My BF journey for 2nd caliph..

As I mentioned in my previous post, I only manage to bf umar for 1 month. This due to few reasons;

1. Distance -umar went back to malaysia earlier than me

2. Lack of knowledge

3. Stress as I had my final year 3 exam 2 weeks after umar's birth thus my milk production reduces tremendously. I put very few effort on boosting the milk production..sigh~

4. I had very bad cracked nipples and breast engorgement again due to poor knowledge and support

But now, with Thariq Ziyad is my golden oppurtunity to start Breastfeeding again! I have this long holiday since before labor so I had enormous time to read and gather information on bf in addition to what I've learned in my O&G and peads posting. This is to prepare for the challenging time to come in my bf journey especially during confinement e.g. bought breast pump, how to prevent cracked nipples, how to deal with breast engorgement, how to boost milk production, how to store EBM etc.

this excellent book is a gift from my dearest ukhti Suya (visit her online shop here)

However no matter how prepared I am, there are still challenges in the process. I had cracked nipples again but alhamdulillah it was not as bad as previously. I applied some breast milk on the cracked area, let it dry instead of 'keeping' it inside the bra. The easiest thing is to be topless (at the right place ok:) )

The cracked is quite deep so it takes time to heal. While healing I still bf Thariq directly on this breast. So what I did was feeding Thariq using different position e.g. From craddle hold to football position so that I can avoid the wound. It still painful but less coz baby hard palate not touching the cracked area. Every time I will pray to Allah to heal the cracked area. Alhamdulillah so far it works for me.

I already starts pumping for EBM stock for my working and oncall days. But still could not pump from the cracked breast coz need to allow some times for it to heal. So the milk stock not as much as expected but I'll keep working for a better amount...:) Alhamdulillah..

It is a challenged to be firm on my stand to bf as some relatives suggest to give formula. The rational why I want to bf besides the health benefit etc, is I want to have exclusive time with my baby when I start working. By hook or by crook I need to bf him even I am tired back from work. So I will have 'special' time with him. And for umar I will find time to be with him too. I know this is the best gift for my kids..Pray for me please..

cloth diaper

thariq wearing CD..sorry for the bad quality pict, camera not functioning!!

This is my first time using cloth diaper and I strongly recommend it for our kids. Why?

1.hygienic- easy to clean and easy to use

2. I can closely observe my son's stool colour to ensure he had enough of the foremilk+hindmilk= mustard colour

3. gentle to baby's skin- no more diaper rash. Both my sons's skin is sensitive to chemical e.g. powder, diaper etc. With cloth diaper alhamdulillah no more rash but of course both CD and Disposable diapers need frequent changing ok..if baby using wet CD/Disposable diapers for hours he definitely will develop rashes!

Umar had a try wearing CD, he likes it so much!his comment: "lembut la pampers butang ni ummi..cantik warna dia"..;)

4. good for our nature- I had no guilty feeling inside because my bin will not be full of disposable diapers anymore!

5. save $ a lot!- hubby no more need to buy the diaper frequently as these CD can last until thariq is 3 years old..insyaAllah..hubby like it so much..heh

6. cute- i like the various design and the colourful pattern especially on the drying line...

only two of us..

I am awake in the middle of the night..nursing baby thariq..with frequent hourly feeding ,this wild thought came to my mind ; 'I miss my long uninterrupted sleep'..umar had been sleeping for the whole night since ages..so now I am back in the same routine again with my newborn thariq..

But I would not complaint..I will enjoy all these moments to the fullest, the sweet moment between me and my lovely bubbly son thariq..no one else only two of us.

I enjoy stroking his soft skin gently while he feeds on me..letting him grasps my finger with his little hands..talking or looking straight into his eyes when he's in his peaceful contented smiles..I definitely going to miss all these moments as he grows up so fast..as how I miss those moment I treasured with dearest beloved Umar when he was as tiny as thariq..

diary: labor

25th Jan 2010..3.02am

Writing from my PDA. 3.02am, 6hrs post labor. Can't sleep.Last night around this time I couldnt' sleep as well. So I woke up in discomfort,wudhu' and performed the tahajjud,hajat and taubat prayers.Was performing all in sitting position. I prayed so hard for everything and seek for His forgiveness for all my wrong doings as I was not sure whether tomorrow I will still be in this world as labor seems so near. Now I am laying down and I was so thankful to Allah for a better labor experience this time..I kept reciting any zikr that came to my mind..en suami was asleep on the chair beside my bed..

Baby is in the nursery now after 2 breastfeeding sessions. First, 20mins after birth. Baby fed for 40mins, alhamdulillah he is an excellent sucker..second time was around 2 am just now..I asked the nursery to wake me up during feeding session if i am asleep. Then the nurse took him as I was too tired, headache and nauseous as well.

