The Pregger's Journey Part 2

Wokay, so here I am at 12 midnite on the eve of my 38th week check up... Trying to scribble something on pregnancy since I am not able to sleep yet... Well, that is a bit of an understatement actually coz memang i dok memanjang susah nak tido since masuk 3rd trimester ni... 

Wish this is me now....

Anyways, just a few thots and tips hopefully, since I rasa ramai kat luar sana yg samada baru nak jadi mommies or just would like to get some heads up on things about pregnancy... Since I dah ada 5 kali experience ni I rasa tak salah kan share apa2 yg patut... Sharing is caring.... 

Firstly, I nak share my thots and feelings on this pregnancy journey... I rasa this time memang experience yg sangat different from the rest of my pregnancies... Maybe it's the age thingy, or maybe it's even the fact that I am carrying a boy this time... Entahlah, yg pasti kali ni dah la terlebih penat, pastu very anxious to get it over & done with... Siap dok usha videos on giving birth and the likes sedangkan sebelum ni I couldn't be bothered at all... My most favourite site will have to be BabyCentre (http://www.babycenter.com.my)... Banyak info and tips berguna for us mommies kat sini.... And I especially like to read on the Birth Stories... You can really get a lot of ideas on how things can be like during childbirth.... 

My own personal experience on all 4 childbirth masa dengan Dr Marlik was that all were induced. Masa my 1st baby, I had a show... Ada la secalit dua darah kot keluar at 38 weeks but that was enough to send us to the hospital at about midnite... Terus kena tahan although there was no contractions... So Dr Marlik put me on Pitocyn and later I was given Entonox gas as painkiller... I terima je lah apa2 pun since 1st time and memang tak tau what to expect... Alhamdulillah the labour pain was not too long... By dawn my baby Feera already made her grand entrance... Second pregnancy, Dr Marlik told us to come in for check up on Boxing Day at 37 weeks... Dia buat VE (vaginal examination) and said I was 2cm dilated... No contraction but he wanted me to be induced... Again I just followed his advise but this time I insisted not to have any painkiller since the last time the after effect was that I was too drowsy to breastfeed my baby... I was determined to immediately breastfeed my baby this time round... Alhamdulillah the labour lasted for about 4- 5 hours only and baby Erin said hi to the world... Similarly for baby Ayra, Dr Marlik told us to come in for checkup at 37 weeks and indicated that baby will be borne on that day... Kali ni memang almost similar to no 2, VE was done and I was told I was 4cm dilated... I was induced on Pitocyn and no painkiller.... Come baby Zara's turn, when we went for the 37 weeks checkup I was 2cm dilated... This time I was determined to wait for some contractions to come by... So Dr Marlik sent us home and 3 days after I had some contractions when hubby rushed me to hospital... Still the contractions were not strong or regular enough so again I was put on Pitocyn... This time tho, I have heard of Epidural and requested to have it as painkiller... Unfortunately, the anesthetist did some blunder that the Epidural did not work on me... I could actually feel every single thing including the insertion of catheter (hmmm betul ke nama benda tu??) to extract urine... Punya lah sakit kali ni... Dah la belakang kena inject for the Epidural, then semua kesakitan pun boleh rasa gak!!! Defeats the whole purpose.... Anyway, alhamdulillah all went well with another short labour cuma of all the childbirth this was the most painful by far although Zara only weighted 2.33kg....

Back to this pregnancy, kali ni memang i kena macam2 punya sakit... Like the migraine attack, then very frequent lower back pain even during 2nd trimester, a very bad toothache yg I dok tahan sampai sekarang and recently the muscle pull that came from no where... Memang teramatlah mencabar this time round... I suppose inilah dugaan tapi something yg memang buat I agak cuak since this is the first time I ambik advance MC prior to delivery... My other 4 pregnancies memang I redah kerja till the day i deliver... So nampak sangat la yg I sememangnya dah berumur... Huhuhuhuh.... Yes, I can actually feel my body age... It's like wear & tear case where all the alignments dah lari, banyak parts yg dah longgar and you feel like "This is it... This is the finale!!".... And kali ni agaknya since I banyak rest and less active, baby macam tak nak keluar lagi (Dr Aziz thot I was going to deliver on the 16th January ari tu lagi...)... Macam2 I dah cuba... Swimming, eat lotsa curries, scrubbing the toilet floor (they say the doggy position is good to bring on labor), drink a concoction of tea + yolk, drink air akar fatimah, etc....  Now I just need to leave it all to Allah to decide when baby will make his appearance... I do hope he will be born this Thursday tho sempena Maulud Nabi... Nak ambik berkat birthday Rasulullah s.a.w. amin.....

