I cannot wait!!

I was quite devastated for not being able to be with BFF Maria the day she delivered her baby.

The day she had a birth show (a day before baby's birth) was also the day Love had to outstation to Pahang and Melaka.

The day after the delivery was BFF Maria's birthday. And by 6pm that day, when Love still had work to do in Melaka, I became sooo sad. I did not know the route to BFF Maria's hospital and I really wanted to see her on that day.

Around 7.30 pm, Love called me up and told me that he just finished his work. And told me one thing that I would forever remember, "Sayang, kita akan pergi tengok Maria jugak k, I dah janji, whatever it takes, we'll see her tonight."

You know, sometimes it's not that hard to impress a woman.

Just by showing that you care about the stuff that she cares means the world to us.

Just by keeping your promises (even the smallest ones) keeps us safe and secure. And the affirmation is what we need to fall more and more in love with you guys.

It means more than whatever money can buy in this world, seriously.

At about 9.30pm, he picked me up and within half an hour we were there with this little princess..



When I looked at this angel, I couldn't stop imagining how my baby moved about the same way inside my tummy, how he/she opened her eyes, smiling like BFF Maria's little girl. Thinking about all that make me psyched, I can't wait!

I especially love this photo. See how her baby's eyes glued at the mommy.



All the time. She kept staring at BFF Maria even when BFF Maria was talking to us. The sweetest scene :)





With Love who was still wearing his work attire, poor thing..



Welcome to this world, Khaireen Sofea. Aunty loves you so much!

My last class of hypnobirthing

I'm a hypnobirthing graduate!!!!!

Alhamdulillah. Completed all 5 classes. Two days ago, I asked my doctor to prepare a referral letter so that I can meet my specialist to discuss about hypnobirthing. At the same time, I had my 6th month checkup.

BABY STILL TAMAU TUNJUK DIA BOY OR GIRL!!!

But.. my baby's head already down there. Very nice position, Little Precious.. I'm proud of you!



My baby's position :)

All praise be to Allah SWT.

And I also have my hypnobirthing class to thank for. For teaching me the correct position as in below:



More info in spinningbabies.com.

Whatever position you're in, make sure your knee won't be higher than your hips and make sure you're not crossing your legs. Since baby's head should be down, when you block the path down there, you baby won't be comfortable and hence.. head will move somewhere else.

If your baby's position is not ok, try the posture above for more than 40 minutes a day, allow some time for your baby to correct back his/her position.

Once your baby is already engaged, squat for 40 minutes a day to lock his/her position.

The most optimum position for your baby is head down, face facing your butt and chin down so that she/he can give more pressure, thus easier to be birthed.

Some preparation that you can do to tone your body for birth:
1) Walking
2) Maintain a good posture
3) Pelvic rock (similar to 'Angry Cat' position in yoga)
4) Toning innner thigh and leg mucsles

5) Squatting
6) Pelvic floor exercises
7) Perineal massage

Also during labor, what we have learned in hypnobirthing is that you need the correct birthing position for your baby. Don't just lie down the bed, sometimes when you have sharp pain (pressure ok, pain is not a good sign), that means your baby is not in a good position. You have to move around to ensure that he/she is comfortable.

More on birthing position in "Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method" book.

Three days ago, I had a sharp pain above my tummy, just below my left breast for the whole day. By evening, I lost it. I tried all positions suggested by my pratitioner, not working. The sharp pain was still there, and minor Braxton-Hicks surge come and go.

Called Love, and he gave me one last resort that might be useful during labor if pain is still there.

After Asar prayer, I talked to my baby and told him/her that the position he/she was staying right now hurt me a lot. And if she/he mind to move a little. And just like that, the pain was gone.

Brilliant, Little Precious!

Now, goodbye and all the best to my hypnobirthing friends!

Love and I are hypnobirthing graduates. From a wife who was blur the time my doctor mentioned about estrogen and progesteron to someone who can talk about endorphin and oxytocin. From a husband who could not stand blood (what more to be there for me during labor) to a husband who is now confident to go through homebirthing. (I'm proud of you, Sayang!)

And for all this, Alhamdulillah.

May we have the natural birth that we seek for. Whatever best for us.

When YOU guide us to it, I know YOU'll guide us through it. Insya Allah.

YNWA!

I am not a big fan of football. I still couldn't understand the term "offside" though Love explained to me too many times before.

But Love is a huge fan of Liverpool. One of his dreams is to watch Liverpool's match at Anfield. (One of my dreams is to see the pyramid in Egypt.. so not cool ;p)

So, when Liverpool came to Malaysia last week, I was more than excited to go with Love, knowing that it gave us positive vibes in achieving his dreams.

We went for the training on Thursday after work, such hectic traffics..


Hubby bangga gile he bought me this jersey!



And on Saturday, don't even mention ok. We parked all the way in Sri Petaling and I walked for 2kms to get to the stadium. Poor baby.. Kicking my tummy all the way, penat ye..


