Aeon's Coins-To-Voucher-Converter Machine

A Quickie On Baby Food

Had a talk with two colleagues on baby food just now; one asked me how did I manage preparing homemade food for Eivie at least up to until now, what to feed the baby, when (she's mother of three, even more challenging to manage time, let alone to do research on this thing, as she told me). One asked me how did I want to waste my time preparing all those when I could actually get all the instants (she did that for her baby, by the way).

Well, for me it's all about choice. There's no right or wrong in motherhood. Researches might show that it's not good for baby to be fed with food with salt, oil and those things considered heavy for the baby's digestion, but this person might say, "I fed him with bubur nasi, ikan bilis and sayur sawi as his first food. He's now 3 years old and he's doing just fine. I save my time and money. Afterall our parents fed us with instant rice but now we are still in good condition, doing well in our study and work."

It's ok, she's the mother to her children, and so do I to my girls. I have the right to undergo motherhood the way that I believe is right to the kids and us and to inspire any mother that wants to be inspired. So yeah, it's the matter of choice. And effort, of course.

Less Important Note : I could only access to my Twitter account via mobile and my 1Gb cheapskate data plan. As such, it refrains me to keep up with my timeline and tweet as frequently as before. Let alone my Facebook, I only visit it whenever I wanted to, to give you the feeling, perhaps once every fortnight. So this give me more semangat to update my blog frequently. Kot.

If Everything Else Fails, Try This : Pray.

So trust me, your own breastfeeding journey is going to be different from a child to a child.

I started with low stock with Eirsa, high and low production periods throughout the way but I managed to catch up. Eirsa was only unavoidably introduced with formula milk when she was 17 or 19 months old (couldn't accurately recall) and she stopped enjoying mommy's milk when she was 24 months. Weaning processes was quite smooth since she has no problem accepting formula milk.

Lesson learnt, I stocked up EBM for Eivie started from week 2 of confinement. I managed to save some 200 oz prior to returning to work and an additional of 100 oz for the next 2 months. Lucky me, Eivie wasn't not a heavy EBM consumer, but she's doing perfectly fine. Unlike Eirsa whom I need to supply at her daycare with with 20 oz daily starting from even 7-8 months old onwards, until now Eivie is still happy with her 3.5 oz, 3 bottles per day at her daycare (of course with 2 sets of homemade meal for breakfast and lunch, and 3 oz of fruit juice). BUT. I could not keep up with the requirements. May be the production was not as generous as before, may be I did not take the necessary steps, may be it's the hormones (I had my period at 12 months after having Eirsa, while 6 months after having Eivie), or simply may be because I did not try enough. Forget about whether or not I've eaten enough, my never-ending (slowly gradually) increasing body weight explains all.

aving said that, from the hundreds ounces, we are not only left with only 42 oz of frozen EBM, which I refuse to touch (the incident only took away a few bags, so it's not the main contributor). So now I'm trying my best to supply her milk on daily basis. And of course, I'm trying everything possible and pray a lot. InshaAllah, if ada rezeki for Eivie, Allah will help us. Ameen.

Oh, by the way. I know, pumping as many time as possible, emptying the breasts as frequent as possible will send the signal that the breasts need to produce more and more. But my argument is, I am now yelling at my brain telling her that that more milk is needed for my baby why doesn't she listen??! But that doesn't work of course. And yeah, it's not funny, sorry.

When Everything Else Fails, Try This : Embrace

So we are now back to our own 986 sqft crib. At first we planned to co-live with husband's parents for the next 1-2 years, until the new house is ready. The idea was to sell our house as soon as possible, as it was kind of financially tight to maintain the house and at the same time to start paying for the new house's progress payment. Ada kemungkinan kena catu banyak benda, sedih tau kalau kerja penat-penat tapi rasa miskin.

As expected Eivie took some time to adapt with the new place. But well. Actually she only took 2 hours holding to me, before went exploring the house from corner to corner. Eirsa on the other hand was busy with her hey-long-time-no-see toys, especially her DVD collections. Papa was as usual, being cool and helpful. Me? I was quite nervous, I must say. There would be time when we'd be left alone just the three of us that I have to attend to their demands at the same time. Luciky Eivie was an easy baby, except last night she refused to sleep, even though the light's off. She still wanted to explore. Perangainya sekarang she ever gets angry (which is very rare), she'll cry hysterically as if she's in very much pain. Drama. There was a time yesterday when husband was out for dinner and Eirsa wanted to bathe and it was impossible to let Eivie unattended so I decided to bathe them both at the same time, dalam besen Ikea. Comel je si bogel berdua tu dalam besen. It was unexpectedly doable, sebab nasib baik Eivie dah boleh duduk. Tapi I really had to move fast, with that I hope I'd burn more calories and shed off some weight soon.

The kids have to also adapt with daily 30-45 mins ride (one way) with papa, unlike when we traveled when Eirsa was a baby, she was occupied with a DVD. This time around, we tried not to with Eivie. And she's being an angelic baby, so far very well behave in her car seat. The daycare is nearby Opah's house, it's easier for them to fetch the kids earlier, have grandparent-grandchildren time for 2-3 hours before papa fetches them back to our house. Oh. And papa would be carrying both of them from the house to our car (return), daily since I'll have to leave the house 1/2 hour earlier. InshaAllah, he could manage.

As for mommy, plan is I'll get back home the earliest possible, try to reach home by 6, attended to as many house chores as possible, have my dinner and make the house ready for my most fave 3 persons to arrive home at around 8pm. Then papa will have his dinner while I attend the kids. Then we'll play with the kids, get to bed latest by 10pm and repeat the routines the next day.

InshaAllah.

Who Will You Be In 2020?

So I tried the Citizen 2020 fun online application.

And my result :

Oh. A top property mogul, really? But I like the idea of "you love soaking in life's luxuries as if you were born to do just that." Spot on baybeh, spot on!

Turning 4 in 3 Months.

If you haven't heard, there IS tantrum or terrible three phase. At least we ARE experiencing it with Eirsa.

Most of the time we were not sure what did she really want. It took only a simple unattended thing or even delayed attended thing, she would explode, went hysterically screaming. We tried hard but we could not avoid to get angry sometimes. It's just too overwhelming. During these occasions she would not listen, she would not tolerate. She would get more and more angry, grumpy and cranky if we scold or unavoidably babab her some times. Yesterday my patience level was really tested that I just hit her right leg in the public. It was after 2 hours of merengek without us knowing and her letting us know what she really wanted.

May be she's just in another growing up phase. May be she's demanding more attention (since Eivie's around), may be she's just playing plain mengada. But she didn't do it all the time, it was when either she's hungry but she refused to eat or sleepy but she refused to sleep or any kind of discomfort or any combo.

