They gave my credit card information to the property, the property charged my card without my consent for 1500 EUR three months before my arrival to the property, despite the policy states they will not charge me until i arrive. </li>
<li>Three times over the course of 2.5 months, the agent at booking.com promised me over the phone they will refund me directly and invoice the property but then sends me an email after telling me the property will invoice me, which the property does not. </li>
<li>And now they are saying they are going to give me CREDIT on their website. </li>
<li>Every time i call, it's a different agent, giving me a rundaround and promising me i won't have to call back and then it gets passed on to a different agent who restarts the goddamn process as if nothing happened before. </li>
<li>I spent at least 6 hours dealing between the property, my bank, and booking.com. </li>
<li>This whole thing is fucked up. I would avoid using booking.com and Allo Housing is a giant scam.</li>
</ul>
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<b><u>Here is the play by play</u></b></h3>
<ul>
<li><b>March 12:</b> made a 7-day booking with Kentish Town by Allo Housing for June 10th - to June 17th - their policy is:</li>
<ul>
<li>Charge you 3 days before arrival</li>
<li>Free Cancellation until June 3rd</li>
</ul>
<li><b>March 13: </b><span style="color: red;">Allo Housing took almost 1500 EUR out of my bank account</span></li>
<li><b>March 17th:</b> I attempted to contact booking.com over their website and was told by automated message to contact the property directly, which i did over message</li>
<li><b>March 18th: </b></li>
<ul>
<li>The property responded saying they have the right to charge me. When i showed them the policy, they ignored me. </li>
<li>I then went to cancel the reservation and asked them to refund me and they said due to the coronavirus,<span style="color: red;"> they cannot refund me for another three months and that i need to call booking.com if i have an issue</span></li>
<li>I then tried to call booking.com, but got an automated message saying they will not deal with my situation because my booking is too far away</li>
<li>I attempted to reach booking via twitter and facebook but was provided answers with an autobot just like their website telling me the same thing that i need to contact the property</li>
<li>I filed a complaint on the booking website</li>
<li><span style="color: red;">I filed a complaint to my bank, to which they responded because i voluntarily gave them my credit card information, they will not refund me</span></li>
</ul>
<li><b>March 28:</b> received a call from booking.com telling me <b><i>booking will refund me the money and invoice the property</i></b>, i just need to send booking a proof of charge. I sent this immediately.</li>
<li><b>March 30: </b>received email from booking.com that i will get a refund from <b><i><u>the property</u></i></b> and see it in my account in 10-15 days</li>
<li><b>April 21: </b><span style="color: red;">still did not receive refund </span>and called booking.com, they AGAIN said <b><i>booking will refund me and directly invoice the property</i></b> and asked me to send more proof of charge, which i did immediately</li>
<li><b>April 22: </b>got another email from booking saying i will get refunded <i><b><u>by the property</u></b></i></li>
<li><b>May 8: </b>sent booking an email saying i did not get the refund and got a response saying t<span style="color: red;">he property will not refund me for <b><i><u>another 6 months</u></i></b></span></li>
<li><b>May 9: </b>Called booking.com again and asked wtf is going and they told me this is unacceptable and that i will get the refund from booking and they will invoice the property. I said you already said this to me TWICE and it didnt happen. The guy says, last few times they didnt write in the notes that it was approved by a supervisor, this time he has approval and if i dont get the money from the property within the next 7 days, i will get automatically refunded</li>
<li><b>May 18:</b> Called booking.com, first agent told me i need to wait until may 20, then hung up on me. I called back and spent another hour with the second agent who told me<b><i> rest assured i will get automatically refunded on may 20th</i></b>, i made him write an email to me confirming that booking will actually refund me.</li>
<li><b>May 21:</b> </li>
<ul>
<li>Got an email from booking.com saying <u><b><i>the property </i></b></u>cannot refund me for another 6 months</li>
<li>I called them and the agent said they will refund me in the next five days to my booking Wallet - a new system they created, which is essentially <b><span style="color: red;">giving me a CREDIT on their system</span></b>. The agent is claiming i will be able to send the credit to my credit card once i receive the credit, but given their track record, it's probably another lie and <b><u>they are asking for my credit card information in the wallet again!</u></b></li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<br />Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-84010353493853215782019-09-27T11:44:00.004-04:002019-09-27T11:44:55.434-04:00Second Pregnancy: still Week 11ishaccording to the ultrasound i'm technically in week 10 because my cycle was longer but i'm leaving this at week 11.<br />
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Last pregnancy, as we went along, i would discover little things that are symptoms from pregnant every couple of weeks as i read about them or experience them, things like having your nose run the whole time, your feet growing bigger and not going to come back down, baby taking calcium from your teeth so you can lose a teeth if you dont keep up the calcium intake, and so and on.<br />
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I really thought that i know it all now and that whatever horrifying shit i experience in the first pregnancy would be the MOST i would experience for the second kid, but i couldn't be more wrong. I mean, the fact that i can no long stomach food is a lot worse than my last pregnancy. i also heard of people saying smells really bother them, so with this pregnancy, the smell bothering me was new to me, but not to my connaisance. Same with being feeling really tired and sleepy. i've heard of it, but didnt experience it, until now. What is completely new to me though, is the hot and cold flashes im experiencing on a day to day basis. i am so hot in one moment i am having, and then i would have the chills and freeze. This alternates every couple of hours thorugh out the night and through out the day. I look online and people are saying this is also normal. I don't wanna find out what other new crap im going to have to experience that i have no idea existed for pregnant women.<br />
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Life really isn't fair. Why do women have to go through this crap?Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-2675948441376370412019-09-26T10:28:00.000-04:002019-09-26T10:28:17.028-04:00Second Pregnancy: Week 11The past week has been hellish for me. I was puking so much and in so much pain that i've finally decided to medicate myself since i couldnt even eat anything for two days and was still puking out bile. I'm taking metoclopramide right now three times a day, which is also is used for cancer patients. I started taking it yesterday and im already feeling a lot better today. i can actually stomach food!<div>
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On Monday, i went to see a second OB that's 100% attached to a semi-private maternity hospital and he explained to me that his fees are going to be 1200-1400 EUR, but i wont be able to find out the fees for the hospital until after i had my first trimester scan and make an appointment with ste felicite thereafter.</div>
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He recommended that i go to a private clinic for the scan if i want the info sent directly to him, but if i wanted to reserve my spot at Necker (the public hospital), i would need to be doing my scans at necker. It's a bit of a weird dilemma for me because part of the reason why i wanted to go private was because i wanted to make things easier this time, but instead i feel like im making this a lot harder because there are too many choices and paperwork to do.</div>
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If i go private, i will need to figure out how to extract my files from necker from my previous pregnancies and all my scans, and then after i give birth, i need to follow up with insurance for all the payments. Whereas last time, with Necker, they take care of everything for you and there was very little i needed to do. There was so little that i needed to do that i had no idea what was going on half of the time, and this time i just wanna know. In addition, after going into ste felicite, you can palpably feel the difference between a private and public ward. every patient at ste felicite was carrying brand name handbags (ha!) and super well coiffed. One lady was even carrying an YSL Sac du Jour (3k bag). Anyway the hospital overall is just cleaner and more airy. </div>
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My flight to toronto for Jay's wedding was supposed to be today. i didn't make it. i feel so tired.</div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-54945411827285019912019-09-17T12:07:00.001-04:002019-09-17T12:07:03.069-04:00Second Pregnancy - Still Week 10ishSo last Friday, Caleb's stupid team decided it would be a good idea to hold a team meeting in California mid October. I freaked out a bit when i found out. My mom is leaving on Oct 4. and that means i would have to take care of turbo all by myself. It's very possible that by then i will feel a lot better than i do now but given how it was with the last pregnancy it's really hard to say. i cannot imagine having to wake up early, change him, make him breakfast, take him to daycare, go to work, rush to pick him up, feed him dinner, bathe him etc etc etc all alone while being super sick. i can't even get myself downstairs and i have been hiving everyday.<br />
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So then it was decided after some discussions that he would take Turbo with him, but he would go for two weeks instead to california. and then it was decided yesterday that they would leave earlier - the same time as my mom. This means that they all leave me on oct 4th and then Caleb doesnt come back until Oct 19th. I feel so helpless. After my mom heard, she suggested that i go back to toronto instead for those two weeks with her.<br />
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i looked it up on the calendar and realized that i was already supposed to be in toronto from 26th to the 1st (so i wont see turbo for five days, and then another two weeks two days later). That's way too much for me. In addition, if i go back to toronto on the 26th, i would be back for two days and then ihave to fly again back to toronto - that's a bit too much considering i dont even want to fly once. Also my ticket to toronto for he 26th is basic economy so non-refundable anyway. In addition, i have an ultrasound for my 12th week booked for oct 3rd!<br />
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So my options are basically this:<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Go back to toronto for the wedding for four days, come back and be alone in paris for two weeks, not see my son for the wedding week and for 2 weeks hes in cali.</span></li>
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<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">i dont want to not see Turbo for so long </span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">i dont want to be lonely...i think...or maybe it won't be so bad?</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Miss the wedding, go back to toronto for the two weeks my husband and kid is gone, so i wont be alone and sad</span></li>
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<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">so many people will be at the wedding that i havent seen for so long, and i'll be so sad to miss it</span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">i RSVP'ed already, so it's pretty shitty to not say im not going</span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">ticket is non-refundable</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">go back to toronto for the wedding, come back for two days, get my ultrasound, and then fly back to toronto for two weeks</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">i'll miss turbo for a long time</span></li>
<li><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">too much flying</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I really need to decide soon since ticket prices are going up. This really sucks.</span></div>
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Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-55800080431448052372019-09-16T11:40:00.004-04:002019-09-16T11:40:36.286-04:00Second Pregnancy: Week 10Well technically i'm actually only in week 9. Went to the doctor's on Friday and based on ultrasound, butterball was only conceived around the 27th or 28th of July (my cycle is longer) so s/he is still a tiny thing.<br />
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The main thing that hit me when the news hit was that, shit, how much longer is this stupid sickness going to last if i am only at week 8 last week?! For almost the entirety of last week, i puked at least once a day, sometimes twice, and one day it was almost all day. I thought it was passing but it just got worse. Surprisingly, after coming back from the doc's, the pain has subsided a bit. Sat was a little better, yesterday was not too bad - only puked once in the morning, and this morning, after about 1 min if nonstop churning and gagging my guts, ive felt a lot less pain than i have for the last 5 weeks. I dont know if this is going to last, but today was the first day i accomplished some housework (did the laundry).<br />
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The ob i went to on friday suggested that i stick with Necker public hospital as i had done with Callan. i fully had plans to go semi-private this time around because i wanted to be able to communicate better and understand what is going on, but the doc said he can continue to follow me throughout the pregnancy (he charges 100 EUR a session) and because of my emergency c-section, it's better for me to stick with Necker, who knows my history and has all my files. i think he has a fair point. next week, i have another appointment with another ob from the private hospital and see what he says.<br />
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I got to hear butterball's heartbeat on friday. i dunno why that always makes me teary even tho s/he's only 1.5cm in length...<br />
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=)Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-10278505818170795222019-09-10T18:05:00.001-04:002019-09-10T18:05:29.536-04:00Second Pregancy: Week 9At the beginnign of last week, i was starting to feel slightly better. I was gagging a little less throughout the day but everything else remained hard. On wednesday night, we needed to pack to go to amsterdam the next day and for some reason, maybe it was even the thought of having to go somewhere, or maybe there really was something wrong, i ended up feeling so sick that night and puked in the middle of the night and early morning. We made our way to the 10am train at gare du nord with not much fanfare thankfully and arrived there in tact. In fact, i was so super hungry by the time we got there that we bought five guys and i ate an entire small hamburger, some fries, and some shake! My brother arrived that evening and on friday and saturday, although i was not feeling great, i pushed myself to hang out with them. However, by Saturday night, after a long dinner and a nauseous train ride, i puked that night, and then the following day, three times. I ended up staying back at the apartment all of sunday, unable to do anything.<br />
