Merancang keluarga selepas bersalin secara pembedahan

tajuk post kali ini adalah berdasarkan carianku di google semasa tempoh berpantang. dulu-dulu berlagak sangat nak guna natural method, tengok tarikh subur, kondom, etc. tapi tak boleh ambil risiko macam tu bila bersalin ceaserean ni. kehamilan harus dijarakkan untuk kebaikan ibu dan anak pada masa hadapan. i told abang about lppkn. niat awal nak guna iucd, since tak involve hormone. bila call annur, azzaharah, range harga around rm500++. then teringat zaman belajar dulu ada servis daripada lppkn.

tak sempat pun sebenarnya nak google page lppkn, then abang yang tolong usahakan. dia pergi kat laman web lppkn, then search for the phone no of the nearest lppkn from the directory. barulah tahu wujudnya klinik lppkn dekat reko central tu. abang kata orang yang jawab telefon tu sangat bagus dan membantu (siap bagi direction jalan nak ke klinik tu) and we straight away pergi klinik kat reko central petang tu juga atas saranan mereka. 

we were entertained by a chinese nurse. dia pastikan yang kami masih ber'pantang' (masih belum 'bersama'). nak pastikan tiada kemungkinan si ibu sedang mengandung. masa tu aku hari ke 45. but, when my sis in law called masa dia lebih kurang hari ke 60, the nurse refused to make any procedure walaupun dia masih ber'pantang'. maybe adalah kot kes-kes yang orang dah 'bersama' tapi mengaku sebaliknya. so, my advice, to play safe, datang sebelum hari ke 42 (as the nurse suggested) walaupun darah nifas belum berhenti. kalau tak, kena tunggu next period, which kadang-kadang next 6 months baru datang kalau menyusu anak.

ole-ole daripada klinik

she then explained the options that they offer. pill? semestinya tidak untuk patient yang tak berapa compliant sepertiku. iberet dulu pun on off. so, sama ada injection, implan ataupun iucd. but, please be noted yang iucd atau implan biasanya hanya akan dibuat selepas 6 bulan dari tarikh bersalin. untuk guna implan, biasanya mereka akan suggest guna injection dulu, sebab guna hormon (bahan) yang sama. kalau serasi (no serious side effects), baru doc akan masukkan implan. nak masukkan iucd pun kena tunggu heavy flow period.

the nurse suggested for injection. either jab 2 bulan (8weeks) or 3 bulan (12weeks). as it involves hormone, aku try yang 2 bulan (unidepo) dulu. risau sangat berat naik mendadak. tiap-tiap hari mesti psycho nak timbang berat. alhamdulillah, so far, berat masih maintain cuma mood swing tu adalah sikit-sikit (salahkan hormon pulak, walhal memang mengada moody). thus, insyaAllah will continue to have the jab for the next 4 months, n will decide later on either nak pasang implan or iucd. for further info boleh refer kat webpage lppkn tu. quite informative, tengok pada bahagian penerbitan untuk perancangan keluarga dan boleh download softcopy pamphlet.

My breastfeeding journey begins!

After i underwent the surgery, i was placed at the ward, meanwhile sarah had to be sent to nicu, she had a mild grunting after the birth and stayed there for three days to complete her antibiotics. So, i did not exactly breastfeed her for the first 24 hours. She was given formula milk when i was still warded. As people asked, "fully breastfeed ke?" i will normally answer, "sekarang ya, tapi masa awal lahir tu hospital bagi formula milk masa dia kat nicu".

Abang n i went to visit sarah the next day after i had my surgery. I was on the wheelchair. We handwashed (the procedure you have to do each time before touching the child in nicu) and i searched for sarah. Owh, she's such a big girl compared to the other premature babies. Huhu. She was on her nasal prong. I took her and cuddled her for the first time. Rasa nak menangis terharu.  I asked abang, "boleh tak sayang nak try breastfeed dia?". after having the greenlight from the incharged nurse, we began our experiment. Hehe. No milk yet i guessed but sarah sucked very well. She latched properly. Memang anak yang bijak, ameen.