Another thing, her potty training. She'll be four in next 3 months, yet she's still in her diaper. Yes. She is at 101cm of height, almost 15kg of weight and she's still in diaper. Memang dah tak sajak sangat dah, bak kata orang Melaka. But seriously. We tried. Opah tried. Even the carer at her daycare tried and retreated. We could not recall any successful event, but oh. Perhaps once and that one time only. Other than that she would just ignore her wet diaper, she would on let us know once the training pants were soaking wet, she refused to pee when we escorted her to the toilet every hour (and decided to actually pee 10 mins after the last toilet visit, on her Opah's sofa). Perhaps we would just go with the flow, train her slowly and gradually.

May Allah grant us with sufficient amount of patience. Ameen.

We still love you, nevertheless.

Friday The 13th

It's just another day when I was quite late for work, grabbed my keys and bags, rushed towards the front door. Except that I felt my bag was quite heavier than usual.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Somebody surprised my by putting these in my bag! (Nasib baik nampak padahal dalam bag aku tu macam-macam khazanah ada, silap-silap boleh jumpa rimau).

So what's the occasion? Our 5th anniversary was on Aug 11th with minimal celebration, my birthday will be on 15 Jan 2013 (turning 32 ehem ehem still young and lively ehem ehem), so what's this for?

It's 30 Nov 2012 and it's actually our anniversary before our official anniversary. It marks our 13 years of dating, y'all! Haha. 13 years ye adik-adik.

13 years of basically going through ups and downs (at different level before and after marriage, of course), thick and thin, laugh and tears with the man that I love, that I never had loved other man as much as I love him. He knows that I really wanted to get Yuna's CD for myself but I keep postponing this to give way for other important thing and yes he played the sweetest person by getting me one. Chocolate, I'm not a chocolate person but I could give some exemption to Hershey's with nuts. Well, yeah, basically he knows almost everything about me. 

To my then boyfriend now husband, I dedicate this song for you and you only. Happy 13th anniversary.

Jika engkau minta intan permata tak mungkin ku mampu

Tapi sayangkan ku capai bintang dari langit untukmu

Jika engkau minta satu dunia akan aku cuba

Ku hanya mampu jadi milikmu pastikan kau bahagia

Hati ini bukan milik ku lagi

Seribu tahun pun akan ku nanti

Kan… kamu…

Sayangku

Jangan kau persoalkan siapa di hatiku

Terukir di bintang tak mungkin hilang cintaku padamu

Yuna - Terukir Di Bintang

P/S : Dear husband, oh yes, my wishlist is growing and of course I'm letting you know every single thing, you know, just in case they are needed for the next surprise. ;)

Shopping and Shipping From Overseas, At Your Desk In Malaysia

So I read Maria Elena's post today regarding Borderlinx Maybank.

It's kind of a trend for those who can afford it, to buy things from outside Malaysia for more varieties and during good days, because of it's bargained price.

I learned that some did it via some famous shopping and/or shipping services HopShopGo and vPost and perhaps some had used Borderlinx, but now Borderlink has collaborated with Maybank to better serve their customers in Malaysia.

Of course of course of course. Price and delivery time would be major concerns. Since they are engaging with DHL, I suppose delivery time and quality is more or less equivalent with other shipping service provider. But price. Harga. Duit. Aku tak kaya, ok.

I've made a little revision on this, well, I'm not buying anything from overseas any time soon but yeah, I would like to know roughly what would it cost. Below is my humble comparison. Please take note that shopping and delivery via HopShopGo is a real case whereas estimated figure for delivery by Borderlinx is from their online calculator. Plus, our purchase and shipment via HopShopGo were taxed, around RM60+.

Borderlinx Maybank - Calculator

Borderlinx Maybank - Result

HopShopGo - Actual Case

Happy shopping!

Now Only I Can Eat

Sent Eivie to her daycare this morning with a little chaos; everything was in place except Eirsa demanded to ride on Atuk's car instead of Papa's. We would want to avoid her seeing us at the daycare as there is possibility that she would want to come back home with us, especially when if she saw me.

So we went with separate car; Eirsa with Atuk and Papa. Eivie with Mommy and Opah. Arrived not at the same time too and basically Eirsa had no idea that her sister is co-locating with her at the daycare and she didn't know we were there until around 9 a.m. (since 8.15 a.m. Well, I have A LOT to inform, please ignore my fussiness).

Left Eivie when she was busy exploring around. In fact she even started exploring the baby room and ignored us upon arrival. What a busy baby. She looked fine when we left her.

Papa and I had our breakfast with Atuk and Opah at a nearby restaurant and came back to 'stalk' Eivie at her daycare. Not really about seeing her development but rather listening. I mean we would want to avoid getting back inside the daycare and save Eivie as that would send her a wrong signal. So we just listened from outside the daycare. And we could not be visible to Eirsa either. If not lagi haru!

Heard her cry. Not contagious though. Cried, stopped, cried, stopped. For may be 5-10 minutes. And senyap. Senyap. So Papa and I left, leaving Atuk and Opah doing the standby duty.

An hour later I texted Opah and she said Eivie didn't cry upon she left either. That's a good sign.

Chatted with Lin, the daycare owner this afternoon and alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, she reported that Eivie is adapting well. Full report as below. :D

The night before.

With her new friend, other than her un-manage bushy hair, she looks fine to me.

So, well. I underestimated Eivie! She actually did well. Syabas my baby! Balik kang mommy gomol.

Hope this good development continues. InshaAllah.

Now only I my selera kicks in, give me my nasik, I want my nasik pronto!

The Separation During Separation Anxiety

Eivie is almost 8 months old. Time has just disappeared.

Yes, I have yet to send her to a daycare. Not that I'm procrastinating even though yes, I am contemplating. But to get a good, registered, medium cost daycare is quite painful at my parents-in-laws housing area. Most of the time it's either near and registered but mahal nak mamps, or it's near, not registered but affordable, or it's far, registered and affordable. Nothing really suited our requirement of considerably near, registered and affordable (if not much, quite).

I usually looked for the candidates through JKM website as we insisted for a registered daycare. Since May 2012, seriously. But none. We made several calls to JKM and they mentioned that their list as per displayed in website was updated. Left us with hang-in-there-as-long-as-possible situation. So Eivie was still being taken care of by her Opah.

Until we discovered this daycare, not listed in JKM's website but JKM's certified. Made a call to JKM Selangor and they confirmed it. So we paid a visit and they had slots for both Eirsa and Eivie. The fees were doubled from Eirsa'sprevious daycare but inshaAllah we could cut some budget here and there to accommodate this. Sujud syukur.

It has been almost a month since we enrolled Eirsa at the daycare. It looked like she's having a good time with all the singing, dancing, du'a, exercising, drawing that she demonstrated to us at home. So inshaAllah, it's a good place. And as per planned, it's going to be Eivie's turn, very soon. The day after tomorrow; November 1st 2012.

If she's still younger then inshaAllah, it's not going to be hard. But she's now at her phase where she already recognized and comfortable with familiar faces and yes, it's the separation anxiety phase, y'all! Unlike when we were to first send Eirsa, I did quite a bunch of early preparation. But for Eivie, it's still as if she's not going. Of course all her bottles, clothes, bekas for foods, diapers were ready but I had yet to label them, print out for her daily routine to be given to the carer and all other necessities. But duit for her daycare registration and fees of course telah diasingkan.