Anyway, I need to get my rest now... There is possibility of me getting induced tomorrow since I am already 2cm dilated as of 3 days ago... Maybe more by now... As worried as I am that I will be in greater pain this time, I pray to Allah that all will be well and that segalanya dipermudahkan.... And hopefully I get to update this blog once I have delivered my baby so that I can share my experience yet again.... Please pray for me and my baby, amin....

A wonderful surprise.... The Pregger's Journey Part 1

In my last entry I mentioned that something huge happened and I only get to scribble this down only now... Found out I was pregnant in June, to baby no 5!!!! Wowwww, both hubby & I were in deep shock... We obviously did not plan for this especially since I've exceeded my target age of conceiving a child (fyi, this means over 35 yrs old). Nevertheless, we were both happy with this huge news... silently hoping that this time we will be blessed with a prince after having 4 beautiful princesses to complete our happy family.... 

As always, my 1st trimester is the most trying period... My morning sickness, as much as I dread them, keep on coming... I thought being the 5th time (well, actually 6th pregnancy since I had a miscarriage for the 1st one), it will be easier or lasts for shorter period... But oh no, I still have to go through that whole episode of throwing up, big burps (yes, I'm one of those VERY windy persons!!), dizziness and the whole nausea package regardless of time & place for at least 3 months... I was losing around 5kg during this period... 

Lost weight but still tried to enjoy food with besties....

I stocked up not only asam (not a fan of asam but during pregnancy have to keep spare) & sweets in my handbag, I had a few packets of tissues and plastic bags as well in case things get nasty.... And as always, I can never conceal this big secret so before long everyone in the office knew about it.... Not that I needed to keep it a secret so much... just following petua orang tua2 not to make a big hoo haa before fetus is stable.... And worse part was during Ramadhan where I insisted to fast despite vomitting almost on daily basis... I figured no point to break my fast when everything I consumed would still come out... Alhamdulillah Allah gave me the strength to proceed with the exception of 5 days where I was too worn out from lack of liquid....

Anyway, alhamdulillah 1st trimester passed immediately after Aidilfitri.... I indulged on all the ketupats, rendangs, nasi impits and cookies and managed to put on a bit of weight...

Our Hari Raya family photo... Someone's looking chubbier!!

I even managed to be part of the organising team for the Hari Raya do for our company at Mandarin Oriental Hotel... I was entrusted to lead the entertainment segment and brought in the ever talented Nabil & Sharifah Shahira... Kelakar doh diorang berdua ni... and very easy to deal with...

 Thought 2nd trimester would be a smooth sailing... well, it did for a moment... Until i reached 24 weeks and on one fine morning on the way to work (and it happened to be the eve of my birthday, huhuhuh), I had a severe migraine attack... Hubby had to send me to the emergency ward at Ampang Puteri where I was seeing my gynae... 

To cut a long story short, I was hospitalised for 3 days and given another 2 days MC to rest... What made it a very significant event was the fact that I finally decided to stop going to Ampang Puteri, EVER as the hospital's service sucks major time!!! I had a heavy heart to change gynae tho as Dr Marlik was an excellent Obstetrician/ Gynaecologist but he acknowledged the shortfall with the hospital's services and gave a good reference to another excellent gynae in Prince Court Medical Centre. So now, I am under the care of Dato' Dr Aziz Yahya in PCMC. Hope he'll take good care of me just like Dr Marlik did for all my 4 deliveries...

So now I'm already in my 3rd and final trimester... I knew I'd go through some sleepless nights during this period but little did I know that with age comes bigger problems... I am somehow bigger than my previous pregnancies... Probably coz the shape of tummy is "muncung" instead of "lebar" as usual... Yes, both Dr Marlik & Dato' Dr Aziz confirmed that it's going to be a BOY!!!! Alhamdulillah.... indeed a bonus to us.... And then my back pain seems to be endless... Every nite I'll be having sleeping problem... Tossing & turning don't help at all... At times I'd sleep at the edge of the bed, most of the times with dozens of pillows as a fortress and I even went to the extent of getting a pregnancy pillow for this purpose.... Imagine all 4 pregnancies I could do without this pillow but now I have to resort to this plus every nite of ointment... Kesian Hubby who has to quickly learn to be a masseur just to get me to sleep... 

