IVF Success Story in Malaysia

Dear Readers and Followers,

My new blogspot :IVF success story in Malaysia has been uploaded and up and running. Thank you for those who has contributed their information and I am very pleased with their 'sharing' spirit! 

I am still doing some research and still yet to post some other success stories. I hope the medical background/history in treatments of these successful couple will be able to assist or serve as guideline for those with the same problem or currently undergoing treatment.

K, the little princess

We went for a day trip to Port Dickson months ago. K, the little princess cried and refused to get her feet and hands dirty.

We made another trip to Port Dickson few weeks ago and this time, we are all prepared with the princess. She was all geared up with the booths from UK from her cousin and we prepared buckets of water for her to wash her hands. At the end, she enjoyed herself a little bit better than the last time.

The twins are 2

We have little celebration party arranged for the twins for their 2nd birthday last Saturday. No professional photographers, no caterer, no expensive cakes. We just have a little BBQ (food prepared by myself), a friend helped to take photos and the twins love their cake. The cupcakes were made by aisha.

IVF Success Rate In Malaysia

After talking, welcoming childless couples to my home and reading all other blogs about couples who are trying to get pregnant or has successfully got pregnant, I realised that all those childless couples out there are most interested to know the following:-

1. How many years you have been trying?

2. What is yours or spouse's problem?

3. Who is your doctor or clinic you have visited?

4. What procedure you have gone through?

5. How many failures before success?

6. How much does it cost?

Then, I was thinking, maybe I should do some research and start a blog called 'IVF Success Rate in Malaysia". The information of those who has successful upgraded their status from childless to handful or just got pregnant should share some of the above information and the information can serve as a reference to others who are going to embark onto their infertility treatment journey.

To my kind readers/followers,

If you are of the above status, could you kindly answer the following questions and forwarded the reply to me via acbm123@gmail.com. Your assistance is very much appreciated.

1. General Information :

• Age Group : late 20's/early 30's/late 30's/early 40's
• Married for :     years
• Currently pregnant : Yes/No
• No. of children :

2. Treatment/Medical Background

• Husband : Nil/Low Sperm Count/Other (to specify)
• Wife : Endometriosis/ Polyp/PCOS/Other (to specify)
• Name of Doctor/Clinic:
• Type of Treatment : IF/IUI
• No.of trial prior to success:
• Approx. cost spent:
• Total of eggs retrieved
• Total  of embryos developed:

3. Further information (if available and do not mind being contacted (if you have no blogspot):

• Blogspot :
• Email address :

Simplied Version of 'Croque-Monsieur'

This is a very simple, quick to make meal.

Ingredients:

3 slices of bread
1 egg
1 piece of ham
1 piece of cheese
mixed herbs
pepper
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut a hole in the middle of 2 slices of bread (hole to be smaller than the size of ham or cheese)
2. Layer the bread. Bottom piece with no hole, then, put the layer of ham and cheese, top with the 2 slices of breads (with hole in the middle).
3. Crack an egg and drop it in the hole.
4. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and mixed herbs to taste.
5. Toast in a pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius, cook for 10 mins or till the egg cooked to the texture that you like.

My children love this, so I will put on a lower heat to make sure the egg is properly cooked and the bread is not too burnt!

The Big Bad Wolf 'Aftermath' Sale

So, If you have been to the Big Bad Wolf Sale, check this out;  the 'Aftermath' sale. The sale, organised following the Big Bad Wolf sale, will offer over 300,000.00 of books all priced at under RM5. These includes best-seller, hardcover novels and coffeetable books. The books cover all genres - from fiction to biographies, graphic novels and manga, children, cooking and history.

The sale will be held from 24 Nov - 28 Nov at South City Plaza, Seri Kembangan.

So remember to mark your calender and the enjoy the crazy bargain!

Another Success Rate (6)

Congratulation to Hubby and Me, she is Dr.Prashant's patient with polyps problem and husband with low sperm count but that does not stop them for having a dream to have their child one day. Last Friday, she has her beta test done and the result is 'Yes'!!!!!

Well done, may God bless your pregnancy journey!

Congratulation

Remember? my earlier post about my blog follower gave me a fridge. She is not Dr. Prashant's patient but got pregnant and has recently gave birth to a little baby girl on 27th Oct.

Congratulation, PJ! Hope you recover well and bless the health and growth of your little angel!

Another Success Rate (5)

Mingzy, she is one of my blog follower. She has been trying to get pregnant for 5 years and has recently gone 'missing' for couple of months. Today, I happened to read her post and............ she is pregnant. She is Dr. Prashant's patient. She has 1 failure of IUI attempt but amazingly, got pregnant naturally!!! Like her blog title, wishing for an angle and Angel has knocked her door finally.

