Now a Mummy!

So yes, I managed to prepare enough milk for Baby AH and express whilst I was away from Baby AH. I was away for about 9 days and prepared 9 bags of 12 x 4ozs. However, I was told that Baby AH only drank about 10 bottles the most a day, so I had 2 bags left, which I am saving for my next trip (nda mau rugi! hehe.)

On my way to Seoul, I had to transit in Singapore for about 14 hours. I managed to express once when we arrived in Singapore and once more before checking out. Here, I made a mistake of freezing the first batch instead of chilling it as obviously it thawed on the way to Seoul. You always read these contradicting rules on how long you can keep frozen EBMs once thawed or whether you can re-refridgerate heated EBMs, so just to let you know, I don’t usually follow any rules unless I feel like it. Har har. Bad, I know but as a general guideline I don’t usually re-freeze thawed EBMs and if the EBMs have been heated once but unused, I will put it back in the fridge.

Anyways, I packed my EBMs in the playtex bags, which I think was a mistake. Unfortunately, I have only brought that so I had to live with them for the rest of my trip. As I only tied the bags with rubber bands, the bags were leaking and I might have around 0.5-1oz from each bag. Sayang, I know! So, I reckon if you were going to travel and express the easiest and cheapest way of storing EBMs will be using the zip-lock bags (I use the Glad Freezer Bags but I remember someone commented on using zip-lock like bags, which you can also get from plastic shops )

I didn’t have much (wait, ANY!) problems going through the customs at the gate. I probably had 10 bags of 60-80ml EBMs and they didn’t even say anything. Even if they did, I would probably compare my case to the guy next to me who brought a bottle of liqour, which was obviously more than 1L and was not bought at the airport. All they did with that guy was wrote his name and the name & amount of the liquor (I think!). So, I’m ‘guessing’ that if you have brought more than 1L of EBMs without an accompanying baby, they would probably just take down your details.

Once we reached Seoul, I didn’t want to throw my milk and prolonged it by making them keep in the freezer. Haha. Prior to the trip, I emailed the hotel requesting to use their ice-cream freezer for my EBMs. So, when we got there, I dug the email and told them about it. There were few miscommunication initially due to language barrier but after an hour or so, they finally understood what I wanted and sent room service to collect my EBMs with a tray! It was like that for the duration of my trip. On some days, they would come once in the morning and once in the evening, on other days, they would just come in the morning as I just kept my EBMs from the evening in the little freezer in the mini-fridge.

Yes, I only managed to express twice then. Once in the morning before work and once more in the evening, after work. I tried to express during lunch time on the first day but we only had an hour lunch (which was usually working lunch) and everytime I rush expressing, I end up with very little. With the two expressing sessions, Alhamdullilah, I managed to express 9-10 bottles a day. However, towards the end, I noticed that my EBMs were becoming less and less.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention- I contacted Singapore Airlines prior to my trip and asked if I could check in my EBMs as perishable cargo so it would be kept in the freezer whilst I was in transit on the way back to Brunei. Apparently, there was a miscommunication because when I used the word ‘cargo’, it actually meant shipping it as unaccompanied baggage or cargo (i.e. on the cargo plane). Nevertheless, the SIngapore Airlines staff there were friendly enough to check for me how much dry ice I could bring although it would be better if they could supply me with dry ice

So, the night before we checked out, I asked the hotel if they have dry ice, which they didn’t and suggested that Baskin Robins should have. 10 minutes later, they called me back saying that Baskin Robins finished their dry ice and that I could try going to DHL the next morning. Luckily, I had 2 sheets of techni-ice, which supposedly was enough to keep my EBMs cold ‘for days and not hours’ but I guess I didn’t freeze it long enough (about 24 hours only)

In the morning, when I requested Room Service to send me my EBMs, I was surprised to see how much I expressed over the week! Okay, maybe it was the size of the container that they used but I was happy to see the container properly lined with table cloth. However, the way it was stored in the container (bags lying down causing the milk to seep out of the storage bags) made me lost a lot of EBMs Again, another reason to use zip-lock bags instead of the playtex bags. Luckily I placed the frozen EBMs in a zip-lock bag (about 4-5 bags in a zip-lock bag), otherwise the container would just be messy!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit all of my EBMs in my cooler box, I think I had to throw half of my ‘collection’. I lined the bottom and top of my coolerbox with techni ice sheets and then wrapped the box with brown paper. All in all, it probably weighed about 5kg. So, I need to remember to travel light!

My flight to Singapore was at 3pm and we were leaving for the airport at about 1pm. To reduce hassles, I didn’t express that morning and thought I would save it till I reached Singapore- it hurt! Har har. But what to do. So, the first thing I wanted to do when we arrived was obviously express (and eat! because they served Indian food onboard and I had enough of Indian food in Seoul. Haha.). Again, I had no problem bringing my EBMs through the customs at the gate. This time I had less than before, as I didn’t express in the morning so I could feed Baby AH direct when I reach Brunei. I probably had 500 – 600ml with me. Oh, I forgot to mention, I bought 4ox playtex storage bags and I didn’t like it. So, if you want to buy playtex bags, I would recommend 8oz bags. With 4oz bags, I had to fill 2oz only as anything more will cause it to leak A LOT as they were only secured by rubber bands.

On the plane, I asked if I could place my EBMs in their fridge or freezer (which I forgot to do with the SIN-INC trip!) but they didn’t have any as it was a short flight, so they gave me dry ice instead, which not only kept my EBMs cold but one or two was half frozen when I arrived in Brunei!

Once we reached home, the first thing I did was check my EBMs. To hope it was all still frozen was too much, I suppose but my EBMs half-thawed. So, I just quickly put them in the fridge to be used in the next few days (or week) whilst I was at work. It has been about a week now, and I have used up all my EBMs from the trip (except for 2-3 packets). All that I have expressed in the past week were stocked in the freezer to replace the ones that baby AH have been feeding on.

From today, I will have to follow strict expressing time again (hehe. yaa.. I’ve been a bit slack in that department as I knew there’s plenty in the fridge).

What I’ve learned from this trip:

1. Zip-lock bags are better (for me that is. hehe.)

2. Making prior arrangements with the hotel is important

3. Try not to give up! LOL. There were just sooo many times, I wanted to go out as soon as I finished work but I knew I had to express first.

4. Find an English speaking staff who can assist you. (Boy, J will be hard especially since the hotel’s website states that their staff speak very little English!

I hope this helps. I started writing this on Sunday and only kind of finished it today. Heh.