Well, who says being preggy is easy??? It's not, but in my entire pregnancy history I must emphasize that this is the most challenging of all... I still think it pretty much revolves around the age factor tho many told me it's because this time I'm carrying a boy.... Whatever it is, I am glad and grateful to be given this opportunity again tho now at 36 weeks I am tested yet again with a muscle pull at my shoulder which makes my every move an agony.... This makes Dato' Dr Aziz give me an advanced MC so that I am able to get some rest prior to delivery which should be anytime soon since baby is already engaged!!!

Mosr preggy stories will follow after this.... Need to get my rest for now....

9 Months already????

Salam,

It's been too long.... My last entry was after I came back from Umrah... That was in March 2012... Now, we are nearing Xmas, so technically I've been shying away for 9 whole months!!! Oh my, this is why people say time really flies, and it's been using rocket turbo in my case... But mind you, it has been indeed a super duper bz, fulfilling 9 months!!!

After umrah, I helped my company host yet another F1 Cocktail Reception. Had lotsa fun at the "Glam & Glitz" themed party especially having Ning Baizura as our celebrity performer...

With the diva herself... Ning Baizura in da house!!!

My lovely registration team...

My super hot Roulette Table girls...

After that event, got myself involved with a few other high profile events at Sipitang, Sabah and Pengerang, Johor...  Love my job & my sporting boss who allows me to be involved in all these activities...

With the guys....

Well, those are among the things that kept me up and running around the last 9 months... Besides work my time was also proportionately spent with beloved family.... We spent some fun filled time at Hard Rock Hotel Penang in April and in May we were in Swiss Garden Lumut...

Lil' Rock Suit is truly an awesome fun filled room!!! We'll be coming back for more....

One of the HR Hotel pools shots...

The girls had a blast at the Foam Party....

One for the album...

Lumut beach surfing....

One at the Swiss Garden pool...

Chilling out time...

 In May also, hubby & I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary.... Thank you Abang, for the lovely 13 years of roller coaster ride.... I know it's not an easy journey and I'm truly grateful for having you by my side thru all the turbulence and of course wonderful time... Love you for eternity!!!

Anniversary Dinner at G Tower...

After that, in June we received a really pleasant surprise....

To be updated in the next entry... Stay tuned!!!

A humbling start to 2012....

Oh yeah, it's been a while... More like 6 months to be exact... But this is the reality... Things have been quite a roller coaster the last 6 months... And am thankful that I'm still able to jot my thots here...

Since October last year I've been mostly caught up in work... Abih tu, nak cari rezeki untuk anak2 camtu la kan... But most significantly 2011 ended with some bitter sweet memories... And I'd say no matter how bitter it was, it makes me stronger... InsyaAllah...

I look forward to 2012... And so far so good... Especially since Allah permudahkan for me and hubby to perform our umrah in February 2012.... Alhamdulillah, it was a most humbling and amazing experience... Tiada kata dapat diucapkan tatkala kaki melangkah di Tanah Suci... MasyaAllah... Thank you Allah for giving us this opportunity to be your guests...

In front of the magnificent Masjidil Nabawi, Madinah

Alhamdulillah, after performing tawaf.....

Makam Rasulullah s.a.w.

Al Haram at night....

While we were there we were tested with news of our 2 lil ones admitted to hospital for viral fever... We could only pray that Allah protects our family from any harm and that things turn out well at home....

Our doa... well, there were a few but mostly we prayed for good health especially for our kids, our family's eternal love and happiness as well as a blessed, prosperous life dunia akhirat....

Alhamdulillah... 2 days before our flight back our girls were discharged from hospital.. We managed to perform our umrah smoothly as planned.. 

I pray that we will be blessed with more rezeki to be able to go to Masjidil Haram again hopefully for Hajj soon, amin....

In the limelight....

My lovely daughters have always shown interest in appearing on tv ever since they were small... I guess this is something that runs in the family since their 2nd cousins are also "veterans" at this... Ayra has appeared in editorial for "Chicken Rice Shop" some time ago... Thanks to arwah Pak Lang..