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Monday was the day we were leaving and needed to clean up the whole apartment, but caleb had left and there was a lot to be done. My mom did 99% of the all the cleaning partly because i was feeling really terribly and partly just because i am a terrible daughter. i did the laundry and then we rushed ourselves to the trainstation. Unfortunately, during the rush, i broke out not only in terrible hives on my entire body, but was hit with angiodema. Nonstop sneezing, eyes and face swollen like a balloon. On the train, i just wanted to take all my clothes off and scratch scratch scratch. After 2x 10mg of cetirizine, i passed out the entire rest of the trip dizzy and tired. My mom looked after callan the entire time.<br />
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By the time we arrived home, i dont think i have ever felt this tired. i just layed on the couch and could not move and could not do anything. i was feel so nauseous. i went to bed early and slept for almost 10 hours and this morning, i was still nauseous. For the first time, i didnt make it to the bathroom in time for the puking and puked into my hands and leaked onto the floor. pretty damn gross.<br />
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Right now, i am feeling okay. the rock in my stomach seemed to have grown smaller and im jst a little bit nauseous. What is really bothering me this pregnancy is really all the smell. every smell gets to me. I can't even use my usual brand of Keri lotion now. i switched to scentless lotion that i can still smell. I cant wait until this is all over. Friday is my first appointment with the gynecologist. i am looking forward to hearing some confirmation on the pregnancy. i feel like it's always kinda weird before 12 weeks or before you actually hear the heartbeat because although you have high beta HCG to confirm the pregnancy, anythign could really happen until then, and it's nice to just hear someone confirm that there's a blueberry in your tummy that has a thumping heart.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-40979085834291717482019-09-02T08:02:00.000-04:002019-09-02T08:02:02.926-04:00Second Pregnancy: Week 8I have to admit, i feel <i>slightly</i> better yesterday and today. By slightly, i mean, my stomach is not in PAIN all day long. I am still nauseous and i am still gagging with discomfort in my stomach all day, but it's not painful. I have threw up twice in the morning in the last two days, so i am wondering if that's what's actually helping?<br />
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My mother is tired of my ass at home. I spoke to my boss on Friday, who told me i can just do whatever makes me comfortable, which sometimes is a double-edged sword, because i feel also guilty doing nothing, so that doesnt make me comfortable. But Caleb and i agreed that i am not in the right state to go to the office and sitting in front of the computer for any period of time makes me really nauseous so i am trying to do what i can. A lot of my work these days are proactive rather than reactive. I have two people running one of the groups i am responsible for, and the other group i have no one, but has been slow. Another project i am running is being actually run by two senior directors above me so i have very little to do. i wish i can stop feeling guilty.<br />
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But going back to my mom. This morning, she made me sour-spicy soup, as i had requested the night before. A few weeks ago, i had a really awesome one at Yauatcha in india (The place has a michelin start in london) and for some reason i really wanted some. Well, my mom made it really differently, with a ton of stuff i cant stand right now, and then she made me second pot without all the stuff (Still not to my expectations) but now i have no appetite for it. She said she is tired of all the food lying around the house unfinished and me groaning and moaning around the house. She was like that with my last pregnancy - i was in toronto around the late 20s week mark and she was tired of me too, because i could not stop gagging and had a lot of eating restrictions. She keeps saying how no one she knows is like me and how i need to get my ass to the office or out of the hourse because thats how i will feel better.<br />
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But yesterday, i took callan out to the park and came back with hives all over me, and was very tired from holding back my gag when i was talking to another english speaking mom i ran into at the park. I went out yesterday because i was actually feeling slightly better, i am not entirely sure going out helped. Chicken or egg? Whatever.<br />
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Anyway with this pregnancy, for sure i have a lot more smell aversions. i dont recall from turbo. I cannot stand the smell of onions and most food smells make me a bit nauseous. Some chemical smells make me feel really bad, like the handsoap i love from bath and body works is making me ill. Same with my mom's facecream and the facewash in our bathroom. Not all the smells though, some of the smells calm me too. it's very strange. Most of the smell in this house makes me ill. including my own hair, and the outside air makes me ill. i have no place to go really.<br />
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I sleep a lot more this round too. i twas hard to sleep with turbo, but with butterball, i fall asleep quite often lying on the couch or in bed. i wake up feeling like crap though. there's a period between me trying to fall asleep and actually asleep where i feel pretty horrible and then the period after i wake up. being a sleep permanently seems to be my best state of being.<br />
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Hopefully tomorrow, caleb will take me to the clinic to get my blood test done, and then we can go to the office together. i am still not able to concentrate tho. i need reactive work.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-18431537583161144552019-08-29T08:34:00.001-04:002019-08-29T08:57:31.115-04:00Second Pregnancy: Week 7-8A few people have asked me surprisingly how i was brave enough to go through with another pregnancy after how sick i was the first one, and whether if i had just forgotten how bad it was. I guess the answer is both yes and no. I recall wanting to stab my stomach, not being comfortable, and lying on the couch at moira watching friends because i couldnt get myself up to do anything. I remember everythign made me gag, even making my own popscicle didnt work. in fact, even looking at the popscicle maker made me sick.<br />
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And yet, i had forgotten what it was REALLY like and how fucking miserable i am. the other day, i told caleb i wanted to be run over by a truck, and he asked me forward or backwards..haha. i also told him i wish there was something that could incubate me and put me to sleep for eight months because im having trouble handling it.</div>
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I find it all more stressful this time around. i suppose it has to do with the fact that my first pregnancy, i spent the whole month of the worst puking in india. i vaguely remember after the first two weeks in india, the third and fourth i pushed myself to get into the office (i would puke there) and wouldnt get into the office until past 10am or maybe even 11am. </div>
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This time, the first week i ended up being on "vacation". Vacation being in quotes is because we took the trip south of france and i wanted to do nothing. Andrew wanted to do nothing too, but carm wanted to do everything, so there was a bit of tension. I also feel super bad because ive been harassing everyone about coming to france for so long, and i am essentially an invalid when they get here. The week was miserable. i was tired and wanted to puke all the time and it was very stressful for me beacause i felt guilty about just wanting to lie in bed all day. But honestly, the guilt is not all that different from this week.</div>
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We got back from the south on sunday and i was supposed to go to sweden on monday night, come back wednesday for a two day training. i ended up not showing up to any of it and have been lying on the couch trying not to gag and watching big bang theory whenever i feel like gagging (which is all the time) to distract me and passting the time. it makes me feel so immensely guilty that i am not really working. To make matters worse, they moved my email account to 365 and it broke my outlook set up so i cant easily sort through my emails or figure out my calendar. in order to fix it i need to call someone from IT or go to the office, neither of which i am really up for. </div>
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Next weekend, starting thursday, i am supposed to go to amsterdam - all booked with my mom and my brother too. i do not have the energy to go. end of september i am supposed to go back to toronto for a wedding. i am very close to believing i am not going to make that wedding. I havent made it to the lab to get my blood test yet - i cant bear to walk 15 minutes to do this. i have these weird hives happening and the house is so flipping hot. i do not looking forward to amsterdam this weekend at all....<br />
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I have to say i really miss living at moira's. I haven't left the house for four days now. I'm backreading my pregnancy log and there were so many things around (and partly because i was often on my own), i would leave the house to run errands. Where i live now, the only thing thats near me is the grocery store across but my mom is cooking so i dont have to go. i have no drive the leave the house now since everything is a trek these days.</div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-36618262195057575662019-08-19T04:46:00.001-04:002019-08-19T04:46:18.672-04:00Second Pregnancy: Week 6No one is probably reading this these days so i think it's safe to post here. But if you are still reading this because you have gotten a google notification that i'm posting again, you should totally just send me a message to say hello.<br />
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You see it in the post title - i'm preggers with #2 at 6 weeks at the moment - so too early for any congratulations. But i wanted to write this stuff down because i realized that i have forgotten all the stuff i am supposed to do whilst pregnant and coming back to this blog has actually helped me.<br />
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Last time i was pregnant, i had moira help me call necker to register me there and just went from there. This time, i have no moira next to me so im trying to do everything myself - and things are a bit uncertain.<br />
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I've mostly made up my mind that i want to go semi-private this time at ste felicite after hearing all the information about how wonderful they are, but i have not actually had any experiece or seen the hospital, or how much it costs. I tried getting an appointment with a fav doctor at ste felicite and his first appointment is either next week, where i will be in the south of france, or all the way on the 3rd of oct, which i found really frustrating. I realise that most of the first appointments in public hospitals isnt until week 12 anyway (necker gave me oct 2 at 9am) but i was hoping sem-private would give me more options. i tried calling around other doctors but because it's mid-aug no one is even picking up. Good stuff. I ended up calling Necker as a back up option and i also registered online at necker and at ste felicite to give me a peace of mind.<br />
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It's been hard with a toddler. Daycare is off right now and i was just in india for two weeks (longest i've ever been away from him) and he's extra clingy. Even writing this post, with caleb behind me doing stretches, and my mom in the kitchen, he still wants me to hold him and sit with me.<br />
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Speaking of india, it was a bit crazy on the last day with the throw up and the diarrhea. i have been having liquid bowel movements since the day i left india thursday (four days ago now). we are going to the south of france tomorrow. it's not great timing. i woke up in the middle of the night sitting on the toilet in great pain, which makes me wonder if it's going to affect the pregnancy. But there's no tmuch to do at the moment until i come back from south of france.<br />
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i feel a lot more anxious this time around, but less pukey - so far. but what makes it worse is now my 2 year old is screaming behind me in need of attention.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-36804848504108365672017-04-28T16:03:00.000-04:002017-04-30T00:53:54.098-04:00Post-Partum Blues?I'm starting to write this two weeks post-partum. Yes, baby Turbo is now two weeks-old and is able to squirm around to reach where he smells his sweet milk - it's a bit scary that he's moving so quickly and the assurance that I won't have to run around a little boy 24/7 for a long while seems to be evaporating.<br />
<br />
I have huge fears of chasing a little boy around. Maybe I mentioned before that one of the biggest<br />
problems i had with pregnancy was that it limited my mobility. I used to be able to hit 6 to 8 H&M stores in one day and while I was pregnant, and then it was difficult for me to hit two (yes I measure personal freedom by the number of h&m stores I can go to in one day.) In my last few weeks of pregnancy, I couldn't get myself to do much at all and was exhausted after venturing out into the grocery store.<br />
<br />
But I still knew that whatever little freedom I was having during pregnancy, once the baby comes out, my freedom will more limited in other ways; i might be able to bend down and pick up that receipt from the living room that is somehow invisible to my husband's eyes, and have more energy (maybe) to go out, but having to lug a baby around everywhere I go, I realize i'd be limited to so much more.<br />
<br />
What I didn't anticipate though, was the c-section limiting my mobility even further. Once you've been cut open horizontally from the outside, and then vertically on the inside, you're basically rendered to a bed potato for a few weeks, if not a month to two. The healing time for a c-section is about 2 weeks for your outside cut to fully heal and you can begin to walk around like a human being (in pain) and 4 weeks to be able to get a bit of your agility back (with lesser pain), and 6 weeks to be almost normal (with a little pain).<br />
__<br />
<br />
I'm now at 6 weeks in an attempt to finish this post and I am able to walk at my pre-pregnancy speed (or at least very close to it). Keep in mind I was a speed walker.<br />
<br />
So the first two weeks after birth was an absolute nightmare for me and filled with a lot of crying. As a friend who didnt even have a c-section put it, it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Are things going to get better?<br />
<br />