Flash back on today's experiences..

In the morning,mild contraction started. I was pretty sure that it was real contraction as it not only on my tummy but involved my back as well. It happened every half an hour and last for about 20-30secs only between mild and moderate strength. So I kept doing a little house chores and help umar with his art.

After zuhr prayer, both umar and I took a nap. In my sleep I felt the contraction became stronger but not convinced me yet to go to the hospital. Still bear with it.

After the Asr prayer, I recited the 'surah' maryam.Half way I felt stronger contraction and need to go to the toillet and realized I had the bloody show.call hubby to come home immediately. Hubby arrived, let umar took his bath n off we go around 6.30pm.

Obstetrician came, cervix only 3cm dilated. Artificial rupture of membrane (ARM- doct tear the membrane to release the amniotic fluid) was done.Started from that moment my contractions became very strong and very frequent. Two contractions in one minute each lasted for 20-30secs. it was really painful till tears rolled down my cheek. In 1 hr opening progress very well to 5cm. They came and gave full support as they agreed that the contractions were too frequent.

Hubby told me he wanted to send umar to MIL's. I agreed as I thought labor will happen around 11pm the earliest..Hubby left at 9pm. Kissed his hand and asked for forgiveness. Umar kissed me and kept repeating "ummi, umar loves ummi".. it touches me so much!

10minutes after hubby left, I have very very strong contractions and obstetrician decided to check for the opening and ..

"guess what?! os is full..you can push now!" no wonder i had this very bad pain below my belly button area and the urge to push was soo strong..I was so relieved to hear that..

I pushed with all my might ..I remember the technique i usually advice my patients to do when they are pushing..

chin on chest, hold the ankle or thigh, open wide, deep breath in and push with all the energy and breath in a lil bit in between to push more..never shout or make any sound as it releases the energy..

"it was OP position (head facing upwards instead of downwards)..but its ok try to push and I am confident you can do it!" oh doctor intan was very supportive..after 5 pushings..alhamdulillah baby was out..i hugged him while they wiped him...

after that everything seems easier and less painful..had a second degree tear and got a little sutures for that..managed to chit chat with dr intan while she suturing and she kept repeating "nurse tahu tak kenapa saya jaga patient ni baik-baik..?" "kenapa dr?" "sebab saya nak dia amik O&G(pakar sakit puan)"...she never failed to inspire me every time we met..thanks dr intan..and most important - thank you Allah for everything!!

alhamdulillah..alhamdullillah..alhamdulillah..

introducing our precious second caliph;)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

Alhamdulillah..Allahuakbar..

Annoucing the arrival of our precious second caliph on the 10th Safar 1431h @ 25th Jan 2010
at 9.20pm @ 38weeks 4 days..may Allah grant him His blessings and rahmah..and make him a soleh, musleh and pious muslims..amin..some photos of him:




will upload and post more later kay..need more time for the introduction phase for baby and three of us + recovery stage + breastfeeding focus..:) pray for us everyone!!!

alhamdulillah..sangat bersyukur kepada Allah yang Esa atas kemudahan dalam melahirkan dan segalanya!!!

low energy level..

today my energy level is quite low..

follow my same daily routine from the early morning:pray, reciting mathurat, reciting quran..
did some house chores, some islamic books reading, did some home-made puzzles with umar (but not finished yet coz need longer time to cut the picture into puzzles shape), cook simple dishes then rest..

pregnancy related maybe..

will update later..

Preparing for lil' one;)

My pregnancy now has reached the matured stage (matured after 37 completed weeks)! So from now on labor may happen at anytime without the risk of prematurity..

Alhamdulillah..can't wait for his arrival! Hubby and Umar are so excited too;)

Besides the essential stuff e.g. clothes, breast pump, cloth diapers, health stuff for baby, I prepared some stimulation material for him as well. Mostly I will reuse Umar's homemade flascards (remind everyone..'homemade' ok..where I colored them myself using marker pen since I did not have a color printer at that time)..

Notice the unfinished flashcards at the bottom?..I need to color them in black.
Red color words used for infant age and later changed to black color;)
Starts with bigger words and later slowly change to smaller size..
according to the eye development stages..

And also some black and white (plus some red) patterns and shapes for infant stimulation cards..


Thinking of making 'homemade' black and white checkered pattern bed sheet but not yet started..previously, I only have a 'homemade' Pooh bed sheet (thanks to my mother in law) and some plain white sheets ..but checkered pattern bed sheet is more attractive for the infant actually;) So if I have time, I'll try to make one for baby..my mom has given me her old sewing machine..but frankly I am not good in sewing but I'll give a try insyaAllah..

enjoy your day everyone!

pregnancy update

Today went out to buy come baby stuff since hubby took his annual leave due to some important issues to settle. I had this cramping pain and lots of braxton hicks while walking. Back home i tried to feel for the baby head and found out the head has descended or maybe engaged in my pelvic brim.