Though i've learnt how to breastfeed, the authentic experience is very different. Too nervous and excited. A nurse came and showed me the better way to hold the baby, so that i won't hurt my wrist later on. She said,

"letakkan kepala bayi pada celah siku bahagian dalam. Bawa bayi ke badan kamu, bukan kamu bengkokkan badan ke arah dia".

Succeed. Better posture and more relaxed.

sarah's 3rd day of life. still in nicu. 

Expressing the breast milk
The next morning, i walked slowly to sarah's ward. Really slow, and couldnt wait for abang to come. My breast had started to engorge. I breastfed sarah and she cooperatively sucked my breast till i felt more tender. I tried to express the milk using the breastpump provided. Ask one kakak there, how to use it, then feeling so excited to see the milk coming out. Quite thick and yellowish and i believed it's the colostrum, the one that's very nutritious for baby. Managed to get for about one oz. Sikit je. Hihi. 'ala kulli hal, alhamdulillah. 

semoga Allah murahkan rezqi sarah untuk menyusu badan sehingga sekurang-kurangnya selama 2 tahun. semoga segala usaha untuk membesarkan sarah dengan setiap titisan susu ibu ini mendapat keberkatan dariNya. chow chin chow. sarah dah nangis nak susu  ^_^

How to speed up birth

This is upon abang's request. He asked me to share my experiences regarding birth and things related to it. Saham akhirat katanya. What we had underwent and how scanty our preparation to enter this new stage of parenthood. But learning is an ongoing process. It's ok. Throughout the journey, we both learnt and still learning, anticipating better outcomes in the future insyaAllah.

Sarah stayed in my womb until her 42 weeks of gestation. Obviously overdue. I've told you in previous post that we tried so much to hasten the birth, as to avoid to be induced synthetically. I googled and asked people here and there, so these are some tips.

1. Walk, as frequent as you can
Brisk walk is the best. I tried this but maybe the way i did it was too extreme. I walked but forgot to stop for a while until the feet got swollen. Especially when it came to walk at the shopping mall. Hihi.  Never forget to pause to avoid constant pressure to the feet.

2. Squat
At first i was so scared to use the squat toilet because as i feel the pressure i thought my baby's head will come out before the right time. Haha. But i was wrong. A friend told me to squat frequently to hasten and ease the the birth. I guess it will help to create the pathway for birth

3. Air selusuh
This one i really dont know about the efficiency. I drank LOTS of air selusuh plus minyak selusuh, but it's all is about your rizq. I can still remember i kept on asking abang after drinking the air selusuh, "kenapa sayang tak sakit pun abang?" "kenapa tak keluar tanda pun abang?". Then abang would answer, "bukan air tu yang buat sayang bersalin, tapi Allah. Kena betulkan niat masa minum tu. Semua ni usaha saja, tapi Allah yang tentukan"  The water will just be one of our efforts but it is Allah who is the ultimate organizer behind all these. so, betulkan niat, ok?

4. Nipple stimulation, cuddling, kissing and having sex
As you are reaching 38th week and above you may try all these. Cik normah who works at the labour room told us about this. More frequent cuddlings, intercourse, and nipple stimulation are better to stimulate birth. It is said that nipple stimulation, kissing, cuddling and even just relaxing will induce the production of oxytocin hormone which will help to stimulate birth. Besides, when you cuddle your husband, it is the warmth and support that you really need to bear with the pain. Meanwhile during the intercourse, the semen that contains prostaglandin will help to ripen up the cervix and later will stimulate birth. 

5. The zikr
Ya Awwal - as to hasten the birth
Ya Haafiz - so that you will be guarded to keep your modesty throughout the process
Ya Fatah - so that Allah will open up the pathway for birthing.