A lot of people attribute the sadness to post-partum blues, which is something seemingly caused by hormonal changes and some type of mental illness. Throughout the two weeks that I cried so hard, I hated the idea that I was crying because of chemical imbalances.<br />
<br />
Think about it: After 9 months of suffering through things like nausea, plugged nose, constant vaginal discharges, itchy and/or painful nipples, peeing every 3 hours throughout the night, trouble breathing, trouble moving around, not able to bend down, fatigue, etc. etc. etc., what was next was a marathon of contractions and a watermelon passing through you, or a knife cutting you open, and finally, a baby is born, and you face even more pain down below, a crying baby that needs to be held or rocked and fed on the hour, diaper changes, cracked nipples, constant bleeding below making feel smelly and dirty, and anxiety from not knowing if you are taking care of the baby properly (ami holding the right? Am I hurting him? do i have enough milk? why am i leaking milk everywhere? do i need to wake the baby up to feed? why is it crying all the time? why is there a rash on his butt? why does he hate his crib? Did I buy the wrong one? am i holding him too tight or too loose? Is the diaper too tight or too loose? What is that black and green sticky shit coming out of his ass?)<br />
<br />
<br />
And then you have a village of people telling you what you should do, with conflicting advice from each other, and from what you think is right or what you want to do. And that pressure of not doing things right and being judged for everything you do even when you don't want to do it.<br />
<br />
Oh, and not to mention that you realize that your tummy is still big, but now it is flabby and full of stretch marks, and there's no baby in there to justify it and making it cute, none of your clothes prepregnancy fit, and you look exhausted and feel even more exhausted, but you simply cant sleep since the tiny human needs to be tended to all the time. The fear that you will never be desirable again hits you hard.<br />
<br />
You, as the person you knew yourself to be, is no longer - or at least it feels no longer. It feels like not only do you not look like yourself or feel like yourself, you also don't have the time to work on going back to you again AND you also need to dedicate your entire being to taking care of someone else. You can't even go out.<br />
<br />
The overwhelming combination of helplessness, undersirability, trapped from personal freedom, the weight of the responsibility of another human life, anxiety of the present and the loss of the future...<br />
<br />
And you attribute the above to hormonal imbalance? I think not.<br />
<br />
For me, all this was compounded by the intense pain from the c-section (I was on morphine and two other painkillers for the first three days, then two pain killers for the rest of the two weeks which didn't do much for me) (my insides exploded every time I coughed or sneezed or laughed), and my mother telling me i could not eat 90% of the things in this world according to asian confinement rules and all i am allowed to drink is bland soup or bitter herbal meds, and literally confined to my bed due to the pain. I have even less freedom than when I was at 40 weeks.<br />
<br />
So I cried.<br />
<br />
I cried when I felt pain from the C-section. I cried every time I needed or wanted to do something but couldn't. I cried when I told people or thought about my birth experience and remembered the helplessness. I cried when the pediatrician reprimanded me for swaddling the baby except it was the nurse who swaddled him (swaddling is not allowed in france). I cried when the baby sucked on my cracked nippled. I cried when my boobs were engorged and milk was leaking everywhere and I didn't know when it was ever going to stop and if I might get masticitis. I cried when I had to feed the baby having just come out of the shower because it took too long to shower in pain, and I was naked, fat, ugly, and exposed. I cried when my mom made me bland soup I didnt want to eat and I felt like I could die from hunger. I cried when I tried to change the baby and was told I wasn't doing it properly. I cried when I remembered all the intense travelling I used to do with Caleb that we can no longer do. I cried when I thought about the time when we would cuddle and hang out in bed all weekend.<br />
<br />
I don't think the crying was unjustified. I don't think it was because I was hormonal. It was because I was in pain and am facing a different life in front of me where an entire human being is dependent on me and I no longer feel important. The baby is now important.<br />
<br />
<br />
I mourned for the loss of my identity. I grieved for my life that will be no longer.<br />
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And then I stopped crying. At least stopped crying as much.<br />
<br />
The pain from the nipples healed (though they are still sore and leak all the time). I learned how to breastfeed with better positioning (that first latch is still painful). My c-section began to hurt less (my insides still explode in pain with a cough). My belly is no longer as big (but still a pouch and just as flabby). I can shower faster (maybe not as clean). I am allowed to eat normal food (with some exceptions). I grew more confident with regards to taking care of the baby (with a lot of google consultation). The baby was no longer feeding every hour (every 2 hours on a bad day, every 4 hours on an extremely good day). I am able to go outside (though i am still limited by the baby's hunger and my fear of going out with a crying baby and having to change his diapers in public so I don't go out unless I have to and i miss it so much). I am getting more sleep than a lot of other moms because I have a wonderful mother who is in Paris with us for three months doing everything from cooking wonderful meals to being the main caretaker for the baby when I'm indisposed and my husband is at work (but sleeping 8 hours straight? yeah right).<br />
<br />
So it got better, and my crying lessened.<br />
<br />
It's not post-partum blues; it's the adaptation of the human psyche.<br />
<br />
Yes, there are women who do have serious post-partum depression that need to be treated. If after two weeks, you still don't see light at the end of the tunnel, a doctor is needed.<br />
<br />
But within those two weeks, let's not treat us like we are all sick and blame it on the hormones. Empathize with us and realize that having a baby is effing hard work and sometimes people cry when shit is hard.<br />
<br />
It still is hard, and it will no doubt continue to be hard. But we are all adapting.<br />
<br />
Is it worth it? I don't think we can put a value on personal freedom, just as we can't put a value on raising a human life.<br />
<br />Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-68582093040233386732017-03-28T14:14:00.001-04:002017-03-28T17:48:35.153-04:00My Birth ExperienceThe first rule of fight club is: You do not talk about fight club.<br />
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When I told Caleb I needed to write about my birth experience, he had asked me if I am violating some kind of fight club rules for giving birth - it's basically not something that we talk about until we are in the secret club of having given birth. I used to joke about that, but is it a real rule? Are we really not supposed to talk about it with the understanding that we don't want to scare any potential mommies away from the experience?<br />
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I haven't been updating this blog very much about my pregnancy even though I had the initial ambition of writing everything down week by week, but my pregnancy was filled with gagging reflexes and a surge of busy-ness at work that left me mostly miserable and tired most of the day, so it never came into fruition. And even this entry has been an ongoing effort for a few days just writing these paragraphs you have read so far, so I am hoping I will eventually finish.<br />
<br />
One of the most difficult things when telling others about birth experience is that every single mother experiences something different, so when you ask about birth experiences, you will get a whole range of "the baby dropped within 15 minutes I got to the hospital" to "I was in labour for over 40 hours and I almost died." On top of which, not every mom-to-be wants to hear about other ppl's birthing experience, so for me, I felt like the information is never properly disseminated and even though my midwife, Diana, had been a saint about trying to teach me as much as i can and providing me with reading, the entire experience was a shock all the way.<br />
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So as I document what I went through as my experience, I both feel like this is going to be a public service announcement for the mothers who do want to know all the gory details, but also realize that the liklihood of someone going through exactly what I went through might not be likely, though based on my experience it still feels like all giving birth must be traumatic? I don't know.<br />
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<b><u>The Summary</u></b><br />
Here are the things I didn't know about how invasive birth is based on my experience in Paris (not sure if its the same everywhere in the world):<br />
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<ul>
<li>To induce labor, they stuck a balloon inside me with catheter tubes hanging out and taped to your leg - yes it hurt. It also hurt when they took it out 12 hours later.</li>
<li>They stick a lot of IVs in you- yes it hurts</li>
<li>They stick their hands really far up into your cervix every hour to measure your dilation using the number of fingers that fits up the hole - it's extremely painful</li>
<li>To feel whether the baby is in position, they stick their hand up even further to touch the baby who is still in your belly....</li>
<li>My water didn't break naturally so to further induce labor, when they break your water, they stick a hook inside you to pop your amniotic sac</li>
<li>The epidural is injected through your spine, in addition to the IVs already in your arms</li>
<li>When you are on epidural, you can only pee if they open up your urethra every couple of hours. If you are on epidural for too long, they will use a catheter instead. This damages your ability to pee even after you give birth and they will open up your urethra again if you cant pee the next day</li>
<li>You cannot eat or drink if you are on epidural, for fear that you might aspirate food into your lungs - so if you are like me and had 36 hours of labour, you will starve</li>
<li>During a c-section, they stick more IVs in you for morphine and antibiotics - those are super painful for some reason even though they had already upped my epidural and i was already puking</li>
<li>You cannot eat or drink immediately after a c-section, for fear of hemorrhaging</li>
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<b><u>Inducing the Birth with a Folley Balloon</u></b><br />
My son's due date was Tuesday, March 14 - day one of week 41. I went to the hospital at 10am that day and the midwife who examined me did an ultrasound and told me the baby is healthy and that if he doesn't come out by Thursday, then I need to go back to the hospital where they will do another ultrasound to see if the baby is still in good condition (whether my placenta is calcifying and whether I have enough amniotic fluid, and if the baby's heartbeat is still stable). She stuck her hand up my cervix and I squirmed and squealed in pain and declared that I am not dilated. She said if the baby doesnt come on Thursday, we will have to induce on Friday, because 41 weeks + 4 days is the maximum we can wait before we need to push the baby out.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwSqGYUI7z4J9w4mIytLPwKo7ioK3VJhYo3eF_jbH8oN9LnhKO9CLowgSFj0z7-Bzh7iWFoUC9sGARaW1Yu3w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
Being monitored for contractions and baby heartbeat<br />
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Knowing that any time i go to the hospital, i might get induced, on Thursday morning, I took a shower and ate a good breakfast before heading to the hospital with my mom. After going through the ultrasound, I was told that there is very little amniotic fluid left. The midwife stuck her hand up my cervix again and I squirmed and squealed in pain and was told I am still not dilated. She called the OB on call who explained to me that we will need to induce the birth right away. He suggested we use the <a href="http://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/foley-bulb-induction" target="_blank">Folley balloon</a> method, which he explained was the least aggressive and natural way to induce a baby.<br />
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What happens is they stick a catheter into your cervix and inflates it with saline to put pressure into the cervix so it would start contractions and therefore dilation. At around noon, we went upstairs to the maternity ward and they went through my paperwork and then inserted a bunch of IV tubes into my arms for future purposes. The bruise that came from that is still on my arms 10 days after having given birth.<br />
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We waited around and they eventually took us up to the delivery room and told us there is no bedroom right now for us, and the doctors came in and opened my legs and shone one of those giant surgery lights into my opened legs so they can pry me open and insert the catheter all the way up, with two rubber tails hanging out and taped against my legs. It hurt like hell while they were doing it, and was extremely uncomfortable while the balloon was inside me. After the procedure, they told me they still dont have a bedroom for me to rest in, but i can do whatever I want now - including eating and showering. My mom and I went downstairs to the cafeteria at around 2pm and had a sandwich, a pastabox, and i had a small slice of cheesecake. Peeing was a bitch when you have a bunch of tubes hanging between your legs.</div>
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We went back to the delivery room afterwards and just hung out there in discomfort until Caleb came in at around 4:30pm and relieved my mom of her duty. At around 8pm, my mom brought us food and caleb went and bought some burritos from chipotle and some haagen dazs coffe ice cream because i am loved; I wolfed everything down with a vengeance.</div>
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They found us a double room finally at 11pm and ushered us down. Our neighbour was a lady who was also preggers but her husband did not stay overnight with her.</div>
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At around 1pm I started to have regular contractions at 7 minute intervals that hurt like a bitch, but the machine that monitored our contraction was broken so Caleb had to manually note down my contractions. At around 6 or 7 am, the midwife came to check on me when I was moaning about how i can't do this anymore and ushered me back up to the delivery room, reprimanding that i didn't call on her earlier.</div>
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In the delivery room, when the midwife was about to stick her hand up my cervix, I started to really freak out. I squirmed around crying about how i cant take it. They asked me if i wanted epidural and i nodded yes urgently. However, i think it had to take a while for them to assemble the team to provide me with the epidural so they gave me the laughing gas instead. I was kind of suspicious that it wouldn't work or would make me puke, but after breathing it for a while, i couldn't feel it when she stuck her hands up me to feel for the dilation. I was at 2cm and after i confirmed that i still wanted the epidural.</div>