I don't know what to expect. She's basically an easy baby. Just feed, put her to bed as per routine, give her something to get busy with and she's going to be all fine. But the new faces plus the separation anxiety? I don't know. I'm OK to know that Eivie is going to be taken care well, even by a stranger but I could not stand her tears. I could not stand to see my kids' tears. No mother can.

So my strategy is to stay with her while she gets familiar with the place and faces and perhaps until her morning nap session then I'll leave for work. Then get updates from the carer at each hour, of course. Yes, I could be annoying like that. All is to ensure that Eivie is doing fine.

Bismillah.

Her First Real Farewell

Eirsa finally left her first and only daycare, after 3+ years.

Of course she knew nothing but leaving the place to a new place but it was still a sentimental thing for her mommy. Of course. Mommy mesti over punya.

So I prepared some farewell and thank-you-gift for the carers. Not much but there's at least something for everyone, something that could remind them of Eirsa. And of course they are all DIY-ed, except the gifts themselves.

Items & Assembling :

*Wrapper was a recycled clothes wrapper by PrettyChase

Taraaaaa!

Note : Post about her new nursery may be later. May be.

Qada' dan Qadar

Situasi : Menghampiri solat Asar, seorang wanita 'segak' (seperti yang diulas oleh Kak Cik), telah terjatuh di tempat wudu'. Wanita berkenaan dikatakan mengandung pada fasa trimester pertama, telah hampir gugur (atau telah gugur, wallahu'alam) kerana insiden terjatuh itu.

Kakak cleaner yang bertanggungjawab membersihkan tempat wudu' telah dipanggil dan disalahkan secara beramai-ramai oleh segelintir warga pejabat yang berada di tempat kejadian.

Kakak cleaner tu adalah Kak Chik. Theee Kak Chik yang selalu bersembang dengan aku pagi-pagi sebelum aku mulakan kerja. The Kak Chik yang ada seribu satu masalah yang selalunya dia pendam di sebalik senyum lawak dan latah nya. Iya. Kak Chik itu.

Kak Chik cerita pada aku hal ini pagi tadi. Hal yang berlaku 2 hari lepas.

Aku terus jadi marah. Bukan pada Kak Chik. Satu, pada yang menyalahkan Kak Chik beramai-ramai termasuk wanita yang terjatuh dan dua, marah kepada wanita itu kerana menyalahkan Kak Chik sebagai punca kegugurannya. Ini tidak adil dan tidak waras.

Pada aku aku tidak berhati perut dengan berasa marah dengan wanita itu? Hello! Wanita itu hampir gugur, kau sedarkah??

Aku sedar la hoi. Aku berasa marah dan kasihan pada Kak Chik kerana :

1) Kak Chik telah melakukan kerjanya dengan baik, jika tidak sempurna sekalipun. Kerana tidak pernah ada kejadian jatuh selama ini.

2) Mereka yang menggunakan surau juga selalu mengambil wudu' di tandas lalu menyebabkan selalu air bertakung di tandas. Menambahkan kerja Kak Chik yang tak sepatutnya. Kak Chik buat saja, tiada kompelin. Kak Chik kata, "Kak Chik ni cleaner je puan...." Lalu, tempat wudu' yang dah memang tentu-tentu lah akan basah pada waktu puncak (waktu hampir Asar), adalah tempat yang prone to bad incidents kalau tidak sungguh-sungguh berhati-hati.

3) Kak Chik telah membersihkan sekitar tempat wudu' pada jam 3. Kejadian adalah pada jam 3 lebih. Kiranya, tempat itu baru dibersihkan.

4) Selipar surau adalah licin, saya pernah pakai. Berbanding dengan selipar buruk saya pun, selipar surau lebih boleh mengundang bahaya. Lalu, jangan salahkan lantai atau tebing wudu' itu semata-mata.

5) Wanita itu mengandung anak sulung, sangat gembira dan bersyukur, mungkin juga telah mengharapkan untuk mengandung setelah sekian lama. Tetapi dia mungkin tidak ingat tentang qada' dan qadar Allah, tentang semua rezeki hatta makanan yang sedang disuap oleh kita itu adalah ditentukan Allah, yang mana makanan itu belum tentu dapat masuk ke perut jika bukan izin Allah. Inikan pula janin yang baru melekat di dalam perutnya. Maksudnya, jika bukan sebab insiden jatuh itu, dia tetap juga akan gugur dengan cara lain yang ditakdirkan Allah, kerana janin itu (jika betul gugur) itu bukan ditakdirkan untuknya.

6) Lalu kejadian wanita itu menyalahkan Kak Chik semata-mata adalah tidak boleh diterima akal aku.

7) Oh ya. Aku faham maksud kehilangan itu, aku juga pernah mengandung dan gugur, malah bukan sebab jatuh, sebab yang tidak diketahui. Menunjukkan bukan rezeki aku lalu jangan lah disalahkan oleh orang lain kerana Allah tahu apa yang terbaik.

Perihal salah-menyalahkan orang lain kecuali diri sendiri ini sebenarnya satu penyakit, yang kalau tidak diubati dengan kembali berpegang kepada rukun iman yang pertama dan keenam, akan membinasakan diri kelak.

Shit Happens and Needs To Be Cleaned Up

Pulang kerja, trafik perlahan dan kadang kala sangat perlahan hingga terhenti.

Semua mahu pulang ke rumah segera. Minda lunyai, fizikal lunyai, emosi pula di atas garisan antara lembut dan keras. Bergantung.

Seperti hari-hari lain, hari itu aku dan Eirsa berdua di dalam kereta pulang; bersenda dengan lagu-lagu nyanyian pelat Eirsa, gelak tertawa dan kadang kala tersenyap. Senyap yang disebabkan oleh aku terpenat tiba-tiba.

Dah jadi biasa aku akan menjeling cermin pandang belakang, untuk memerhatikan kereta belakang tidak mengekori terlalu dekat. Kadang kala memaki di dalam hati apabila kereta belakang mengekori terlalu hampir. Seriau.

Dan dalam aku menjeling, kereta Honda Civic ini pemandunya sedang ralit memandang pembinaan bangunan baru di seberang jalan. Trafik yang sedang terhenti, juga aku. Tetapi tidak kereta itu dan debaran hati aku. Dalam masa aku memerhati, 5 saat sahaja, GEDEGANG ciuman kasar muncung Honda Civic ke buntut kereta aku. SHIT!

Aku pastikan Eirsa OK. Aku pastikan aku OK. Aku pastikan aku ingat Allah. Aku pastikan aku memohon Dia mudahkan segala. Aku menelefon suami. Semua sempat aku buat sebelum pemandu Honda Civic keluar dari kenderaannya, menjengah kemusnahan yang dilakukan dan mengetuk tingkap kereta aku dan meminta aku meninjau sekali. Kononnya tiada kemusnahan ketara dan memohon perkara selesai begitu sahaja. Tetapi tidak, bumper kereta aku sengat sebelah, walau tidak calar teruk.

