Doodles of My Mind

On the 5th of December 2012, I woke up feeling nothing out of the ordinary. Since I had no plans for the day, I called up my best friend, Aliaa, and decided to accompany her with her engagement errands. I was 100% sure that I wouldn’t be able to attend her ceremony so I was determined to be there with her throughout the prepping processes as much as I could.

I got out of bed, got ready and by 11am, we were off to Midvalley Megamall!

We first went to get some materials for her, and then we went to do some shopping for me. Hahhahaha, okay fine, a lot of shopping for me. We shopped around Midvalley, then got hungry, so we had lunch first. She took me to Nyonya Colours, which was a first for me. Then I made her take me to Robinsons because according to my memory, I had never been there before. I felt like such a tourist!

We walked around Robinsons, did more shopping, and laughed SO much along the way at the most ridiculous things (panties, for example, HAHAHAH, don’t ask!!). Then around 2pm, I needed a toilet break. So we paid for my shopping stuff, and made way to the nearest washroom.

And that’s when the whirlwind of events started.

I saw that I had a bit of a bloody show and I remembered during my false alarm a couple of weeks ago, the midwife told me to come straight to the labour ward if I had any bleeding. My heart started beating a bit faster. Really? Could this be it? As calmly as possible, I walked out of my cubicle and went to the door of the cubicle where my best friend was in.

“Say… babes?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to panic…. but I think you may need to send me to the hospital”

“WHAT? NOW??”

That sent my bestie in panic mode of course, and I would have panicked along with her except that I found the whole situation rather hysterical! I don’t know why!!

I mean, here we are, two giggly crazies, laughing so much throughout our shopping escapade, and now we have to make way across Gardens all the way to Megamall to where our car is parked, and I’m supposedly in labour!!

She asked if I was in pain, which I wasn’t, so I explained that I was perfectly fine, just that I have a bloody show.

I called up the husband, who surprisingly sounded as calm as I did. Too calm, in fact. Later he called back to say that he was in a meeting, hence couldn’t express his excitement as much as he wanted to, heheh.

Meanwhile, Aliaa and I made our way towards the car, all the while I was hoping that my water doesn’t break in the middle of the mall.

Sempat lagi tanya, “Do we have time for GongCha?” which sent the two of us into another burst of laughter.

Aliaa drove us to Pantai Hospital, looking very serious and in absolute concentration behind the wheel. I decided to lighten up the mood a bit and hummed a little tune but it didn’t sit well with her “Stop it! I’m concentrating!”

We got to Pantai Hospital around 3pm, she dropped me off at the lobby and went to park the car. I made my way to the labour room and when I got there, told the nurses that I was having a bit of bleeding, and previously was told to come straight to labour room if that happened.

Now, I don’t know why, perhaps because I didn’t seem to be in pain or anything, but the nurse who I spoke to asked me if I had seen my doctor yet. Obviously not, since I was told to come straight to the labour ward. She asked me when my next check up was, so I told her it’s to be the next day.

“Why don’t you go see Dr. Idora first?”

I was a bit baffled then, but not wanting to make a fuss, I just said ok, and made my way to Dr. Idora’s clinic, which was at the next block. In case you were wondering, they didn’t offer me a wheelchair or ask if I was in pain or whatever. I simply walked to my doctor’s clinic, which was quite ok since I wasn’t feeling any pain or contractions but you would think that they’d have some proper procedures to follow.

Upon reaching the reception at the doctor’s clinic, I told the nurse who was manning the counter my situation, that the labour room sent me here so although my appointment is tomorrow, could I please see the doctor since I’m having a bloody show. Her response was another win.

“Doctor got a lot of patients lah today”

“So… you tell me what to do”

“You wait, I call Dr. Idora’s nurse”

By this time, Aliaa was by my side and raising her eyebrows at the nurse already.

After a short phone call, the nurse told me that I was to go straight to labour ward, again.

So once again, I walked over to the labour room, waddling for all its worth.

“Why are they making you walk so much?? Are you sure it’s ok for you to walk this much??” my concerned bestie asks.

I gave a shrug and simply said that I think walking is good, I’m not in any pain yet anyway so it’s ok.

Once at the labour ward, I told the nurse what was conveyed to me, so they put me in a labour room and hooked me up to the CTG monitor again.

Getting hooked up onto the CTG monitor

So another round of waiting, Aliaa kept me company and even managed to figure out how to read the CTG graphs by herself. She kept updating me on my contractions and how frequent and close they were getting.

