關於 keep the door closed ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

【同步過冬】做過以下事情的話請自首（舉手）

⭐自以為西伯利亞人冬天的冠軍
⭐經常挑戰人體極限
#星期六隻眼閉

生活小事原來很傷身？
寒冬常見壞習慣

．門窗緊閉
天氣寒冷家家都緊閉門窗，小小門隙都用毛巾攝緊，確保一丁點寒風都不可以走進來！
⚠️空氣不流通容易令人產生頭暈、胸悶等不適，還是要開一條小縫隙保持通風呢。

．大被冚過頭
冬天最溫暖的地方在哪裡？當然是被窩！由頭到腳都用被子蓋著就最溫暖。
⚠️這樣睡醒有可能頭昏腦脹，而且亦要小心缺氧。

．沖一個很久很久很久的熱水涼
沖熱水涼是最快暖身的方法，但當沖涼到尾聲時卻叫人好掙扎，因為實在不願離開溫暖無比的熱水，所以一般冬天沖涼時間比較長。
⚠️長時間用熱水沖涼容易引致心臟缺血、缺氧，還是15-30分鐘內完成比較好。

．飲返杯
喝酒感覺能令身體暖和，尤其飲杯溫熱的清酒立即暖遍全身。
⚠️酒精會使身體血液迅速湧到皮膚表面造成溫暖假象，其實體內熱力流失得更快。

．抵冷貪瀟湘
「寧願凍也不要臃腫」是不少女生的心聲，天氣再凍都要「露一露」。
⚠️感覺寒冷不只是一時的感覺，寒邪入侵更有可能引致身體痛症甚至痛經。

．食雪糕
天氣凍吃雪糕是常識吧！因為雪糕溶得比較慢。
⚠️如果本身是虛寒體質，小心寒上加寒。

留言或按讚👍🏻支持一下我們吧！❤️ 歡迎 Follow 我們獲得更多養生資訊。

Minor unhealthy habits can damage our health
Common winter bad habits

. Keep the doors and windows fully shut
Keeping the windows and doors completely closed and slipping a towel beneath the door to prevent the cold air from entering!
⚠️ This will lead to poor air ventilation, making us feel dizzy and tightness in the chest. So do allow some space for air circulation in an enclosed area.

. Cover our head with a blanket
Where is the warmest and most comfortable spot during winter? Yes, inside our blanket! Hiding our whole body in the blanket can keep us warm at all time.
⚠️ Sleeping in such condition overnight can cause you to feel dizzy and experience oxygen deprivation.

. Take a long hot shower
Enjoying a hot shower is the quickest way to warm our body. It feels so good to enjoy the heat, and we just wanted to stay in the bathroom a little longer during winter.
⚠️ Spending a long time in a hot shower will reduce the blood flow to the heart and lead to decreased oxygen in the body. It is best to limit the shower time to 15- 30 minutes.

．Consume alcohol after meals
Drinking alcohol beverages, especially warm sake, can warm the body.
⚠️ Alcohol can encourage blood flow much quicker to the skin, creating the illusion of warmth. In fact, drinking alcohol can cause our body to lose heat even faster.

. Insist on wearing less to look more presentable
Some women do not wish to put on too many layers of winter clothes because they do not want to look plump. They would rather wear less and brave the cold weather.

️ ⚠️It is not just about feeling cold. Once the pathogenic factor of cold invades the body, we will feel pain all over, especially when have our period.

. Eat ice-cream
There is nothing wrong with eating ice-cream during the cold season, right? Since it does not melt easily in lower temperatures.
⚠️ If we already have a cold body constitution, eating ice-cream is just going to aggravate our body condition.

Comment below or like 👍🏻 this post to support us. ❤️ Follow us for more healthy living tips.

#男 #女 #我畏冷

Kepada mereka yang selalu ke outstation samada untuk urusan rasmi ataupun bercuti, ketika menginap di hotel, cuba amalkan perkara-perkara yang berikutnya :

1) Selepas check in, ketuk pintu dulu sebelum masuk bilik. Buka pintu dan bagi salam. Kita tak tahu dalam bilik tu ada 'benda' atau tidak. Sekurang-kurangnya kalau ada tu, 'dia' tahu kita ni jenis beradab.

2) Kasut/selipar tu kalau boleh jangan disusun rapat. Salah satu sengaja terbalikkan. Kerana 'benda' ni mereka suka 'm...
Continue ReadingTo those who are always on the outstation for official affairs or holidays, while staying in a hotel, try to practice the next things:

1) After checking in, knock on the door first before entering the room. Open the door and greet. We didn't know there was ' thing ' or not in the room. At least if there were, ' he ' knows we're the civilized type.

