FIRECracker is a world-travelling early retiree. She used to dwell in one of the crucial costly cities in Canada, however as a substitute of drowning in debt, she rejected dwelling possession. What resulted was a 7-figure portfolio, which has allowed her and her husband to retire at 31 and journey the world. Their story has been featured on CBC, the Huffington Submit, CNBC, BNN, Enterprise Insider, and Yahoo Finance. To this point, it’s the most shared story in CBC historical past and their viral video on CBC’s On the Cash has garnered 4.5 Million views.
“Is that this an excellent time? Are you sitting down?”
I took a deep breath. I used to be sitting down, the bus journey was bumpy and lengthy, and I had been anticipating the decision. In reality, I already knew what the information was going to be even earlier than the nurse on the opposite finish mentioned a single phrase. “Shoot.”
“Congratulations, it’s optimistic!”
My mind couldn’t compute. “I’m sorry, I’m having hassle processing what you’re saying. Are you able to say that once more?”
“Your blood check end result was optimistic. You’re pregnant!”
If I’d been ingesting espresso at that second, I’d have accomplished a real spit take.
You might have seen that in my posts for the previous few months, I seldom included photos of the decrease half of my physique. And that’s as a result of for the primary a part of 2023, I’d been sprouting a child bump, and I needed to carry off on sharing the information, juuuuust in case it didn’t work out (there’s an excellent cause why I’m so anxious however I’ll save our “journey to parenthood” story for an additional time). However now that the bouncy boy is out, and I sit right here penning this put up lined in spit-up, breastmilk (or “boob juice” as Wanderer likes to name it), and having slept a grand complete of 4 hours up to now 2 days, I can lastly share the story of our being pregnant and what it was like travelling by means of 6 entire nations whereas rising a child.
So, we discovered that we had been anticipating on an extended bus journey proper after we’d booked an epic 5 month journey to Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand. And never solely that, I’d invited 30 of my associates from the FIRE neighborhood to affix us. Now, with this information, regardless that I’m the one which invited them, I was not going to have the ability to make it.
I almost cancelled my total journey proper afterwards however fortunately frequent sense prevailed and I requested my physician first whether or not it was secure to journey.
“Journey doesn’t improve your threat of miscarriage,” he informed me. “In reality, in all pregnancies there’s a 25% likelihood of miscarriage within the first trimester and if it occurs there’s sadly little or no you are able to do about it. Simply be sure you’re close to a hospital and get all the required first and second trimester exams.”
To assuage my fears, I discovered a comforting graph (as a result of pregnant or not, I’m nonetheless going to MATH THAT SHIT UP), which confirmed the % lower in miscarriage charges when you get previous the 14th week mark.
So, after a collection of appointments with our physician, he cleared us medically to journey so long as we bought again earlier than the third trimester started, and we bought all of the required prenatal exams whereas we had been overseas. The plan was to get our Non-Invasive Prenatal Exams (NIPT) and Nuchal Transparency (NT) Take a look at accomplished at week 11 in Thailand, and our ultrasound accomplished in Australia in week 20. As soon as third trimester rolled round, it could be unsafe for me to journey (plus, airways received’t allow you to fly previous 36 weeks and not using a physician’s notice anyway), and we’d come again to Canada to offer beginning.
For many who don’t converse being pregnant, the NIPT is a blood check that that screens for collection of genetic circumstances within the first trimester. It will possibly additionally let you know the intercourse of the child. Each time individuals ask me, “Are you aware what you’re having or will it’s a shock?” I reply with “Oh I came upon within the first trimester.” Screw being stunned. You suppose this management freak of a mind would wait an entire 9 months to seek out out? And someway not plan for the remainder of the 18 years for my future child’s life? HA!
So, yeah, we came upon Little Matchstick is a boy as quickly as week 11 rolled round. We did it at Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok, which appeared extra like a 5-star resort than a hospital. We even noticed limos pulling up in entrance straight from the airport! I had at least 4 nurses attending to me and seeing the physician was instantaneous. In addition they had free water and juice within the fancy-pants ready room and a cafeteria connected the place you may get all kinds of scrumptious dishes whilst you wait. Overlook the standard crappy hospital meals, they’ve pad krapow gai!.
The physician was additionally very educated and defined precisely what we had been taking a look at through the NT with fluent English. In reality, this hospital is the perfect worldwide hospital in Bangkok and boasts employees that talk 32 totally different languages.
After the NIPT blood check was accomplished, we solely waited 9 days for the outcomes to be securely despatched to us. The entire course of was handy, environment friendly, and gave us peace of thoughts that our little bundle of pleasure was wholesome.
The price? 23,456 THB for each exams + physician’s charge, which is $668.12 USD. On condition that the NIPT check isn’t lined by medical insurance in Canada and prices round $500 + tax anyway, it was an excellent deal.
After which when week 20 rolled round and it was time for us to do the anatomy scan, which was a 1 hour thorough ultrasound scan of all the child’s physique components to verify every little thing is rising usually, we booked it in Sydney, Australia and had an equally nice expertise. The physician informed us precisely what we had been taking a look at, together with the chambers of the child’s coronary heart, the kidney’s, the abdomen, bladder, the backbone, and many others. It was even detailed sufficient to point out you which ones manner the blood was flowing by means of the guts, coloured crimson on the display for vein and blue for arteries. They gave us all the knowledge from the scan onto a USB drive that they offered, together with a 3D picture of Little Matchstick. We later shared this with our OBGYN again in Canada, and it was straightforward peasy. The price? $300 Australian {dollars} or $193 USD.
Apart from the exams, the factor we needed to fear about was the discomfort of flying whereas pregnant, particularly within the first trimester, the place I used to be so nauseated I couldn’t even drink room temperature water with out gagging. I needed to drink ice chilly water or coconut water. And for meals, solely bland ham and cheese sandwiches. Again in Canada, I used to be getting depressed as a result of there was actually nothing I needed to eat. However as soon as we landed in Southeast Asia, I used to be so joyful to have the ability to eat almost every little thing that I cried tears of pleasure.
The second I ate that first spoonful of seafood noodles and black rooster ft stew on the Singapore Airport. Every thing tasted like dwelling. The one factor I couldn’t eat was something spicy, and coming from a province in China recognized for “spicy meals and spicy ladies,” that made me a bit unhappy, however hey, it beats ham and cheese sandwiches any day of the week!
The sheer variety of flights had been a bit a lot, I’ve to confess. Right here’s the way it went:
Toronto to Montreal. Then from Montreal to Tokyo. Then from Tokyo to Singapore. Keep in a single day. Catch a flight to Chiang Mai the subsequent day within the afternoon, after which straight to dinner with a buddy earlier than he lives Thailand the subsequent day.
I used to be so jet lagged I couldn’t even calculate our share of the invoice at dinner. Fortunately, my associates had been tremendous involved that I couldn’t MATH THAT SHIT UP and took care of it for me.
That mentioned, it did assist that we flew enterprise class utilizing factors for all these legs so I nonetheless bought 7 hours of sleep on the Montreal to Tokyo leg and 6 hours of sleep on the Tokyo to Singapore leg. This was my first enterprise class flight ever, and I by no means thought I’d be unhappy when a 13 hour flight was over however that’s what occurred, however that would be the topic of its personal article within the close to future.
So Little Matchstick has been to six entire nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia) earlier than he’s even born! Hopefully he’ll be an excellent little traveller going ahead.
Have you ever ever been on a babymoon or travelled whereas pregnant? Do you could have any parenting ideas for us? Let’s hear it within the feedback beneath!
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