Diringkaskan, perkara-perkara ini yang aku telah ambil, dan mungkin kau juga mahu ambil, sekiranya perkara di atas terjadi kepada kau, terutama yang perempuan :

1) Ingat Allah. Memohon dimudahkan segala.

2) Pastikan mereka yang ada di dalam kereta adalah ok.

3) Telefon dia atau mereka yang berkenaan.

4) Alih kereta ke setepi mungkin jalan untuk tidak mengganggu kenderaan lain.

5) Turun meninjau kesan kejadian; ambil nombor plat kereta yang melanggar. Juga ambil gambar.

6) Jika tempat kejadian tidak mengizinkan untuk berlakunya perbincangan, beralih ke tempat lain yang lebih lapang. 

7) Aku, memandangkan berseorang dengan si kecil 3 tahun, tidak turun dari kenderaan untuk berbincang dengan pelanggar, tetapi menunggu suami / adik suami (yang kebetulan berada lebih dekat di tempat berbincang) tiba untuk menyelesaikan hal itu.

8) Betul, si pelanggar ada peluang untuk lari, tapi kau dah ambil nombor kenderaan dia tadi. Jangan panik jika ini berlaku kerana kau sudah boleh melaporkan kes ini di balai polis.

9) Bincang. Bincang. Bincang. Tak perlu tegang. Bincang dengan hormat.

10) Laporkan kejadian pelanggaran dalam 24 jam kejadian.

11) Maklumkan kepada pelanggar yang laporan telah dibuat. Pelanggar juga wajib melaporkan dalam 24 jam, sebelum didakwa.

12) Berurusan dengan ejen insuran tentang proses.

13) Berurusan dengan tempat membaiki kenderaan.

14) Berurusan semula dengan pelanggar atau ejen insuran pelanggar.

Untuk kes aku, nasib baik insuran aku ambil dengan ejen insuran Honda, lalu hanya perlu : 

(sambung dari langkah 11)

12) Berurusan dengan ejen kereta Honda untuk membaiki kenderaan.

13) Ambil laporan penuh dari polis yang boleh diperolehi di balai polis trafik tempat laporan dibuat, 3-4 hari setelah pihak ketiga (pelanggar) membuat laporan. Bayaran RM17 untuk keseluruhan laporan yang layak diperolehi.

14) Hantar laporan penuh kepada ejen kereta Honda dan pihak Honda akan melakukan pemeriksaan untuk mengenalpasti bahagian yang perlu dibaiki atau diganti.

15) Jika masih boleh dipandu, kereta tidak perlu ditinggalkan di bengkel Honda. Bawalah balik kereta kau untuk kegunaan biasa. Pihak Honda akan mulakan pesanan spare part yang perlu, dan sekiranya telah sedia, mereka akan telefon untuk temujanji proses penggantian.

16) Bayaran akan diuruskan oleh ejen insuran Honda, terus kepada insuran pelanggar. Tiada bayaran yang perlu dibuat oleh aku.

Apa-apa pun syukur kepada Allah, dalam ujian yang diberi, masih lagi dipermudahkan segala urusan.

Online Shopping; Please Help You and Your Money

At times my online shopping addiction is not controllable. It's not only about buying things and leaving a huge hole in my wallet, but the time taken to do all the unnecessary browsing is a damage by its own too.

It's not that I will be left with nothing in my wallet to buy lunch towards the end of the month, I'm not that addicted that I could starve just to shop. But come to think about it, if I don't proceed with those purchase because of "have to get them when they are on sale!", "have to get the new stuffs!", "oh no, it comes in other cute color too!" and all those little evilish whispers in your mind, I could actually save A LOT, or accumulate them to get a step closer to the handbag of my dream or to save them for my iPhone5 purchase. I mean those purchase that I really wanted, that could give bigger impact to me.

It's not that I don't want to do online shopping at all. Sometimes online shopping is necessary; when I run out of stocks and we have no time to get them by conventional shopping. Or may be when I want to add new outfits into my wardrobe, once in awhile. It's just that it is so not necessary to visit all these websites on daily basis and worse, accidentally spent on something that you don't really need.

Sharing this dilemma in Twitter, my fellow Twitter friend (@NayaAzhar) responded on the existence of LeechBlock which led me to Nanny, a Chrome extension application to block and unblock list of websites at your own desire.

So I gave it a try just now, to test the functionality. So far so good and I hope it could discipline me in both my online shopping (minor) addition and time management.

A good, simple guideline could be obtained here.

Jom!

Adding list of to-block websites, with excellent setting of when-to-block

Added

Tested and confirmed!

To unblock, hell yeah you'll be very lazy to unblock with this!

*Please click at photos for better view.

Fullhouse, Sunway Giza, Kota Damansara

It was agreed by the consensus (my husband, in-laws and I) that the place's ambiance was superb (great for party), the price was acceptable, the food presentation was OK but the taste was so-so je lah.

Eivie, 2 Days Old.

Wordless Wednesday

This Is Beyond Love

Eivie, 3+ months old.

That Incident.

So yeah, it happened to me : the freezer door was accidentally left a little ajar over the night and thawed all my 105 oz frozen expressed breast milk. And lucky me and Eivie, we made 2 separate storage of frozen EBM; one at my own house, another at my PIL's. But still, the thought of losing 105 oz EBM is heartbreaking.


We only realized this situation around 9 am. At this point, all the 105 oz has fully thawed, i.e. needed to be used within 24 hours. As impossible as it sounded to finish all 105 oz within 24 hours, I didn't dare to break the 24-hours rule entirely. I chose to extend for another 3 hours and make it 27 hours and prayed to Allah to preserve the good condition of those EBM.


I wasn't in good emotional state for the whole day. I wasn't angry but rather frustrated. I forgot to think of better things to do but mourned. And it was actually a mistake on its own. At this point all I can think of was to put Eivie on sole EBM for the next 27 hours but that could only utilize around 25 oz of EBM. And at the same time I had the fear of Eivie rejecting direct feed after a long bottle feeding period as it happened 3 times during weekends (separate events). Too many issues to think of but not the solutions, silly me.


12 of 24 hours passed by. Then only I could think straight and come across the idea of giving the EBM while it was still OK, to other babies. 12 hours wasted, silly silly me.


Tweeted about it and a blogger-Twitter-Facebook friend Cik Daun, instantly replied. Alhamdulillah, we agreed to meet around 10 pm and I gave her 28 oz of the thawed EBM. The idea was to save (by giving to other baby) as much as possible. Cik Daun suggested to give the thawed EBM to NICU, which was a great idea but it was a little too late. We didn't have direct contact with a doctor or person in charge in any hospital and it was not a straightaway method of giving EBM to babies that need special care.