2) Those shoes / slippers if possible, don't be arranged closely. One of the deliberately turned upside down. Because of this ' thing ' they like to ' try ' our stuff. When tried with something ' bad ', he'll stay there, not so ' him ' follows us home.

3) If the window cloth is closed and the day is still noon, open the cloth and window for a moment. According to Chinese faith, by opening this window, the ' heat s' from the outside will enter to fill the inside and anything that is ' cool ' inside will come out. Short said, make sure the room has air circulation.

4) Knock, and open the bathroom door and put the lights on and leave the door open (for a moment), also for air circulation purposes because the bathroom is the ' coolest ' room in a hotel room and don't forget too, flush right Toilets once (aim to remove negative aura that may have been long-stoned) and open the pili to let water flow for a while and wash hands and feet.

5) If you're the only one and given a twin room, fill up one of those beds with items like bags, clothes, pants, documents and pillows that are not used if possible, put it in the bed you're going to sleep.

If you get a room with Queen or King type bed, use it to all the pillows that have and sleep in the bed. Don't just sleep beside me and leave the other side empty.

6) When going to bed, leave one of the lights in the room installed or at least apply the lights in the bathroom and leave the door open. It's not that we don't know, that ' thing's most like to disturb when it is dark

7) Always practice reading prayers for peace, peace and safety before, during and after sleep. We each have our own way.

_______________________________________________

There's once, our friend, Asrul (not real name) went to Melaka on the official affairs of the ministry. It's normal, this ministry and department have a lot of business around the country. From Kuala Lumpur, he drove and took about 2 hours to get to Melaka.

As soon as he was in Melaka, he immediately checked in at a boutique hotel located on the side of Sungai Melaka. The hotel from the outside to the inside is beautiful. This As is also satisfied with the room he got. Since he only took the single room, the size of the room is not big. Enough for just one person but the cleanliness and decoration in the room is really tip top. Nothing is less. Set up the room like this; when entering, the wardrobe is on the right and the door to the bathroom on the left. And the side of the wardrobe continues to connect with the writing table and after the writing table is the single bed she is crossed and television is placed on the wall.

This As, after he put all his stuff in the closet and washed his face, he also came back to travel around Melaka City. Luckily the hotel he was inap is around the tourist focus area so it's easy for him to walk there.

After Asa hosted her appetite at one of the caffe near her hotel, she also walked back. When she came back to her room just now, she was surprised to see her bathroom door closed because the time she was out just left open. As thought maybe he forgot that he was closing the bathroom door just now so he didn't even think much.

When As was in the shower, she kept washing her hair, suddenly she heard a sound like her bathroom door was opened. He quickly swallowed a curtain shower and saw the door still closed. Hmmm..... sounds from the next room. So he continued his bath again and after finishing, he came out to take clothes from the bag. The joy of her seeing one of the closet doors open. ′′ Eh... when will I open this ha ′′ he asked himself. Without thinking long, he took his shirt and pants back and put the bag back into the closet and closed it back.

During the middle Assembly of Fast & Furious shows on television glass, suddenly from her left eye she noticed something was moving around the entrance so she kept turning to look more clear. Apparently, the wardrobe door opens back and the bathroom door closes. ′′ It's different like this ′′ his heart moves. So As also walked into the wardrobe and closed the wardrobe back and he turned the bathroom door button. Her bathroom door button is the type that doesn't have a lock button because the paired lock is the type of flick we pull and push. But the door cannot be opened. Here you go!

......... Bathroom door locked inside.

As is starting to feel scary, but he strengthens his spirit by reading the Seat verse over and over again and over again knocking on the bathroom door locked from inside and suddenly he heard something. The sound behind a locked door is like someone's voice from the bathroom asking ′′ You want to enter? Hehehehehe ′′ The As's rome hair is gone.

Then he grabbed the room lock and he kept moving down to the lobby. She told the receptionist who was on duty that her room had ghosts. Receptionist eyes bought to see after hearing what came out of As's mouth. As told miss receptionist that her bathroom door was locked from the inside and there was a voice laughing from the inside.

Spooked, the miss immediately asked a colleague of her coincidentally there to accompany her As back to the room to investigate.

After they both went to the Assembly room, they were shocked to see the condition of his messy room. Blankets, pillows, clothes are on the floor, some are hanging on television. Her clothing bag that is actually in the closet is now in the middle of the room and looks like it's dismantled. Papers needed for official affairs are covered at the writing desk, and in the chair.

The hotel worker who accompanied As just now rejected the bathroom door and was shocked to see the situation inside. Shower curtain torn, all the toiletries on the floor, and his eyes saw something on the wall. He called As ′′ Bang bang, come see what this is?" As also entered and stunned to see a writing on the bathroom wall. Just one word...... GET OUT!!!!!

