week 33- ramadhan kareem

alhamdulillah, ramadhan is finally here..i was quite anxious this time round to fast in the holy month of ramadhan with my almost term pregnancy....so, i've made some preparation physically and mentally to go through it and insya allah i will make through this...

we were so lucky that the 1st day of ramadhan this year fell on a weekend.. so after a hefty sahur of fried egg with wholemeal egg and lots of water and milk and protein shake, i tried to minimize my activity for the day to conserve my energy...the final stage of pregnancy was quite tiring...so i ended up sleeping most of the time...alhamdulillah, i survived my 1st day of ramadhan and managed to perform my tarawikh for the 1st 3 nights...

my dear daughter jihan, has been fasting since she was 5 year old, and she was able to fast the whole month previously..so there was no problem for her to fast again this year...she made a ramadhan card at school and gave it to us and i was so touched with her effort...

our house was still under renovation and we had quite a tough time this ramadhan...dusts were everywhere, we couldn't cook for iftar or sahur so ended up buying foods from pasar ramadhan everyday...and we had to sit on the floor instead of the dining table to have our meals and that really kills my back and buttock and we ate at the family area upstairs, so i've been up and down carrying trays of food back and fro the kitchen..that was tiring...really can't wait to have our iftar somewhere at a different environment and really hope that the renovation will be completed soon..

an update on my kek lapis business, i can't believe it i managed to sell 52 packs of kek lapis within 1 week...i can assure you that it really taste very nice and insya allah, i will be doing this again next year...

i attended my antenatal follow up and everything was fine, except my blood pressure was slightly elevated...i did my blood pressure monitoring at home and they were normal...the baby was growing well and fine and we captured an ultrasound photo of his pouty lips, nose and chin which i thought was very cute...

my next follow up would be in another 2 weeks to monitor my blood pressure..and hopefully i will be able to fast the whole month of ramadhan this year without any complications...

week 32- preparing for ramadhan

this was quite a busy week.. in a few more days, the holy month of ramadhan will be here and fasting month begins...i have no experience fasting in ramadhan while heavily pregnant...in both pregnancies before, i went through ramadhan during early pregnancy and managed to fast the whole month without much difficulty (except for some giddiness and tiredness at the end of the day)..

so, i've been asking around friends who have had their experience fasting while heavily pregnant..and they advised me to take proper meals during sahur (the pre dawn meal) and take whatever supplement you might think that helps...eggs can make you feel full longer, and also wholemeal bread/oats and dates can give you energy...so, i've been preparing myself with all this stuffs and hopefully i will survive fasting the whole month of ramadhan, insya allah...

i was also invited by one of my senior in medical school to become a contributor in his website tanyadoktor.com so my first article on going through ramadhan for breastfeeding mother can be found here..

and for the coming hari raya, i'm trying to make some extra pocket money ; ) by selling Sarawak layer cakes...homemade cakes by the tige team (ezani, imelda, brian of master chef malaysia)...so far the response from my friends were good and it was quite fun doing it...

i also grabbed the chance to attend a medical seminar on gastrointestinal update in tropicana medical centre before i deliver my baby...since it was free, i brought along dear hubby to accompany me and he got the chance to listen to the updates as well....

basically that wrapped up the week's activity...looking forward for ramadhan... insya allah, i pray that i'm going through it with ease...

week 31- nothing much

well the title explains everything, i guess...nothing much happened during this particular week...we had japanese food at Miyagi Bandar Baru Bangi...and i had my favorite laksa johor at wadihana bangi...

my braxton hicks contraction was more frequent nowadays and sometimes it was accompanied by painful round ligament tightening...little baby boy was moving great and i started to feel breathless and tired by the end of the day, as in the 1st trimester...

i found a great bargain of Fisher Price newborn to toddler rocker and bought one...can't resist the offer...

i also bought the abdominal binder to be used during confinement..it's called bengkung moden and you can get it from bengkungmoden.com .. it's simple zap on binder and can be used for c-sect delivery as well...i also bought the sirih cream and herbal bath packs...

as i was checking for my breast pump, i found that there was some wear and tear in the tubing and parts..after doing some search on the internet, i decided to buy a spare tubing and parts from ajasu mybreastpumpshop.com ...

so still lots of purchasing done..that's too much... ; )

week 30- i'm 32 years old

alhamdulillah, i'm in the final 1/3 of my pregnancy journey now...+/- 10 more weeks to go before i can see the little boy inside...so far, my health has been pretty good..the hemorrhoid was still there but not causing so much trouble now..still taking the medication as prophylaxis so that it won't become worst during and after delivery...my little boy is moving actively, i hope that he has turned himself to cephalic position and remains there until delivery...

i started off the week by swiping my credit cards (again) paying for the kids and baby's clothes...went to OU and GAP was having their sale, everything was 50% off and i went for a peek while the kids and hubby had their lunch at Chili's and can't resist myself picking up the baby rompers, thirst and pants for imtiaz too..not much choice of girls outfit though...so i bought 13 pieces of outfit (all 50% off) with additional 20% off the total price, and each piece costs less than RM30...i think it's a good bargain as i hardly buy stuffs at the boutique..

then had my quesadillas at Chili's before continuing our shopping spree for jihan and more stuffs for little baby at pumpkin patch parkson...later, the kids had fun feeding the fish at the pond in the rainforest area...

during the middle of the week, me and hubby find some time to continue shopping for more baby's essentials and i think we were almost done...except for some other things like socks for me {can't seem to find old my socks ; )}, disposable maternity pads, disposable panties, drapolene diaper cream and that's it i think...

i attended a few conferences/seminar along the week...had lovely food (especially the bread and butter pudding) at The Saujana KL...we made another weekend getaway to the Holiday Inn Glenmarie, this time partly because of my birthday and also i'm attending a primary care conference there...and also the house was in a major disaster so we thought it's better to be out from the dust and chaos...the kids love staying at the hotel as they can go splashing and swimming in the pool...

i celebrated my 32nd birthday during the mid week...nothing much special, but i'm blessed to be around with my loved ones - family and friends, received lots of birthday wishes and prayers from them...hubby bought me a novel by sheila o'flanagan (one of my favorite author) and yet to read it...

so, what did i wish for my birthday..? well, good health, wealth and wisdom, and for a safe and easy delivery of my 3rd baby, happy family and friends and His blessings for us....

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