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<b><u>Epidural and No More Food</u></b></div>
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The team of anaesthsiologists were called into our room after and they added some IV stuff into my arm and then I had to sit up so they can inject more IV needles into my spine to receive the epidural. It was kinda scary and I almost immediately regretted consenting to the epidural, but thinking about more hands up my cervix, I sucked it up and turned my back to allow them to inject needles into my back. In hindsight, i probably should have stuck with the laughing gas.</div>
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From there on, there was no more pain. I could not feel my contractions nor the pain from someone sticking their hands into my body from below every 2 hours to check for my dilation. Every 3 hours, the anaesthesiologist would come with a little cold bar and check to see how the epidural is working. She would touch me in various places and i would tell her if i can feel the coldness. Every 4-6 hours-ish, they would also come in and insert something to my urethra and relieve my bladder. </div>
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By around 10am Friday, I was starving, but I was no longer allowed to walk or eat and i could only drink like a sip of water every hour. I was around 4cm dilated and they decided the best way to speed up the contraction and dilation now is to take out the balloon and break my water by inserting a little hook into me. The water didn't all come splashing out since I was running out of fluids anyway and they told me the baby's head had corked the cervix.</div>
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The cycle continued where people would come in, insert their hands up in me to feel my dilation, force open my urethera to empty my bladder, and I was unable to eat and drank very little. At around 4 pm, they were concerned that I have not moved past around 4.5cm in dilation. This was when they decided to stick a catheter inside me so they no longer have to manually relieve my bladder, and began pumping a minimum dosage of oxytocin inside me to induce my contractions, hoping i would dilate more.</div>
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Around this time, one of the anesthesiologists came to check on me realized i havent been pumping extra epidural in me. The epidural was working pretty effectively right away and i was to press a button to pump extra dosage if i was feeling discomfort or slight pain. I cannot press the button more than once within a 30 minute period, but i haven't been pressing it for the last 3 hours because i felt like i didnt need more. Because I started to be able to feel the coolness of the frozen bar around my hips, she pressed the button for me and said i needed to press it every 30 minutes, which I started to do because i dont like to be yelled at by french authorities. Within the next two hours, my entire left leg was numb and i couldn't feel anything. When the midwife came back to check on me, she was upset with the anaesthesiologist who gave me the bad advice since I am only supposed to press it as needed and not every 30 minutes - it was very awkward. </div>
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Around this time, I was also on the verge of breaking down from the lack of food and liquid. I was crying and begging for something because I was starting to feel really dizzy and nauseous. I asked about eating or drinking something other than a small ounce of water a few times and was refused, but when I finally found the french word for dizzy (<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12px;">étourdi)</span>) and told them, they immediately sent in someone from the anaesthesia team who told me I can have some apple juice. Apparently being dizzy is much worse than being nauseous. We also texted my mom who made miso soup and brought it over and I had a few sips. I can't even begin to explain the relief from having even that little substance in me, which allowed me to carry on in that state.</div>
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<b><u>Less Epidural? More Oxytocin? </u></b></div>
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At around 8:00pm, the midwife came back and stuck her hand up and said I wasn't dilating anymore and required more oxytocin, and we asked if we can have less epidural given that my legs are completely numb. Caleb noticed that I was only having contractions every time I moved and because I was not allowed to walk around or move on my own or feel the contractions, he was concernd it could be why i stopped dilating. However, it's under strict policy that I was not allowed to walk, so even though we lessened the dosage of the epidural and I started to feel pain again, I was still not allowed to move on my own.</div>
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But even with the new, albeit slight, nourishment and the additional oxytocin being pumped into me and the reduction of the epidural, things were not looking good. I had big and steady contractions according to the monitor and i was feeling intense pain at a single spot that was causing me cry, but after being felt up twice up my cervix again, I was told that I was not only not dilating, but the baby was unable to move into the right position because i no longer had any amniotic fluid to ease his movement. How were they able to tell? They stuck their hands right up in there until they can feel the baby's head position.</div>
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<b><u>C-Section</u></b></div>
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At around 10pm, we were nearing 36 hours after the inducement and the midwife told me gently that it looks like we are going to have to have a c-section, but at least it won't be an emergency one as the baby's heartbeat has been really steady at around 130 bps the entire time. </div>
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When they told me this, I bawled. In fact, as I am writing this and thinking about that moment, I am still tearing from the feel of the defeat.</div>
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Caleb said he saw a sign of relief on my face at the same time. I guess it was relief knowing that there's a finish line to cross, rather than lying exposed on the delivery chair starved and dehydrated.</div>
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The resident OB on call came in to explain to me what is going to happen next. All I could remember was that Caleb can be with me during surgery and i wont be able to do skin to skin but he can. They will show me the baby once he comes out and Caleb will take him away. They gave me a moment to speak with Caleb alone to swallow the reality of it all. I cried even harder because all this work for 9 months + the last 34 hours and I wont even get to hold my baby when he comes out. Life is so unfair.<br />
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A part of me was comforted to know that Caleb can still do skin-to-skin with the baby right away and they can bond really quickly, but I felt so disappointed that i still cry talking about it.</div>
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They led Caleb out to get dressed while they prepped me. I was quickly razored and a team of people entered my delivery room, including a doctor anaesthesiologist who upped my epidural to the full extent and told me that everything will be completed within two hours, before the epidural wears off.</div>
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Before they even wheeled me into the surgery room, I started to puke (that's why I wasn't allowed to eat...). I was puking out all the water and bile that was left in me nonstop while borderline unconscious. After i seemed to have nothing more to puke, they wheeled me in the brightly lit surgery room. As soon as they rolled me from my bed to the surgery chair, i started to puke all over again, except this time I had less substance to puke out and was mostly dry-heaving. </div>
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<div>
As I was heaving out whatever that was left in me, I started to scream. I was puking to my right and they were stabbing my left arm when I wasnt looking. The doctor told me softly that they were inserting a new IV in me for the morphine and antibiotics needed for the surgery and I started to cry from the pain. The doctor became concerned that the medication wasn't effective if the IV is hurting me so they tried again and again and again. Three different spots on two arms - i have holes and bruises all over me. Caleb was brought into surgery while i was finishing the second puke storm and mid-scream.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Throughout the surgery, I kept hearing them talk about how the medication was not working on me but I was in a complete haze and deathly afraid of them poking me with more needles. I honestly could not tell how long it was but it felt like within 20 minutes of them wheeling me in, I heard the baby cry and was brought to me to look at for a few seconds and then Caleb went out with a nurse and the baby while I was left on the bed with the team sucking stuff out of me and closing me up, chit-chatting about mcdonalds and cakes and st patrick's day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><u>After Birth</u></b></div>
<div>
They were right, within two hours of them knocking me out, I was rolled into another bed and wheeled into the recovery room, where they told me that i cannot eat or drink still. They needed to make sure i was not hemorrhaging blood before i can drink water. I cried again. Caleb finally came in with the baby but i was under so much drugs and there was pain everywhere in my arms from four different IVs and one in my back that i couldnt really hold him. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We also were told that we needed to spend the night in the recovery room because they didnt have a room for us in the hospital, but we were also not allowed to eat in the recovery room. I cried harder at the idea that there's no foreseeable time when i can actually eat food.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thankfully, within the next two hours, they were able to put us back into the double room from before, but before that they had to peel off all the IV. It was slightly less painful than putting them in. We got a private room a day or two later.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, just when i thought people were done putting things up in me, they came to release my bladder again the next day because i wasn't peeing from the catheter damage. I cried pretty hard, again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The C-section aftermath is misery too, but i will save that for another day....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><u>What I would do differently next time around, if there is one</u></b></div>
<div>
Honestly, I would have held off on the epidural until I really could not handle it anymore. Although at the point when i wanted it, i felt like i couldnt handle it, i really feel like if i had waited a bit longer and endured through the pain of them going up and down me you know where, i might have been able to avoid the c-section because i could have walked around and allowed the baby to move into position. Also, it would have given me opportunity to eat and drink because not eating for so long doesn't help birth happen. For the pain of checking for dilation, i would have asked for more laughing gas to stave that off.<br />
<br />
It's hard to say if i could have avoided the c-section had i not been on epidural so early, but it's worth a try for next time. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And although i joked about wanting a c-section rather than have a baby come down my birth canal, it's effing painful and much much worse than being pregnant because you literally cannot do anything or go anywhere for a very long time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-80055339773437858922016-09-03T14:47:00.001-04:002016-09-03T14:50:04.284-04:00Week 13: Searching for a English-speaking Sage Femme in Paris - PART II find it a tad strange that when look for information about the French system for anything online, such as how to get a carte sejour, what's it like to go to this french civic courses, i find very little information on forums and blogs. There are some, but most of which are very high level and i get very little info on the actual experience and the stuff i look for.<br />
<br />
Looking for a midwife here has been probably the worst experience. Since I came back from my ultrasound, i had been looking on and off online not too seriously for a midwife who speaks english, but i haven't found too much information. In fact, even when i look for French ones, most of them are on vacation for August. I found less like one or two webpages that basically said if i want pregnancy info in Paris, I need to join "Message Paris" where there is apparently "a wealth of information" for English-speaking parents in Paris and boasts of having 4000 members or something. However, the fee to join is 50 EUR annually.<br />
<br />
Even when i emailed a person from Yelp who has gave a review for Necker hospital for giving birth, they told me to join message paris.<br />
<br />
But when I searched online for reviews of this group to see if it's worth it, I couldn't not find any info on it.<br />
<br />
And so after a day of fruitless searching on sage femme in paris to spoke english (I had emailed some sage femme who either did not respond and told me they were not available), I bucked up the 50 EUR and joined the group.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b><u>Message Paris </u></b></h3>
Once I joined, I was a bit disappointed (as I expected). The entire site is basically a crowd-sourcing site that doesnt actually provide you with well-researched information that's regularly updated. If you look for any information, you are lucky if you can find up to date info contributed by someone who's on the site; if you are looking for meet up groups, the site depends on area leaders who volunteer to set the meeting up. A lot of areas dont even have leaders.<br />
<br />
For the most part, I would have expected that sites that rely on crowd-sourcing generally is free, and the maintenance upkeep is held together by advertisement. However, it looks like the 50EUR goes to site maintenance i suppose, and they still do some advertisements for group classes that costs like 200 EUR to join and does not seem to be covered by insurance.<br />
<br />
They have this "directory" for medical references, but each sub-forum has only about 10 threads per year, and you can likely only find one or two doctors that are recommended that are still active for their perspective field.<br />
<br />
But since I have only used it to find info on sage femme, and the site has members that go from pregnancy to parents with adult children, and therefore perhaps as i keep using it i may find it to be useful in the long run? Hard to say.<br />
<br />
I looked up information on prenatal swimming classes and aquagyms and found nothing. I posted on the forum and we'll see if i get any feedback. There doesnt seem to be too many active pregnant ladies on there.<br />
<br />
I found basically two sage femme that were recommended who speak English on the site and contacted both of them. In the meanwhile I had also booked an appointment online with a sage femme near the hospital that i wasn't sure if she spoke english.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b><u>Guiliana Faure</u></b></h3>