As what else, it's really not as fast as lightning as he's worried about all of his items that were in the room with the help of that hotel worker just now. While packing up, the lights in the room started to swallow several times and the television show channel changed by myself. When they left the room in a hurry, when closing the door they both heard female voices judging from the bathroom. In fear, they were viewing each other, As and hotel workers kept accelerating down the lobby.

As that night kept checking out of the hotel and with the help of the receptionist, she managed to be placed in another hotel nearby. However, that night the US couldn't sleep well because I keep thinking about the incident he had before. Short said, he fell asleep making the room lights all paired.

Since from the experience incident that night, every time As is on the outstation, he will always remember to do the above 7 things and he said alhamdullilah, until now, everything is smooth and disturbance free.

That's all my donation for this time.

Hope you all are entertained hehehehe....

** Pictures are just decorating **Translated

My sister, Michelle-Ann Iking's 3% chance of conceiving naturally was a success! Here's her story:

(My apologies as I've been overwhelmed with personal matters. I've only managed to get to my desk. So finally got around posting this).

This is the story behind my sister's pregnancy struggle and how she shared her journey over her Facebook page.

Because some may have not caught her LIVE session chat with me (https://www.facebook.com/daphneiking/videos/687743128744960/) , or read her lengthy post (as it's a private page);
she's allowed me to copy and paste it over my wall, in case you need to know more about her thought process on how AND why she focused on the 3% success probability. Read on.

-------------------------------------------

Posted 10th May 2020.
FB Credit: Michelle-Ann Iking

A week ago today I celebrated becoming a mother to our second, long awaited child.

Please forgive this mother's LONG (self-indulgent) post, journalling what this significant milestone has meant for her personally, for her own fallible memory's sake as well as maybe to share one day with her son.

If all you were wondering was whether I had delivered and if mum and bub are OK, please be assured the whole KkLM family are thriving tremendously, and continue scrolling right along your Newsfeed 😁.

OUR 3% MIRACLE

All babies are miracles... and none more so than our precious Kiaen Aaryan (pronounced KEY-n AR-yen), whose name derives from Sanskrit origins meaning:

Grace of God
Spiritual
Kind
Benevolent

...words espousing the gratitude Kishore and I feel for Kiaen's arrival as our "3% miracle".

He was conceived, naturally, after 3 years of Kishore and I hoping, praying and 'endeavoring'... and only couples for whom the objective switches from pure recreation to (elusive) procreation will understand how this is less fun than it sounds ...

3 years during which time we had consensus from 3 different doctors that we, particularly I (with my advancing age etc etc) had only a 3% chance of natural conception and that our best hope for a sibling for our firstborn, Lara Anoushka, was via IVF.

Lara herself was an 'intervention baby', being one of the 20% of babies successfully conceived through the less intrusive IUI process, after a year and a half of trying naturally and already being told then my age was a debilitating factor.

We had tried another round of IUI for her sibling in 2017 when Lara was a year old. And that time we fell into the ranks of the 80% of would-be parents for whom it would be an exercise in futility... who would go home, comfort each other as best they could, while individually masking their own personal disappointment... hoping for the best, 'the next time around'...

So the improbability ratio of 97% against natural conception of our second baby, as concurred by the combined opinion of 3 medical professionals, was a very real, very daunting figure for us to have to mentally deal with.

Deep, DEEP, down in my heart however, though I had many a day of doubt... I kept a core kernel of faith that somehow, I would again experience the privilege of pregnancy, and again, have a chance at childbirth.

And so, the optimist in me would tell myself, "Well, there have to be people who fall in the 3% bucket... why shouldn't WE be part of the 3%?"

Those who know me well, understand my belief in the Law of Attraction, the philosophy of focusing your mind only on what you want to attract, not on what you don't want, and so even as Kishore and I prepared to go into significant personal debt to attempt IVF in the 2nd half of 2019, I marshalled a last ditch effort to hone in on that 3% chance of natural conception... through research coming across fertility supplements that I ordered from the US and sent to a friend in Singapore to redirect to me because the supplier would not deliver to Malaysia.

I made us as a couple take the supplements in the 3 month 'priming period' in the lead up to the IVF procedure - preconditioning our bodies for optimum results, if you will.

At the same time, I had invested in a sophisticated fertility monitor, with probes and digital sensors for daily tracking of saliva and other unmentionable fluid samples, designed to pinpoint with chemical accuracy my state of fertility on any given day.

(UPDATE: For those interested - I obtained the supplements and Ovacue Fertility Monitor from https://www.fairhavenhealth.com/. Though I had my supplies delivered to a friend in Singapore, and redirected to me here since the US site does not deliver to Malaysia, there are local distributors for these products, you will just have to research the trustworthiness of the vendors yourself...)

