Wisdom in the Quran

Last weekend, I attended a Duola Workshop held at Jalan Sultan. Cut long story short (I might share about the birth talk in another blog post should time permits. Insya'Allah), one of the topics covered was wisdom from Allah in the Quran via surah Maryam.

Maryam A.S. (Radi Allahu anha) was not touched by any man and had conceived Nabi Isa (PBUH) and she even went through labour alone, without anyone beside her. No husband, no midwife, no doula - absolutely no one.

Masya'Allah.

The strength of a woman.

Which brings me to the next point.

Few weeks ago, we agreed to let my mum look after Adriaan when I'm in labour so Mr. J can be with me in the labour ward. But after what happened last weekend - my Dad fed Adriaan a huge spoonful of ice cream, with the ice cream given by my mum, and that caused Adriaan to itch all over his legs till it bleeds tsk - we decided that they are not the best Caregivers around. Whyyyy do grandparents do things against the parents' wishes?!! I already told my parents 101 times that Adriaan has food allergy and it still falls on deaf ears. My Dad could still crack a joke and asked Adriaan whether the ice cream was tasty. -.- Seriouslyyyyy....

So anyway, the next best alternative is to be in labour with Mr. J outside at the waiting area with Adriaan until I have safely delivered.

If Maryam could do it alone, insya'Allah, I'll be able to do it too. Aamiin.

Welcoming July

Time flies and we are already at the second half of 2017! Say whatttt!

Ended my first Ramadhan with being able to fast for a full 30 days (Alhamdulillah), but not doing so much this year as compared to my previous years. :( I don't know if caring for a baby plus carrying one in me is a valid "reason", but hais, I am sure I could do better.

Nonetheless, Ramadhan this year is already over and I could only do'a that I'll be able to meet the next Ramadhan... Aamiin.

Few quick updates!

RENOVATION:
We are almost halfway through our renovation progress.
- Hacking of our kitchen was done on the first few days of renovation
- Then we had to choose our toilet floor tiles again because the one Steven showed us from Hafary is out of stock
- Doors installed, and painted
- Delivery of the items we bought (Note: Gonna blog about our buying process, insya'Allah!)
- Toilet floor tiles have been overlaid once we confirmed our new tiles
- Our kitchen entrance have been touched up after the hacking
- Installation of our instant heaters has been done

Upcoming week:
- Installation of our kitchen cabinet

To do:
Pass the second payment to Steven

PREGNANCY:
We are at our 17 weeks 4 days today. Alhamdulillah.

The first very very mild movement/shifting I felt was exactly on the 17th week, around the same time as when I first felt Adriaan's movement. But Adriaan's one was more prominent in a sense I could actually see the bulge forming. This time, I could only feel the subtle movements internally.

The next appointment will be on the 19th July where you'll turn 20 weeks insya'Allah. We will also get to know your gender.

Your Ayah and Nyai is guessing girl whereas I still have no clue. I kindaaaa have a feeling it's a boy though from the shape of my tummy. But Ayah said it looks different this time round. Don't cheat my feelings leh. Hahaha. Show your true shape please!

Well, we will see lah eh. Like I once told Ayah, it doesn't quite matter girl or boy this time. All I know is if we plan to have a third one insya'Allah, to be much more careful in the family planning department (not because I don't believe in rezeki and qadar Allah), but I need the time to recuperate especially since my recent Prolapse episode.

To-do: More kegels!

ADRIAAN:
Few updates pertaining to this son of mine haha.

- He is no longer "butt-heavy" and "lazy" to use his leg muscles to stand. He has shown keen interest to start walking. Good progress but no rush though! I would prefer him to take his own sweet time and crawl longer.
- He has his sleep regression episodes. *cries* It comes and goes. There are weeks where he'll sleep through the night so SO peacefully. But there are nights where he'll be jolted awake either by his own version of nightmare or just wanna play and not sleep. Pfft.
- I've started giving him 2 meals per day, one in the afternoon for lunch and one in the evening at 6pm. There'll be 2 different purée flavours for his meals. He'll be turning 1 years old about 4 months' time and I need to get him used to more food. Time is running out and I've yet to explore more food options for him. He's still "stuck" at some 4-6 months' old food range. :/ I've yet to start him on Baby-led weaning (BLW) because 1, we don't have a high chair for him to sit on it quietly and explore. 2, my husband HATES mess, in CAPS, Bold, Italics, Underline kinda seriousness of hatred. Hahaha. But I hope to explore when his Ayah is not around, with fruits that are more soft like bananas (can you try bananas again, Adriaan?), Avocados or dragon fruit? Insya'Allah.

