Hope all of you who happens to read my blog now is in a good of health and under the showering love from Allah swt. My life has been tremendously amazing, MashaAllah. There were ups and downs but Alhamdulillah, we were fine and we will be just fine. Today I feel like writing a story of my pregnancy. I gotta admit though, seeing friends and family who being pregnant now making me missing my pregnancy days. How I hate seeing the growing belly which making me unable to fit into anything and at the same time love it as people do not judge you for being fat and fatterrrr!
Let me segregate my pregnancy stories by trimester.
1) First Trimester
I first finding out I was pregnant when I was about 2 months pregnant. I got the 'feeling' when I missed my periods but I did not get too excited as it might be a false alarm! On the weekend before I went for the pregnancy test, I was with my family for holiday in Pulau Pangkor. Oh man, I was sea sick, car sick and everything sick! At first I thought it was because of windy stomach or gastric and I had consumed cans of Cokes to make me burp and remove the wind. Oh boy, what a bad start. So much sugar for my little fetus then. When I got back I did pregnancy test on my own and it was positive, but again I did not dare to get too excited. When I double confirm at the clinic, it's now the time to inform everyone!
My first trimester was hard. I did not have morning sickness...I literally had all day sickness! There were certain food I couldn't stand smelling, I vomitted everytime I had a chance and a big NO to coffee nor tea! I took MC quite few times too...that was really bad. Luckily, when time passed by, My morning sickness finally moved to another part of the day. I feel better in the morning which was a bless since I can focus on my work, but during evening like 4pm or so, I started to get dizzy and vomitting.
I did not take anything during this early trimester, only Acid Folic that the clinic provides me. As for the nausea, I did not take any pickles or jeruk because I am not a jeruk lover and luckily even I was nauseated, I didn't really desire them. To ease the nauseous, I ate Ribena pastels and lemon drinks. I even bought lemon body scrub, and lemon toilet fresherner. Lemon really does work wonders!
I also had developed a lazy symptom like did not want to wear make up to office and too lazy to beautifying myself. Then, my friend warned me to not practising that because it will somehow develops lazy habit to baby..haha. I don't know how far that is true but I started to wear make up back since then. One is because I work as customer-related so I have to look presentable enough.
For the check ups, I did my whole pregnancy check ups at Klinik Perdana in Taman Puncak Jalil as it has the flexibility for us to go during weekends. I didn't go to Klinik Kesihatan at all. Not to say Poyo or whatnot, but I just can't stand the idea of long waiting and queue. During this early stage also I went to Penang with my grandparents and Pak Busu. But It wasn't really a pleasant one as I had to deal with long journey and beat the nauseous at the same time. What worst, we went to Line Clear Nasi Kandar but I just didn't have the appetite to eat Nasi Kandar. How sadddddddddddddd was that?!! Gila ke pergi Penang tapi tak makan?!
To get me ready with throughout of my pregnancy, I bought this book as guidance and God, it does help me a lot!
2) Second trimester
This was the best stage of pregnancy! As the nauseous and morning sickness weren't the issue anymore. Plus, I had regained back my energy. This time, I have started browsing for baby's items (browsing not buying) and took pregnancy supplements. I also have started to eat healthier food and eat extra fruits. During my whole pregnancy, I ate pomegranate a lot but it wasn't easy to find a good quality pomegranates. The good ones are from Egypt but they aren't always available. So, to substitute, I also drank Pomegranate juice. I bought these juice from Fruit Shop but too bad, they don't come cheap. It costed about RM16 per bottle but last week, when I bought them, it already costed RM17.50 each! GST much huh?
I also took Manuka honey from Kordell brand everyday as suggested by my grandmother as she claimed Manuka honey is better compared to regular honey. It was costed about RM89-90+ but when I bought my fourth bottle towards my last weeks of pregnancy, the price was RM130+! This honey is good, I felt energetic when I consumed them. But, I had to mix with hot water because my body felt hot when I took it alone.
I also had experienced Ramadhan during my pregnancy and I tell you, it wasn't easy. I must eat Sahoor everyday or else I weren't able to fast. If I forced myself to fast without Sahoor, I couldn't feel my baby's movement :( I got to admit though that I did missed my Puasa for days due to not taking Sahoor.