On the 28 oz breast milk give to Nazim (Cik Daun's baby), of course the ibu-anak susuan rule was always applied. My husband and I talked about it and with our limited knowledge on the subject (some say it will only jatuh hukum if the baby is fed with direct feeding, but some say regardless on whichever method, as long as the milk is supplied by mother A to baby B until the baby is full, five times of this session, they both are considered as ibu-anak susuan related, so we sticked to this rule), we proposed to Cik Daun to feed Nazim with my EBM for 4 times only. Husband said we wouldn't know what would happen in the future and this decision was very impromptu so we better stayed at the safe side.


All in all, I or rather we managed to use around half of the total 105 oz. Praise to God.


This incident force us to remember these things, if the same thing ever happen again to me or any breastfeeding mothers : 


1) Use 'to be used within 24 hours after the frozen EBM is fully thawed' to minimize the impact. You could perhaps put some buffer while the EBM is still OK (not advisable, but follow your gut feeling), but don't jeopardize the EBM quality by breaking the whole rule. Better yet, ask the expert on the impact of going further than 24 hours and if there's at any point you could tolerate.
2) Act fast; ask around whoever needs EBM, but they have to use it before the 24 hour ends. Giving it to NICU is a great idea but get the procedures in-hand first before you could proceed.
3) Be aware about the ibu-anak susuan guidelines as you don't want to have mahram issue in the future. Like my husband said, 20 years down the road is long, many things might just happen.
4) Yes you are panic and emotionally disturbed. Take a deep breath. Talk to your husband or friend. Try not to be too sad as there is nothing happen without His permission and He just knows everything and you don't want to doubt that. You need to stay focus to minimize the impact.
5) Equip yourself with knowledge of thawed EBM and the ibu-anak susuan guidelines beforehand.


You could read and ask the experts on the 24 hour rule, as well as the ibu-anak susuan guidelines. I'm still learning too but as of now I would still stick to the most stringent rules.

Till then.


Note : 
1) This might just strengthen my decision on hukum ibu-anak susuan, even with no direct feeding.
2) Husband cousin's suggested to bathe Eivie with the EBM, a good idea than let it wasted.
3) A fellow blogger friend had generously sought for the way to donate EBM to any hospital in Malaysia, please find the very informative article, here.

How Do I Handle Expressed Breast Milk

I think I received quite a number of requests on how to handle breast milk. Perhaps it's good if I could share with more mothers by blogging about it. But please keep in mind that this is not a guideline, rather an information sharing on how do I do it, with 2-babies-amount of experience. Some of the practises might not suit you or even might not be agreed by you but I practised these for my 2 babies and alhamdulillah, nothing bad occured and both now membesar bagai johan. There are a lot of storage guidelines, resulted from "EBM storage guideline" google. I did a lot of reading during breastfeeding my first baby and matched the best with my working-mom-with-no-maid-lifestyle i.e. the most convenient for me.

Storage :

Everytime I express, I'll store the EBM in cooler bag with 3 ice packs. At home, it would be inside chiller section of a refrigerator. This is because later that day or day after (still within the storage rules hours), I would want to combine those bottles in storage bags.

For example : I might be able to express 5 oz during the 1st session and 9 oz during the 2nd session and 6 oz during the 3rd session. All bottles will be stored at the same storage place until all reach the same temperature. Later I'll combine all 20 oz of EBM and store them in 7 oz storage bags.

There are a lot of storage guides when it comes to EBM. I would suggest that the best reference is using temperature guides. By saying that, you have to know roughly what is your EBM storage place's temperature. If this is hard to achieve, to be safe, go with the lowest number of hours/days advised for each storage place. The idea is the longer EBM is stored, the more nutritiens lost and the higher exposure of contamination.


For the next day use :

First of all I'll identify how much does my daughter consume. It would be 2-3 dry run of bottle feeding session, starting with 2-3 oz. Now Eivie consumes 3 oz per feeding, around 5 times while I'm at work. That means I need to provide the daycare with at least 5 x 3 oz of EBM.

Remember I keep freeze my EBM at 7 oz each? That way I could provide the daycare with around 2 x 7 oz thawed frozen EBM? No, I don't do that. This is because if Eivie does not finish all 14 oz, the milk could be used for the next day (note : After being thawed (defrost), EBM have to be used within 24 hours, else to be discarded).

So, I only defrost 7 oz of milk and top up with the previous day fresh EBM. I put the defrosted EBM in 2 bottles, measured by 3.5 oz (easier for carer to handle), labeled with "19 June -  Bottle 1" and the second bottle as "19 June - Bottle 2". Fresh EBM will be labeled as "19 June - Bottle 3", "19 June - Bottle 4" and "19 June - Bottle 5". Carer will be informed to always use bottle number 1 first. That way, if Eivie doesn't able to finish all 15 oz, at least EBM in bottle 3, 4 or 5 (whichever left) could still be used for the day after. Besides, this is also to avoid the early frozen EBM reached it's expiry. (Please take note that for fresh EBM, I keep the 2-day rule of storage, before being frozen and I'm using 2-door fridge).

How did I defrost? By transferring the frozen EBM from freezer to chiller the night before.

And for the day after, carer will be informed to use bottles dated 19 June first, before could use bottles dated 20 June (and yes, the first two bottles dated 20 June contain defrost EBM, while the rest 3 bottles contain 19th June's expressed EBM). Repeat until the last day of breastfeeding. :)

Till then, happy breastfeeding mommas! Do drop any queries or suggestions in comment section, so we could share more information.



Note : http://www.kellymom.com among those websites offer good reference for breastfeeding.

Talking About Expressed Breast Milk

I managed to breastfeed Eirsa for 24 months; 21 months solely with breastmilk (plus solid food when she reached 7 months old) and we had to top up with formula since the supply was no longer sufficient. And the good side was, these 3 months of combination of breastmilk and formula somehow did ease the weaning off process.

Eirsa was a heavy consumer of breastmilk, being a baby girl. As early as 5 months old, I have to send 4 to 5 bottles of 5 oz expressed breast milk (EBM) to her daycare and usually she would finish them all. Even when she started her solid food, the amount didn't reduce. When she was about 8 months old, I had to send 5-6 bottles of 5 oz EBM.

When I started working back then (still talking about Eirsa's era), I only had around 40 oz of EBM stock, with the knowledge that it would be sufficient. Yes, it was, in fact I manage to top up another 20 oz of stock, but only until she reached 5 months old. For the record, I started making stock after confinement days, while still undergoing maternity leaves.

It was a sudden drop in my milk supply, with no warning, no significant cause as far as I could recall. Instead of being able to express 5 oz in the morning at home and 16 oz while at work, I only managed to express 18 oz in total. It wasn't alarming until noticed at one point I only had 10 oz of frozen EBM. Then I started to google for some quick milk supply boosters.

