week 8-i'm feeling sick

ok, the time has come....once it struck my 8th week of pregnancy, i had this sudden feeling of nausea and giddiness, i can't eat at all and i feel like i need to be on the bed all the time...i'm feeling sick, yikes..!

i followed dear hubby to service our car and already planned the night before to have a wonderful breakfast of nasi lemak, kaya toast with coffee and a little bit of half-boiled egg at the kopitiam nearby the service centre...the next morning came and i was feeling really sick..i ordered the kaya toast and can only eat a few bites...forget about the nasi lemak, it made me nauseous...but i did have a sip of hubby's half-boiled egg and iced chocolate instead of coffee...

later while waiting for the car, i started to feel feverish...i took 2 tablets of panadol and was feeling a bit better...i was feeling rather unwell until about 11 am that morning and i suddenly felt very hungry...with a bunch of friends, we had an early lunch and alhamdulillah i can eat about 3/4 plate of my fired rice with watermelon juice...then after that i was feeling sick again and my temperature rose...

i hope this feeling won't last long because i really don't like it...that night, i couldn't eat anything...i took to bed a bottle of water and a few high-fibre crackers to eat...i munched the biscuits slowly as i was feeling nauseous...and i lost about 1 kg of my weight for being sick...

subsequently it the fever subsided, but the giddiness and nauseous feeling were still there..no obvious vomiting but my mouth always feels bitter...i started to pass motion once every 2-4 days and i started to take prunes, high fibre food and lots of water..ribena has been my good mate and i started to munch on "asam kulit limau" when i feel nauseous...

at times i could very well and the next minute i would be sick...i can't be too hungry, that'll make me sick and i can't be too full either as that'll make me sick as well...

imtiaz is still breastfeeding but i realized that it is less frequent now but has not stopped completely...

week 7-first antenatal check up

so far i'm feeling good, alhamdulillah...a bit of bitter taste in the mouth but i can still eat..no nausea or vomiting yet and i carry on my life as usual...and i'm still breastfeeding imtiaz on demand...

imtiaz was down with fever and cough, so his demand to breastfeed was more that usual..pity him..(and pity me as well have to endure the discomfort on my nipple)...

i can't fit into most of my trousers (gosh!!) and i'm only 7 weeks pregnant!..my baju kurung sarong is getting tight and just forget about my Levi's...i don't dare to put them on...

so we decided to go for my first antenatal check up after the chinese new year break...i've booked under my previous obstetrician, Prof J...before that we did the normal antenatal screening and as usual, my dear hubby took the blood (although his hands were shivering while holding the needle)...and the results were normal...my hemoglobin was also good- 13.7g/dl...

on the appointment day, Prof J had a family emergency and couldn't attend the clinic but he sent a replacement specialist, Dr S to attend to me...i knew Dr S since my houseman days and she was very nice...after the history taking, we did the ultrasound scan..at first, the most stunning view that we could see was my extremely full bladder..then we saw a tiny object in the uterus..Dr S asked me to pee in order for her to do the transvaginal scan (TVS) so that we can see and measure the feotus better...gulp! i never had any TVS before and it's quite scary for me..anyway, i was so eager want to know the measurement of my feotus so i made myself brave...

so, after i peed, i prepared myself for the TVS...luckily Dr S said we might just repeat the abdominal scan to see if we can view it better after the bladder was emptied... yup, true enough the view was better and we got to see the growing fetus..it measured just right around 8 weeks...and the heart was beating well...

alhamdulillah, we don't really mind if it's a boy or a girl, of course it's too early to see the gender now...i've been taking folic acid since my period didn't come and before that i was taking it irregularly to prevent neural tube defect in the feotus..hopefully all goes well, insya allah....

that's my little feotus on the left

week 6-still breastfeeding imtiaz

alhamdulillah, we are so happy with this pregnancy...i still feel normal, no morning sickness or what yet.. i have big appetite nowadays, i just simply eat everything (due to the fact i'm pregnant, there's no need to watch my weight now)...

my big boy

well, i'm still breastfeeding my almost-3-year-old imtiaz...yes, there's not much milk and i don't express at work anymore, by imtiaz gets his rewards when i get home, during the night and whenever i'm accessible to him... if you are still breastfeeding your toddler or baby and suddenly you find out that you are pregnant again, there's no need for you to stop breastfeeding...breastfeeding won't affect the development of your feotus in the womb and it won't cause miscarriage as some myths said...however, if you experience any cramp pain or bleed while you are breastfeeding, it's best you see your doctor and she/he might advice you to stop breastfeeding as it might affect your current pregnancy..but if you don't have any of those, you can carry on breastfeeding...

since imtiaz is almost 3, we thought it's best that we gradually wean him..it's not that i don't want to continue breastfeeding and continue to tandem nurse him with the newborn but for me it's the right age to stop...yes, i have a mixed feeling about this..this is my first experience of having to do this..i'm proud that i have successfully provide the best of my own milk to imtiaz for more than 2 years...

i experienced some sort of nipple tightness and sore when imtiaz nursed on me....and i think the milk is not much and that's why he sucked quite vigorously to get the milk...he once slipped from his freestyle breastfeeding position and caused a laceration wound on my nipple and it bled...for one day he didn't nurse...we thought that's it...but apparently not...he continued breastfeeding until now and i have to bear the stinging pain and dryness of the nipple when he feeds...

we frequently tells him and reminds  him that he's a big boy already...cannot milk-milk anymore because milk-milk is for baby...but it still doesn't work...and he still sucks his right thumb...gosh...so when he can't get my boob, he would suck his thumb...

we'll try some other ways, but i need to do this gradually, gently and naturally....i won't put any stuff on my nipple just to scare him off (although i had that idea before)...i've wrote about weaning in my review of the La Leche League's book on weaning before "how weaning happens" and insya allah i'll try to adapt from that to make this happen..

wish me luck...

week 4-5-i'm pregnant

almost 3 years have passed since i was pregnant and delivered imtiaz in march 2009...we thought it's a good time now to have an addition to our small family...since i still have another year to complete my Masters (yes, it's a 4 years program) and recently just passed my 2nd part exam, we need to plan this pregnancy well so that the baby will come out before or early september 2012...this is because, according to my study plan, i'm supposed to sit for my final exam in november 2012..so if i get pregnant and delivers as planned, i can defer my study for a semester (6 months) and sit for my final in may 2013..if i don't get pregnant by january 2012, i need to have protected sexual intercourses so that i don't get pregnant until march 2012 and the baby can be born after my final exam...phew....what a plan!

ok, so that's the plan...so did we work the plan...? boy, it's difficult..with 2 kids and hectic day-to-day life, it's surely difficult to have a moment of intimate time together..we roughly estimated my fertile period and sometimes just missed it because both of us were too tired or the kids didn't let us have our "time"...as a result, i still had my menses in november, december...my last hope, to catch my fertile period in december so that i have missed period in january...if not the plan need to be put on hold until march-april 2012...

so we thought we've missed the chance again..and i didn't put much hope this time..my menses supposed to come on 3rd january 2012...few days have passed and it still didn't appear...ok, i'm not going to get excited yet, it might come soon...but dear hubby started to sense something not right, and asked me why didn't i get my menses yet..? ha, pregnant ya..? ok, let's not just jump with excitement yet...

we need the test kit to confirm...after 5 weeks + of no menses, hubby bought the self urine pregnancy test kit and i immediately tested it...a few seconds passed by...and the first line appear YES! that's it! it's positive! (the second line is the control line)..alhamdulillah...and this precious miracle is expected to be born on 10th september 2012, insya allah...