week 29- Birthdays, more good food and colostrum is already present

i have been having more good food recently, thanks to my MasterChef sister who paid the bills...had buffet dinner at Restoran Seri Melayu for their launching of Ramadhan Buffet, a scrumptious lunch at Delicious and a char kuey teow dinner at Penang Village...

and during the weekend, i attended a diabetes and heart seminar in Glenmarie Shah Alam and had more good food...

as it was birthdays week (jihan's 7th birthday on 24th and dear hubby's 32nd birthday on 26th) and me attending the seminar at Glenmarie, we decided to have a weekend breakaway at the Glenmarie...the kids enjoyed staying in the hotel (any hotel at all) and we had good splash in the pool...since i got pregnant this time, i never stepped into the swimming pool to have a good lap...but that weekend, i tried to swim for a few laps and i felt good..the not so good thing about it was i immediately had a leg cramp after getting out of the pool and hubby had to "maneuver"my feet until i could walk again..

and we had a small cake-cutting party at home and a birthday treat at TGIF and jihan got some lovely presents for her birthday...i got hubby a Suunto to motivate him to catch back on his running after such a long break...

i did my 4-times blood glucose monitoring or blood sugar profiling and 3 readings were in the normal range, except my pre bed reading which was slightly elevated...so i need to cut down on sweet stuffs and carbohydrate intake...little boy was doing well, i weighed 58kg and he weighed about 1.3kg..he was moving actively and causing lots of discomfort and tightening around my tummy..and i also had episodes of painful hemorrhoid and started taking medication to reduce the pain and the hemorrhoid itself..on scan, little baby was in breech position, hopefully he will make a turn by the next follow up and remains cephalic until delivery...

i discovered that i started to produce colostrum very early this pregnancy, at around 24 weeks... colostrum is the first milk secreted by the mother's mammary gland and it's clear in color and quite sticky...the real milk will only appear after 2-4 days after delivery...even though it is only minimal, the amount produced by the mother for her baby is sufficient for the baby for the first few days of life...therefore, there's no need to supplement the baby with other type of milk (i.e formula milk) or liquid..baby needs to be fed on demand to ensure he is well hydrated and nourished, at the same time to stimulate the real milk to flow well later...so, even if your baby is born prematurely, you are still capable to produce breast milk for her as your colostrum starts to appear at around 24-26 weeks of pregnancy..

next week will be my birthday and i planned to do some shopping for the baby and the 2 kiddos..

week 28- happy father's day, abnormal MGTT and new stuffs for baby and me

another long title for my entry...

i'm due for the modified glucose tolerance test (MGTT)...i need to check my fasting glucose level as well as 2 hours after drinking the 75g of glucose monohydrate diluted in 200ml of water...soon after drinking the solution, i just had to hibernate as the sweetness of it made me feel dizzy and nauseous....

as expected, the results were abnormal, meaning that i have gestational diabetes, the same condition i had when i was pregnant with imtiaz..so i need to do the 4 times blood sugar profiling the following week...

despite that, i still enjoyed various type of food, trying very hard to cut down on my carbohydrate and simple sugar intake...

we attended jihan's report card day...alhamdulillah, she obtained excellent results in the mid term exam and received good comments from her teacher...since her birthday is just around the corner, we planned to give some incentives together with her birthday present as well..

imtiaz also has completed his ALIMKids playgroup module 2 and received his certificate...although sometimes he couldn't be bother to do the activities, he always look forward to come to the class and really enjoying himself mixing around with other children...

we had father's day celebration with the kids at Black Canyon and later in the evening with the whole family at San Francisco Pizza.. delicious food and i'm sure little baby really enjoyed tasting all kinds of food (hey, but mama cut down on sweet stuffs, please)...

i bought some new stuffs for myself and the baby...i really enjoyed doing online shopping and ended up buying some new cloth pads for myself to be worn during confinement period and some new cloth diapers for the baby as well...

next week i will do my BSP and attend my next antenatal check up...

week 27 - mini reunion and a new food crave...

i started off the week by attending a parenting workshop held by my 2 lactation friends who called themselves The Parent Patch...it was on How to Talk so Kids will Listen based on module by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish...it's actually a series of 8 workshops and the one that i attended was the introductory preview..it was attended by a small group of moms and it was nice meeting new friends, gaining new knowledge and exchanging experiences...

we had a busy weekend...soon after the workshop, we checked in at the Sunway Putra Hotel as we had a wedding to attend at the PWTC...the kids were excited to have a night stay at the hotel..we booked a family room which consists of 2 adjoining rooms and 3 toilets/baths...my mum and my sister also joined us for the night...

we just crossed over to PWTC and me was wearing a high heeled boots climbing up the high overhead pedestrian bridge and that was killing my feet..! it was the wedding of my best friend, shakira's brother and was some sort of mini reunion of our close friends...it was a very memorable night for the couple and for us who enjoyed meeting friends and eating the 8-course chinese dinner set..