Well done and congratulation. A true miracle!

Do drop by her blogWishing for an angle and read her story.

Another Success Rate (4)

This is a beyond success case of successfully got pregnant. J, she has just given birth to the twins, 2 lovely boys, born on the 2nd Nov. Welcome to the world, boys!

She is one of my blog reader, we chatted, we met for lunch. She is also Dr. Prashant's patient. First trial and successfully got pregnant.

picture take from:bullfrogsandbutterfliesphotography.com

God, please bless your journey to recovery and the health of the boys!

Helping Your Child Get Over Thumb-Sucking

This is the article published in the Parenthood-Nov 2011 issue of magazine. According to the magazine, thumb-sucking is a completely natural act of self-soothing that many babies begin when they are still in the womb. But while an infant sucking his thumb may look sweet and innocent, a five-year old son sucking his thumb may become the object of pity or ridicule.

Most doctors agree that thumb-sucking is relatively harmless in the early years of childhood. In fact, if you make too big of a deal of it before age four and try to get your child to stop, your efforts may backfire and cause him or her to want to do it even more. Most children eventually stop this habit on their own. However, if the thumb-sucking continues past age four or five, a child runs the risk of developing dental or speech problems.

I do not have problem with my boys, they do not have thumb-sucking habit and gave up their pacifier at the age of 3 months. My daughter never get into the habit of sucking on a pacifier but the problem is, she is the thumb-sucking child! She sucks her thumb when she is hungry, sleepy or bedtime. This is what they call sucking for comfort.

Way to help them to stop thumb-sucking as suggested:-

1. give them something to do with their hands

2. find way to soothe themselves when they are nervous or sleepy

3.Teach them to rub her fingers together with her thumb in a rhythmic, circular motion; or rub her temple or cheek with her forefinger

4. wrap her thumb in bandage or piece of gauze

5. apply special non-toxic thumb coating or a bitter-tasting substance like vinegar

The magazine also suggested that we should not humiliate the child but give plenty of praise or set up reward system when the child do without any thumb-sucking for a day.

I have personally tried method 1,2,4 and 5. None of them really work on her. There are other cruel suggestion like apply chilly on the thumb. I won't tried that, we, ourselves, sometimes struggle too, eating that red hot chilly, can't do that to a child. However, I have tried the 'minyak angin'. At first, she smelled and stop sucking on it but the next minute, she continued to suck like it was so tasty. So, nothing work for me so far. 

So, have you try any other method and has effectively stop your child from thumb-sucking. You are welcome to share.

I heard from some of the grown ups who have previously got into this habit, some said they actually still doing it quietly and secretly and some only managed to get rid of the habit in their 20's!! Gosh, I hope this would not happen to my girl.

Doing his Big Brother's Duty

Last Saturday, Jack said he wants to feed his little brother milk. Yes, I know his little brother is no longer little, but they have fun. Sometime, it is good to see them being nice to each other!

Cornflake and Raisin Cookies

Children love them. Again, this is the recipe from AnncooJournal
Ingredients:
250g Butter
175g Icing sugar
1 Egg
1tsp Vanilla powder
350g Plain flour
1 tsp Baking powder
160g Cornflakes (crushed)
50g Black currant


Method:

• Combine plain flour, baking powder and vanilla powder together with the crushed cornflakes and black currant, set aside.
• Cream butter, egg and icing sugar together till white.
• Pour in all the plain flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.
• Use spoon to scoop the mixture on to the baking tray.
• Bake at 180C for about 15 mins.
  
  

Roast Pork (Siew Yok)

Yummy yummy, gone in minutes! I followed the recipe from AnncooJournal


The receipe :-
1kg Pork belly (best with a little more fats) ~ clean, dry & cut into half

1/2 tbsp Coarse sea salt

1/2 tbsp Sugar

1/2 tbsp Five spice powder

1 tbsp Rice wine (Shaoxing or White rice wine)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined

Method:

• Score the flesh part (not the skin) of the pork belly lightly in diagonal lines and rub in the marinade well.
• Place the marinated side down on a container so it can sit and absorb the flavors.
• Use a skewer or satay stick to poke repeatedly on the skin, then rub more salt on the skin only.
• Marinate the pork belly uncovered for several hours or overnight in the fridge so that the skin will dry completely.
• When ready to cook, pat dry if there is any moisture left on the skin and place pork in the middle of the oven. Remember to place a foil and pan underneath to enable fat to drip into the pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 45 mins then switch temperature to 200C for another 20 mins.
• The skin will get slightly burnt and charred.
• Once cooked, remove pork from oven, scrape off any burnt parts with  knife ( and leave to rest for 10 mins before chopping

Cooking

I am never a very adventurous cook. Most meals are simple and easy to prepare type of cooking. Our Filipino maids, they are not really good cook. When I discussed with my friends about the maids' cooking, they asked me whether I noticed or not, there are hardly any Filipino restaurants around. Yeah! that's explained whey their cooking are not the best. 

