After having four babies and going through the whole process, the part that I hate most is during the 44 days confinement..that is the longest 44 days of my life...& can be the most stressful one. I guess I can't be confined in a place for too long..that does not work for me. I need to get a breathe of fresh air after sometimes..at some other place.
I had my pantang at my mom's house. We decided to ditch the idea of pantang in JB as we encountered some problem in obtaining a maid right after Azraa's birth. So the idea of hiring a confinement lady for 2 weeks at the very last minute was a brilliant one.
Hubby was still in Johor during the first 2 weeks of my pantang. Alhamdulillah he got a new job in KL. His last day at his old company was in the end of June..and his new job started in mid of July. So he had a 2 weeks rest at home helping me coping up with my pantang.
Mak restricted me from going up and down the stairs, so I had to choose on staying up or down. I choose up as that is where the Astro is..hehe...
So what else..watch TV lor. Here is my typical everyday life:-
8.00 am - wake up.
8.00 - 9.00 am - mandi, berbengkung, pilis and what not (has few sessions of urut in the first few days).
9.35 - 10.30 am - Desperate Housewives at 711.
10.30 - 12.00 - tukar2 channel..sometimes watch P.Ramlee movie..sometimes channel E!..AXN..
12.00 - 12.50 - Wanita Hari Ini
12.50 - 1.40 - NCIS at 710. Seriously, I've never watch NCIS before...best rupanya!
1.40 - 4.00 - rest and nap time (usually I took a nap for abt an hour only, the rest I just lay in bed..).
4.00 pm - Layan slot Lagenda TV3.
4.30 - 5.30 pm - Switch to 104 - Awan Dania. Also never watched this before but due to recommendation by a friend saying that Dania is the only girl..and she has 3 brothers, I watched it.
5.30 - 6.00 pm - minum petang, mandi..another round of bengkung.
6.00 onwards - random and wait for the night to come..phobia, phobia..
Yup, during confinement, I'm always scared of the night time. While I was pregnant with Ashraff, I heard lots of stories whereby newborn does not usually sleep at night. So when I brought Ashraff home for the first time, I kept on looking at the clock and see whether he will sleep when the night comes. Alhamdulillah, he is a good night sleeper...and so were his brothers.
But not Azraa. I went through some tough nights with her, where she will wake up every hour screaming as though she was in pain. She will only sleep using my arms as her pillow...or else she will wake up immediately. Seriously, I got impatient with her at times. But after about one month or so, I already got used to it...and then I thought, I prayed for a healthy, perfect, easy to care girl throughout my pregnancy. So Allah granted me a healthy and perfect girl..but not the easy part. You don't always get what you want. But this does not mean that she will forever be like this. I suspected that she has some disturbed nights due to the gassy feeling in her tummy which the pain she could not tolerate. So that shall pass around 3 months old. The first 3 months is like the first trimester of pregnancy - it's the hardest one for me. After having to go through 4 colicky babies, I've made a conclusion that it is my overactive letdown that caused them to be gassy.
Like Aliff, Azraa also suffered from prolonged jaundice. She was admitted to the hospital for 3 nights when she was one week old. Then we had the jaundice checked every week until she was about one month old. Alhamdulillah, now she is fine.
Azraa was discharged on 27 June 2011.
After four children, I decided to use buaian elektrik (electric cradle?) for this one. All of my fours will have a longer nap when they are put on a moving gadgets/vehicle. We never use any for Ashraff..it's dodoi all the way and his nap lasted for 1/2 hour only. We used the manual buaian for Aliff and that buaian has to be on the move all the time or else he'll wake up cranky due to insufficient sleep. With Aqieff, we use the bouncer and it has to be bounced all the time as well. To save the trouble, I decided to use buaian elektrik this time around so we could do other jobs like attending to the older kids rather than melayan kerenah si cilik je.
We bought this second-hand
Azraa is also using pacifier to soothe her just like Abang Ashraff and Abang Aqieff. I rried to refrain myself from giving in to the dummy but Azraa has great sucking need and due to my overactive letdown she hates to be on my breast except when she is hungry. We'll see how long does all these gadgets last this time around. It took Abang Ashraff 2 1/2 years and Aqieff 16 months.
Azraa has two sets of pacifier. One bought by Ayah and another by Ibu. Can you spot the difference?:)
So far, I still exclusively breastfeed Azraa. But I have a plan to start introducing her to formula as we might be going for a holiday (just me and Hubby) end of this year, insyaAllah.
My 'stocks' at the last day of my confinement. Not as much as Aliff's and Aqieff's sebab Ibu malas nak pam tapi bolehlah..
Next week Monday I will be going back to the office. Azraa will be taken care by a maid. Maid...yup..finally. We got a maid on 1 July 2011. A 30-year old lady named Minah. So far, she's doing a great job. And I hope this one stays..
Most people will ask me "will this be your last one?". For the time being, yup. Even if I got another boy, it shall be my last. After all, I'm no longer young. The last trimester with Azraa was unbearable..so I don't think I can go through it again. But who are we to know? Kalau dah ada rezeki, kami terima je dengan tangan terbuka. Just look at Lynette Scav0 of Desprerate Housewives..after so long, she got her no 5.
One month old Azraa
Weight : 4.4 kilos.