I tried many things as far as my appetite and tummy could take. Booster tea, fenugreek, dried longan, red date, soy, milk, ASI, Shaklee and some other that I already forgot. 3 years ago the options were still not as many as now, or may be I didn't know about them. Among those that I've tried, some did show temporary miracle, some did consistent yet gradual improvement. But still, to catch up with 20 - 30 oz per day of supply, sometimes I could just send whatever I had in stock and pray that they would enough for Eirsa for the day. 

Alhamdulillah, during those hard and stressful days, Eirsa still managed to enjoy my breastmilk with no significant incidents of starving and no formula milk involved. There were days when she slept a lot and I managed to keep 2-3 oz per day, to be used for the next day. Meanwhile I didn't give up trying to boost the supply, even though I cried once a while thinking that 'that was it' moment was about to come.

While some of the remedies worked, I could keep small amount of stocks. At the same time I added more pump sessions, usually at home. I would pump right after I arrived home and before going to bed. Every day. It was tiring and a little bit mentally torturing but my husband kept all the positive vibes around the house. He helped with taking care of Eirsa, washing and sterilizing bottles, giving me motivations while rubbing my back when I pumped. During the weekend, I did do tender pumping even though it was a struggle since Eirsa didn't like "competition" but finally she got used to it. During these hard times in breastfeeding, I would keep even 0.5 oz EBM. Too precious. I would prefer to tender pump or to pump right after each feeding, as compared to pump in between feeding session, so my body could produce sufficient amount of milk for my baby for her next feeding session.

After about 1-2 weeks of the routines, I could see significant amount of supply increase. In fact, in the next few months, I managed to make 60 oz of frozen stocks while maintain the day in day out supply for Eirsa. I still topped up the stocks during weekends and at one time I had around 100 oz of frozen stock. All praises to God!

So for Eivie, I started keeping stock as early the third week of confinement period. 4-5 oz each morning and sometimes another 3-4 oz when my breasts engorged (when Eivie slept at unusual longer hours), I managed to make some 200 oz of frozen EBM, before I got back to work. Alhamdulillah.. Alhamdulillah.. Alhamdulillah. And so far, Eivie consumed around 13-15 oz per day and I still managed to top up the EBM stock and I now have around 300 oz of frozen EBM. I hope this suffices during my low supply days, especially during the fasting month.

In short, for those struggling (with the target to fully breastfeed their baby but low milk supply) moms :

1) you could try one milk supply booster at time, give it 1-2 weeks to see the improvement before changing to other milk supply booster. I could not suggest any specific milk supply booster as it might work for me but not for you, but you could find them from many forums and mommy-baby online shop. Read the instructions carefully, especially the impact to moms and babies.

2) do increase your pumping session. No, you could not see the results in 1-2 day. It might take 1-2 weeks to really work, but it helps a lot. The more consistent it is (in terms of timing), the better, especially tender pumping or to pump right after each feeding session.

3) keep any amount of milk that you managed to express each time. 0.5 oz times 100 is a good 50 oz.

4) do drink a lot and eat adequately.

5) do keep positive thoughts about your supply. Not only during expressing but, all the time (if possible). Stress might affect the supply. And trust that God will take care of the rest as long as we try our best. There was a time when I only has 18 oz of EBM as compared to 25 oz of Eirsa's daily consumption, but it was still enough for her for that day as she had longer than usual afternoon and she ate more than usual thus didn't demand for milk a lot.

Good luck (and do share your experience, if it is not too much to ask. :) )

While breastfeeding Eivie at a restaurant

Till then. Muah.

Breast milk info (from Wikipedia) : Whole cow's milk does not contain sufficient vitamin E or essential fatty acids. Whole cow's milk also contains excessive amounts of protein, sodium, and potassium, which may put a strain on an infant's immature kidneys. In addition, the proteins and fats in whole cow's milk are more difficult for an infant to digest and absorb than the ones in breast milk. Evaporated milk may be easier to digest due to the processing of the protein but is still nutritionally inadequate.

"You Are Selected! Hooray!"

I have this habit of reluctance to answer calls from unknown numbers.

This started when I received several calls from some insurance agent during office hours, to promote their product with pick up lines "You are among those lucky ones!" And these agents would usually still annoyingly force me to listen to their attractive packages even though I had nearly a thousand times said that I was not interested. They would want to know why wasn't I interested or whether they could give me another call later. Or even worse, they would hang up on me with bitter thank you tone.

Just now I received another unknown "cantik" number. And I chose to ignore.

Oh. It's also a habit to google that number, to ensure that I've ignored the right caller. I also did the same to this and so it resulted to these :

So yes, it was a right decision. But how true was the google result? I don't dare to verify it. If you did, please let me know. Sharing is caring. ;)

Till then. Muah.

Some interesting info about prank call : Even very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, as for example Elizabeth II, who was fooled by Canadian DJ Pierre Brassard posing as Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, asking her to record a speech in support of Canadian unity ahead of the 1995 Quebec referendum.

Of Things So Far

Twitter really does a good job by keeping me away and away from this blog. Everything could be shared instantly, in simple form, as compared to sit down and write everything cumulatively.

Our life is relatively stagnant nowadays. With Eivie's around and barely reached 4 months old, hectic weekdays (refer to previous entry) we prefer to stay at home during weekends. Once a while, with the company of my in-laws, we'll dine out. We've tried once dining out, just the four of us and as expected, it's not going to be dining, but more to putting everything in the plate into your mouth whenever you can and as fast as possible while attending the two girls. Manageable, but not really enjoyable. As such, we still believe that dining out (just the for of us) will be more meaningful if Eivie could sit on her own, strap her on a high chair and everybody could enjoy their meals more.

As for mommy, losing weight is snailing. Or more of not losing any. I still could not get into my old S size office pants and shirts so I have (seriously, I almost had nothing to wear during the first week to office) to buy some new loose tops/blouses, so that my yummy could breathe. And with limited time that I had for myself, most of the shopping happened online.

These are among online websites that I regularly visit :

1) http://www.thepoplook.com

2) http://www.prettychase.com

3) http://www.fashionvalet.net

Yeah, you can have fun too! Go browsing and if financially permit, shopping!

Till then.

From Old Routines to New Routines Back to Adjusted Old Routines.

Tomorrow I'll be back to office. Besides having trouble with my wardrobe (I only have 5 wearable tops and 4 wearable pants to work!! The world is not fair!!), I also need to adjust with the new schedule since Eivie is around.

For the time being, Eivie will be taken care by Opah, perhaps until she is 5-6 months old. Later she'll be sent to a daycare nearby Opah's house.

Conditions :

1) Opah's house is 20 mins away (smooth journey) from our house.
2) Eivie is yet to adapt with travelling in carseat.
3) Eirsa could now tolerate with travelling with no video-kind-of-entertainment in the car for maximum of 45 mins.
4) We have yet to enroll Eirsa (and later Eivie) to the new daycare.

