Pregnacare for new mum!

safely arrived from Cambridge this morning!! thank you ever so much to my dear friend zati for this :) looking forward to healthier hair & skin post-natal!

it is super important to look after your whole body after you've given birth. at any point following a pregnancy and delivery, you might be experiencing hair loss (which could be extreme sometimes) and skin problems too. Pregnacare provides us with different supplements to tailor our needs before, during and after pregnancy. As it says on the box, nutritional support after pregnancy with lots of vitamins and goodness!

mini revision

i know that it's going to be quite a while before kareem begins his weaning process which is in about 5 months time, but i can't help to peek a little in the new complete baby and toddler meal planner by annabel karmel. this book is 9 years old now in my possession. bought it at a car boot sales when i was in newcastle... and i even showed it to sarah james, my health visitor back then. during that memorable years in newcastle, sarah was my saviour! she gave me all the best tricks and tips on how to care for my eldest newborn adam including his weaning process. 

this book contains 5 chapters. in chapter 1, it tells you what are the best first foods for your baby. so this is the chapter that i am currently reading and revising. what to give and not to give your baby during the first stage of their weaning process. what i love about this book is it tells you how to prepare and cook your baby foods. the best thing is it has a meal planner attached making it easy for working moms like myself :) i might be posting some baby recipes soon when the time comes for kareem's weaning so stay tuned!

on breastfeeding

Kareem has been a good baby so far, drinking his ebm from bottles. despite having to spend so much time washing up my pump and bottles every 3 hrs, i am thankful and feel very blessed with the priceless opportunity to provide my baby with my own milk. i didn't know any breastfeeding techniques with my first son... didn't know that i could express and keep the milk and i thought without the breast, there's no way feeding my baby with my own milk. owh well... internet was dial-up even in newcastle back in 2003!! information to me was scarce when it comes to breastfeeding... all i know was 6-7 mths fully breastfeed as recommended by WHO. 

with Kareem, i have a full-time job to go back to after 3-months of maternity leave. hence, my office colleagues helped me a lot with expressing, keeping the ebm safe and sound in the freezer then thawing them for feed using bottles. lucky me i bought some avent bottles and pump while i was leaving newcastle a year ago (i know... i was not even pregnant back then!!) haha.... expressing made simple if you know the techniques and synchronize the expressing time with your own body needs. ebm could be kept up to 6 months if you are using a deep freezer... i am so going to get one once i am done with my 30-days confinement! hopefully, insyaAllah i would be able to give Kareem ebm as much and as long as i could...

picture credit to my fellow friend dr namz :)

as you can see, you may keep your ebm at room temperature for up to 4 hrs, in your fridge for up to 48 hrs, and in your freezer for up to 3 mths. if you happen to have a deep freezer, you will be able to keep your ebm for up to 6 mths. simply superb kan?

confinement

there's nothing new apart from wearing socks, limitations to some food, lots of fish soups and religiously stay in the house for at least 30 days apart from occasional hospital visits for check ups. i am on my 18th day today and still obediently following the confinement rules. kareem is doing great with his sleeping patterns and i am grateful for that. he sleeps in bright daylight during daytime, with my tv and radio occasionally turned on to help him distinguish between daytime and night time. at night... we whispers :) and leave the lights much much dimmer. when he was weighed last two weeks, he was already 2800gms... an increase of 400gms since he was born at 2410gms.... thanks to my yummie milk! am still breastfeeding and i love my avent manual pump to bits!

unexpected labour experience

Alhamdulillah, despite my baby's unexpected early arrival at 36 + 4 days, he is doing extremely well although we both had to stay a little bit longer than expected at the hospital. My great committee team and I organized the 2nd IWA-UTM International Publication Workshop on 12-18 January 2013. The workshop ended marvellously with a great closing dinner at Villa Warisan Johor Bahru on Friday night. I was feeling extra energetic throughout the workshop. We all had an enjoyable week with 28 participants worldwide, and our facilitators were as always highly motivated and supportive towards this mini-baby programme of mine. Had a great Saturday outing with my family having cakes and yummie food not knowing that my suspected Braxton Hicks contractions were actually the real ones! Until on Sunday night when I had to be admitted to hospital due to slower baby movements and continuous contractions as well as a 1.5cm dilation! At 36 wks ++!!

I had no idea that I was going into labour on Sunday night. They kept me in the ward and I was given painkillers to help me sleep prior to being induced on Monday. I had a rough Sunday night, unable to sleep due to the contractions. I have never been induced. With my first son, I was on epidural because the labour took so long i.e. more than 20 hours. With my second son, I was only on entonox, and the pain was not so bad at 39 wks. However, with my latest newborn, being induced was super-painful that I had to take an epidural and entonox, and even that didn't help with the continuous pain! My husband was on my side all the time in the labour room. My Obgyn and nurses were super-helpful and supportive throughout the 5-6 hours process. After a series of collar grabbing (my husband came into the labour room in his work shirt!), I finally managed to control my breathing and Kareem was safely delivered at 8.44pm on 21st January 2013, a week before my birthday. He weighed 2410gms..my smallest, tiniest baby boy :) Alhamdulillah...

10 weeks and whatnots

alhamdulillah, syukur pada Allah sebab yang dinanti-nantikan Dia kurniakan pada masa terbaik seperti yang didoakan. sebaik PhD thesis lulus dalam mesyuarat senat Jun lepas, i was positively 6-7 weeks expecting!! i found out that i am pregnant at my office on 16th june... as i can't wait to bring the test kit home lol!! what with the moving house and final thesis submission, i didn't expect to be expecting this soon. as this is my 3rd child and  being pregnant in malaysia is totally different. i know, poyo sangat statement kan? macamlah orang lain takde mengandung or bersalin abroad kan? but seriously, mmg berbeza pengalaman mengandung kali ni, dengan morning sickness yang tak berapa nak sickness apart from semua makanan adalah tak sedap... hatta air masak kosong pun rasa pahit.. apekah??? i miss newcastle so so much that i even plan to pay a quick visit this august. just for the sake of costa hot chocolate, some m&s salads, some baked potatoes and meeting friends... dah dah, korang tak payah mengata mengumpat macam2 especially bulan2 ramadhan bermula esok kan...hahaha...

anyway, i am almost 10 weeks now and i am starting to feel a lot better. i could have rice for lunch and i plan to fix dinner for my children tonight. although, i tend not to be berlemah lembut and soft spoken and whatnots while thriving myself through this challenging first trimester, i am still myself deep deep inside ;p (sbb my husband the other day was speaking of an old lady professor who speaks so softly and she was all smiles yadda yadda yadda....) blame me for my hormonal subject matters!

we moved to our new house on 2nd july. it was beautiful moving to your own family home... my children are extremely happy having that extra space to play etc.. i am yet to officiate my bosch double oven but hopefully in full spirit to cook yummieicious newcastle meals during this ramadhan. just the way i used to do during our stay in newcastle...

and for this post... Ramadhan Kareem to you my Muslim readers just wherever you are. peace!