I had set an intention - in the 3 months of pre-IVF priming, I would consume what seemed like a pharmacy's worth of supplements, and track fertility religiously... in hopes that somehow, within the 3 month priming period, we would conceive naturally and potentially save ourselves a down payment on a new property... and this was just a projection on financial costs of IVF, not even considering the physical, emotional and mental toll it involves, with no guarantee of a baby at the end of it all...

It was a continuation of an intention embedded even with my first pregnancy, where all the big ticket baby items were consciously purchased for use by a future sibling, in gender neutral colours, in hopes that sibling would be a brother "for a balanced pair", though of course any healthy child would be a welcome blessing.

It was a very conscious determination to always skew my thoughts in service of what the end objective was. For example, when 3+year old Lara would innocently express impatience at not yet having a sibling, at one point suggesting that since we were "taking too long to give her a baby brother/sister", perhaps we should just "go buy a baby from a shop", instead of getting defensive or berating the baby that she herself was, we enlisted Lara's help to pray for her sibling... so in any place of worship, or sacred ground of any kind that we passed thereon, Lara would stop, close her eyes, bow her small head and place her tiny hands together in prayer, reciting earnestly, "Please God, please give me a baby brother or baby sister."

After months and months of watching Lara do this, in the constancy of her childlike chant, Kishore started feeling the pressure of possibly disappointing Lara if her prayer was not answered. Whereas for me, Lara's recitation of her simple wish became like a strengthening mantra, our collective intention imbued with greater power with each repetition, and the goal of a sibling kept very much in the forefront of our minds (hence our calling Lara our 'project manager' in this endeavour).

And somehow in the 2nd month of that 3 month period, a positive + sign appeared on one of the home pregnancy tests I had grown accustomed to taking - my version of the lottery tickets others keep buying in hopes of hitting the jackpot, with all the cyclical anticipation and more often than not, disappointment, that entails...

This time however I was not disappointed.

With God's Grace, (hence 'Kiaen', a variation of 'Kiaan' which means 'Grace of God'), my focus on our joining the ranks of the 3% had materialised.

It seems poetic then, that Kiaen chose to make his appearance on the 3rd May, ironically the same date that his paternal great-grandfather departed this world for the next... such that in the combined words of Kishore and his father Kai Vello Suppiah,

"The 1st generation Suppiah left on 3rd May and the 4th generation Suppiah arrived on 3rd May after 41yrs...
One leaves, another comes, the legacy lives on..."

***

KIAEN AARYAN SUPPIAH'S BIRTH STORY

On Sunday 3rd May, I was 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

The baby was, in my mind, very UN-fashionably late past his due date of 29th April, so as much as I had willed and 'manifested' the privilege of pregnancy, to say I was keen to be done with it all was an understatement.

In the weeks leading to up to my full term, I had experienced increasingly intense Braxton-Hicks 'practice contractions' - annoying for me for the discomfort involved, stressful for Kishore who was on tenterhooks with the false alarms, on constant alert for when we would actually need to leave home for the hospital.

Having become a Hypnobirthing student and advocate from my first pregnancy with Lara, and thus being equipped with
(1) a lack of fear about childbirth in general and
(2) a basic understanding of how all the sensations I would experience fit into the big picture of my body bringing our baby closer to us,
I was less stressed - content to wait for the baby to be "fully cooked" and come out whenever he was ready... though I wouldn't have minded at all if the cooking time ended sooner, rather than later.

With Lara, I had been somewhat 'forced' into an induced labour, even though she was not yet due, and that had resulted in a 5 DAY LABOUR, a Birth Story for another post, so I was not inclined to chemically induce labour, even though I was assured that for second time mothers, it would be 'much faster and easier'...

That morning, I had a hunch *maybe* that day was the day, because in contrast to previous weeks' sensations of tightening, pressure and even spasms that were concentrated in the front of my abdomen and occasionally shot through my sides and legs, I felt period - like cramping in my lower back which I had not felt before throughout the pregnancy.

It was about 8am in the morning then, and my 'surges' were still relatively mild ('surges' being Hypnobirthing - speak for 'contractions', designed to frame them with the more positive connotations needed to counteract common language in which childbirth is presented as something that is unequivocally painful and traumatic, instead of the miraculous, powerful and natural phenomenon it actually is).

I recall (masochistically?) entertaining the thought of opting NOT to have an epidural JUST TO SEE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE...

I figured this would be the last time I would be pregnant and so it would be my 'last chance' to experience 'drug free labour' which, apart from the health benefits for baby and mother, might be *interesting* in a way that people who are curious about what getting a tattoo and skydiving and bungee jumping are like, might find these *interesting*...even knowing there will be pain and risk involved...