Small thing but she seems to enjoy being in the limelight for that short while... Which was why I decided to enroll her with the casting agency "Deballz"... But so far no job offer has come in...
 
Tetiba masa bulan puasa ari tu my cousin Zaiti told me that a production company's looking for girl talents in their tv commercial... My girls jumped at the opportunity (or maybe that was actually me....) and we went for the casting... Several days later we received news that they got the job... All 3 of my girls!!! Zara shied away at the last minute during casting...  Maktok had to bring the girls for fitting, etc and finally we took them for the shooting on the day we were to leave for Penang for Hari Raya!!!
 

And at last, walla.... the Maybank "Everyday in Asia" tv ad... 

So happy that my girls are enjoying their small stint of glitz and glamour.... Hahahahha, at least mama pun boleh tumpang glamzzz uolllzzz!!!!

R we ready to rock???

Tup tap tup tap rupanya dah more than 3 months i've not updated this blog!!! Man, nampak gaya i'm becoming a workaholic slave at the office la camni.... takde masa for a simple update of my happenings pun... Damn, where's the work life balance I strive for???

As it is the past 3 months or so mmg ler banyak activity revolving work... well, most of them la... Coz i still try to slot in my precious time with hubby and my lovely girls... Let's see, among the things we were up to....

Girls Sports Day 

My elder 2 girls had their sports day and like mama & papa they prove to be quite an athlete in their own ways...

Erin receiving her medal

Ayra & Zara cheering on...

Feera receiving her medal

My 2 champs!!!

My girls really make me a proud mama....

Hari Raya 2011

We had quite a last minute arrangement for Hari Raya this year. I was too busy with work to properly plan for the Eid. Fortunately the last minute plan worked well tho it was really a tiring celebration. We celebrated Eid in Penang, Alor Setar and Kuala Pilah... how about that??? Covering half of Peninsular almost....

My kebaya clad girls

One for the album

Had Amir's bday celebration while in Pilah...

HRC shirt for Raya??

  

Mak's trip to Korea

My mum has been planning for this trip with her sister and my cousins. They've got a good Airasia deal but of course timing wise for me was not so good.... It's my peak time at work and just could not take leave to join in the fun.... So we only manage to send mum to LCCT....

Bye2 maktok & gang

Zara's gonna miss maktok

Bila maktok balik, the girls dapat baju2 KPop nih!!!

Memang ler the girls happy coz maktok shopped till drop for their clothes....

Girls will always be girls... and I love all of them to bits and pieces!!!

Look great, feel wonderful!!!

Dah lama tak cerita pasal business kan... bukannya lupa, cuma teramatlah bzzzzzz.... dalam bz tu pun business tetap jalan gak... and I'm still wearing PB which has helped me a lot to go thru my bz schedule....

Bz mommy....

Imagine before PB, I had a back problem called "lumbar facet arthritis", something to do with the spine & stuff. I was in pain most of the time, couldn't sit still for long, couldn't even walk or stand longer than 15 minutes...I was visiting a specialist every 2 weeks for my physiotherapy and acupuncture. I was also on medication... had to take glucosamine & stuff... I really felt old & tired & obviously in pain... That, restricted my activities...

Lumbar facet arthritis

I used Premium Beautiful in January. This year I've only gone for my acupuncture for 4 times... I totally stopped physio & have been off medication ever since wearing PB... how cool is that?!! Been extremely active too... with work, events & also some other activities.. Will probably take up a sports activity once I have the time soon.... Point is, I do feel a lot better now & I am actively going around doing things I enjoy... And the best part is I look & feel great!!! Bukannya nak angkat bakul but many friends have commented on my newly improved figure.... Baju pun banyak kena beli baru coz yang lama dah londeh, too loose.... Well, it's a good excuse for me to get a whole new wardrobe kan??!!!

During the F1 event... it was so easy getting this dress coz I could fit into it!!!

The reason it was easy to get the dress... and no more back pain!!!

 Great news... Special offer awaits when you purchase a PB set from me... Harga durian runtuh for the next 2 months sempena Hari Raya...Wanna know more???

Contact me: taty.ismail@gmail.com 

or just buzz me:

016-2880898