At the doctor's waiting room, prior to meeting the doctor.

Dining and breaking the fast at Cabbages & Condoms (funny name, serious stuff!) restaurant in Sukhumvit, Bangkok downtown.

Mothers' coallition to prepare our Baby Shower

Prior to the Baby Shower, our kind and beloved Mothers came to Bangkok to help us prepare all the necessary things for the Baby Shower. Amazing women, I thought to myself. They've got heaps of work to do at home but still spare some time for us. Maybe it's the wonderful nature of grandmas-to-be (?) ;-)

So we picked them up at the airport, a bit late - kind of understandable coz they're women afterall, and women can't miss the good times of window shopping at the Duty Free! After that we went straight to the Samitivej hospital for my appointment with the doctor to check on the baby.

At nearly 6 o'clock, we went dining and breaking the fast at Cabbages & Condoms (funny name, serious stuff!) restaurant in Sukhumvit, Bangkok downtown. Here's an interesting fact: instead of after-dinner mints, they served nothing but the good ol' condoms! Well too late for me! Haha... But seriously, this restaurant was built by some people who are determined to promote healthy sex habits among Thais. As it turned out, the restaurant is a huge success and the safe-sex promotion still remains hitherto. Some of you wondered why we took our mums there? Simply because they serve nice food and great atmosphere with awesome outdoor decoration. Not for the free condoms, of course!

The Wedding

In early September we went back to Semarang to attend Illa and Kemal's wedding (mas Nuki's sister). We only managed to be home during the weekend, since Aretha couldn't get time off from work and mas Nuki has classes to attend. Yet it was a nice celebration to be involved in, and we got to see our family and friends. Mas Nuki invited his friends over, while Aretha invited hers.

Being away makses us realize just how much we miss our home, family and friends. For Aretha's case, her friends Dhita and Agnes came to the hen's party (well not exactly like the western style of hen's party, but traditional the so-called "Midodareni"). It was a good timing as Agnes was about to depart to Korea for her graduate studies in the following week.

Then Shima came also at the wedding reception. It was quite a funny story, because Aretha was greedily tried to satisfy her cravings for Indonesian food with her family at the VIP room. She thought, maybe Shima won't be able to find her, but what can she do? A gal's gotta eat! :-) Then out of the blue, someone poked her shoulder from behind, and guess who it is? Yup, Shima! What a surprise!

Anyway the photos are posted below. Aretha was about 6 months preggers. It's already showing, isn't it?

One happy family! From left to right: Mas Nuki, Aretha, the bride (de' Illa), Mama, and de' Vika.

Posing in front of the flowery-decorated bride and groom's sitting area (actually supposed to be used the following morning, yet what a nice background it makes for our picture with our lovely friends; Dhita and Agnez).

Our Baby Shower!

In Sunday last weekend, October 16, we celebrated Aretha's 7th months of pregnancy by having a Baby Shower at our apartment. There were around 20 of us, and our dear friends had made the efforts to attend the Shower despite the distance of our place from theirs. The Shower turned out to be a multi-national gathering with our friends from India, Nepal, Belgium, Nigeria, and of course; Thailand, and Indonesia. Our parents also helped us prepare the baby shower with traditional Javanese ritual with equipments and an array of food brought from Indonesia.

Unlike Western-style baby shower, Javanese baby shower requires real shower. Aretha was showered by her parents, mom-in-law and husband with a bucket of water filled with 7 types of fragrant flowers (her mom brought them from Indonesia).

After that she has to wear 7 types of Javanese costumes / batik in which each costume represent the wish to the baby for having specific sorts of character, for instance intelligence, devotion, peace, happiness, prosperity, good looks, etc, but most importantly, the symbol of the last batik signifies simplicity. Everyone are expected to express their disagreements for each costume by yelling out, “No” when the MC (Aretha's mum) asks, “Does this clothes suit her?”. Not until the 7th costume, which then the answer should be “Yes”.

Some interesting ritual is the dropping of 2 eggs beneath the Javanese clothes that symbolize our good wish that the baby can be delivered without major problems. In the old days, we believe that if the eggs don’t break, the baby would be a boy. Whereas if the eggs do break, it would be a girl. (Obviously, during those old days Sonograms were not yet invented).

Interestingly enough, during this rituals what happened was that the eggs didn't break (Believe it or not?!) ;-)

The next ritual is the breaking of the golden coconut by the baby's father that symbolizes our good wish that in time and after the baby delivery, the mother and the baby will remain safe and healthy. As you see in the picture below, the golden coconuts are craved with the character of Kamajaya and Ratih Goddess, which represent our wish for the baby to have their characteristics such as loyalty, intelligence, heroism, handsomeness, etc.

The next ritual is the making of rujak procot (a sort of fruit dish with spices), which symbolically done by the mother-to-be. The fruit for the dish consists of 7 types, which represent the 7th months of pregnancy.

Last but not least is prayers by the father and mother in-law. After the ritual finished, the guests were presented with a variety of Javanese/Indonesian food, including tumpeng (yellow rice) that are usually served during baby shower.

Prior to the closure of the event, three Javanese crafts were given away in the 'game' time. Aretha is playing the Javanese music on the tape, and while she has her eyes closed, the gifts were tossed around. She decides when the music stops, and when it does, whoever carries the gift is the winner.

Changing batik clothes ritual - my mum in law behind me is fixing the batik, while my mum explain to our friends what the batik patterns represent.

The baby shower isn't complete without a "Tumpeng" (yellow rice molded into mountainous shape).

The guests listen intently to what my dad gotta say on his welcome speech (jokes and poems included, which kinda break the ice!)

Mas Nuki and his PhD supervisor Dr. Shabbir (from India), who also attended the baby shower.

The guests surrounding the Indonesian food served in the baby shower. "Enak!" (Delicious!)  

The 7th dress (kebaya) to wear. As part of the baby shower ritual, the mother-to-be is dressed up into 7 different Javanese dress. The photo shows the last dress Aretha wears for the evening. 

The golden coconuts engraved with wayang characters of Ratih goddess and Kamajaya [especially brought from Indonesia by our moms]! 

Just before the Baby Shower starts [early bird guests]