During this stage, my body has changed and my belly is growing forcing me to say good byes to my working pants. I wore a lot of strecthable skirts mostly from Dorothy Perkins as their skirts waist are from rubber which I can put them under my growing belly. That's resulted why some of my skirts now a bit loose...hahaha. I also had to buy a maternity panties as they are more comfortable. La Senza and Victoria's Secret had to rest for a while. To my rescue, I bought these belt extender from Mothercare. Whoever invented this are genius!! Totally a hats off! With this, I could wear my pants but with condition we have to wear it with long shirts/blouse to cover our unzipped pants. Opps. *psst...I am still using this until now due to my post-pregnancy belly...urghh.
I also bought bump bands as to cover my bump and my unzipped pants when I'm out and about. This bumpbands also claimed to act as reducing the stretchmark. This is also good to wear especially when you wearing a transparent blouse since the singlet underneath can no longer can cover your growing belly..
Besides that, I also had this almond ground for my supplement. Almond and also some other nuts are good for your pregnancy but since I am to lazy to chew nuts, might as well I bought this ground almonds and mix them in my milk. Oh yes, I drank fresh milk every night hoping my baby's skin is fair...LOL. My all time favourite milk brand of course it had to be Goodday!
We also knew the gender of my baby quite early during my second trimester as coincidencely during the check up, my baby spread his leg wide. Ish..Ish..such a 'polite' boy you are ey? Hihihi. I still remember what the doctor said, "It's a boy. See, these are his balls". What an accurate straight forward doctor.
During the early of my second trimester, I also suffered my itchiness on my feet and hands. I did not know what the cause of it, but the more I scratch, the worse it has become. I used Calamine liquid to ease the itchiness. Sometimes it works, but most of the times not. There were also times which I would woke up in the middle of the night to scratch my hands and feet. I remembered that I also cried one or two because I couldn't stand the itchiness..
I also had started to use Bio Oil and Tanamera VCO on my belly and bottom everyday to avoid strecth marks. I don't really know how effective they are because they're still appear but I think it may did wonders too as now my stretchmarks are slowly dissappearing. To sum up, it does work but slow. Beauty needs patience though.
Shopping list on this stage mostly on my stuffs and some of expensive baby stuffs which I bought online through installment plans. I had to start early though because I ain't that rich to pay lump sum amount. Hahaha.
3) Third Trimester
For my early stage of pregnancy, I didn't buy any maternity clothes yet as I tried to fit into anything I had. Plus, I am looking into a long-term usage which why I bought a lot of stretch skirts from Dorothy Perkins so I could wear them again after delivering. It ain't happen though, I had to buy them after all. I bought 1 maternity pants from Modernmom, 3 cheap maternity blouses from AEON Jusco, 1 maternity blouse from H&M, 1 blouse cum sweater from 9months and 1 maternity dress from Dorothy Perkins. That was all. Now they are all lay quietly in my wardrobe for at least two years. I don't know when can I wear them again. Hopefully, not that long though. I bought dress which made from mixture of lycra quite a lot as this type of linen can be fit regardless of your size. It was a good idea since I can still wearing them all now.
I love this pink Dorothy Perkins maternity dress so much that I wore it over and over again. Now it's too big for me :(
During my third trimester, It has become a habit for me to take daily selfies of my belly progress everytime I go to my office's surau to pray. Well, at least I got them documented and be memories to me (thank God I uploaded them on Facebook and Instagram or else I had nothing when my phone was stolen). Until now, I love to see those photos, watching myself grow, how miracle the journey was, from a skinny girl to a fat woman and now struggling to be skinny again Hah!
This stage is quite challenging because I had all the symptoms like heartburn, the urgency to pee every 5 minutes, foot and hand cramps (this is the worst!), foot swollen and many many more. I would woke up in the middle of the night because of these cramps. Alhamdulillah my husband helped me to massage my feet and hand before I went to sleep. My online and physical shopping activities also has become ever more active at this stage because I wanted to cheking off my baby listing as soon as I could!
I also downloaded an app from Android Playstore that could countdown your pregnancy upon delivery. It is very useful to track my pregnancy progress. Forget what it called though but it is initially for tracking your menstrual cycle.
I also experienced my worst nightmare during this semester when I had diarrhea. A very bad one. I vomitted everything and I was dehydrated. My husband then sent me to PPUM that midnight. At first we went to the Emergency Maternity ward but since I had only mild contraction and they don't have enough incubator facilities at the moment (in case I had to undergo an emergency ceasarean operation), we were then directed to normal emergency ward. I was put under the drip and even then I still vomitting. After like 5-6 hours on a drip, the doctor advised me to refer to government hospital in case I still vomitting, it would trigger the contraction. I called my parents to send me to the hospital as my husband was already tired because he spent the night at hospital accompanying me.