Since I have tried tattoos and skydiving (unfortunately not being able to squeeze in bungee-jumping while my life was purely my own to risk at no dependents' possible detriment) a similar curiousity about a no-epidural labour was on my mind...

In the absence of other signs of the onset of labour (like 'bloody show' or my waters breaking), I wanted to wait until the surges were coming every few minutes before we actually left the house for the hospital, not wanting to be one of those couples who rushed in too early and had interminable waits for the next stage in unfamiliar, clinical surroundings and/or were made to go home in an anti-climatic manner.

I was even calm enough through my surges to have the presence of mind to wash and blowdry my hair, knowing if I did deliver soon I would not be allowed this luxury for a while.

Around 9am I asked Kishore to prep for Lara and himself to be dressed and breakfasted so we could head to hospital soon, while I sent messages to family members on both sides informing them 'today might be the day.'

My mother, who had briefly served as a midwife before going back into general nursing and then becoming a nursing tutor, prophetically stated that if what I was experiencing was true labour, "the baby would be out by noon".

The pace in which my surges grew closer together was surprisingly quicker than I expected; and while I asked Lara to "Hurry up with breakfast" with only a tad more urgency than we normally tell her to do, little Missy being prone to dilly-dallying at meals, I probably freaked Kishore out when about 930am onwards, I had to instinctively get on my hands and knees a couple of times, eyes closed, trying to practice the Hypnobirthing breathing techniques I had revised to help along the process of my body birthing our child into the world.

I recall him saying a bit frantically as I knelt at our front door, doubled over as he waited for Lara to complete something or other, "Lara hurry up! Can't you see Mama is in so much pain and you are taking your own sweet time??!!"

SIDETRACK: Just the night before, Lara and I had watched a TV show in which a woman gave birth with the usual histrionics accompanying pop culture depictions of labour.

Lara watched the scene, transfixed.

I told her, simply and matter-of-factly, "That's what Mama has to do to get baby brother out Lara, and that's what I had to do for you also."

In most of interactions with my daughter, I have sought to equip her to face life's situations with calmness, truthful common sense, and ideally a minimum of drama.

Those who know the dramatic diva that Lara can be will know that this is a work-in-progress, but her response to me that night showed me some of my 'teachings' were sinking in:

She looked at me unfazed, "But Mama," she said. "You won't cry and scream like that lady, right? You will be BRAVE and stay calm, right?"
#nopressure.

So as we prepped to leave for the hospital I did indeed attempt to be that role model of calm for her, asking her only for her help in keeping very quiet,
"Because Mama needs to focus on bringing baby brother out and she needs quiet to concentrate...".

As we left the house at 10.11am, I texted Kishore's sister Geetha to please prep to pick up Lara from the hospital, and was grateful Kishore had the foresight to ask our gynae to prepare a letter for Geetha to show any police roadblocks between my in-laws' home in Subang Jaya and the hospital in Bangsar, this all happening under the Movement Control Order (MCO).

To Lara's credit, in the journey over to the hospital, she - probably sensing the gravity of the situation, sat very quietly in her seat at the back, and the silence was punctuated only by my occasional deep intakes of breath and some variation of my Ohmmm-like moans when the sensations were at their height.

By the time we got to Pantai Hospital at around 10.30am, my surges were strong enough I requested a wheelchair to assist me in getting to the labour ward, as I did not trust my own legs to support me... and Kishore would have to wait until Geetha had arrived to take Lara back to my in-laws' house before he himself could go up.

I slumped in the wheelchair and was wheeled up to the labour room with my eyes closed the whole time, trying to handle my surges.

I didn't even look up to see the attendant who pushed me... but did make the effort to thank him sincerely when he handed me over, with what seemed like a palpable sense of relief on his part, to the labour ward nurses.

The nurse attending me at Pantai was calm, steady and efficient. I answered some questions and changed into my labour gown while waiting for Kishore to come up, all the while managing the increasingly intense surges with my rusty Hypnobirthing breathing techniques.

By the time Kishore joined me at around 11am (I know these timings based on the timestamps of the 'WhatsApp live feed' of messages Kishore sent to his family), I was asking the nurse on duty, "How soon can I get an epidural??" thinking what crazy woman thought she could do this without drugs???!!!

