The Unbalanced Libra..

Exactly 9 years ago, K asked me to be his girfriend. And 3 years ago on the same date, i became his wife = )

Today, K and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary of being together as a couple, and 3rd Anniversary as husband and wife.

Our "celebration" started late as we lazed around and woke up only around 11plus. We skipped breakfast, dilly dallied a bit, then left the house eventually around lunch time. Our first stop was to look for brunch. K had researched on the web and found this nice cafe in Napier called "Clive Garden Cafe". It had some good reviews so we decided to give it a try. Before that, we stopped over at the information center and took some brochures on things to do in Napier.

The website mentioned that the cafe overlooked the garden, but when we got there, it overlooked the road instead, with the garden still a distance away beyond the road. Food was delicious though, and we got 2 free cups of coffee when we presented a coupon in one of the tourist brochures we took earlier. We had nachos (which wasn't too good), mushroom pancake and chicken kebab with rice (both were good). I also ordered a banana smoothie, which i didn't like so K finished it instead. We went through the brochures, read some magazines and eventually left the cafe around 2pm.

We didn't stay in Napier after lunch and do the things that the brochures recommended, mainly because our highlight of the day was to visit the doctor's. So after lunch, we headed back to Hastings in search of a hospital.

There are 2 hospitals and a couple of clinics in Hastings. The first hospital we visited couldn't help cause we didn't have an appointment. We were lucky with the second one cause we had a doctor called Jane who agreed to attend to us. I couldn't really get used to the whole process, cause whenever i told the receptionist /nurses that i wasn't a resident, the first reply i get is that i have to pay. It was like, if i am not a resident here, it's really difficult to get a doctor. Then they will start asking questions like if i was gonna have the baby here, whether i have medical insurance. K and I had to keep repeating that we were willing to pay, that we are going back to Singapore soon, and that we just want to know the baby is fine while we are still here. It was quite exhausting (at least for me!).

Anyway, at the second hospital, doctor Jane had me lie down on a bed and lift up my shirt while she switch on this device with a metal rod and rolled the rod all over my tummy. The device emitted strange buzzing noises. I came to realize later that it was scanning for my baby's heartbeat. Jane took such a long time rolling the metal rod and listening for the heartbeat that i began to worry if i was even pregnant. I asked her a few times if there was anything and she just shook her head with a puzzled look. After 30 seconds later, the device emitted a different sound, and Jane told me that was my baby's heartbeat. It was so beating so fast! When i heard the heart beat, i turned and looked at K, who smiled at me, and i wanted to cry.. = )

Jane asked me when my last menses was after the scanning, and calculated that i should be 15 weeks pregnant with my due date being 13 Dec this year. She also recommended that we got ourselves a midwife to arrange for ultra sound scans and run some blood tests. We left the hospital shortly after with a list of midwives from Jane for us to call.

K and I decided to go pay a visit to one, but nobody was in the office / house when we went there. So we headed back to the motel to call using the land line cause it's cheaper. I also text a few other midwives with hand phone numbers. No luck. Either they didn't reply, or they were all fully booked up until next year.

So eventually, K and I decided to go to a clinic and consult a GP instead. We went to the clinic in the city center (recommendation by the nurse in the first hospital) and waited for 20 mins before we were attended to by a Doctor Jeff Green. As usual, the receptionist asked us the same questions, whether we know we had to pay etc etc.. K and I went for a walk during the wait, and along the way, we went into an information center. I kinda confronted him on how he felt, cause
i was actually disappointed that he wasn't more emotional when he heard the baby's heart beat and had confirmation that i was pregnant. He was more like expression-less. To me, he seems much more excited when he sees a nice looking sports car on the roads. I told him how i felt, disappointed and all. I wanted him to show more emotions, emotions that he is so happy and so excited. He explained to me that when he is really truly happy, it is inside him, and he don't show. Besides, he had been absolutely sure all along that i was pregnant. He also told me that he had waited so long for this that he is definitely happy, and that he cried when he first "knew" i was pregnant. I kept asking him when he cried, but he refused to tell me and asked me to stop cause he want to cry again now.. For a while, we just stood there side by side and let our eyes water a bit with happiness.. = )

Then we walked back to the clinic to wait for our turn. I felt so strange sitting in the waiting room which was full of their locals - both whites and the Maori people. Somehow, i could feel them looking at us, the only Asians who stuck out like a sore thumb. Doctor Green didn't go much for us except issue 2 referral letters - one for my ultrasound, and one for my blood tests. Both results will be sent back to him. We had to call and make the appointments ourselves. Those 2 pieces of paper cost us $60. Not long after the visit, we got calls from the midwives., and realized we could have gotten the same letters for $35. But it was too late..

K and I left the clinic around 630pm and went to the supermarket to buy more groceries. Then we drove around in search of our celebratory dinner. I had wanted Japanese, but we couldn't find any. So we ended up having Thai food again (same as last month's anniversary).

We reached the motel around 9pm, and Ming came over to discuss with us regarding the accomodation. We told our current landlord about the $350 serviced apartments, and managed to get her to lower her price from $500 to $400 a week for their 2 bedroom unit. I personally preferred the one we are staying at now, cause firstly, we won't have to move our stuff too much cause it's just upstairs from our current unit, and secondly, they change towels everyday, and bedsheets every week. Ming seemed cool about it, so we decided to take a look at the 2 bedroom unit when he and Adreana comes over tomorrow.

Today marks a significant milestone for me, and definitely the best anniversary i've had so far. I'm sure there will be better ones to come!