I had my appointment with her on Thursday, September 1 at 9:15am. She has her own clinic on the ground floor of a beautiful apartment building courtyard down the street from Necker Hospital. When I arrived she greeted me at her door with a huge and polite smile.<br />
<br />
She did not realize at the time that I was not looking for a full-time sage femme who would do monthly follow-ups with me, as well as provide me with classes and recommendations for classes (I'm honestly unsure how these classes work and who runs them at this point - still a work in progress...as far as I know, there are many french-speaking group classes offered by hospitals but outside of that im not sure)<br />
<br />
We cleared up that i had a sage femme at necker who is responsible for my "medicare" and monthly follow up and that i was looking for the other stuff that the sage femme can provide. For this first session, she asked me a lot of questions about my personal life and my pregnancy, and gave me a prescription for compression socks because i said i travelled a lot for work. She also recommended that i take swimming classes for pregnancy because i cant exercise due to my allergies.<br />
<br />
The conversation was entirely conducted in French and she claims that she doesnt speak much english - however, the few words we did use in english was fine and i think she gave herself very little credit for her english.<br />
<br />
She provided me a recommendation for a colleague who is english speaking but she said the english speaking sage femme wont be able to see me until i'm at around 6 months, which made me kinda nervous because i'm a bit tired of not having a person to go to when i have questions about my pregnancy. In canada, you would have an ob-gyn you would see whenever you need to!<br />
<br />
I really wanted to stick with Guiliana because she was so helpful and so professional and her clinic was really clean and had equipments for medicare (i didnt check but i think she even has an ultrasound machine). But Caleb really wants to be a part of the the classes and i think i would feel better if i can find someone english-speaking as well so we decided we would do some more research before we decide.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b><u>Emanuèle Adrai-Saint-Paul</u></b></h3>
<div>
She was recommended by someone in on Message as an English speaking Sage Femme and she's not that far from where i live. I had sent her an email and she called me back the evening of to talk about the details. She has a pretty thick french accent but is fluent in English. The biggest issue that i have with the situation is the fact that although she is conventionee (meaning fully covered by the french government and health insurance), she does not accept carte vitale which means that she has to give me these "feuilles de soins" (care papers?) that i would need to mail to assurance maladie, which is really annoying (these papers could get lost in the mail and posting them is just pain). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
She gives classes in small groups, but she prefers not to have the husband there except for the last class where she teaches about how to take care of the baby. She also combines two classes into one, so they are extra long. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Caleb would like to be there for all the classes so i'm not sure if this is ideal. I will need to see her next Monday to find out more.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<u>Diana Powell Bodrone</u></h3>
<div>
Diana is recommended by a lot of people on Message, and even the connection I found over Yelp. When I texted her, she was just on her back from vacation or something and was in a taxi. I told her that i would like to speak to her on the phone (wed) but she never responded. On Friday, after i came back from the meeting with Guiliana, i called her phone. She was driving but was very nice and easy to talk to. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Diana is Irish and has been here for 20 years or something and is conventionne and takes carte vitale. She doesnt have her own clinic and lives about an hr away from Paris. For meetings with her patients, she goes to people's houses. She starts at around 6am and ends at around 3pm because she needs to get home to her own three kids. She is registered with Hospital Necker, which is pretty awesome.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Based on our conversation, her strength is the fact that she really understands where a non-french speaking person comes from and is able to empathize and help you with navigating the system. Everyone on the forum says great things about her. I dont know how these courses are going to work though (Group or private in home?) and when i asked her about swimming classes for pregnancy, she told me to check on Message Paris, which kinda sucks because there is zero info on the website.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am going to meet her next Thursday at noon and she's our first choice right now. Hopefully everything will work out.</div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-90859464679184721422016-09-03T13:02:00.003-04:002016-09-03T13:07:03.293-04:00Week 12: My first ultrasoundSo on Tuesday August 23rd I had my first ultrasound to see the baby - finally.<br />
We took bus 92 to Duroc and got off right in front of hospital Necker.<br />
When we went to register, I did not bring any ID or attestation d'herbergement (proof of residence) but the guy was super nice and said i could do it next time i'm there.<br />
We then went into the maternity ward where the reception there processed me for my appointment.<br />
While we were waiting, about 3 other couples also arrived - but it felt pretty empty overall (maybe it's cuz it's August?).<br />
<br />
Caleb asked me if i was going to speak to them in French or English and we got into a slight disagreement. I thought if i spoke with them in French, they might be more apt to provide info but caleb said he wants to understand everything. By the time we got to see the first person (not sure if it's a nurse, doctor, technician or whatever they're called, we haven't really come to an agreement. For the sake of ease i will call him a doctor.<br />
<br />
The first doctor was responsible for asking us all kinds of questions, analyse the documentation i had brought, which included by blood test results, and decide on what additional work i need to have done. He asked me things like how much i weighed (i had no idea) and family history of diseases, etc. He spoke in perfect English and completely understood the need for Caleb to have this conversation in English. He gave me some forms to read and sign after I said I wanted to test for Down's Syndrome (Trimosome 21) and write a prescription for additional blood works that he thinks i needed.<br />
<br />
We went back to the same waiting room after until the ultrasound technician/nurse/doctor was ready for us. This doctor was happy to speak english too, but she was one of those french people who liked to tell you "Il faut apprendre francais" (you must learn french) whenever there's space to slip it in.<br />
<br />
I asked her if she had a weight and found out i was 48kg. I dont think im that much heavier than my regular weight but i definitely look much rounder overall (face, arms, legs, belly, you name it). She went through the list of questions I had and told me I needed to find my own sage-femme - a gyno is not necessary, and that the father's blood type doesnt matter (which is different from other stuff i've read).<br />
<br />
She read my list of illness, and said everything was normal and said if im sick from taking vitamins or folic acid i dont have to worry since i'm in france and there's plenty and a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to provide me with the nutrients i need (yeah right, they have so little variety of veggies here). I don't really like her type of frenchness where they think everything about france is so great, but she's extremely professional and kind in other ways.<br />
<br />
And then it was time to hit the ultrasound machine. I gotta admit, the 8 weeks of puking didnt really make me feel like i cared one way or the other, or even have the realization that there's a living thing inside me, but when i saw the sonogram of the baby and she poked my belly to make it move and turn and kick its legs, it really hit me.<br />
<br />
I used to think people who cry at ultrasounds were crazy, but now i am one of them. My couldn't stop the tears from coming down! And for the rest of the day i couldnt wipe a smile off of my face. I even went to the office after the appointment (which ended at around 11am), as the guy on the phone said it would take 3 hours (we arrived at 8am and our appointment was at 830 so pretty good timing overall).<br />
<br />
After the ultrasound, Caleb asked if we can have a photo and she said she would give it to us because we asked, but she didn't really and we had to wait until the next appointment to pick up the full package of results.<br />
<br />
After this session, we went into the waiting room where the bloodworks are to be done. The girl this time spoke no English at all but she told me that we would be assigned a mid-wife from the hospital, which is completely different from what the ultrasound doctor said - it was really strange.<br />
<br />
After she took my blood, we sat down and made the appointment to come back for the down's syndrome results while the rest of the results would get mailed me to me. The appointment was made for Thursday, August 25th and i was going to also receive my "declaration grossesse" - the three sheets of proof of pregnancy so i can mail them in the assurance maladie and CPAM to receive my benefits.<br />
<br />
When we went back on Thursday, it was the same ultrasound doctor who saw us, gave us a package of results and photocopies of the ultrasound scans, and the down's syndrome results.<br />
<br />
She asked me if i found mid-wife yet, and i told her that the girl who took my blood test said i could get one assigned from the hospital, so she assigned me one who is american but told me i still needed to find my own mid-wife to give me classes and take care of me. She gave me a brochure to find the network of mid-wives in the city and also gave me an appointment for the follow-up with the american midwife, and my next ultrasound at 22 weeks.<br />
<br />
It wasn't until I began my search for mid-wives did i start to get some insight into why she thought it would be better if i found my own.<br />
<br />
Anyway, based on the size of the baby and my date of my last period, they believed that the baby was conceived on June 14th and my due date is March 14th. The earliest the baby could have been conceived was June 15th, so i guess my baby is healthy size.<br />
<br />
Oh and it's also official that i'm at week 12 and 0 days on the day of the appointment i had.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-8624214090494128492016-08-22T06:25:00.000-04:002016-09-03T13:06:08.635-04:00Week 11: Preparing for my first ultrasoundSo after 11 weeks of hell, I'm about to get my first ultrasound tomorrow. I was good yesterday and then at around midnight i started to feel funny, and was up until 3pm when i finally puked and then was able to fall asleep.<br />
<br />
I woke up this morning anxious. Is my appointment today or tomorrow? Crap - i haven't learned about what i'm supposed to expect yet and i need all the stuff listed and translated in french in case they miss something or i dont understand something. Why didn't i do this yesterday instead of laying waste on a couch watching 2 hours of Friends on Netflix when I own the entire DVD set and had even watched all of it with commentary?<br />
<br />
Anyway, so here I am, getting prepped. I've been a bit nervous about not having done an ultrasound or even going to the doctors to get more info since I had gone the one time to get a prescription for a blood test. I havent taken my prenatals cuz i can't stomach it, and ive been looking online and chatting with friends, family, or friends of friends on what to do about my stomach - it feels a bit irresponsible but it feels like even if i went the french way does not care.<br />
<br />
This was confirmed as soon as I googled "First ultrasound France" and this was the first link <a href="http://frenchmamma.com/2012/11/01/first-ultrasound-is-at-12-weeks-in-france-why-go-sooner/">http://frenchmamma.com/2012/11/01/first-ultrasound-is-at-12-weeks-in-france-why-go-sooner/</a><br />
Apparently even if you went out of your way to go, it's kinda pointless. Their attitude is so laissez-faire.<br />
<br />
Here are the things i will need to ask or make sure i do tomorrow:<br />
<br />
1. Make sure to get the "<b>Declaration de grosesse</b>" forms for declaration:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The document is called "<b>Premier examen medical prenatal</b>"</li>
<li>Pink slip + lab result go to <b>Caisse d'assurance maladie</b></li>
<li>2 blue forms go to<b> Caisse d'Allocation Familiales (CAF)</b></li>
<li>Do it within 14 weeks to be reimbursed 100%</li>
</ul>
<br />
2. Determine actual due date of pregnancy (<b>la date prévue d’accouchement</b>)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Last period <b>(dernières règles)</b> was 28th Mai commence</li>
</ul>
<br />
3. Provide all my symptoms (<b>symptômes de grossesse</b>)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>a lot of dry-heaving - at least 5 times a day (<b>avoir des haut-le-cœur au moins 5 fois par jour</b>)</li>
<li>actual throw up 2-3 times week since july (<b>vomir 2-3 fois par semaine depuis juillet</b>)</li>
<li>stomach hurts and burns all the time - symptoms of indigestions and a lot of gas (<b>avoir mal d'estomac, L'ingestion cause des brûlures dans estomac, se sentir ballonnés et avoir davantage de gaz tout le temps, jamais arret)</b></li>
<li>Diarrhea happens but not too often (<b>parfois avoir des coliques/diarrhee</b>)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
4. Ask about<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Down's Syndrome test (<b>si le bébé a la trisomie 21</b>), </li>
<li>abnormalities (<b>s’il existe des anomalies</b>), </li>
<li>risks (<b>les risques maternels et fœtaux</b>)</li>
</ul>
5. Ask about next about appointment/ consultation (<b>consultation prochaine, les autres examens</b>)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>seeing a gynecologist (<b>gynécologue</b>) or a midwife (<b>sage-femme</b>) or obstetrician (<b>gynécologues-obsétriciens</b>)</li>
<li>Low taxoplasmosis antibody - igg and igm (<b>anticorps contre la toxoplasmose</b>)</li>
<li>Presence of infection from my first blood test</li>
<li>Ask about Father's blood type being different (<b>groupe sanguin de Caleb</b>)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
6. Ask about prenatal vitamins (<b>vitamines prénatales</b>)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>thinking about them makes me gag (j'ai essaye de prendres prenatales et acide folique mais j'ai des haut-le-coeur alors j'ai arrete - je veux le faire quand j'en pense)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
7. Provide my medical history: asthma, severe allegy, eczema (atopy triad), a lot of stomachache/indigestion (no known cause)<br />
<ul>
<li><b>triade atopique: </b></li>
<ul>
<li><b>urticaire (grave, quand j'ai chaud and quand je sors de maison, cetirizine)</b></li>
<li><b>asthme (pas souvent, flovent & ventiline)</b></li>
<li><b>eczema (plus depuis grosesse, betaderm)</b></li>
</ul>