I usually prepared western meal for dinner includes chops, steaks, pasta, fish and occasionally 1 night with fried noddles or tom yam noddles. I cook rice and dishes mostly on Saturday and Sunday. The children's meals are mainly cook by the maids. They usually have rice or porridge with some meat, vegetables or soup and sometimes some simple western food like nuggets, fish and chips or sausages.

I started to be more adventurous when Jack started asking about making cupcakes and bring to school for his friends. I started with cupcakes, then muffin, then cookies, jelly, pudding, then finally ventured into other Western, Chinese dishes or anything that interest me, or the cooking method is not so complicated or the ingredients are not too difficult to find. I started this most probably 2 months ago. I started to have interest in recipe posted on blogs or website. 

I have previously done some other cooking but have forgotten to take some photos of them. However, last Sunday, I tried the roast pork (siew yok), so easy to make and also, a successful one! Then, I decided to make the cornflakes, raisin cookies, too! All Successful! Children loved them, maids and husband approved the roast pork. What can I say more! A very satisfied mother and wife!

So, I am going to share some of these recipes, which I have tried ( approved it) in separate posting. Hopefully, some mothers out there could have a go and enjoy the compliment from your children or family when it is a success case! Also, enjoy the moment to be able to do things with the children like making cupcakes or decorating the cakes!

Should you keep secret about your IVF treatment?

I have kept my IVF treatment as a secret for quite some years. I only revealed this to a few family members and close friends, and to people who read my blog. I do not know why I do that, most probably with the perception that people will react by saying"oh, no wonder! so long got no children". I guess people may have figured out why I got the twins but some people will still asked me "do you have any 'twins' history in yours or husband's family?"

A few months back, Dr. Prashant's office contacted me to seek my permission to use my children and family's photos for their website. I struggled with that idea, to reveal or not to reveal? 

I spoken to one of my friend and he thinks that is nothing wrong or illegal for what I have done. Infertility is a very common problem and when my children grown up and able to understand, then, I should explain to them that mummy and daddy got some problem and have seek medical help and this is how, they come to the world and join the family. That conversation has actually changed my mindset and after speaking to my husband, we consented the clinic to use the children photos but not the one with us.

Our beautiful daughter's photo is on their homepage http://www.klfertility.com/ and the rest of the gang can be found here http://www.klfertility.com/fertility-treatment/frozen-embryos/

Actually, I felt honour to be able to be selected by Dr. Prashant, out of his thousands and thousands of success cases. Two months back, the clinic called to seek permission again to use my children's photos for their brochure. We consented that without any hesitance.

From now onwards, I am not going to shy away from people's question whether or not I seek IVF treatment and feel great with my blog followers, who, some of them, become my friends, visited my home and children and some, who seek advice and successfully got pregnant. This is great thing, I am able to share my journey and help others with theirs, too!

They want to be Super Heroes

The children decided they wanted to be superheroes for a day.

K, to the rescue

The Big Bad Wolf Book Fair

Jack and I went to the Big Bad Wolf Book Fair last Saturday. It was an adventurous trip for Jack as we need to park our car at the open car park and being picked up by a Tram. He was so excited about it.

The book fair is from 7th-16th October 2011 and they claimed it is the biggest sale in the world. Here are some of my purchases. It is a real deal, I could only say" wow, cheap, cheap, cheap!"

Cook books RM25 (other range from RM8 onwards)

Children Books - RM5-RM10

Children Disney Books - RM5-RM8

Non Fiction - RM8-RM10

Children Books - RM3-RM8

I went again yesterday with my neighbours but stocks are getting lesser but still managed to get hold a bundle of books.

My Blog Follower Gave Me A Fridge

Can you believe this? I actually got a fridge from one of my blog follower/reader.

Thank you PJ once again. PJ is pregnant and due in November. She needed a bigger fridge to accommodate the extended family, the maid and the little baby. We chatted a few times about pregnancy, maid's issues and become friends. She asked me would I like to have her old fridge. It is not old at all, it looks brand new, actually. 

I am struggling  to fit all stuff in my fridge too, so I thought why not! She has wrapped it up properly and it got deliver to my house!

Now, the children claim that this is their fridge and they like to store their drinks and junks in it.

Success Rate

Looking back at those successful stories about friends that finally got pregnant, I was thinking I may have given the wrong impression to other about the success rate of Dr. Prashant. I need to clarify that those postings are merely the result of people or friends who have seek my advice and visited Dr. Prashant and finally got pregnant.