The nurse checked my cervix dilation, I saw her bloodied glove indicating my mucous plug had dislodged, and she told me, "Well you are already at 7cm (which, for the uninitiated, is 70% of the way to the 10cm dilation needed for birthing), you are really doing well, if you made it this far without any drugs, if can you try and manage without it... I suspect within 2 hours or less you will deliver your baby and since it will take about that time for the anaesthesiologist to be called, epidural to be administered and kick in... it might all be for nothing... but of course the decision is completely up to you... "

So there I was, super torn, should I risk the sensations becoming worse... or risk the epidural becoming a waste?? And of course I was trying to decide this as my labour surges were coming at me stronger and stronger...

I was in such a dilemma...because as a 'recovering approval junkie' there was also a silly element of approval-seeking involved, ("The nurse thinks I can do this without drugs... maybe I CAN do this without drugs... Yay me!") mixed with that element of curiosity I mentioned earlier ("What if I actually CAN do this without drugs... plenty of other women have done it all over the world since time immemorial.. no big deal, how bad can it be...??") so then I thought I would use the financial aspect to be the 'tiebreaker' in my decision making...

I asked the nurse how much an epidural would cost and when she replied "Around MYR1.5k", I still remember Kishore's incredulous face as I asked the question, i.e."Seriously babe, you are gonna think about money right now? If you need the epidural TAKE IT, don't worry about the money!!!"... and while we are not rich by any stretch of the imagination, thankfully RM1.5k is not a quantum that made me swing towards a decision to "better save the money"...

So in the end, I guess my curiosity won out, and I turned down the epidural "just to see what it would be like and if I had it in me" (in addition of course to avoiding the side effects of any drugs introduced into my and the baby's body).

My labour occuring in the time of coronavirus, it was protocol for me to have a COVID19 test done, so the medical staff could apply the necessary precautions. I had heard from a friend Sharon Ruba that the test procedure was uncomfortable, so when the nurse came with the test kit as I was starting another surge, I asked, "Please can I just finish this surge before I do the test?" as I really didn't think I could multitask tackling multiple uncomfortable sensations in one go.

The COVID19 test involved what felt like a looong, skinny cotton bud being inserted into one nostril... I definitely felt more than a tickle as it went in and up, being told to take deep breaths by the nurse. Then she asked me to "Try to swallow" and I felt it go into my nasal cavities where I didn't think anything could go any further, but was proven wrong when she asked me to swallow again and the swab was probed even deeper. Then she warned me there would be some slight discomfort as she prepared to collect a sample... but at that point all I could think about was:

(i) I really don't have much of a choice
(ii) please let this be over before my next surge kicks in
(iii) if all the people breaking the MCO rules knew what it feels like to do this test maybe they won't put themselves at risk of the need to perform one...

In full disclosure as I was transferred into the actual delivery room at some point after 11am, another nurse offered me 'laughing gas' to ostensibly take some of the edge off... I took the self-operated breathing nozzle passed to me but don't recall it making any difference to my sensations..so didn't use it much as it seemed pretty pointless.

I recall some measure of relief when I heard my gynae Dr. Paul entering the room, greeting Kishore and me, and telling us it was going well and it wouldn't be long now and he would see us again shortly.

From my previous labour with Lara I knew the midwives pretty much take you 90% of the way through the labour and when the Dr is called in you are really at the home stretch, so was very relieved to hear his voice though knowing he would leave and come back later meant it wasn't quite over yet.

I do remember realising when I had crossed the Thinning and Opening Phase of labour to the Birthing Phase, by the change in sensations... it is still amazing to me that as the Hypnobirthing book mentioned, having this knowledge I was instinctively able to switch breathing techniques for the next stage of labour .

Was my opting against epidural the right choice for me?

Overall? Yes.

Don't get me wrong.

I *almost* regretted the decision several times during active labour... especially when I felt my body being taken over by an overwhelming compulsion to push that did not seem conscious and was accompanied by involuntary gutteral moans where I literally just thought to myself, "I surrender, God do with me what you will..." (super dramatic I know but VERY real at the time...).

I think I experienced 3-4 such natural explusive reflexes (?), rhythmically pushing the baby down the birth path, one of which was accompanied by what felt like a swoosh of water coming out of a hose with a diameter the size of a golf ball... this was when I realised my water had finally broken...

The nurses kept instructing me to do different things, to keep breathing, to move to my side, then to move to the middle, to raise my feet... and when I didn't comply, Kishore (who was with me throughout both my labours) tried to help them by repeating the instructions prefaced with "Sayang..." but I basically ignored all the intructions because I felt I had no capacity to direct any part of my body to do anything and someone else would have to physically manoeuvre that body part themselves.

When I heard Dr. Paul's voice again and the flurry of commotion surrounding his presence, I knew the time was close... and when I heard the nurse say to Kishore, "Sir, these are your gloves, for when you cut the baby's cord", it was music to my ears...

