Thursday, April 8, 2010

What Ridiculous Charges!

We brought Ethan to see Dr Yong again at Pantai MC this afternoon. He is suffering from VERY BAD rashes - his chin, his neck, his chest and even his back. Heck his left arm near the elbow also is dotted with the nasty rashes!

Of course I was glad that the doctor could fit us in at around 230pm. First disappointment of the day: Ethan's weight. From 16/3 till yesterday 7/4, almost 3 weeks' duration, he had only gained 200g (and I am rounding it up HOR). WTH.

Ethan has been waking to feed at least twice e'night and even in the daytime, I am with him most of the time and he feeds I would say at least 50% of his waking hours. hahaha. So now, I am forced to reconcile with the fact that it could be the quantity or the quality of my milk ! :P

Anyway, the wait in the queue was short and again Dr Yong was patient n kind. He examined Ethan and prescribed Travacot and some Anti hystemine for his 'red and angry' rashes. Then, we left to pay and collect the medication.

Once outside and at the payment counter, the saga started. APparently, the nurse had forgotten to charge us some 'consultation' fees from the previous encounter. The charging system in this hospital (or maybe for this doc?) is SO WEIRD. He will charge his normal consultation fee to see you. And then if you hv brought your child for a vaccination, there's an additional CONSULTATION FEE for jabbing Ethan in the ass. And ON TOP OF THAT, there's also ANOTHER procedural fee just to carry out the injection. And please, we have not even mentioned the charge for the MEDICATION in the freaking syringe!??!

OMG, I don't think I've ever encountered such an absurd charging system? Moreover, it's PANTAI MEDICAL CENTRE and not even Gleneagles!!! The previous doc at Gleneagles (although he's pretty flippant about Ethan's needs) charged us SO MUCH LESS and he was from Gleneagles! Needless to say, I was very disappointed at being forced to change a peaditrician again for Ethan. *sigh*

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Mommy's Little Monster @ Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall

Because Ethan was so well-behaved and such a sweetheart on Friday evening when we brought him to Bangsar, we were excited to bring him out again. This time, we wanted to go to Sunway Pyramid for brunch and also a little bit of shopping.

We left the house late, at 130pm, after settling some unpleasant stuff and then made a beeline for SP. Deciding to try something new, instead of going for a meal at our usual haunt, the Vietnamese restaurant near the ice-skating rink, we tried out the Hakka restaurant which had lured us in with their advertisement posted in the car park.
Surprisingly, I wasn't very hungry and stopped Alan from ordering to feed an army again. We had a huge claypot toufu with meat patties, a plate of braised pork with black fungus, a plate of Shuan Pan Zi and each had a bowl of soup - I had a very salty scallop soup (of minute portions)and he had a bowl of tasteless herbal chicken.


Ethan was still v well-behaved and in a good mood when I took these pics.
The portions (excluding the toufu) were very small and that was a good thing because before we ended our meal, Ethan started fussing. We then tried to get him secured in the Baby Bjorn harness but he refused. And then we tried the stroller and of course he rejected that too. :P *sigh*
Finally, he settled down in his harness and Alan carried him whilst I pushed the stroller. We went to the Children's department and I bought some cotton wool / nursing pads in Annaku. Then, we went downstairs to Pets Lovers Centre. Ethan seemed enthralled by the rabbits hopping around in their glass cage and reached out trying to grab them. haha.
We headed into Giant to pick up some groceries and necessities, such as diapers :P After 10minutes or so, Ethan started wailing loudly. *sigh* Alan continued to shop whilst I pushed him in the stroller (still wailing and turning red) into the ladies to change his diaper. :P
As I calmly maneourved the stroller into the loo, everyone turned to stare (and give me the DIRTY LOOK) as Ethan continued to scream and kick his legs. I carried him up and he quieten a bit but once I placed him on the changing table, he commenced again to screech and kick in fury. The loo was as silent as the graveyard (sans Ethan's violent tantrums) and the tension was rife. I had my back facing the people (as the changing table was in the corner at the far end) but I could feel the eyeballs boring into my back.
I guess people were thinking "what kind of mother is she, can't even control her baby". Hai. Finally, once the (literally) dirty deed was done, I turned around red-cheeked to face the crowd and wheel him outta the loo. One Malay lady looked into my eyes and gave me a shake of her head as if to say "oh my dear,I truly sympathize with you for having a Monster as a son" and then I noticed another Malay lady QUIETLY changing the diaper of her daughter who was of course lying SILENTLY in her pram and very compliant with her mother's actions and wishes. The rest of the loo-goers's expressions were are mixture of pity, disgust and bewilderment. (A far cry from the looks of admiration we had been bestowed with on Friday evening in Bangsar!)
That very moment, I silently asked myself (for probably the millionth time since 26/10/09) why I had gotten myself into such a permanent fix. *big huge sigh*
Anyway, after I emerged with the screaming Ethan from the loo, Alan was about done getting our groceries and then we headed for the car. On the way, Alan popped into the loo himself and once he came out, Ethan had falled into a slumber already. The poor fella probably was v irritable because his diaper was wet and he was hungry and exhausted. Oh well.. This is making me think v hard whether I want to bring him to Australia or not. But if he doesn't come along, how am I supposed to leave? I don't have good and trustworthy help and the worst thing is, I am breastfeeding! :P
Enough of grouses- I digressed. Once Alan came outta the loo, I popped into GNC to replenish my calcium tablets and then we left promptly for home, exhausted and moody because of ETHAN TAN EE HOM!
note: This was the first time that Ethan had put on his new romper (given by Auntie Julia) that proudly printed "Mommy's Little Monster". I have made a mental note NEVER to let him wear this romper EVER AGAIN!