With those conditions, the best we could do so far is :

1) Staying at Opah's house during weekdays, so my PIL don't have to travel to/fro my house to take care of Eivie.
2) Only go back to our house during weekends.
3) I still have to send Eirsa to current daycare, 20 mins away from Opah's house and fetch her after work.
4) I have to reach office before 7.30am else I have to pay RM7 for a freaking parking slot plus cursing for the bad traffic on daily basis.
5) As such, I have to wake up daily at 5.30am, leave Opah's house at 6.20am with Eirsa, drop her at nursery by 6.50am, reached office before 7.30am and save my RM7 with good mood.
6) Later that day, I'll fetch Eirsa at 6.15pm after work and will perhaps reach my PIL's an hour later due to KL's traffic.

So that's about that until we find the suitable new daycare for Eirsa and Eivie. So yeah. Poor Eirsa and I will leave the house before sunrise and reach the house after sunset.

This new arrangement will continue until we move out to our new house as it is easier for the girls to be stationed at their Opah's house before their parents fetch her. Except that when they go the new daycare, they don't have to leave the house that early and go back that late.

God. Please ease our searching and give us the strength. And if possible. Please give me power. To fly. Ameen.

Ketidakselesaan Bayi, Mengapa dan Bagaimana.

*Berdasarkan pengalaman saya.

Sewaktu dalam tempoh berpantang, kebiasaannya apabila bayi tidak selesa disebabkan apa jua sekalipun satu-satu reaksi yang diberikan adalah menangis seperti mahu menyusu. Padahal baru sahaja menyusu dengan banyak sekali. Akibatnya, ibu yang mahu menenangkan bayi tadi menyuakan lagi susu kepada bayinya dan bayi akan meminjm sambil menangis atau meronta atau meminum susu sehingga memuntahkan separuh atau kesemua susu keluar akibat terlalu banyak menyusu.

Ya. Saya juga melakukan kesilapan yang sama.

Setelah dicuba beberapa kali, rasanya mungkin cara ini dapat membantu ibu-ibu dalam menenangkan bayinya yang menangis akibat tidak selesa.

1) Sekiranya memang sudah sampai waktu menyusu (setiap 2-3 jam), berilah susu kepada bayi tanpa ragu-ragu.

2) Sekiranya bayi masih gelisah atau menangis, pastikan perut bayi tidak kembung atau ambil langkah sewajarnya sekiranya bayi kembung. Sekurang-kurangnya saya akan sapukan minyak bayi sebanyak dua kali sehari, iaitu pagi dan petang, di perut dan belakang bayi.

3) Jika tiada tanda-tanda bayi akan tenang, pastikan pula lampin bayi tidak basah atau kotor dek kencing atau tahi. Tukar sekiranya perlu.

4) Jika masih lagi tidak selesa, pastika pakaian bayi tidak basah atau apa sahaja keadaan tidak selesa. Juga mungkin berkaitan dengan suhu (gantikan pakaian yang sesuai dengan suhu pada ketika itu).

5) Dan sekiranya bayi masih lagi tidak senang, ada kemungkinan puncanya adalah kerana bayi sebenarnya mengantuk dan tidak dapat melelapkan mata sendiri atau terperanjat akibat bunyi kuat. Peluk dan dodoikan sehingga tidur bayi anda, inshaAllah. Boleh juga dibacakan ayat-ayat Al-Quran yang sesuai, semoga Allah memudahkan tidurnya. Posisi menidurkan (dukung, pangku dan sebagainya) bayi juga perlu pelbagai kerana satu-satu gaya itu mungkin "laku" kali ini dan tidak pada waktu lain. Setelah betul-betul lena (mungkin dalam 15 minit), letakkan bayi di atas tilam pada posisi meniarap atau dibedung jika terlentang untuk tidur yang kurang terganggu (berkesan pada anak-anak saya).

Untuk perkara 5, ada yang berpendapat tidak harus dibiasakan bayi untuk tidur dengan didodoi atau dukung. Pada saya, dalam tempoh berpantang, bayi masih lagi belajar menyesuaikan diri dengan dunia baru dan masih rasa tidak selamat. Pelukan dapat membantu bayi tadi lebih selesa. Dan keadaan ketidakselesaan bayi bukannya terjadi sentiasa, oleh itu sewaktu bayi tidak meragam, boleh ditidurkan bayi dengan cara yang anda rasa tidak akan menyukarkan ibu bayi di kemudian hari.

InshaAllah.

Till then.

Not That Bad, Lah.

I might sound a bit negative, offensive in my previous entry regarding my confinement lady but it was actually not. It's just because I've started sharing Umi's contact with some friends and I feel responsible to let them know what to expect.

And I might not be fair if I don't share about the good side of having a confinement lady around. May be I have mentioned about this here and there but let sum up the whole thing (as far as I could remember).

1) Help is always just an "Umi, mintak tolong..." away. Even sometimes Umi helps to look after Eivie when Eivie seemed restless at night. And being an experienced confinement lady (she has been doing this for 9 years now), she usually knows what to do to calm a baby down. A great relief i must say.

2) Massage and bertungku on daily basis, throughout the days when she's around.

3) I don't have to worry on what to eat, when to eat as everything will be ready up to 'senduk nasi ke dalam pinggan' and she'll do the dishes.

4) I don't have to attend the daily laundry as Umi does everything for us, including my husband's and Eirsa's, up to folding the dry clothes.

5) You will always feel accompanied and supported.

6) You'll wake up with a neat house, even though Eirsa made a great mess the night before.

7) You can stay at your own house, close to your husband, throughout the entire confinement period.

8) You don't burden your own mother and mother-in-law to take care of you and the baby during the confinement period.

So, it is actually very helpful to be having a confinement lady around, especially for those who has no choice but to go through the confinement period with no other help. It's just that you've got to tolerate with the presence of a stranger and the routines. Just focus with the positive side and the fact that the confinement period is not permenant.

InshaAllah you'll manage to get through your confinement period in good shape; physically, mentally and spiritually.

Till then. ;)

More Information On The Confinement Lady

I've been searching for the right phrase to describe the experience of having a confinement lady staying with you, for 3 weeks. Finally, found the words;

In my case, having Umi around is more like having your mom around, not like having a maid around.

No, she's definitely not a maid but she could sometimes make you feel uncomfortable as if you are having your mom's around to ask you, "Ana, makan.", "Ana, mai urut.", "Ana, mai tungku.", "Ana, makan ubat apa tu?".

Well again, I understand that she WAS HIRED for that; to take care of you. But some of us just don't like to be "monitored" in that sense, at least not at this age of 31 years old. But since those are for my own good, then I have to face them all. Afterall it's just for 3 weeks, and as of today, I've passed the 2 weeks milestone. Just another 1 week.

Another thing, may be it's just me, some of the things that she does might not be the same as per what I usually do, but I feel like it is not easy to tell her the right (or my?) way of doing it. It's because she's an elderly and I don't want her to feel uneasy with my words. It's not easy to tell your 'mother' what to do and what not to do, right? Again. It's just temporary, so I chose to just let it be. I'll re-do once she's no longer with us. Not really a big deal actually.

