Friday, July 29, 2011

About Pantang...with Azraa..

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.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Birth of Our Lil Princess

Two weeks before the delivery, I had my usual check-up at APSH. It turned out to be that my blood pressure is at a borderline (unexpected..but not surprise as this is not my first case involving high BP). Since it was just borderline, Dr Fauziah gave me one week to monitor my blood pressure and if it surpassed the acceptable limit, I had to be put to labour straight away. For the next 7 days, every morning and evening, I had my BP checked at either the clinic at my office, or near my house, or at home with Mak's machine. Still under control.

After a week, I had to see her again. My BP is still at borderline. So she gave me one week MC (actually I asked for it..hehe) and instruct me to continue monitor my BP. If it is still under control, I were to come back another week and from there I can decide whether I want to be put into labour or continue being pregnant and let nature takes it course.

I came back to see my gynae after a week. Unfortunately, Dr Fauziah was on leave so a locum gynae i.e Dr Sharifah was in-charged that day. By then I could not take the ritual of having to monitor my BP daily, so I decided for her to induce me.

The date is 13th June 2011.

11.00 am
I was admitted to Room 324 of APSH.

Seriously APSH badly needs a make-over for their rooms.

At 1.00 pm
Nurse put one pill 'downunder' to induce the labour. And to my suprise, the pain starts immediately. This surprised me as in the case of Ashraff and Aliff, I did not feel the pain until water bag was broken. I don't know whether is it because my pain tolerance has increased or because of my age, but boy, was it painful..and it is not even dilated for more than 2 cms. Gosh!

4.15 pm
I was brought to labour room. Dilation only 2.5 cm. What a slow progress!

5.30 pm
Had my epidural jap. Just like my 3rd delivery, I did ask for epidural from the start, not because of the labour pain, but the pain that I had to bear when the episiotomy was done. Pelik tapi benar..hehe. But this time around, I'm glad I did ask for epidural, as I could not tolerate the labour pain. Entah kenapa. After the epidural, I could finally relax..and doze off.

At about 6.00 pm
Water bag was broken.

Around 6.15
Hubby told me he was hungry and going down to have a quick meal. I was only 4 cm dilated. I got a phone call from my cousin, Tini which I answered happily. Chat on the phone like I wasn't in labour. That's the beauty of epidural...hehe. At the same time, I could hear the person next door in her active labour.

At about 6.45 pm
Suddenly I feel the urge to push. I push the call button for the nurse. It took them few minutes to come as they are all attended to the delivery next door. In the meantime, I called up Hubby who was still enjoying his meal downstairs. "Yang, i rasa macam nak meneran dah!". "Ok, I datang sekarang."

The nurse came and checked on my cervix. "Ok, dah ready.." and she prepared the room for labour - the lights, the tools..and tried to call Dr Sharifah at the same time. She tried to call the doc numerous times but there seemed to be no answer. I was panicky..and I could not bear the need to push any longer. I was asked to hold on while she tried to get hold of the doctor. What?! Seriously, I was not an easy thing to do so I took the gas to ease the pain whenever the urge came. Finally she could talk to the doctor..and guess what, she had an emergency OT.

"Puan boleh tunggu lagi 15 minit?" 15 minit?! 1 minit pun dah tak boleh dah!

So the nurse was proactive enough. He called up the gynae next door who had just finished her delivery to attend to me. She is Dr Ariza. The moment she came in she immediately asked me to push.

At 7.07 pm
Our one & only princess was born! She is a healthy baby..alhamdulillah...


Name : Azraa binti Mohd Fitri
DOB : 13 June 2011 (11 days before the EDD)
Weight at Birth : 3.22 kg.

Length at Birth : 53 cms (all my children have the same length).


Suara dia boleh tahan..lantang..reminds me a lot of Abang Ashraff..

So if people ask me which gynae attends to me...I would say that for check-up is Dr Fauziah, but she was on leave so Dr Sharifah replaced her..but she had an emergency OT, so Dr Ariza yang sambut..phewhhh!

Dr Ariza doing episiotomy while Dr Sharifah with her OT outfit busy chatting with the nurse.

Welcome to the family, my dear Azraa! You are our precious gem that the Ibu & Ayah (& Abg Ashraff) have been waiting for. You complete us...and you are very lucky to have three big brothers to love and protect you.



Read about Ashraff's birth here, Aliff's birth here and Aqieff''s birth here.