Mind everyone, even the head has descended it does not guarantee that the labor would be very soon but it may give some clue to prepare for any possibility for early labor.

InsyaAllah..we are prepared to have the baby very soon, hopefully everything would be fine and may Allah ease the process with no complication...amin

new baby:)

We have started washing the 'old but seems new' baby clothes. I was excited and triggered by the cute little clothes and shoe.huhu..I'm getting clucky;)

We were so lucky to have parents from both sides and friends who bought the clothes (we end up buying only 2-3 pieces only). My Oz friend Jessica and David bought us one big basket full of newborn attires from top to toes including cute baby wrappers. Miss u Jess. Had been a long time since last meeting you guys.






Umar oso was busy 'trying' the baby's pants as in he can fit into it..heehehehe ..cute lil umar. He keep saying " dulu umar muat ni..tapi sebab umar dah besar and umar sayang adik,umar bg baby la baju-baju ni"..

he oso starts to 'distribute' his toys: "yg ni umar xnak main dah.umar dah besar..bagi baby la ummi" . The toys oso mostly are gifts from my friends and juniors in Oz. Including cute little musical potty which umar is using now. Credit to my Dandee Hospital Colleagues! We only bought 1-2 items for educational purposes.



Baby cot also was re-setup and umar said "baby biar tido dgn umar..kalau baby nangis umar panggil ummi.." huhu ..very brotherly la anak ummi ni..the baby cot was from Ikea using the voucher gifts from hubby's KMYS's friends. Thanks peeps!


Slowly I wanna wash other equipments e.g. baby mosquito net (the one like tudung saji and the hang one) the stroller, the baby carrier, the baby 'basket' and baby car seat etc. Alhamdulillah everything still in good condition, still in the shipping box from Oz.heheh

Please pray for us for everything to go smoothly and for an easy labour and cute little musleh baby!Amin..

Natural Parenting

Now I am in my 33rd weeks of my wonderful pregnancy.I am so grateful to Allah for the nice experience and not so much sickness.

Since it is about 5 weeks more to go to reach the 'matured' pregnancy state; the 37th completed weeks, Hubby and I both start thinking on what are needed for the baby.

Alhamdulillah, from the scan it shows that we going to have another mujahid! alhamdulillah..I start to imagine that both my boys are close to each other, independent and be good muslims, InsyaAllah!

We also do not have to buy a lot of things except few new clothes and few breast feeding gadget for this baby.

Breast feeding? Yes, we are planning to exclusively breastfeed this baby. It was unlucky for Umar last time because I could not exclusively breastfeed him for long as he went back to Malaysia 3 months earlier than me and I only had little knowledge on it even though I thought I know much on it.* sob..sob*

Ayah burping umar after the breastfeeding..

As we are thinking about breastfeeding, we actually plan to make a step towards natural parenting. We planned to be as natural as possible. We are now looking for several good offers on cloth diapers. Yes, 'cloth' sound likes old style but surprisingly it allow so much to save and good for the baby and the environment too.

From lunatots.com

I have read on this to learn more and to prepare for the coming baby. Some people may ask wont it cause so much work to keep changing the diaper and wont it cause rashes.

As for Umar, even he wore disposable diapers before (as I was so ignorant on natural parenting) we changed the diaper quite frequent to avoid rash and discomfort. So I think no much different for CD.
Got the idea from my reading in Pa&Ma Magazine

Since I'll start working about 2months after the labour, I pray hard that I could practice natural parenting with strong support from dear husband! Biiznillah..

backache

hint for my baby's gender as above from my latest 31 weeks ultrasound

my friend one day asked "why pregnant lady walk like a toddler wearing diaper?" ..

if we noticed pregnant woman has a wide based gait/ walking style. Discomfort while walking is not the only issue faced by the preggie but discomfort during sleep and bending as well. This is because of two reasons.

1- the growing belly /uterus
2- the hormonal changes

As our baby grow, our abdominal muscle may weaken and changes our posture. It cause more 'burden' to the backbone hence cause the ache.

another cause is the hormonal changes. It causes the ligaments (the tissue connecting between bones) to become loose hence we feel discomfort and less stable while walking, changing position while sleeping or even lifting the leg during wudhu'.

I personally found that it is helpful to put a bolster or rolled blanket between legs during sleeping. sleep on my side. wear comfortable flat shoe. maintain straight posture rather than slumping forward as the belly grows. Relaxing massage before sleep (husband may help with this).

Just take it easy. This is a challenge to become a mother and prepare us for more challenging experience ahead. Bear in mind there will be reward from Allah and kifarah 'dosa'. So just be patience and enjoy the pregnancy experience!