With sister in law and brother in law.

But, it was awesome. My first time experience watching football in the stadium.

Everytime Liverpool scored, the stadium cheered. And everytime Malaysia scored, the stadium roared like never before.

So, dear Mr. Rajagopal and Mr. Safee Sali, do know that you cannot measure patriotisme just by the cover. Though we were wearing reds, we rocked the stadium with "Inilah Barisan Kita" everytime Malaysia scored.

I had a lot of fun.



Until we meet again Liverpool, this time at Anfield :)


Budak ni semangat gile!

Hypnobirthing Class 4

So, in hypnobirthing class 4, we've learned about hormones and massages.

Here, I share with you about the 2 most important hormones (hormone lain, belajar dengan Sifu Wai Han, ok?)

First is, Oxytocin. Or, we called it as the hormone of love. As the name suggests, those who are in love produce a lot of this hormone in their body. It's in your body when you're in love, when you make love, when you breastfeeding, etc. And the best thing about Oxytocin is.. (*Warning: I'm going to talk about some explicit content, 18sx here).. that when you have enough amount of Oxytocin in your body, it will expel something from your body.

Eg: When you make love, with sufficient amount of Oxytocin, you'll expel some discharge from your body. Men releases the semen, and women releases some discharge that I don't really know the name of, hehe.. Sorry! But, you get my point ryte? (Orang dah kahwin je boleh cakap yes).

When you're breastfeeding, you feel so much love for your baby, you will produce milk. Again, because of Oxytocin.

When you're in labor, your body produces Oxytocin also and what it will expel from your body is your sweet precious baby. So, you need sufficient amount of Oxytocin in your body the moment you're in labor.

How to get sufficient Oxytocin is sooo easy.

Make. A. Lot. Of. Love.

And please, don't waste the semen guys. It's good for both your wife and baby! ;p

The second hormone is Endorphin. We also call this as "Natural pain and stress fighters". It's your body's natural painkiller. It happens when you're excited and focused about something, and again when you make love or breastfeed.

Remember our cyclist, Azizulhasni Awang at the Trackcycling World Cup when a 10 inch wooden splinter stuck all the way through his leg after a crash and he kept on cycling to the end until he won a Bronze medal for that race?

What makes him that strong to ignore the pain in his leg? Endorphin!

His determination and focus to keep going to the end make his body produces sufficient Endorphin and that is what we need during labour. That can be achieved by practicing all the relaxation or hypnotizing techniques learned throughout the hypnobirthing class.

Of course, we also have synthetic Oxytocin and syntethic Endorphin during labor. The syntethic Oxytoxin is what we called as Pitocin.

Doctor uses this to induce you during labor. Pitocin does enhance surge, but that surge won't ensure dilation. There is no love in that fake hormone, how can it expel something from your body ryte?

The syntethic Endorphin can be found in all the pain reliefs available during labor. Epidural, anaesthetic, etc. And the downside of each pain reliefs, you can just read on the webs.

Even major problem is, when you inject syntethic Oxytocin or Endorphin into your body, you might inject more dosage than what your body needs. Of course, the doctor can't tell you for sure how much your body needs Oxytocin/Endorphin.

So, if you have excessive Oxytocin, you're gonna have less Endorphin. If you have excessive Endorphin, you're gonna have less Oxytocin. Meaning, if you induced, it hurts more. If you used epidural, you might have no dilation.

On the massages, there are two type of massages; deep massages and light touch massages.

Deep massages - done during surge; put pressure as in the picture..



Light touch massages - done in between surge; as in the video.. Touch very lightly, circle the arms and ears, massage the head..

The face of heaven :)

Alhamdulillah, BFF Maria gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl at 8.33 am this morning!

Normal.

No epidural.

I'm soooooo proud of you, babe!



Sadly, Love is in Pahang currently (outstation, pfftt..) I can't wait to see BFF Maria and her Little Princess. Hopefully tomorrow.

It's BFF Maria's birthday tomorrow anyway!

Owh.. and as of today.. I'm in my third trimester, yay! Dah dekat! Kena banyakkan amalan!

Life is unpredictable

July last year, about a year ago I blogged about Nenek's driver who was in a coma due to heart attack.

With Allah's will, after a couple of weeks, he woke up from coma and was so healthy that he could work with Nenek again.

During brother-in-law's wedding, he sent us to the bride's house and that was the last time I ever met him..

I received a phone call from Love at about 7pm just now telling that Nenek's driver already passed away. Innalillah.

My first thought was that, he passed away due to his heart attack.

Friday night normally was a guy's night out for Love. After work, he would go jamming with his friends until 10pm, then he would go for futsal, so I would only be seeing him after midnight.

Since he heard the news during jamming, he straight away went to Nenek's house without me and later update me with the news of how the driver passed away. Around 4pm, he rode his motorcycle home from Nenek's house and he was hit by a lorry.