<li><b>ingestion, haut le coeur souvent mais pas de diagnostique)</b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
8. Preparation for birth? <b>(Préparation à l’accouchement)</b><br />
<br />
9. Drink lots of water as fluid is needed for ultrasound<br />
<br />
10. Bring my test results!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-66748785455277740402016-08-14T17:22:00.002-04:002016-09-03T13:07:40.517-04:00Week 11: Giving up on counting the daysSo i totally thought three weeks had gone by already and next tuesday would be my check up, except it's still another week after - so you can see how exhausting this pregnancy has been. Everyday feels like forever.<br />
<br />
On Friday, i finally took a folic acid pill of 400 gram and puked immediately after. Yesterday I did not take any because i was queasy all day feeling really terrible. Today i've been okay and have not done any heaving all day...so i took a pill just now at 11pm and the heaving has started again. Looking online a lot of ppl get sick from taking it - i reallly want to just give up on this stuff.<br />
<br />
I looked up the tests that i am supposed to have prior to my ultrasound and it appears that other than the pregnancy test, the doctor didnt miss any other tests i'm supposed to have taken, so that's good. I've also looked up all the other stuff im supposed to have tested when i do my 3 hour appointment with the ultrasound just in case anything is missed - i should learn all the names in french.<br />
<br />
went to see Suicide Squad last night (wanted to see Bad moms) and i didnt feel pukey throughout which made me wonder if my mind just needs to be occupied - but with this folic acid episode i am no longer sure. i wish this were in the 50s and i didnt have to take anything and could eat what i want and drink what i want and smoke what i want (even though i dont smoke) and wouldnt have to work - how nice would that be?Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-62313845122162670852016-08-11T16:07:00.000-04:002016-09-03T13:04:06.433-04:00Week 11: still first trimester - feels like it's never going to end.So i haven't been taking my prenatal vitamin last week because i was feeling so sick. Over the last week i was feeling much better so on monday night i took it. Then it went all downhill from there. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (today) had been non-stop heaving and actually threw up last night in the middle of the night. Every time i eat something and i feel sick after i stop wanting to eat that item, so im starting to really run out of food options to eat. i had read that Popsicle are supposed to help so i went and bought a Popsicle mould. And then yesterday after eating it every time i wanna gag, i now associate popsicles with throwing up. nice.<br />
<br />
i had thought rice, my favourite comfort food would never make me puke, but last night i puked out alll rice. now i cant eat it. the fridge is full of food i made and can't touch again.<br />
<br />
so then i stopped taking my prenatal again, which is pretty bad because im supposed to at least be taking folic acid. i went to the pharmacy on tuesday and picked up just folic acid under the direction of di, and yet i still have yet to take it. im eating regularly but because i feel so terrible 90% of the time, i find it hard to swallow pills.<br />
<br />
my boss keeps lecturing me on making sure i have enough calcium. but i've been having the runs and i couldnt tell if it's from the vitamin or from the milk and yogurt i have with cereal. yesterday while i was on a call, i had to stop the call for 10 minutes while i ran to the bathroom. i spent a few hrs in the grocery store yesterday comparing all the different milk and their calcium and i found lactose free milk, which i had with my cereal this morning. i hope this will solve this.<br />
<br />
im gonna try to make cantonese congee tomorrow to see how it works out. they always say when you start having a child youd want to be closer to home - i hadn't believed this but now i really do. i wish my mom was here taking care of me. as much as ppl around me here try to help, none of them can cook what my mom cooks and caleb definitely cannot cook any chinese food.<br />
<br />
i wake up every morning and i dont want to get up because im so uncomfortable and i know i'll start gagging as soon as i start moving. i keep tellling caleb i wanna rip my upper stomach out cuz it's always hurting, or retire for good so i dont have to get up in the morning. the fear on his face about my retiring is both funny and scary. sigh.<br />
<br />
honestly everyday feels like im passing a year.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-11123040618385980692016-08-08T07:01:00.001-04:002016-09-03T13:03:41.614-04:00Week 10: Maybe I'm i'm in week 9?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6egJ4Eu-3qwbxwuGQh8onvNMRKw9caC19RiyHPGpgo3GGwjEj2Vy8yYWunmZXyIzPLbx__j71HtEi41FmfpgRo8xTW8-KgW_ZIio_bwzxp8bJg9KGcVcrRH5mk7MKcDxs60-oTrBsgaY/s1600/2016-08-08_11-22-25.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6egJ4Eu-3qwbxwuGQh8onvNMRKw9caC19RiyHPGpgo3GGwjEj2Vy8yYWunmZXyIzPLbx__j71HtEi41FmfpgRo8xTW8-KgW_ZIio_bwzxp8bJg9KGcVcrRH5mk7MKcDxs60-oTrBsgaY/s320/2016-08-08_11-22-25.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
Spent a weekend pigging out on chinese food - both bills were 50EUR for each night.<br />
And then i found chatime in paris last night.<br />
been feeling slightly better these days (though still not great).<br />
Went from average of 6 to 8 discomfort to average of 3 to 5 discomfort, sometimes hitting 6 to do some gagging. Not bad.<br />
<br />
Yesterday was hot. Went for a walk and broke out in hives despite taking 20mg of cetirizane. Could be worse.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-29425495122377888112016-08-05T13:26:00.001-04:002016-08-05T13:29:43.616-04:00Pregnancy in Paris - Week 10? Part IISo it's Friday and I got my lab results back. My HCG is insanely high at 191,793 UI/l.<br />
It does explain why i have been feeling so terrible and why everything tastes so terrible and I get up at 4am to vomit.<br />
<br />
I told Dr. Di who says either i have twins (though unlikely cuz it doesnt run in either of our families), it's high for no reason, or I have molar pregnancy, which is 1/1000 chances. But since I am not bleeding vaginally I wont really know until i get my ultrasound at 13 weeks.<br />
<br />
<br />
The blood test only shows that 2-3 month of pregnanyc is between 20k to 200k beta-HCG so there's no way to tell right now exactly how far i am along. But based on the fact my ultrasound was schedule don the 23rd, im probably right in my math (which is rare too..ha!).<br />
<br />
Most of the result i had to interpret on the internet since i am neither a doctor nor french. But overall i dont seem to have any irregularities with the exception that i have a higher than normal polynuceaires neutrophiles, (8.16 where normal is between 1.5 and 7.0), a higher count of titer antibody (21UI/ml where anything above 15 is positive), and seems to be immunodeficient given i have less than 2UI/ml of igg and 0.16 igm where less than 7.5 igg is negative and less than 0.8 igm is negative. The conclusion is that i follow up during the course of pregnancy.<br />
<br />
All this basically points to the fact that i'm either fighting some infection or it's just my autoimmune overreacting - which is not surprising since i have had severe allergy symptoms for the last year. The allergist that my family physician introduced me to isnt available until next May - which is a bit ridiculous. I found another one online but the earliest availability is still 29th of august - after my ultrasound.<br />
<br />
Today has been the first day i havent been feeling super crap, but now that i have eaten something, my mouth is filled with bitterness again, causing me to want to gag. Based on the lab test, my horomone levels wont decresse until im in my second trimester so i guess thats when all this will hopefully subside, if im lucky....man i feel like crapLynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-18218151076512014952016-08-02T07:17:00.001-04:002016-08-05T13:26:31.069-04:00Pregnant in Paris - Week 10? Part IAt this point, I'm about 10 weeks pregnant on August 02, 2016.<br />
<br />
So now the fun begins. I made an appointment with my Generaliste (family/general physician) for August 1. He wrote me a prescription to get my blood test and then gave me a phone number for Necker Hospital, which is a teaching children's hospital in the 15th (I live i the 7th). I was supposed to call for a Suivi Grossesse.<br />
<br />
I went directly to the blood test lab afterwards but because I had eaten, they told me to come back the next day empty stomach and then gave me a two urine jars to put my urine in first thing in the morning. The whole day i was feeling sick and I could hardly drink water, so when I went to pee in the morning at 5:30am i thought this was my chance except i read that i was supposed to provide the urine sample within two hours so i went to the bathroom, took a couple more sips of water and went back to bed. At around 9am, I was hungry but i didnt want to pee, which posed a pretty big dilemma since i can't eat until i get my blood test done, and i can't go until I pee. I was also scared that drinking too much water would dilute my pee. Finally at 10am, everything was done and I headed to the lab.<br />
<br />
The first sign that made me nervous was the nurses, when i was filling out the form, asked me if i'm pregnant. If i am there to do a pregnancy test, why would you ask me? After being asked twice, I started to wonder what's going on. When I went in to do the blood test, the guy asked me again. I was like, well I think im pregnant, but i thought that's what the blood test is for... and he looks at his form to double check and he says...no...there's no list for pregnancy test on the form....this just seems liek a standard test to me.<br />
<br />
.....<br />
<br />
I didnt know how to feel. He told me i can go back to my doctor again to ask for a prescription (ordonnance) for the pregnancy test. I asked him if i can just get it done now anyway, and he said it'll cost about 20 EUR. I said that's fine and then he told me he can charge me tomorrow so that if i get a prescription by today I can pay tomorrow (Since i have to do another blood test tomorrow called groupe faire or something - which i think is a blood type test).<br />
<br />
I got home and tried to book an appointment with my doctor on doctolib.fr, but he's not available today or tomorrow. I called the office and the guy who picked up said he will see what he can do and he would call me back....I'm not expecting a call-back. I emailed my doctor as well, but no response yet. Oh well.<br />
<br />
But this experience did make a nervous about what other stuff he's missing from our consultation. I had asked him if he was going to write an introduction letter to an obstetrician, but he said it wasn't necessary and recommended the Necker hospital for sick kids. After doing some research, i found out that although it is a teaching hospital, it's one of the top pediatrics hospital in france...so i guess thats a good thing?<br />
<br />
Anyway, I got Moira to help me call, just in case i get the run around like i usually do cuz my french is not good and they booked me in for August 23rd - I'll be done my 12 weeks by then. I'm debating on going to see a sector 2 conventionne doctor and pay 100 EUR if i can could get some consultation before then. But most of the doctors are on vacation, so we'll see what happens.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-2652294714189276422016-08-02T06:10:00.004-04:002016-08-02T07:17:33.680-04:00Pregnant in London and Bangalore - Week 1 to 9So it's been a long while since I have updated. This really isn't a formal announcement since I'm not yet 3 months and I shouldnt be telling anyone (who knows what could happen). But I really waned to come back to a space where I can document and remember the dates. So if you're still reading this blog after a year of neglect, you're the first few to know that I'm very likely preggers.<br />
<br />
It started approximately May 27th, 2016 when I thought I had been pregnant and went and bought a home pregnancy test. Alas, I got my period about 1 or 2 days after. Assuming it was the 29th of May, then right now, I'm around 9 weeks right now.<br />
<br />
I left for London on the 15th of June so I'm assuming that I was pregnant between the 15th of June and the 30th of June. I came back to Paris on the 2nd of July to take off to India on the 8th of July.<br />
<br />
Around the 10th of July was when I started to feel like I ate something bad and had mild indigestion symptoms, which lasted all week long. By the 15th of July, my boss went and found me a home pregnancy test in Bangalore and alas - it was almost immediately positive.<br />
<br />
For the next two weeks I was in India, I wanted to puke all the time. Everything gave me stomach pains and i would be rolling around the bed all night long with lower stomach pains from diarrhea and upper stomach pains from indigestion. Not to mention the smells that made me want to puke constantly. Between the terrible detergent they were using at the hotel, the pungent food, and almost every other person having really terrible body odour (especially the women), I wanted to jump off a cliff. I was surrounded by odour every second of the day.<br />
<br />
But I stuck through it all the way to the end and finally returned home on the 30th of July. I think I have serious PTSD from the experience because everything that reminds of India makes me gag these days. When I opened my suitcase to do my laundry, looking at the clothes i brought to india made me gag. The slightest smell of typical india spices like coriander, cumin, and curry, makes me nauseous. Ironically, French body odour no longer bothers me as much.<br />
<br />
<br />Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-75718420363483906462015-12-12T12:48:00.001-05:002015-12-12T13:04:56.127-05:00Comments, Forums, Entitlement, and OffenseIt's be so long since I posted something on here. I suppose it's a combination of being busy with work and mostly being actually old now - it's not really because I don't have thoughts I want to jot down, but mostly because I just don't have the time or the energy to sit down and put in a couple of hours to "think" about matters that are of no importance to life except a simple observation of the human condition.<br />
<br />
Besides the fact that my workload has increased significantly and all I want to do when I get home is sit in bed and watch tv shows, I'm also spending a bit of time doing things like co-running a travel blog with a friend, shopping, and selling my handbags on ebay.<br />
<br />
In fact, I spend way too much time on the Internet in general, reading news and analyses via fb and twitter, watch tv shows, curating my instagram and browsing aimlessly in general. The thing about Internet these days is that what drives content isn't just a writer on a keyboard publishing on a blog or a online news/magazines (although who can tell the difference at this point?), but also the comments and general opinion. Opinions are not just saved for forums anymore, but anyone can say anything when someone writes something.<br />
<br />
For news sites like NPR with a very niched market whose makeup are those who are generally liberal and highly educated, the comments act as a dialogue where most of the time people are debating using very relevant data, stats, experience, and logic. I often find those dialogues enlightening and they sometimes change my opinion or widens my understanding of something after reading them through.<br />
<br />