Abang also asked me to repeatedly read surah Maryam, Yaasin, arRahman, and never missed to recite ayat kursi. In short, baca sajalah the whole al-Quran kan, kalau sempat? Hihi

So, again i would like to stress here. Bersalin ni memang persoalan rezeki dan taqdir Allah swt. All these are just our efforts. It is Him that controls everything. If people tend to blame you for not doing so and so that cause the birth to delay (familiar with this? Tu la, siapa suruh tak buat tu, tak buat ni.. Bla bla), just chill and relax. Agak-agak tak boleh sabar, just tell them, "siapa kamu nak lawan taqdir Allah?" 

tolonglah faham. sudah la orang tu risau baby masih belum mahu keluar, lagi nak tambah keserabutan. i've been through all that, so i know how it feels. the least you can do is pray for the mother. be careful, even a simple question like, "bila baby nak keluar?" can be so irritating to the mother. hihi. let me teach you how to answer that. "tak tahulah. cuba tanya Allah bila baby ni nak keluar" ^_~

my birth experience - part one

Alhamdulillah 'ala kulli hal. It took me a while to jot down in here. it's the trauma i think. Finally, alhamdulillah lil sarah ibtisam was born on 9th oct 2013 through lscs (far beyond my expectation - of course lah kan semua org bercita-cita nak bersalin svd). gentle birth? not so gentle i guessed. haha. 'ala kulli hal, alhamdulillah. 

The drama
So it all begins when i reached my edd on 1st oct. Abang n i went to klinik desa n showed the scan film we had last weekend. Efw showed the baby is 3.8kg! (i cried after having the scan, scared that the birth process wont be so easy for macrosomic baby. Feeling guilty as well, thinking what have i done that the baby had grown so big! I even felt like blaming people around me that keep on saying "takpe, makan je", when i have doubt to entertain my cravings during the last stage of my pregnancy. Huhu. Btw, i only gained 9 kg throughout this pregnancy). 

Ok, now back to klinik desa, the nurse then asked abang n i to go straight to klinik kesihatan. So we went there and another scan - 3.6 kg, the doc referred us to hospital serdang. Packed some food, abang n i went to hospital serdang. Another scan, 3.4kg and she repeated, it was 3.5kg. The specialist there suggested for induction afraid that the bby will grow bigger. So, we have to come again tomorrow as there was no empty beds (padah hospital sistem komputer-they cant accept more patients when the beds are fulled).

Hospital Kajang
The next day, with very much positivity, abang and i went to hospital serdang. I googled about iol, and people said that it's far more painful than normal labor. I waited and waited but the doctor said there is no empty bed. I felt so terrible watching women managing their contraction pain at the plastic chair waiting for empty beds at the labor room. "Ada hikmahnya aku tak bersalin lagi," that's how i felt. I asked the doctor to refer me to hospital kajang. At least, my aunt, cik normah is there. Refused to go there with ambulance, i signed the aor (at own risk) doc, and went to hospital kajang with abang. Another scan done, it shows 3.3-3.4 kg, even VE was done and obviously the os was fully closed. The doc suggested that i waited for another one week and come again next week on 7th oct if i havent delivered yet. Seriously? however, i'm happy enough to go back home and enjoy another week leisurely at home.

But little sarah just love to stay in there. Too comfy i guessed! Bloated with too much air jampi n doing all the tips they gave me to hasten the birth (makan sirih la, air zam zam, squatting, n even walking til the hideous elephant's leg showed up; just name it. I've tried it all). The last day before the awaited day, abang n i went to see mbah som (my grandma who is also a former tukang urut). Mbah said, "senget ni. Tak masuk betul lagi". Oh my! So the next day, i went straight to hospital kajang. Emotionless! (penat kot asik ulang alik hospital), n straight away being warded. Too bad abang couldn't stay with me n i can only be with him during visiting hours.

Finally IOL
The first prostin was inserted at 6 am after i had my subuh prayer. Lying on the bed for 1 hour, then only i can move around. At 10 am, abang arrived n still no sign of giving birth. Even when my parents in law came at noon, i can still senyum-senyum kambing. Then the second dose of prostin was inserted at 2pm. During asar, i started to feel the pain. Macam lenguh-lenguh manja senggugut gitu. Had another VE at 7pm and the doc said the os was still closed. I cried (bukan sebab sakit tapi sebab doc kata tak buka langsung, walhal sebenarnya dah buka 1 cm). 