As I casually asked one of staff over at KL Fertility Centre (Dr. Prashant's clinic) the other day about how is the success rate, her answer is ' it is always high'. Great, keep up the good work, Doctor!

Another Success Rate (3)

Another thank you, another success rate! 3rd trial after 2 failures. She used to visit other doctor. We met during work and happened to talk about my children, my journey. After that, she took my advice and visited Dr. Prashant. Pregnant at the age of 39!

J, K, D- The 3 of Us

J

J, the big brother and a very good one. He is a sensitive boy too! He is very sensitive and caring about your emotions and feelings. Always well behave.

D

Little D, acts like a baby, need loves and attention at all time and he is a milk-aholic. He is sensitive, so need to handle with care.

K

Little missy, doesn't like the camera, doesn't like to wear dress, doesn't like to get her hands and feet dirty but plays like a boy, loves her cars, balls and bicycle!

Choosing the Right Pre-School/Kindergarden for Your Children

I sent Jack to VitalYear at the age of 23 months and I am sending the twins at age of 21.5 months to the same place at the beginning of this month. It was through a friend's recommendation and also in view of the centre is just right opposite where I stay. VitalYear has done a good job with Jack. He was not able to socialise, say mummy and daddy (his language skills was only limited to word like bus, ball and bird). He was able to speak, play with other kids after going to Vitalyear, let people touch him and even read! So, I am doing the same with the twins, the twins also need to learn some discipline and social with others.

Jack left Vitalyear at the age of 31 months and I enrolled him into TotalChild. Vitalyear teaches mainly English. I wanted Jack to learn more than just English. At the age of 3, TotalChild does not introduced reading but instead teach the kids some practical skills like going to toilet, wearing clothes and others like coloring, counting, singing and art and craft. I was totally Ok with that. Some parents were worried that I may stand a chance that Jack may loose his reading capability that he has learned in Vitalyear. To me, there will be a long journey and years of reading. I want my children to be able to play and enjoy themselves at this age.

Some parents also enrol their children in other extra classes like art and craft, singing, piano,karate and etc. and the child need to stay back to learn all these after school hour. Instead, I wanted my child to come back after school, eat their lunch and go for a nap, watch TV or play thereafter. I believe a child of age 3-5 should be able to enjoy themselves and not loaded them with all these extra curriculum activities.

Recently, I have joined some of friends and has visited some other pre-school and kindergardens. There is this particular new outlet, they have very impressive and amazing facilities and teaching tools and the fee is cheaper. My friends have decided to transfer their kids over there and I was struggling with the idea to go or not to go. I have gone through some of the books, they are mainly academic driven and I find the syllabus is harder in comparison to my son's current school.

The questions are :-

1. If I do not enrol him in this new school (with the harder syllabus), can he cope when going to Primary School.

2. Is it important to push our children so hard academically?

However, I decided to stay on after giving thoughts to the following:-

1. If we are staying at the outskirt, there is limited choices of pre-schools anyway. We will usually enrol our children to the school nearest to our home. Some of the children still can perform well in school.

2. I find the new pre-school is pushing too hard on certain things and I do not agreed with them on the following:-

• saying prayer before having meal. what if my child can't tell what is their religious/belief
• special play room only for the top 10 students. This not fair, only high achiever got the privilege.
• teaching partly with ipad 2. I agreed this is a modern technology world but i still prefer my children to be able to make their own cupcake and not the virtual cupcake. Fixing puzzle from scratch and etc.
• location : shoplots and distance away. Not a fan of shops area, traffic situation, children came down with teachers while awaiting parents for pickup.

Notwithstanding the above, I have also spoken to Jack's current school to improve their facilities and teaching equipments and tools. I am quite happy with what Jack can do and learned from this school. Time and time again, he will come out with some amazing things like tidy up his own toys, say his 'Thank you' and 'Please', helping the brother and sister with their drinks or food, trying to pat his siblings to sleep,  things that he must do and things that he can't do and etc.

So, something you need to think of when your child/children is/are ready to go to school!

Day Trip to Port Dickson

Seeing the kids enjoyed themselves so much at the golf course, Daddy decided to take them for a day trip to Port Dickson so the children is able to make their sand castle.

Little princess was furious and refused to get her hands and feet dirty

But, the boys were having so much fun

Even though it was just a short journey, we were still loaded with 3 big bags comprises of :

• changing clothes, towels, nappies, blankets (for use in car and their little habit to hold it while drinking milk)
• Toys (for sand castle), picnic mat, buckets, arm bands and etc.
• Foods and Beverages

However, it was worth the trip seeing the kids (apart from Kayley) enjoyed so much. Jack was asking when can we go to Langkawi again!