I was admitted at KL government hospital and boy, it was a nightmare. There was no empty bed in the ward and I was put under temporary treatment room for monitoring. Of course, I need to be poked on my hand to insert the IV needle but the HO couldn't find my vein. I was poked for 6 freaking times and the HO gave up and called her MO instead to do it and he did it easily. Haish..I was a guinea pig to her. I don't really blame her because I understand she is still a HO and lacked of experience. My sister is a HO too, so I understand the feeling if she ever be scolded by patients as I know she is still learning and trying her best.
The nightmare of the hospital was not because of the doctors or staffs there but rather the facilities and the rundown building itself. It was very old. My ward was 3rd class ward although I requested to be upgraded (but I learnt new life experience here). The ward furniture and interior is very original and old. The windows are like the old design like the one in school, they used ceiling fans instead of aircond, there is no room, all beds are in a open space with low wooden partition. I guess you can imagine it if you have ever been to any government hospitals. The bathrooms and toilets are like one in dormitory rooms/hostels. It is not like I am complaining since I am also just an ordinary citizen but as far as I am concern, most of our government hospitals are already upgraded. I have been to some and they are all been renovated and replaced with a new modern facilities and furnitures. But I do understand though, this particular hospital is always packed and crowded with patients coming in and with its limited spaces to temporarily move the patients and hence the equipments too, it would be rather a difficult process.
During the day, the sun will blast through the window causing a very humid temperature and hot atmosphere in the ward. Man, I bathed 3 times per day I told you! Meal is served 4 times per day and the last dinner is at 6pm. In case you are hungry at night, you have to have your own snacks. And the best thing is, there is no drink water supply! So, you got to buy your own mineral water or you do not have anything to drink at all! During the night there, it was raining and the rain drops get into the window causing most beds wet from the drizzles. Some of the patients couldn't get up because of their ceaserian operation so I helped them to close the windows, or else they and their newborn babies will be wet! Poor little human :(
As for the doctors and nurses, for me, it's a basic human practice involved here. For me, if you respect them and talk to them nicely, they'll be nice to you back. Although there are one or two whom I think a bit rude despite the kindness, I just keep it personal. Because from my judgment, in this third class ward, there are many foreigners who are very rude and disobey the rules so, I understand why all these nurses and doctors are being stern and strict. There are even some patients whom daringly purposely doing the wrong thing in front of the nurses despite after being told not to. Rasa nak tampar pun ada jugak. Baik kau beranak tepi jalan aje kalau macam ni punya perangai!
By the way, I just stayed one night there. Couldn't even bring myself to stay another night. Yes, I was forced discharged and had to sign papers. They are monitoring me and held me there because of my lacking potassium. My diarrhea and vomitting was already stopped. I was just tired being told from the beginning that I could be discharged soon everytime I asked but didn't. It give me false hope and I hate that. So, back to the pregnancies journey, after the challenging journey, I have become paranoid of what I eat outside as this stage is vital.
During my third semester also I went to few classes preparing myself to motherhood. Wait, no. More like preparing my husband and I to parenthood. Both are at PPUM. We went to breastfeeding class which was held freely on selected times during my checkups at the antenatal clinics. Also, we went for Kelas Ibu Mengandung during the weekends. This is a paid class and the fees was RM150 per couple. I would say this class is very beneficial to new parents as it teaches you all aspect from family planning, how to handle newborn, breastfeeding, physical exercise and dietary. I think the course also too short to understand and I wish they could extend it next time because little did I know parenthood is actually very challenging!!
As for my supplement, I took VCO from Tanamera and eat a spoonful mixed with water daily as it is good for easy delivery. I also apply the VCO around my vaginal area to reduce the tear. I read a lot good reviews on Tanamera VCO. Yes and it does wonders as during my labor the doctor said that my vagina is soft and flexible for delivery thus could reduce the chances of getting tear up. It just not my rezeki to deliver normally :(
Close to my delivery date, my movement has become slower hence my online shopping activity has become faster, Hah! I took maternity leave one week earlier from my due as I can't even bring myself to work plus my husband is already working in KL by then and couldn't longer fetch me home. Yes, I took cab everyday to go back home! I stayed at my mother's house on the final week as in case of emergency, it is closer to the hospital and my father is just working nearby.
That is all I remember about being pregnant and I just want to note that every person is different and hence the experience too. If there is anything that I shared could beneficial to you, please do try them. I hope all you especially new wives or preggers or even young mothers have a smooth motherhood journey and beautiful experience. Despite the roller coaster rides throughout my pregnancy journey, I really do miss them and yes, I want to experience it again!
Until then, Salam.