that night, i had a very bad leg cramp, due to the effect of wearing the high-heeled boots and climbing up the stairs to cross over the overhead pedestrian bridge...i never had such a bad leg cramp before and it was so damn painful...

with lean and fizah

my ex roommates

me and she had been friends for 16 yrs and the 4 of us had been friends for 14 yrs

the lovely couple - jeremy and dalilah

i've found a new food crave, thanks to dahlia who introduced it to us (and it was quite expensive though)- the new absolute chocolate cake by Secret Recipe...the dark chocolate was so flavorful and the kids love them too...but it was RM 10 per slice which was quite expensive...i've been having quite a lot of this and need to cut back on this as i'm going to have my MGTT next week..MGTT is a test that you do during pregnancy to make sure you don't have gestational diabetes...although i already knew that my results would be abnormal, i still hope that it won't be that bad...

chocolicious

week 26- SAHM (stay at home mom)

i was at home during daytime alone with the kids for a few days as atok and wan went for their holiday in vietnam...with the house being renovated, i also had to attend to the workers when they need to plug in their machines, remove the car when they need to bring in the bricks and concrete and such...with imtiaz kept on screaming as he was afraid of the loud sound of the machines, i was quite exhausted...plus the sacroiliac pain was unbearable and i had difficulty walking now...

earlier this week, my BFF dilla came over to get her tiramisu and carrot cake and BFF dahlia came over as well and we had a quick lunch at my chaotic home...we had some home cooked food and delicious dessert round of carrot cake and tiramisu....

felt full after a hefty lunch

we brought the kids out the next day, and i spent quite a lot buying aromatherapy stuffs and essential oil  for massage...i really love the microwavable aromatherapy pillow that i will maximize its usage during confinement period, and as for now to relieve the aches and pain...

smiling showing off his teeth

this girl has no front teeth

wan and atok returned home after 4 days in vietnam, unfortunately their flight home was delayed by more than 6 hours...they arrived home after midnight and had try late dinner (or was it supper) of my sister's own version of otak-otak...

the otak otak

jihan had another tooth extracted, it was actually 2 teeth but fused together with 1 root...she had injection of local anesthesia as the teeth did not wobble much so she was quite in pain for a few hours..pity my girl...

the fused teeth

pity her

to wrap up the week, both hubby and i went to have our dinner at the newly opened dome cafe in alamanda...i was craving for fish and chips, hoping to have a decent one there, but it was quite disappointing..the fish was over fried and became too crispy...but i loved the coffee though...

my fish and chips

week 25- relaxing, rejuvenating and a new step in life

what a long title for this entry..so far i think this was the week that so many good and exciting things happened to me and to us...

let's start off with getting a new look..i've not been mending my tresses for about 1 year plus now..the last time i had a good haircut and hair and scalp treatment was last year that was before our vacation in australia...so, it's time to make a transformation now...i badly need a haircut (a new style perhaps) and made my way to a new muslimah salon in bangi, Jazeerat El Rahah....the name sounds very grand and the services offered was tip top...i had a good hair wash and head massage and opted for a bob style haircut...my friend, dahlia had a hair wash as well and jihan had a haircut too...imtiaz was thrill to look at mama's hair and kept on pulling my short hair as it was quite manageable now...

then it was school holiday, so off we went to avillion port dickson for a short break of 3d2n stay...we stayed on the water chalet near the swimming pool, and the kids had fun playing football on the sandy beach...they had wonderful time splashing in the kids pool and touching the animals in the pet farm and playing on the playground...

at the beach

the spa experience

jihan with the rabbits

while we were on holiday, my dear hubby received a good news that he passed his final exam and officially now obtained his Masters in Pathology (Medical Microbiology), so he is now already a specialist..congratulations, dear...and as a reward for me (not for him), i was given an hour of me-time to spend at the avi spa and had a facial done...it was so relaxing and i felt very good after the facial and shoulder and upper back massage..

on the way back home, we had an unplanned rendezvous with my dear BFF, dilla as she happened to be in pd as well..so we met up for lunch at cowboy nasi kukus, exchanging stories of pregnant mommies (she's also about 22 weeks pregnant), and she also requested for me to bake carrot cake and tiramisu for her...

2 pregnant mothers 

we had a mini celebration dinner for hubby's achievement at bumbu desa alamanda..so more good, yummy food...and me and hubby had a late lunch at my dahlia's house and had good home cooked food too...

indonesian food

dear baby was having a wonderful time indulging into all sorts of food...and next week i will be on leave taking care of the kids as wan and atok are having a short vacation in vietnam...and the house is currently in a disaster state as it's undergoing quite a major renovation...

i had my 5th antenatal check up..my weight was 57.7kg..everything was normal except i had slight protein in my urine...i also bought calcium supplement (obical) and dietary supplement (obimin plus) to top up whatever is deficient in my diet..we also had a quick detailed scan looking at the heart, lips, palate and such to look for any abnormalities, alhamdulillah there was non and little baby was in good condition...

and i made few containers of tiramisu as well as ordered by my BFF...the kids were excited to have some bites of the tiramisu as i have not been making it for quite some time now...