To-do: Buy more fruit and vegetables, and maybe try starting him on fish and meat?

Alright, that's it for the updates this time round.
Note: This is just a skeleton of a proper update espesh on my renovation progress. Will do a more proper one with visuals. Hehe!

Something new

It's about 4am in the morning and I'm done with cooking sahur for the day.

Since there is still some time till I wake Mr. J up, Imma share with you about something that happened to me.

On the 5th of June last week, I experienced something different happening to my body. In short, I think I had a prolapse. (Click on the link to view how it is).

The reason why I'm sharing this is because I realise not many Asians share about this? The forums I read are more to Caucasian women. I am not sure whether it's a culture thing (because Asians are more conservative?) or it generally happens only to Caucasian women.

So on the eve of my birthday, we made our way to KKH to do a check up on the suspected prolapse. Turned out when they did their check on me, the supposed prolapse "went back in". It could be that it went back in because the waiting time was quite a while *laugh*

Mr. J and I explained to the doctor and nurse on duty that it really happened and that something was out. But we had no picture to show them... so they couldn't diagnose me proper and we left home "empty handed".

The doctor did explain to me that prolapse generally happen to older women because their pelvic muscle weakens over time OR to women who had gone through multiple vaginal births. It can happen to women of my age, but very rare... Oh well... What could it be, then?

During the week till my next appointment on the 13th, I did some Kegel exercises following the instructions I got from the internet, but it doesn't seem effective on me. I am not sure whether I am doing it correctly as of now but I feel that the situation improved when I'm on full bed rest.

There are days I had no choice but to carry my 8.6kg son (ringan betul dia haha), and do the house chores. Those are the days where I could feel it descending down, but not exactly "out".

Until on the eve of my appointment date on the 12th.

That particular day we were out to our new home (Reno has started weee!!) and we sent off my parents and sister off to Umroh. And night time to Tan Tock Seng to visit Mak. So there was a whole lot of walking.

Went home, cleaned up, and yes, hello there - it came out again!

Of course this time we managed to snap a picture so I could show the doctor on duty for my appointment the next day.

Doctor did some checks and confirmed that its a uterus prolapse. Suspected to be caused by my previous childbirth. (Alhamdulillah, at least it wasn't a growth).

She suggested to either:
- Meet up with Physiotherapist to learn on how to strengthen my pelvic muscles the correct way
OR
- Meet up with Gynecologist that specializes in this area and insert a pessary (some sort of a rubber ring) to hold it in place. It is non surgical so it is highly recommended for women of my age/women who are currently pregnant/women who would like to have more children.

We ended up taking both her suggestions as I feel I may need the pessary application for this pregnancy.

Cobaan for me for this pregnancy but Insya'Allah all will be well.

On a side note, I remember reading an entry by a sister who feels sad that it seems very easy for other women to get pregnant (she is currently on a TTC journey). I don't blame her for feeling so. I know that feeling.

But I just would like to say that, even though it may seem "easy" for other women to get pregnant, it may not be an easy journey during their pregnancy. We may not show to people what we are going through during the pregnancy. All people could see are the beautiful rosy pictures of women with a beautiful bump. But behind all the beauty, are trials that we go through, not everyone know of. :(

My previous pregnancy with Adriaan - bleeding now and then. Even got hospitalised for it.
My current pregnancy with this baby - Uterus prolapse.

I take it that Allah nak kasi pahala extra, insya'Allah.

For all the sisters that still yearn for a child, my prayers are with you. May you be able to experience a beautiful life growing inside of you soon. Aamiin. <3