I called abang during isya' crying over the intense pain i felt. Then, finally the 'show'. The contraction was then started. At 10 pm it's already 3 in 10. I told the nurse and ve showed 3 cm. Alhamdulillah. Ada jugak progress. Then, cik normah, mak n k la arrived. It must be abang who told them that i cried, Cik normah accompanied me through the whole painful night ever- bearing with the pain that became more and more severe til the next morning. (abang too was there, except that he stayed outside, sleeping in the car, and peeked through the window of my room from time to time. Pathetic isn't it?). given one shot of pethidine that night; cik normah suggested that so i can sleep and rest a bit before going to the labour room the next morning.

LR
took some dates and bread while bearing with the pain before i was sent to LR. the pain. let me tell you. orang kata sakit kena induce lagi teruk dari bersalin biasa. it's true (walaupun tak pernah bersalin. lol). very true. 11 am, it was only 4cm. and during noon, they started to start the  pitocin to trigger the contraction. "CTG tak cantik and tak banyak progress", said the MO. i kept on asking, "perlu ke?", knowing that the pain will be worst after that. and i was right. they changed my sarung 3 times as blood oozing out each time i felt the contraction. *even abang later said that memang bau hanyir when he entered the room*. by 5pm, the specialist came. VE done twice i guessed. 5 to 6 cm around that. an hour was given to me, to give another chance for me to have normal delivery. but there was still no progress after that. pasrah, redho, i underwent lscs. 

OT
the nurse forgot to give me premed before i was sent to OT. to make it worse, there was pitocin running down my IV drip when i was sent to OT. contraction all the way till i struggled to stay still when they gave me epidural. nangis2 sambil cakap, "macam mana saya nak duduk diam, tengah contraction ni". 'ala kulli hal, i felt much serene in the OT. cik normah was also there. even the doc recited basmalah, selawat, which made me felt relieved. "Uwek!!!" i heard sarah cries for the first time. alhamdulillah. that's all i can say. they showed me sarah, and asked me the gender. "baby girl. assalamualaikum sayang" and i kissed her cheek.

to be continued...

Ramdhan kareem!

ramadhan kareem!

it's already the last phase of ramadhan. so does my pregnancy. i had went through 31 weeks and approximately for about one month to go. owh, pantasnya masa berlalu.

this ramadhan is far more challenging than any other ramadhan i've experienced so far. each day is a 'jihad' against lethargy and refraining myself from breaking the fast due to the extreme thirst. yes, Islam allows pregnant women to break their fast for some circumstances that may harm the baby or the mother, but like abang said: tapi Allah tak kata wanita mengandung haram berpuasa (macam orang yang datang haid), jadi mesti Allah akan beri kekuatan juga pada ibu-ibu yang mengandung untuk berpuasa. thus, alhamdulillah, 23 days had passed and striving to make the most of the last phase of ramadhan and aiming for puasa penuh this year. Allahumma ameen! ^_^(and another joy after being able to influence the doctor during my antenatal checkup to cancel the MGTT test. weee, takyah minum air gula lagi. hehe) 

owh, and this is my first ramadhan as a wife and mum-to-be. alhamdulillah. abang has been a very nice husband that will always strive his best untuk menjaga ibadah si isteri. sanggup tunggu si isteri makan sampai kenyang baru solat maghrib instead of having a light iftar and solat afterwards (sebab kalau makan lewat nanti bloated sangat time isya' and terawikh). sanggup tunggu si isteri terkedek-kedek mandi after maghrib and jalan slow motion masa pergi surau untuk terawikh sampaikan masbuq almost everyday. hihi.  what else can a wife ask for other than seorang suami yang berusaha menjaga amal ibadat isterinya? Alhamdulillah thumma alhamdulillah. 

baby pun suka dengar walid dia baca al-Quran. i purposely slow down my voice whenever i read the Quran and let the baby hear the walid's voice. extreme pleasure bila tengok perut bergolak-golak kencang (i.e. the baby moves), whenever abang or i read the Quran. alhamdulillah.