For news publications like NYT, you still have a pretty good base of educated, thoughtful, and caring people, but they have a much wider readership and often times you do have to sift through some garbage opinions.<br />
<br />
For gossip columns like People magazine (which is now more similar to Apple Daily in HK & TW, posting a bunch of sensationalized crimes), a majority of the comments are pretty garbage, though entertaining, when not outright anger-inducing.<br />
<br />
But in general, I think the intelligence of the comments don't always have anything to do with education and has everything to do with a culture of entitlement. For example, almost a year ago (I think) I read an opinion piece on the NYT that resonated with me pretty strongly. This woman was describing a day when a guy who refused to keep a door opened for her and her stroller and she was not upset at the guy, but was upset at the culture of mothers who believe that their children, and what their children experiences should always come before other people.<br />
<br />
I can no longer find this article, but what resonated with me was her point about mothers buying ginormous comfortable strollers in NYC where space is limited, and goes about ruining other people's day by hitting ppl with it and taking up too much space unabashedly.<br />
<br />
I recall reading the article and nodding furiously because of my experiences with people who have children who they think they deserve to accommodated without having to even politely ask first (e.g., taking my seat on a flight and then tell me to sit elsewhere cuz they have a toddler, someone complaining no one in Toronto lets his child have a seat on the bus when he never asked anyone to get up)<br />
<br />
The idea here is not that one does not want to be nicer to a person with a young child, but that the parents believe that they deserve it and expect it and get upset if they don't get their way.<br />
<br />
Most of the comments in the article were so illogical that I can't even remember any of them, except for one, which really stuck with me because of its level of ridiculousness. This woman commented saying that she spent years trying to get pregnant and after she has finally succeeded, she will now buy whatever it is that she wants and as big and comfortable as she wants for her celebration, and she is offended that the author tried to take away from that experience.<br />
<br />
WTF?<br />
<br />
So because it took you five years to get pregnant, you "deserve" to buy a ginormous stroller and not be considerate of those people around you? Talk about false attributions! What does having a big stroller have anything to do with taking long to get knocked up? How does <i>not</i> having a big stroller take away your experience of raising a child???<br />
<br />
Where do these entitlements come from?<br />
<br />
When I am buying or selling items on ebay, I go to the the purse forum to read about people's experiences, and there's obviously multiple threads on the ebay sub-forums complaining about buyers on ebay. Some of them are legitimate complaints but some of them are pretty entitled.<br />
<br />
When you sell something and you list a price for the item and enable "Best Offer," why would you complain about someone making an offer below your expectations? Why is it considered "<b><i>rude</i></b>" if someone offers you a price 50% off of your listed price? It's not personal, it's business!<br />
<br />
If you don't want to sell it at the price, then reject it. "Oh what if i get a lot of bad offers and it's just a waste of my time to have to reject it" one might say. Well first of all, if you are getting a lot of low offers, maybe your price is much higher than demand. Second of all, eBay even allows you to set an auto-reject number, what exactly do you have to complain about???<br />
<br />
What are you entitled to here, exactly? That the buyer can read your mind about your lowest price you are willing to sell your bag for? That you should be able to sell your USED item at a price you believe the item is worth without anyone suggesting otherwise?<br />
<br />
At what point is someone being offended legitimately and at what point is someone just offended from a wrong sense of entitlement?<br />
<br />
Am I being entitled because I'm complaining about all these people complaining? Wouldn't it just be easier not to read comments? Probably.<br />
<br />
Btw, an unrelated thought from reading those terrible comments: I would never call my own child a miracle, unless the child becomes a quantum astrophysicist with a nobel peace price, because it would be a miracle for me to raise a child that brilliant and loving.<br />
<br />
Also, quantum astrophysicist is probably not even a real thing, but I have no idea.Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-73779857982530753762014-10-21T06:33:00.001-04:002015-01-27T06:47:30.799-05:00In Search for Best ActiveSync Exchange Client for Android<b>Note: Last update Jan 27, 2015 - all apps are still being tested - not complete - also the apps keep updating!</b><br />
Ever since I moved away from Blackberry, I've been feeling a void in my heart whenever I reply to work emails off office hours on my phone. I'm not gonna lie, Android just doesn't cut it when it comes to work emails. It's fantastic for everything else, but it pales in comparison against BES - and we're not just talking keyboard availability - things like being able to online search the exchange server for emails not sync'ed to your phone, send/accept/decline/propose new dates on meeting invites, and best of all, turn on and off Out of Office. Of course, BB mail isn't without its downsides - I like the idea of enabling HTML in emails, but it just wasn't designed to do this, but it was something I liked.<br />
<br />
The native email client on the Samsung S5 is not very good at all so I've been searching for better ones. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any blogs that spell out the pros and cons of Exchange Email Clients using Activesync. Thus I have to test them out myself and see what's the best.<br />
<br />
Here are are the things I look for in an Exchange Email Client<br />
<ul>
<li>Syncs Email up to a month</li>
<li>Syncs Contacts and searches contacts online and finds exchange when composing email</li>
<li>Syncs Calendar [I use an application call Business Calendar instead of S Planner]</li>
<li>Ability to Accept/Decline a meeting invitation</li>
<li>Signature (rich formatting preferable)</li>
<li>Rich formatting when composing Email</li>
<li>Grouping by conversation </li>
<li>Custom notification</li>
<li>Online Search Server for unsynced emails</li>
<li>Out of Office feature</li>
<li>Widget Interface</li>
<li>Overall usability </li>
</ul>
<div>
My review on the Android Exchange ActiveSync clients below.</div>
<h2>
Nine</h2>
<div>
<span style="color: red;"><b>I'm currently having issues with Push notification (not being pushed)! Nine Support is telling me that Push is not being enabled but it is working for my other email clients -.-;;</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<b>Pros</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Syncs Email up to a month (up to all your un-archived Email)</li>
<li>Syncs Contacts and finds exchange when composing email</li>
<li>Syncs Calendar </li>
<li>Ability to Accept/Decline a meeting invitation</li>
<li><b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Signature with rich formatting </span></b></li>
<ul>
<li>only bold, underline, italic </li>
</ul>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>Rich formatting when composing Email</b></span></li>
<ul>
<li>only bold, underline, italic</li>
</ul>
<li>Grouping by conversation: </li>
<ul>
<li>great interface</li>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>in speech bubble for emails that are synced</b></span></li>
</ul>
<li>Widget Interface</li>
<ul>
<li>can select specific account and folder to view during set up of widget</li>
<li>can click on top and app opens up</li>
<li>can compose email</li>
</ul>
<li>Overall usability:</li>
<ul>
<li>when composing email, you can:</li>
<ul>
<li><b><span style="color: blue;">set priority</span></b></li>
<li>include signature</li>
<li>edit edit</li>
<li>tracking (delivery/read receipt)</li>
<li>include quoted text</li>
<li>undo/redo button</li>
<li><b><span style="color: blue;">reply inline (edit quoted text)</span></b></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Swift and responsive customer support</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Cons</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Out of office is only for Exchange Server 2003</li>
<li>Online search for unsynced email only on Exchange Server 2007+</li>
<li>Rich Formatting:</li>
<ul>
<li>No bullets or colours</li>
</ul>
<li>Grouping by conversation</li>
<ul>
<li>only emails that are synced</li>
</ul>
<li>Widget Interface</li>
<ul>
<li>can choose account and folder only when setting up, can't edit later </li>
<li>would need to delete and reset up to change folder viewing</li>
<li>cannot edit size of viewable font</li>
</ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;"><strike>No custom notification</strike></span></b></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><b>Cost $10-$20 (it's on sale for half price atm)</b></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Other Notes</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Does not sync gmail, yahoo, but that doesn't bother me</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
MailWise </h2>
<div>
<b>Pro:</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Syncs E-mail up to a month (up to all your un-archived emails)</li>
<li>Syncs Contacts and finds exchange when composing email</li>
<li>Syncs Calendar</li>
<li>Ability to Accept/Decline a meeting invitation (pretty good)</li>
<li>Signature but no rich text</li>
<li>Grouping by conversation</li>
<ul>
<li>will show in list and you can click to go to original individual email (finnicky)</li>
<li><b><span style="color: blue;">will show older emails that's not synced in conversation list </span></b>but cannot reply to the emails</li>
</ul>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>Custom notification</b></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>can choose ringtone and vibration</b></span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>can set night time silence</b></span></li>
</ul>
<li>Widget Interface</li>
<ul>
<li>can choose account and folder to view during set up of widget</li>
<li>can compose email</li>
<li>click on top and app opens up</li>
<li>number to show unread emails</li>
</ul>
<li>Overall usability </li>
<ul>
<li>Easy to reply, reply all and forward</li>
<li><span style="color: blue;"><b>additional search filters: all, to, from, subject, body</b></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Pro:</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>No out of office</li>
<li>No Online Search Server for unsynced emails</li>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">No rich text for body or signature</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Cannot edit inline (cannot edit quoted text)</span></b></li>
<li>Widget Interface</li>
<ul>
<li>can choose account and folder only when setting up, can't edit later </li>
<li>would need to delete and reset up to change folder viewing</li>
<li>cannot edit size of viewable font</li>
</ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Grouping by conversation is finnicky</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li>sometimes you can't reply to an older email in a conversation</li>
<li>workaround: search for the email</li>
</ul>
<li>Delete button on the top deletes entire conversations, not just single email</li>
<ul>
<li>you can delete single emails by going to the original email but if all the older emails are in conversation you can only delete original conversation. </li>
<li>I would avoid deleting altogether in these cases where you're not sure the whole conversation is going to get deleted</li>
</ul>
<li>Ads</li>
</ul>
<div>
<h2>
Cloudmagic</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div>
No Calendar sync so not an option.</div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-13247546428407282722014-07-23T08:18:00.001-04:002014-10-21T06:35:46.042-04:00The Justification of TravellingI'm really tired of reading posts and shares on my Facebook page exalting travelling, talking about why it's important to travel and how great it is. <br />
<br />
Maybe it's because I've already had my fill of travelling and I have the opportunity to travel that I think this way, but maybe it's because I find none of these posts understand how lucky people are to be able to travel.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Travelling is a Luxury.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Travelling is a Consumption.</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Travelling is ALMOST ALWAYS Selfish</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(unless you are a humanitarian doing work to help others)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I am not arguing that learning about different culture and adding to your life experience is a problem. But you can learn about cultures and add to your experience without travelling, just as you can travel and not learn about culture nor add value to your life experience beyond, "been there done that." </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What I really find problematic are the ways people travel, the reasoning behind people's travels and, most importantly, what I hate the most, is what people are adding to the propaganda of travelling.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
No one can define for an individual how they should travel or how much they should travel. So before you start quitting your job or spend all your money so you can backpack across the world to learn about yourself, please consider the following:</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
How are you going to travel? via an airplane or a boat or a car? Because everything I just named means carbon footprints.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
What are you giving back to society and what are you taking away from the society when you travel? </div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
Who is benefitting from the travels? What is being lost?</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
What are your goals when you travel? Do you NEED to travel in order to achieve your goals? Did you actually achieve your goal after you travelled?</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
North Americans have this ridiculous notion of travelling: the more you travel the better you are as a person.<br />
The reality? You can learn anywhere. You can widen your perspective through doing anything. If you are willing. <br />
<br />
Again, I'm not saying don't travel. I'm not trying to be a hypocrite. I travel a lot and I'm extremely grateful for my ability to do this. I love travelling (most people do) but I understand that it's a consumption slightly better than buying expensive purses. You don't HAVE TO travel.<br />
<br />
Travel, if you want. <br />
<br />
But don't go around telling people that it's more than what it really is: a vain and luxurious entertainment. There's no justification for consumption beyond personal gain.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
</ol>
</div>
Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-43973538168200608692014-07-11T08:49:00.003-04:002014-10-21T06:56:47.038-04:00In Pursuit of Un-UnhappinessIn a world where a person is not oppressed and abused by another power, where food, water, shelter are abundant, and quality of life is superb, why are there still unhappy people? Where does unhappiness stem from?<br />
<br />