I'm very, VERY grateful Kiaen slid out after maybe the 4th of those involuntary pushes... the wave of RELIEF when he came out so quickly... it still boggles my mind that my mother was essentially right and as his birth time was 12.02pm, it was *only* about 1.5 hours between our arrival at the hospital and his arrival into the world.

Kiaen was placed on my chest for skin to skin bonding and remained there for a considerable time.

For our short stay in the hospital he would be with us in my maternity ward number C327... another trivially serendipitous sign for me because he was born on the 3rd (May) and our wedding anniversary is 27th (July).

I was discharged the following day 4th May at about 5.30pm, after I got an all clear on COVID19 and a paediatric surgeon did a small procedure on Kiaen to address a tongue-tie that would affect his breastfeeding latch... making the entire duration of our stay about 31 hours.

I have taken the time and effort to record all this down so that whenever life's challenges threaten to get me down I can remind myself, "Ignore the 97% failure probability, focus on the 3% success probability".

Also that the human condition is miraculous and it is such a privilege to experience it.

To our son Kiaen Aaryan, thank you for coming into our lives and choosing us as your parents.

Even though Papa and I are both zombies trying to settle into a night time feeding routine with you, I look forward to spending not only all future Mother's Days, but every day, with you and your Akka...

And last but not least, to my husband Kishore...without whom none of this would be possible - we did it sayang, I love you ❤️

Photo credit: Stayhome session with Samantha Yong Photography (http://samanthayong.com/)

有中文字幕！但是要自己開字幕 :-)

Join us on our weekly hike to Kaohsiung's Monkey Mountain - Chai Shan! This video explains how to climb Kaohsiung's Monkey Mountain, Monkey Mountain trailhead location and how to get there, what you will need to bring and even where you can have a delicious traditional Chinese breakfast after your climb.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Taiwan fun!

There are two main trailheads to climb Monkey Mountain: Shou Shan (near the zoo) and Chai Shan (further north). I prefer Chai Shan, and I'll show you here how to climb yourself!

Time: 1.5 - 3 hour round trip (depending on climbing speed and how many photos you take!)

Bring: Water, bug repellent, walking shoes, comfortable clothing
Optional: sweat towel (May to October), bandaids

Do not bring: food of any kind, plastic bags or wrappers (or the monkeys will be attracted to you - please note food is prohibited on the mountain for this reason)

Getting there
- Public transport: use google maps transit directions for bus routes (navigate to the 7-11 at the link below). Please note these often do not run before 7 am.
- Walking: the trailhead is about a half hour walk from Aozidi MRT station.
- Taxi/Uber: Show one of the addresses below to your driver (I recommend asking him to take you to the 7 Eleven as it's a major landmark and walking from there). The fare from Aozhidi MRT station (taxi rank at exit 2) is approximately nt120.
- Public bicycle
---City bike: You can use your credit card to rent these, but you keep paying until they are returned to a station. The closest station is at this 7 Eleven, a 10 minute walk from the mountain.
--- O-bike: Download the o-bike app to find an available bike. Once you arrive at the mountain, you can leave the bike there and it will likely still be there for you to re-rent when you come back down (and there are often extra available O-bikes at the trailhead or nearby).

Addresses and map links
Chai Shan 7 Eleven (google maps link)
https://goo.gl/maps/2z6foEWDT8o
Address in Chinese:
柴山 7 Eleven
鼓山三路51號

Chai Shan trailhead (google maps link) (2 minute walk from 7 Eleven)
https://goo.gl/maps/53vbJfzpkCN2
Address in Chinese:
柴山
鼓山三路51巷

Kuan Lai Shun breakfast restaurant
https://goo.gl/maps/PzzCDM8tpf22
Open 4:30 am - 1:00 pm

If Kuan Lai Shun is closed on the day you visit, the dumplings at the restaurant next door are good - or go down the alley behind Kuan Lai Shun and into the traditional market for a few more options.

Theme: www.bensound.com

WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Thank you so much everyone for your support, I wish I could give you ALL what you wanted. I will be holding more giveaways to say thank you to you all, so stay tuned for those :)

In the meantime, congratulations to these lucky subscribers whose names were drawn via randomiser. Email me at emily@emilyquak.com so I can get your details to ship your prizes out to you, guys!

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Christmas Drinking Game! Take a shot of eggnog everytime I say 'really' or 'beautiful'! ;p

I hope you guys enjoy this video! I apologise if it's a little choppy, it's been really difficult to film these days with construction going on next door all through the day, and when I film at night I have to keep it down because everyone's asleep :/

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Dr Jart+ Premium BB Holiday Kit - available at Dr Jart+ counters

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Tarte Bon Voyage Collector's Set - http://bit.ly/1JcO04T

Too Faced Everything Nice Set - http://bit.ly/1sN5NuF

GIVEAWAY CLOSED! I am drawing the winners via randomiser and will announce the winners before the end of the 4th of Jan 2015 so check back soon! Internet connection here won't let me do this any sooner guys, I'm sorry! Happy New Year, everyone!