Aliaa and the CTG graph she’s proud of

Surprisingly, I was still feeling ok, albeit having slight discomforts when a contraction came and the graph showed a spike.

See? Can still smile, heheheh

The husband arrived not long after, and the three of us chatted to pass time. Dr. Idora came at around 4pm, and said that I was 4cm dilated already. She expects that baby should arrive at night, and gave a big smile.

So I smiled back and said “Great, can I go to Starbucks after this?”

I mean, I was hardly in much pain, I figured walking around some more and having some good beverage would help take my mind off my nervousness. Dr. Idora gave her thumbs up, but only after another 15 minutes of CTG monitoring.

So after she left, we waited around some more. Around 5 pm, Aliaa had to leave and I changed my mind about having Starbucks. I was starting to feel a little uneasy, so the husband walked her down and bought me a hot chocolate to-go instead.

I changed into my hospital gown and was starting to feel contractions on and off. I started to whatsapp my two mommy-buddies to update them.

By 6pm, my contractions were back to back. The husband helped to ease the pain by massaging my lower back every time My mommy-buddies were sending me words of encouragement and pointers on how to deal with the contractions via whatsapp. I told the husband to ask the nurses if I could get my epidural, since I had planned for it if I couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. Unfortunately they sent him back saying that it was still too early for epidural. I was like, SERIOUSLY?? Good God.

FINE. I walked, swayed, groaned and breathed with every contraction.

6.30pm, I told the husband that I don’t think I can last till night time if the contractions were this bad. He went out to the nurses again and told them to check on me.

So a few nurses came in, told me to climb onto the hospital bed. Even climbing the bed was excruciating at that point.

They took one look and the nurse dashed out calling “Call Dr. Idora now please!”

I was quite relieved to hear that. “Great, can I get my epidural now?” I asked.

“No time already!”

“WHAT.”

“No need epidural, no time already,” said the nyonya nurse.

“ARE YOU SURE??”

“Yesss, nevermind, no need epiduraaaal. If take epidural then back pain, down there pain, better one pain only right?”

At that point I just felt like smacking the woman. Deemmm yuuuu!! I got cheated off my epidural! Hahahha..

At 6.40pm, the doctor arrived, took her position and said ok start pushing.

I was like, omg this is it. Wait, what do I do now? Push? How? Oh what the heck, I just held on tight to my husband’s hand and gave it all I’ve got.

After a push or two, I paused and asked the doctor “Do you have to break my water bag?”

“No, we don’t have to, we can just leave it,” smiled my doctor.

She’s got to be one of the calmest people on earth, I swear.

So, I got back to pushing.

“Do you have to cut me?”

“No, you’re stretching just fine” *smile*

After a while, I was almost giving up, I felt like I was going to pass out. So my doctor asked if I would like her to break my waters, then she can assist by vacuuming the baby out.

Hearing that gave me renewed strength. I wasn’t going to let them vacuum my baby out, no no no no no I kept saying in my head (or maybe I said it out loud, I don’t remember, haha!)

I took a deep breath and pushed and pushed and pushed with all my might.

Finally, at 7.06pm, the most beautiful baby boy I had ever seen was born. My son Special as can be, he was born with the watersac intact (en-caul: born inside the entire amniotic sac).

As my doctor finished up on me, I heard the nurses call out Ihsan’s weight, a whopping 3.09kg! Wow! That’s huge news to me as I was expecting him to be at most 2.8kg. No epidural too, wow, I felt like superwoman, hahahah!

Alhamdulillah, all praises be to Allah, on that beautiful and eventful Wednesday, I became a mother of two

We are now, a mini family of four

Ohana always and forever

Surprise!!!

Alhamdulillah I have given birth to a very healthy baby boy!!

Doodler, please welcome Syed Ihsan Alhabshi!!

My little hero, one and a half days old

Welcome to the family, my precious little bundle. Mommy, Daddy and Kakak Icha loves you so so much!

Will update more on details of his birth when I can squeeze in time

Can’t believe I now have kidS! hahahahhaha!!

HelloooooOOOooo DECEMBER!!!

Hoomaaiigooooood, I have never been more happy to see the month of December than I am now!