I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. Ironically it is not because I am unhappy; it is actually because I have currently found peace in my life. Beyond the mundane first world problems that I like to incessantly broadcast to my boyfriend and my best friends, I am beyond grateful for what I have and where I am in life, both physically and abstractly. But this is not a show-off post wherein I describe my insignificant personal achievements to make myself feel better about myself, because people who are happy and at peace don't need to be validated by others. What is this post about? I'm not sure yet, but I feel like I have something to say.<br />
<br />
I have learned that happiness and unhappiness are not mutually exclusive. Either can be an emotion or a state of being. You can be in a state of unhappiness but feel momentarily happy about something (I am deeply unhappy with the way my life is, but I just bought a new car). Or you can be in a state of happiness but feel unhappy temporarily about something (I love everything about my life but oops I just crashed my new car). <br />
<br />
So yes, you can be happy and unhappy at the same time, but only if one is a state (I am, deep inside, always) and the other is an emotion (I feel, right now, and maybe for a little while longer).<br />
<br />
<strong>But it is much easier to detect and understand your emotions, and harder to pinpoint your state.</strong><br />
<strong>Therefore it is easy to change your emotions, but it is difficult to change a state of being.</strong> <br />
<br />
In the spectrum of the most unhappy state to the most happy state, most of us probably sit somewhere in between. And a lot of us have no idea where exactly we sit, especially when many people mistaken their emotion to be a state (I just bought a new car and a new house, I must be happy). On top of which, what makes up happiness for each individual is different and no one can actually tell you what will make you happy. So how does one know if you are happy or not happy, and if you don't know, do you need to bother to pursuit happiness?<br />
<br />
Whoa - now things sound way more complex than it needs to be. Defining happiness is near impossible for most of us. We can list a million things that makes us happy, and if we did achieve those things, would we truly be happy? This self-awareness thing is way too complicated.<br />
<br />
The way I see it, is that we gotta take baby steps.<strong> The pursuit of happiness is too hard - who really knows what can make you happy? But the pursuit of ensuring you are not unhappy </strong>or the pursuit of <em>un-unhappiness</em>: much easier. I am not talking sitting around refusing things that I think makes me feel unhappy (eating a celery stick, having conversations with French people), but I'm talking about taking action to change things. I did say it was a pursuit, did I not?<br />
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I don't know what makes me happy. But I will do things to change my unhappiness. And you know what, the more I think about it, the easier it seems to pinpoint the root of unhappiness stems from:<br />
<ul>
<li><strong>Cowardice:</strong> fear and excess self-concern override doing or saying what is right, good </li>
<li><strong>Greed:</strong> desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.</li>
<li><strong>Denial:</strong> when faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence</li>
<li><strong>Laziness:</strong> disinclination to activity or exertion (making changes) despite having the ability to do so</li>
<li><strong>Intolerance: </strong>unwillingness or refusal to consider, tolerate or respect contrary or different opinions or beliefs</li>
<li><strong>Lack of Introspection:</strong> the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings and trying to understand them</li>
</ul>
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The above are all standard dictionary definitions and you can EASILY see why these characteristics could make a person be in a perpetual state of unhappiness. Next time if you are unhappy with your life, try asking yourself:<br />
<ul>
<li>What am I scared of? Should I be scared? Maybe I need to be brave and do what I believe is right. Be brave.</li>
<li>Do I want too much? Do I have enough? Why don't I have enough? Be satisfied.</li>
<li>Am I in denial? Be honest - with yourself and with others.</li>
<li>What action can I take to change things? Am I making a change when I can because I am in denial or because I'm scared or just lazy? Be proactive.</li>
<li>Does what I can't stand affect me negatively? Should allow it to affect me? Is it even in my control to change what is happening? Be accepting and try to change your own perspective.</li>
<li>Why do I feel this way? Why do I think this way? Be critical of your thoughts</li>
</ul>
I'm not an expert in therapy and I don't expect anyone to do something just because I tell them to. I am not better than anyone else. And I am constantly working away these roots of unhappiness. My biggest problem is acceptance and tolerating thing when they don't agree with me. And it does make me unhappy.<br />
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But for the most part, because I am making an effort every day all the time, I have peace. And I deeply believe introspection, critical thinking, and most of all, honesty has been the most rewarding for me - because they usually lead to action. Sometimes unnecessary honesty can bring unhappiness, but lying will always bring unhappiness. And if you are don't make an effort to be honest with yourself and with others, you will always be unhappy. <br />
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<br />Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3391012640042223139.post-62074742698095669122014-04-13T18:54:00.001-04:002014-04-13T19:43:13.100-04:00Paris Chinese Grocery - BellevilleBack to <a href="http://lynnism.blogspot.fr/2014/03/paris-asian-supermarkets.html" target="_blank">List of Asian Supermarket areas</a><br />
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So there are two major "Chinese Zones" in Paris. The first is in the <a href="http://lynnism.blogspot.fr/2014/03/ParisGrocery13th.html" target="_blank">13th</a> and the most popular, mostly run by the Chinese who were born in Vietnam or Laos, and the second is in <a href="http://goparis.about.com/od/parisneighborhoods/p/belleville_profile.htm" target="_blank">Belleville</a>, right next or sometimes known within the "dangerous" areas of Gare de l'Est where the majority of the Northern and subsaharan Africans reside and do business. I quoted "dangerous" because it is what all the Parisians tell me so I heed their warnings and do not go at night - I haven't seen anything dangerous in any of the 10th, 11th, 19th, or 20th - Belleville is the centre of where these arrondisements/districts meet. Indeed, this area is known for its cheap rent for immigrants and the working class. I'm not saying that this area isn't dangerous (in Jan 2014 a ton of prostitutes were arrested in the Chinatown there) but it's quite busy during the day and brimming in colour from the graffitis on the walls and the colour of the people so you kinda grow into invisibility amongst the crowd - whether you think that's dangerous or not is to each's interpretation. I did go there on a Sunday and there are a TON of prostitutes there. A little creepy....<br />
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I do like the grocery stores here in comparison to the 13th, as there are more Chinese things such as frozen dumplings for boil.<br />
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Anyway, the Chinatown in Belleville sprouted in the 1980s, stemming from by the large population of WenZhou, China immigrants. In 2000, according to this <a href="http://ocah.org.tw/%E5%AD%B8%E8%A1%93%E5%BA%A7%E8%AB%87/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E5%A4%A7%E9%99%B8%E7%A7%BB%E6%B0%91%E6%BD%AE%E5%BA%A7%E8%AB%87%E6%9C%83/%E6%96%B0%E7%A7%BB%E6%B0%91%E7%A6%8F%E5%B7%9E%E4%BA%BA%E5%9C%A8%E7%BE%8E%E5%9C%8B%E8%88%87%E6%BA%AB%E5%B7%9E%E4%BA%BA%E5%9C%A8%E6%B3%95%E5%9C%8B%E4%B9%8B%E5%BD%B1%E9%9F%BF/" target="_blank">webpage on Chinese immigrants</a>, there were 130 thousand Chinese people from WenZhou in Paris:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 24px;">所以從1990年代開始,溫州人把經濟活動向巴黎的美麗城街(Rue de Belleville)開闢一個新的溫州人經濟活動區。美麗城街位於巴黎十區、十一區和十九區的交會處,原來是阿拉伯移民聚集區,屬於巴黎有名的落後貧窮地區,社會秩序相當混亂。</span></blockquote>
Starting from 1990s, the immigrants from Wenzhou, China moved their economic activities towards Paris's Belleville, to open a new economic activity centre for them. Belleville is the intersection of 10th, 11th, and 19th district of Paris, originally an immigrant centre for the Arabs, belonging to infamous Parisian high-poverty neighbourhood, full of social problems .<br />
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According to <a href="http://www.rendezvousfrance.com/chine.html">http://www.rendezvousfrance.com/chine.html</a><br />
<blockquote>
In the mid 1980's, another Chinatown sprouted in another part of Paris: Belleville, in the northeastern section of the city. Belleville, which was the home of Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier, has been for the longest time the neighborhood where new immigrants would settle. You can still find Jewish tailors and Armenian shoemakers; more recently, Arabs and Africans moved in. In the summer, rue Rebeval feels like Cholon, the Chinese open air market in Saigon.</blockquote>
And there are quite a number of chinese grocery stores here, opened by the Chinese from WenZhou. Some of which are opened on Sundays and closed on Mondays (although the laws keep changing).<br />
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As soon as you get out of the Belleville metro stop, you are in the intersection between Rue de Belleville and Bd de Belleville. In fact, you are in between the 10th and the 20th arrondisement!!<br />
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On the west side (left arrow on my map above) of the metro stop is <b><u>Chen Market</u></b>, situated on rue de vilette Their Chinese name though is China Red (中國紅)and they seem really new. I tried googling in French, Chinese, English and nothing came up about them besides a deleted wanted Ad in a Chinese forum site, which would explain why the inside is extremely clean and bright and organized, but not all the shelves are filled.<br />
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Their produce section is outside and full of fresh asian vegetables. There are some herbs in the fridge on the inside. There is also a fresh seafood area and a fresh butcher area in the very back. I checked frozen dumplings to boil in water - a good variety for Paris standard. I was quite impressed. They are opened Tuesdays to <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Sundays</span></b> - yes you heard right SUNDAYS! All day!...well until 7pm or 8pm or something, and a awesome place to shop for asian groceries on a Sunday.<br />
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On the other end of rue de belleville, is a long street with 3-4 supermarkets (east end).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyfOy-yXiQwYD7gCrG3XgJGoi_ZoMJfTeHkFRc3Cln7GCaw2NDp6jcFwhqjBIJDL4PK4hTcJ-J2-_aqJWYW5lciGh5xWa9EwsLgWEI4yUbusOy3LThfNHvXA4UwvI3dx8Kx50hh8EfBA/s1600/IMG-20140412-00196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyfOy-yXiQwYD7gCrG3XgJGoi_ZoMJfTeHkFRc3Cln7GCaw2NDp6jcFwhqjBIJDL4PK4hTcJ-J2-_aqJWYW5lciGh5xWa9EwsLgWEI4yUbusOy3LThfNHvXA4UwvI3dx8Kx50hh8EfBA/s1600/IMG-20140412-00196.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>The first one you will encounter is called Supermarche Univ-Fresh, or what used to be known as Wing An Supermarche. It's a bit confusing on this one because on Google Maps from 2012 the English Sign is wing an, which matches the Chinese name that has never changed (永安商場).<br />
<b><u>Supermarche Univ-Fresh</u></b><br />
永安商場<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7e8c8d; font-family: 微软雅黑; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">9 Rue de Belleville </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7e8c8d; font-family: 微软雅黑; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">75020 Paris</span><br />
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Across the street, is Supermarche Bonjour, or more popularly known as 新温州超市. It took me forever to find out it's French/English name as the name was not on the sign and all the references are in Chinese (they don't exist on the internet either!). I believe they have a counterpart store in the 3rd arrondisement, but I haven't checked it out yet. This one is also open on <b><span style="font-size: large;">Sundays</span></b>! At the moment of writing, this one is much smaller in scale than Chen Market, but is fully stocked and I did find items that did not exist in the Chen Market. This one is way old too. Also dumplings!<br />
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<b><u>Supermarche Bonjour</u></b><br />
新温州超市<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 21.49333381652832px;">10 Rue de Belleville, 75020 Paris, France</span><br />
<nobr style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 21.49333381652832px;">+33 1 40 33 08 88</nobr><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Right next to Supermarche Bonjour, is another smaller supermarket not opened on Sundays: Supermarche Les Quatres Saisons. I did not get a chance to go in, but I really didn't need to because the other two already had everything I was looking for. I think they have a counterpart at in the 3rd too.</span><br />
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<b><u>Supermarche Les Quatres Saisons</u></b><br />
新中華商場<br />
12 Rue de Belleville 75020<br />
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And then down the street a little bit more, there's another one called Les Halles de l'Asie, which is really small inside and on the outside has the veggies too.<br />
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<b><u>Les Halles de l'Asie</u></b><br />
新今日超級市場<br />
<span class="street-address" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease; background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition: all 0.5s ease;">12 Rue de Belleville</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span class="postal-code" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease; background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition: all 0.5s ease;">75020</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><br />
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So now, we take a different direction when we come out of Belleville - towards Boulavard de la Vilette. First one on your right, is going to be Paris Store and then going down the street further, across the blvd, is ANOTHER Paris Store - on the same street, except in a different arrondisement...of course...<br />
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<b><u>Paris Store </u></b><br />
巴黎士多
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<ul>
<li>5 Boulevard de la Villette 75010 Paris</li>
<li>10-12 Boulevard de la Villette 75019 Paris</li>
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And then down the street a little more at the next intersection is Wing Seng Supermarche. It's a big one. I didn't go in. Closed on Sundays.<br />
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<b><u>Wing Seng Supermarche</u></b><br />
<b><u>永盛百貨商場</u></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">2 Rue Rebeval 75019 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;"><br /></span>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462137788748061587noreply@blogger.com0