Thanks for entering guys, and good luck!
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Sigma makeup brushes are available at this link (this is an affiliate link so you don't have to click it if you don't want to, but I would really appreciate it if you do! :))
http://www.sigmabeauty.com/?Click=99145

Thank you so much for watching!

Disclaimer:

This video was not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned within it. Though I personally love the products that I recommend in my videos, I cannot guarantee that they will work for everyone. Each person's skin type is different and will react differently to different products.

Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin started off slow, then came up big at the end to help the Denver Nuggets pull off an impressive comeback victory.


Iverson scored nine of his 25 points in the final 3:35 of overtime and the Nuggets rallied from 18 points down at halftime to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 113-103 on Friday night.

It tied the second-biggest comeback from a halftime deficit in the Nuggets' NBA history.

"Most of the talk at halftime was just that we can play a lot better. And we had to," coach George Karl said. "If we wanted to win the game, we were going to have a special defensive effort. I don't know how many easy shots they got in the second half, but I don't remember very many."

Martin missed nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 13 points. But he also grabbed 13 rebounds, made a key defensive stop to send the game into OT and made a 3-pointer in the final minute to secure the victory. Nene added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets before fouling out for the second time in two games.

Carmelo Anthony completed a two-game suspension he received from the Nuggets, the result of his DUI arrest during the offseason. Two seasons ago, he was suspended for 15 games by the NBA for throwing a punch at New York Knicks reserve Mardy Collins during a game at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 16, 2006.

Al Thornton had 30 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers. Tim Thomas added 20 points and Chris Kaman had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

"Every loss is tough, this one especially because we had the lead," coach Mike Dunleavy said. "In the first half we were so much more active, we were playing the passing lanes and getting our hands on the ball. We just didn't do it in the second half and we gave up too many easy baskets."

Clippers point guard Baron Davis, who did most of the talking during an intense closed-door meeting following Wednesday night's season-opening 38-point loss to the Lakers, left Friday's game because of a sore left hip after going up for a defensive rebound and crashing to the floor with 9 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter. He had six points.

"He was able to stand up and walk on his own after being injured, but I asked him if he needed to come out of the game and he said yes," Dunleavy said.

Iverson gave Denver the lead for good with a layup that started his scoring run. He hit another one 37 seconds later, then added a 19-footer for a 103-98 lead with 2:32 left in OT. He closed it out on a pair of free throws with 43 seconds to go.

"I've been struggling, as far as my offensive rhythm, and I was getting really frustrated," Iverson said. "But I was trying not to be so tough on myself, being that I didn't get a chance to play as much as I wanted to in the preseason. I didn't have any time to waste with two games on the road. Fortunately, my rhythm came back at the right time."

Trailing 55-37 at halftime, Denver narrowed the gap to 72-64 with an 11-2 spurt capped by Dahntay Jones' two free throws with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

The Nuggets got within 88-86 on a dunk by Nene with 4:55 remaining, then Iverson was hit with a technical foul from referee Brian Forte after Nene picked up his fifth foul with 3:51 to play.

Cuttino Mobley made the ensuing free throw, then Karl called a timeout to cool off Iverson.

"I wasn't going to get thrown out," Iverson said. "I've been in this league 13 years, so I know how far I can go -- especially once I get a technical. Then I know I can get a little bit more leeway to say what I've got to say. But at that time, I think it was a good timeout to take because we responded well."

Nene tied the score 90-all on a reverse layup with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, and Iverson had a chance to put Denver ahead -- but missed a 10-foot jumper with 33 seconds left. Thornton got the rebound and Thomas made an 11-footer at the other end before Linas Kleiza's two free throws tied it again with 9.4 seconds left in the fourth.

Thomas had the ball for one last shot to win it for the Clippers in regulation, but lost it out of bounds under pressure from Martin.

"The shot he made before that was a tough shot, but I was determined not to let him score again," Martin said. "That's what I'm here for. These guys believe in me on the defensive end, and Coach had the confidence in me to get me the ball again when I was open. That's why you keep working on your game, for situations like that."

Forward Marcus Camby, who spent the previous six seasons with Denver, wasn't able to play against his former teammates because of a bruised right heel.

Game notes
Earlier Friday, the Nuggets decided not to offer Kleiza a four-year, $25 million contract extension. As a result, he will become a restricted free agent next summer. ... The Nuggets had lost 11 of their previous 15 road games against the Clippers.