Mount Elizabeth Hospital Stay

After four natural childbirths, I felt it was time to try the EPIDURAL!

It was the right thing to do with this fifth pregnancy.

Here's Dr. Yap the sweetest Chinese anesthesiologist.

She was not much taller than Ethan!

We were so impressed with Dr. Yap,

she put me right at ease with my first-time epi experience.

Dr. Anne Hagarty - just about the coolest Canadian OBGYN you can ever meet! She's a lululemon-wearing, yoga-loving, horse-back riding, hip woman, who has delivered more than 5,000 births...and really knows what she is doing. I credit everything positive related to this pregnancy and labor/delivery to her!

The Filipina nurses were the sweetest, they sure took good care of

Lucia and I for our five-day restful and peaceful stay.

The Indian kitchen staff were so sweet.

They even brought extra food for my four "little ones".

I just have to say, this would NEVER happen in Europe.

I love birthing in Asia! The western food at the hospital was so so,

once I switched to Asian / Malay / Indian - it was SO much better!

However, for every meal I had, Mateo had to go run down

and buy me a second meal....I've been ravenous as a breastfeeder.

 

The hospital is seriously run like a hotel, front guest manager,

here's one of the friendly Malay cleaners:

I'm so glad I had these days to just rest and relax, I never turned on the TV,

I just held Luciana and enjoyed her.

One thing I've never had before is this bracelet on me and one on

Lucia's foot, every time they bring me to her there is a lovely little tune

so the staff know they matched the right mom to baby, AND

also so that nobody can steal the baby or the security will sound off!

On Monday, the kids were so excited to come after school and have Lucia's

first FHE and dinner outside in the gardens.  Chef Mateo had packed spaghetti

bolognaise for the family.

Proud Papa - he sure loves his little girl!

I'm so in love with Luciana.  As my fifth, I realize even more how fleeting the time is that they are little and sweet and tiny, I am enjoying EVERY minute I have her in my arms.

Mateo and I leaving Mount Elizabeth hospital:

Luciana Coming HOME to Hua Guan Avenue

The kids were so delighted to have Luciana HOME at last!

Ethan is babysitter extraordinaire already.  

I completely trust him, he is so gentle and careful.

Ella loves the baby too, but she is very occupied with

managing Luciana's wardrobe and picking out all the outfits like this one:

Lucia is a water baby - she loves her bath time!

Friends and family have been so generous, 

we don't even need to buy any clothes for Lucia.

Other gifts we love - cupcakes from Eve 

my Singaporean baker friend,

flowers from friends, and Amer's traditional Chopard engraved silver frame we love:

Our very first girls' outing to get mani's and pedi's.  

I sure love having two daughters!  It's a new experience.

First time we loaded up all the kids in the car, 

we realized, we are a BIG family!

Not one extra seat in the car....

Furner Family Reunion - Kiawah Island, SC

What a GREAT Furner family reunion we had at this beach house on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  

We missed Melinda and Emma though.

The cousins had the VERY best time 

just hanging out together:

 

  

No FURNER family gathering is complete without gifts from

Tata  and Uncle Daniel, the kids were pretty excited!

Grammy always has great art projects for the kids,

they enjoyed decorating Easter buckets.

We had our very own family Easter egg hunt 

at the house and garden...

Kiawah Island had a whole bunch of amazing 

Easter festivities for 

all the family, including a GIANT egg hunt and egg toss.

We are so grateful to Molly and family for organizing

the reunion....

The highlight of the vacation was of course, 

going to the beach all together.

We sure loved being with everyone!

Grammy and Grandpa sure love family time:

 

Ethan thinks Hunter is a pretty cool uncle

(we agree!) 

We feel so lucky we had so much Gickling family time

over our three weeks in the USA.

We were very impressed with the beauty of Kiawah

 

...we don't get to see Chris and Sandi and kids enough so we are so glad they were there visiting from UT.

 

I love this photo of Tata and Daniel so happy!

A day in Charleston, South Carolina

 

We were very impressed with Charleston,

we loved the old cobbled streets, Southern homes, 

and all the history.

Our first stop was the horse-drawn carriage ride.

 

We definitely LOVED Southern cuisine 

especially the sweet desserts,

like caramel bread pudding, peach cobbler, etc.

The coolest store in Charleston was MOON PIES, 

an old-fashioned candy shop.

We had beautiful weather, so we had to cool off with 

ice cream and splashing in the fountains.

  

 We love how Luke just jumps in on everything,

he is such a cute kid!

I love this relaxed Mom/Daughter photo of Sandi and Emily.

Kayla and Ella are such good friends and cousins 

and played so well together,

there were a lot of tears on both sides when we left.  

Kayla is such a neat little girl with so much pazzazz!