How unpredictable life is. Just a year ago in the same month, he was in a coma because of something else.

And this year, he passed away due to something else.

Sedih. But Allah SWT loves him more, he passed away on Friday after all, penghulu segala hari, Alhamdulillah.

You know I can tolerate with a lot of thing. With the fact that my husband wants to spend time with his friends every Friday night. Or the fact that my husband always away for work.. Or the fact that he wants to spend his money on cars or guitars or PS3.. I would even let go of my beloved Savvy for his Alfa.

But one thing I would NEVER in a million year tolerate with is that if he wants a motorcycle. NEVER. Period. No discussion there.

In our relationship, I don't demand much from him. So, I hope this one thing that I asked, he can just understand. It breaks my heart SO MUCH everytime I heard about motorcycle. :(

Hypnobirthing Class 3

In hypnobirthing class 3, basically we were enlightened with the hospital’s procedure upon our admission to birth our baby. Previously, I was so scared to know, but upon hearing all the details, I’ve learned that IGNORANCE IS SO NOT A BLISS! I want to be well educated before my delivery day so that Love and I will be the one making decision for the baby, not the doctor.

We discussed with our practitioner on the procedures and what we wish to avoid. We found the solutions as mentioned below.

Procedures once admitted:
-Change to their gown
-Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) – To monitor the baby’s heartbeat
-Disadvantage: You cannot move about to find the most comfortable position for your baby during surge. If you don’t move about, surge will become painful.
-Our solution: EFM only periodically.
-Vaginal Examination (VE) – To check your dilation
-Disadvantage: Infection from the nurse’s fingers and accidentally rupture the membrane.
-Our solution: I don’t want any VE because I don’t see the advantages of me knowing how much I have dilated!!-Enema - the procedure of introducing liquids into the rectum to evacuate the lower intestinal tract.
-As for now, I need to discuss with my doctor how to go about on this matter.
-Drip

Procedures before birthing:
-Induction

Why induction? Overdue.

What to worry about overdue? Every baby needs different time to be mature in the mommy’s tummy. Your little precious will definitely come out when he/she is ready.

You scared that your baby will be too big? Again, your baby will never be too big for your body to birth. Just have faith :)

You scared of placenta calcification (“aging” of the placenta) ? As long as baby is still moving even though you’re overdue, baby is still safe.

You scared of meconium (baby’s first stool inside your tummy )? Again feel the movement. Or check your membrane once it is released, make sure it is clear.

You scared that your amniotic fluid will run low/run high? The WHO standard for the thickness of your amniotic fluid is from 5 to 22 cm, but the doctor’s standards normally vary. So, if he/she said it is too thin/too thick, ask him/her how thick/thin it is. Whatever it is, your amniotic fluid varies all the time. So if it is running low, just drink a lot of water to make sure you are well hydrated. Best drink – young coconut (without ice or sugar).

You scared that your membrane is already released, but baby still do not want to come out yet? Again, just drink a lot of water to replace the water that is being discharged.

You scared of augmentation (Very slow progress of dilation)? You scared of being tired? Just rest. Labor slows down as you get tired. Don’t worry, your baby will take care of you if you take care of your baby. :)

-Pain relief
1) Epidural
2) Laughing gas (Enthonox)
3) Pethidine jab

You have variety of pain reliefs. Discuss with you practitioner beforehand on the advantages and the disadvantages of each options. Don’t just decide on the day itself, don’t just follow your doctor’s decision blindly. As for me, I pray so that I can have a natural birthing. But if in desperate cases, I think Laughing gas is the safest choice. Epidural is too risky for both mummy and baby.

Procedures during birth
- Caesarean
- Vacuum
- Forceps
Whatever other interventions, I pray I can have a normal birthing with the breathing techniques I've learned and mentioned in my previous post.

Procedures after birth
-Birth of your placenta; sometimes the doctor will pull out the placenta or jab you to enhance surges. But artificial surges do not ensure dilation. So just drink warm water after you deliver to help birth the placenta.

Procedures for babies
-Sigh.. I can’t bear to explain what some of them did to the newborn baby. I just want to be with my baby and Love for an hour after birth, no compromise.

To achieve all these, we have come out with our own “Letter of Agreement” to a doctor that can support all our demands.. Now, we’re in a hunt for a doctor that can understand and can be considerate with all these.

I have learned a lot from my hypnobirthing class. I strongly suggest expecting mommies and daddies to experience the class themselves. My explanations are definitely not enough to enlighten you guys.

Hypnobirthing rocks!


With those who believe in natural birthing :)

P/S: Please note that I am not a certified practitioner of hypnobirthing, I write based on my class and my experience. And if anyone with hypnobirthing experience feels as if some part of the article needs to be corrected, I truly appreciate any feedbacks. Thank you.