ok. that's it. i jotted all these so that one day i can look back and remember how great my ramadhan experience when i was pregnant. plus, kalau gaduh2 manja dengan abang, i can look back and remember all his kindness that i can never be able to repay. doakan semoga diri ini menjadi isteri solehah dan ibu mithali. Allahumma ameen.

till then. wish awal sikit. eidul mubarak!

baby bump!

bismillahirahmanirrahim.

ummi to be!

it has been a while. alhamdulillah, i am now halfway through the pregnancy - 21 weeks. the past 5 months experience was a bitter sweet experience. relapsing fever and cough, nauseous, dizziness, mood swings (pity my abang has to bear with this. hehe), unstoppable cravings for tomyam and sooooooooo many more. and i am more cunning to give excuses to almost everything. the most common excuses: "dulu tak macam ni pun, time mengandung je." hehehehe. ála kulli hal, alhamdulillah. i felt the first kicking 2 days ago, after days of complaining not to feel any movement. suddenly, this wonderful, tiny little creature in my womb gave the signal; as if saying - "i'm ok, ummi!". during the first kick, i was like, "betul ke ni?" then my baby gave a hetric kicking signalling to the ummi, "betullah tu". so ecstatic! ^_^

our dearest baby at 13 weeks
ummi n walid love u so much. hang in there, honeychild!

craving nak buat jigsaw puzzle walhal thesis tak siap lg. hehe. 

diligently struggle to finish it up in 3 days. ^_^

sweet 27th

humbly on my birthday, nak mintak semua tolong doakan. doakan supaya khamisah binti hj saleh huddin, jadi wanita solehah yang taat pada perintah Allah, Rasul, suami, ibubapa n jadi penyejuk mata pada insan di sekelilingnya. i am blessed to have a caring n loving husband beside me n wonderful family members and friends around. Alhamdulillah. thank you Allah. thank you everyone, whoever you are that has contributed to make me grow as who i am today. May Allah bless us all.

p/s: doakan my thesis yg tertangguh itu. semoga diberi kekuatan n semangat to settle everything up before bersalin. Allahumma ameen.

Tying the knot

salam jumuáh to all!

Alhamdulillah wa thumma alhamdulillah. it's no longer a secret. Through His infinite grace, i am now a wife. the great joys of marriage however drag great responsibilities with it. I'm scared. I really do. afraid that i couldn't fulfilled the amanah that comes along with this new status. dear all, please pray for us, so that the marriage shall be blessed by Him.

i'm back
it has been a while. abang said last night when we watched julie & julia, "dah lama dah blog bintu-soleh tu tak bergerak". (owh, btw. i just figured out that abang was used to be the silent follower for this blog. Oh my! looking back on the ridiculous things i wrote, i bet that i wouldn't post anything if i know it in the first place. huhu).

i really have to sort things out and plan for everything properly. the tense will never stop i guess. after two disastrous months at the office and getting ready for the weddings, now i have to learn juggling the responsibilities as a housewife and my thesis (palpitations whenever the word thesis comes out. huhu). nevertheless, saya bersyukur, tenang dan bahagia (prof muhaya teaches this mantra to deal with stress).

mucho gracias
we (abang and i) sincerely thank our family members, friends and all that had been working sooooo hard for our weddings. we truly grateful for all the dua', wishes and lovely wedding gifts given by all. Jazakumullahu khairan katheera.

my other half
*abang, i know you are reading this.* he is now my ticket to jannah. i promise to myself that i will struggle to bring out the best in me and love him the most, next to Allah and Rasul. i love him. i really do. from the moment he said "aku terima nikahnya", i choose to truly love him, with kindness, faithfulness and respect; through every circumstance that life may bring.

please pray that i can finish up my thesis soon enough. have been stuck in this phase for too long i guess. till then, have a pleasant and blessed life, everyone! ^_^

p/s: jumaat pertama di bulan kelahiran Nabi Muhammad saw. jom hidupkan Sunnah!