For those who are not aware, my expected due date is 10 December. I honestly thought I would’ve given birth by now. With Chemps, I delivered at 38 weeks, and they say the 2nd baby usually follows suit. So i’m quite surprised that Dot2 is still comfortably rolling around in my belly. Although, comfy is probably just for him. I’m on the other side of the comfy line *urgh*

Check out the pic above. My stomach is so OUT THERE. I can even turn it into my portable mini table, hahahah!

So, as of today, I am 38 weeks 6 days pregnant! or something like that, alaaa kira 39 weeks dah lah kan? Heheheh… Goodness gracious, 10 days to go!!! Eeeeks!!!

Ok my dearie Dot2, we’re all geared up for you. Anytime you feel like it, okiedokie?

Check it out yooo, it’s my little hip hop princess

She got that cap a couple of days ago and has been going around sporting it sideways, front and back since. Heheh… just thought I’d share this latest picture of the soon to be Kakak Icha (as she now calls herself).

I haven’t been very consistent with my updates, have I? Skipping a few weeks of updates and the suddenly giving weekly updates. Oh well, at least I’m writing some, and Dot2 will still have a trail of idea of how Mommy was like when she was preggers with him (read: emotional, cranky, angry, tired and grumpy). The total opposite of how I was like when I was pregnant with Chempedak.

Anyway!

Dot2 is officially now FULL TERM!! Woohooo!! Which means that if you should decide to come out anytime now my little kicking bundle, it is fine. F.I.N.E. Encouraged in fact, because your mommy’s back bone is seriously threatening to snap.

So here’s what’s been happening, so far, Alhamdulillah all has been smooth sailing. Apart from constant Braxton hicks, a grumpy attitude and a strained back, I think I’m coping rather well with this pregnancy. Recently though, a new challenge has been added, which is the cramps. There have been a few occasions where suddenly without a warning, I’d be rudely awaken by this major heck of a cramp in my right calf. All I could do is wake up the husband who thankfully knew how to massage the right muscles to make the cramp go away.

In terms of vitamins and supplements, I’m still on my Obimin Pluz and goat’s milk calcium tablets. I’ve finished my six bottles of bird’s nest and decided that I can’t afford another six bottles, hahahahah. Mahal giler. I’m now drinking this Third Trimester Tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby on a daily basis. It was recommended to me by a relative and it’s supposed to help prep your body for labour. Don’t know if it will work for me, but hey, it’s only tea, so I figured it wouldn’t do any harm to just down it. It took quite a search finding supply for this tea. It used to be widely available at baby shops but almost all of them seemed to be out of stock when I called to enquire. Hence, I ordered it via Amazon. It arrived in less than two weeks, which was good timing if you ask me.

Yesterday, we went for our weekly checkup. Yes, checkups are now on a weekly basis The husband wasn’t very keen on going since we were just at the hospital on Monday, following a little false alarm. I think he got a bit too worked up that his adrenalin supply had depleted for this week’s check up. He even asked “Perlu ke check up ni?”, which from my point of view was an invitation to get snapped at by Mommy-saurus.

Of course, he went anyway.

We dropped off Chemps at school and went off for our appointment. Got my blood-pressure checked and went on the weighing scale and I’m happy to report that I am now 45.15kgs! WOOHOO!!! I hit the 45kg mark that I was aiming for!!

* ehem *

Anyway, when our turn came, we were greeted by my wonderfully calm and sweet doctor (whom at times the husband insists talks to herself because she’s very soft-spoken). She gave a chirpy little laugh when I greeted her with a “I’m still here and pregnant” statement.

We proceeded to the examination table and she took out her magic scanning wand thingy and as much awaited by me at every checkup, we got to see Dot2 well… at least… his butt. and balls. Good enough.

Doc said that baby has engaged himself in a good position for delivery, so hopefully with a few more turns closer to time, he’d be in perfect position.  Then, as she was moving the scanning wand all over my planet of a belly, she pointed out that I was indeed having some tightening (or mild contractions) as I was lying there. I felt my stomach tighten but there definitely wasn’t any pain. She decided that it was enough of working hours for me, and told me that I should just rest at home from now on until I give birth.

Then she said let’s try to see if we could get a glimpse of baby’s face today. The husband and I were once again prepared for the usual “no paparazzi” pose from Dot2 but he decided to give us the best surprise ever

Say hello to our Lil’ Mr. Pouty

After months and months of never being able to see his face, today he decides to move his hand down a little, and give his Mommy and Daddy an idea of how he looks like. Masya Allah, my little monyok one, we simply CAN’T WAIT to have you in our arms *swoon*