Other than that, she's such a great help for us. She's supposed to take care of the mother and baby only but she also help around with husband's dirty laundry, putting all Eirsa's chaotic tous all over the house and sometimes swipe the floor.

I feel like sharing this as if I'm giving any one of you the contact, at least you know what to expect.

Till then.

My Second Labor

Eirsa was born via c-section procedure due to no progress after 16 hours of labor (may be around 6 or 7 hours of active labor), overdue and that Allah wanted to help me by having cysts removal during the same procedure.

This time, I'd set my mind to try to go for normal delivery as I want to experience the true labor, plus if I had c-section this time, I could no longer opt for normal delivery for the 3rd labor and of course it's easier in terms of financial. The EDD was 1 March 2012.

I started bleeding (quite a lot) on 29 Feb 2012, around 4am. But the contractions were not progressive; perhaps some mild contractions every 8 minutes. We went for check up at 12pm and I was only 1cm dilated. My gynae advised us to go back home and return for admission at 9pm.

At 9pm, I registered for admission with still on and off contractions. I was still bleeding, like normal menstrual. But as advised, I stayed in the labor room for that night, without my husband, as he had to take care of Eirsa (my parents-in-laws were not around until 1 March 2012). Throughout the night I surprisingly had uninterrupted sleep, due to mild and inconsistent contractions. The bleeding still continued.

Gynae paid me a visit in the morning 1 March 2012, but as expected, the progress was still the same. She then gave us time out so that I could take some good walk to promote the contractions and we would need to 'check in' later at 3pm that day. My husband and I managed to run some errands and I feel almost no contractions at all until we returned back to the labor room. So I asked my husband to have a good rest at the nearby hotel since it was impossible to sleep comfortably in the labor room. We need him to be refreshed in the next morning. I would definitely give him a call if it's the time.

12am, 2 March 2012. Strong contractions started every 1/2 hour and every 10 minutes starting at 4am. I told my husband to come at 9am after he had checked out and had his breakfast. Gynae came at 8am and I was 2cm dilated. A small by relieving progress. Gynae then broke my water, to urge the contractions and instructed the midwives to induce me with 1/2 dose. I requested to first monitor the contractions as I as far as possible would not want to be induced. But the contractions seemed back to mild contractions every 10 minutes. With that kind of pattern, I had no choice but to be induced. With slower flow, my contractions were strong but every 3 minutes. Gynae instructed to fasten the flow to reach the 2 minutes elapsed time contractions and that when my fear of being induced started.

The contractions were every 1+ minute and the pain was, I must say, triple than the natural contractions. I could bear the natural contractions alone earlier, but with induction, even with my husband around, I could not handle the pain. It was too painful that I was all sweating and shivering every single time. So we opted for epidural. But I have to wait for 3 hours with the extreme pain for the epidural since the specialists were all occupied. And it was a long long long 3 most painful hours in my life.

The epidural was finally installed at 12pm and I could finally had my lunch. At 1pm I was attached with CTG and the reading was frightening.

Baby's heartbeat dropped to 70 beats per minute (bpm) every each contraction (which was every 1+ minute) as compared to the baseline of 110 bpm (low) - 160 bpm (high). The reading was only back to normal when the drip was removed. But without induction, my contractions progress was back to mild and every 10 - 15 minutes. And my water was slowly reduced. All readings were sent to my gynae for her analysis and further advise.

At 2pm my gynae came and checked for my dilation; I was only 3 cm dilated. It was after 5 hours being induced, resulted to very strong contractions every 1+ minute and dangerously low baby's heart rate during each contraction. She said that it was too risky to wait for full opening, especially with the poor baby's heart rate. And we had to reluctantly say yes for another c-section procedure.

And alhamdulillah. Everything is safe now. It was a tough decision but it was a must. God knows best. :)

Till then.

A Little Help

Yep, this time I have my 40 confinement days in my very own house, in KL. The confinement lady (Puan Umi, she asked me to call her Umi; Umi is 'mother' in Arab) arrived on day 10; the first 4 days I was still admitted while day 5-9 my mother was around taking care of me.

You see, the ambiance of having either my mother or Umi around is more or less the same, since Umi is about the same age as my mother and their motherly style of running the house is the same. The help offered is the same too; both of them will cook for me, take care of the house chores, take care of the baby and those stuffs. Except that my mother will voice out anything that she found more suitable for us and the house while Umi is more reserved. Oh. And the one of the main reasons why I hired a confinement lady is for the post-natal services; berurut and bertungku.

Since I also had c-section for this second delivery, all berurut and bertungku processes are customized to suit my condition. During weekdays, I'll be having my first berurut and bertungku session in the morning (at my very own time, no curfew) and a repeat in late afternoon. During weekends, since Eirsa is around, I could only commit to those post-natal care once a day only.

It has been 8 days of my post-natal regime. So far I feel better (but I still believe as long as you have sufficient rest, eat and drink, you should feel better after 2 weeks of delivery, regardless you are undergoing the berurut or bertungku processes or not), more energetic, my wound is healing good and I feel relaxed. Except that sometimes I feel like I want to skip the bertungku process since it can be time consuming and sometimes hurtful (due to the heat). But since we've made the deal and Umi needs to be around until end of the month (my PIL will not be around for 3 days next week so we cannot afford to not be having Umi around during that period) and that I want to look good after the confinement period, so yes I'll undergo everything without (or may be a little) much complaints.

With Umi's around, the daily routines are :

1. Wake up at anytime that I want but usually around 7-8am.
2. Pumping time! Manage to get 4 oz for each pumping session, alhamdulillah.
3. Eivie will be bathed by Umi while I'm having my breakfast; 1 big mug of hot Horlicks, with cream crackers or oat. Umi used to prepare those for me but now I'm making my own breakfast.
4. Umi will then cook for us. My husband will later buy his and Eirsa's dinner as both of them are not fans of 'hari-hari makan nasi'.
5. Have my berurut session then head to hit the warm shower-aaah-so-good.
6. Have my 1st bertungku session and berbengkung. Not a fan of bengkung as it makes me uncomfortable (in terms of sitting position) to feed Eivie. But bengkung makes my tummy feel firmed.
7. Lunch at 12pm.
8. Have my 2nd bertungku session and bengkung re-wrap around 5pm.
9. Have my afternoon tea; Horlicks and cream crackers.
10. Eirsa will be home by 5.30pm, fetched by my PIL.
11. Have my dinner around 7-7.30 pm.
12. Take of my bengkung before bed since I want to sleep comfortably and it's easier to feed Eivie.

Repeat the next day.

So far I'm ok with the services. Umi also helped with our clothes (husband's and Eirsa's too) and dishes. It's just that she focuses too much on me getting back on shape, which is good, but could also sometimes be tiring. Still, it's going to be 3 weeks only and I've already made it half way.

Oh, another negative side, since our house is small, having a stranger around could sometimes be not comfortable for my husband and my father-in-law.

Till then.