I was working in the army as an infantry instructor when I was pregnant. And because it was a shotgun, I kept it well from my superiors and camp-mates; I wasn’t sure if I would be discharged from army being an unwed mother or something. (I was told it is possible.) and also, my hubby was working in the unit.. I had to respect his decision ‘not to tell anyone about this’.. I wasn’t sure too, how this would affect his career.

so anyway, I carried on with the training (usually out field) as per normal.. enduring all the inconveniences (pregnant women need more toilet visits!).. and at the same time trying to keep my pregnancy under wraps.. in this case, changing my size S uniform to size M and later on to size L. the only siong part was to take out the ranks and to sew them on each time I changed my uniform sizes.

One fine day, my 2 CSMs called me to their office and asked if they were right that I was pregnant. Well.. both my CSMs were very laojiao people ok.... one is a Guard, the other is a Commando.. I guessed there is NO way I could bluff my way through in front of them.. so I told them the truth. I would say, I’m glad I told them the truth, because they helped me out a lot from there (explaining to my OC, CO about my plight etc.) and made life easier for me, gave me the lighter jobs.. they even took the trouble to go to ROM with us when we apply for a date.. thanks Enciks..

Ok back to the point, I had wanted to take my 8 weeks’ leave only after the baby is delivered, but.. for some reason, she just did not ‘pop out’. In the end, I was ‘forced’ to take Maternity Leave by my Chief Clerk on the supposedly Due Date of my baby.

On the way home that day, I got into an accident (going towards KJE). (I know, I know… pregnant mothers shouldn’t be bike pillions..). Apparently some NSman’s bike crashed into ours from behind.. (the bikes were snaking in the middle of 2 lanes) and my hubby’s bike skidded and turned. The NSman fell, my hubby fell, I fell (I could have fly but probably I’m too BIG to).. and car drivers stopped to help us up. The NSmen who just out-processed and on their way home also stopped to help. We were lucky there was a traffic jam and vehicles weren’t fast-moving.


The first thing I did was to look around for my hubby.. wondering if he was OK.

But, the first thing my hubby did, was to get up and looked at his bike…………….

Never mind. At least he was alive.

I’m proud to say, Singaporean drivers can really be very nice! Though, I can’t say the same for Singapore husbands! Those who stopped to help me up showed me more concern than my hubby did. One driver wanted to take me to the hospital.. (after commenting on how dangerous it was for pregnant women to take bikes) .. but I didn’t see the need to as I did not feel any abdomen pain and had just some bloody scratches.

Of this event, the only thing that haunts me, was the fact that my hubby was (and still is!) a bloody asshole! His bike was more important than my life and my daughter’s!

I delivered my baby 2 weeks after that. I would not describe the grisly details of childbirth.. because I could not remember much except the excruciating pains. BUT, I would never forget how my hubby almost black-out in the labor ward and the midwife suggested him to get out of there. What a man!