Just wanna say... Salam Maal Hijrah 1434H to all Muslims all over the world. May Allah SWT bless us all this year :)
It's the time of the year again. The season full of the nasty flu bug.
Remember when I told that I had accidentally detoxed myself two weeks ago? Turned out that I actually caught the flu virus from someone and all those headache, muscle pain, blocked nose and severe coughing were NOT because of detox whatsoever.
These couple of weeks turned to be very rough and challenging for all of us in the family. As soon as I caught the flu, my whole family became infected with it as well. Hubby had it too, but he recovered fast, which is within 2 days. It's the pregnant lady and a fragile baby who struggled to fight against the virus.
Let me tell you, coughing non-stop while being heavily pregnant was a very unpleasant experience. Every time I was having cough attack, I had to clutch my lower tummy because it hurt like hell!
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| My medicines |
But what's more horrible is being pregnant and having to care for a sick baby.
Khayla couldn't sleep well because she was having high fever (38.8 degrees Celcius people!) and because she couldn't breathe properly due to runny nose. Since she had to breathe through her mouth, several times she woke up with dry mouth and throat, so she became cranky again. My poor little girl!
Her fever lasted more than 6 days despite her taking antibiotics. When her temperature rose too high, we gave her the suppository that has to be inserted through her rectum.
It brought her relief for a few hours but after that the stubborn fever returned and we had to give her paracetamol again. And cold med. Cough mixture. Something to relief the phlegm. There. So many medicines that she hates but had to swallow.
Night time was a nightmare for us parents. In the middle of the night she woke up crying and kicking up a fuss because she only wanted to sleep on my arm. Most of the time I had to refuse because in the morning I'd wake up with backache from leaning too far on my side. Another reason I had to let her down is because she got annoyed with my growing tummy that gets in the way. She'll kick my tummy so much so that I have to wake hubby to pass her to him.
To sum up the past few weeks we had little sleep taking care of Khayla. Both of us were jaded and weary.
Daytime was no better. Her runny nose was worse, and she cried a lot. She only wanted to be cuddled up and became upset when we wanted to do something else like prepare lunch or do laundry. However after giving her meds, she settled down on her rocking chair and slept. She looked so tired with black shadows under her eyes. It just breaks my heart!
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| The sick little girl |
Another thing that made us so miserable during her sickness was her lack of appetite. She ate one or two spoonfuls of rice with chicken soup and then she was done. She refused her milk and balked at the idea of taking plain water (usually she doesn't mind drinking plain water). So it's no wonder that her body took a long time to get well because she was not getting enough nourishment.
I tried giving vitamin C tablet. She was only interested in them for a couple of days, and after that she refused that too. Then I have to force her to eat Scott's Emulsion to boost her immune system. So far she is still taking that supplement.
I'm thankful that now we are feeling generally better, although all of us still haven't fully recover from coughing. Hoping that we'll be in good health by the time the baby arrives - dear germs, please go away!
Si kecik ni, walaupun dah nak masuk umur 23 bulan masih amat manja.
Tidur, mau dalam dakapan emak. Kalau tak dapat, mulalah tayangan drama. Cebik2 bibir, lalu berguguran air mata dari mata buntangnya.
Lalu sang emak tak sampai hati. Diangkat dan diletakkan di perut yang sudah sarat. Si adik menggeliat dan menendang tanda protes. Apa dia peduli? Asal dapat tidur dalam dakapan emak. Walaupun posisi tak seselesa tidur di atas tilam sendiri.
Hakikat nya sang emak tak sampai hati sebab lepas ni si adik bakal keluar dan perlu perhatian. Lalu si kecik ni akan dipaksa membesar lebih awal dari usianya. Dia kan masih bayi, bayi berusia 24 bulan. Nanti dipaksa berkongsi perhatian dan kasih sayang dengan si adik. Tiada lagi 100% perhatian untuk dia seorang.
Lantaran itu sang emak sedaya-upaya memenuhi permintaan si kecik. Biar perut sudah membesar - jika dia mau didukung, mau tidur di lengan atau di perut, mau cebik2 bibir lalu mengamuk, mau sekotak kismis - sang emak tetap akan melayan kehendaknya.
Kerana dia masih lagi satu2nya buah hati pengarang jantung walaupun untuk sebulan lebih ni sahaja.
Tidur, mau dalam dakapan emak. Kalau tak dapat, mulalah tayangan drama. Cebik2 bibir, lalu berguguran air mata dari mata buntangnya.
Lalu sang emak tak sampai hati. Diangkat dan diletakkan di perut yang sudah sarat. Si adik menggeliat dan menendang tanda protes. Apa dia peduli? Asal dapat tidur dalam dakapan emak. Walaupun posisi tak seselesa tidur di atas tilam sendiri.
Hakikat nya sang emak tak sampai hati sebab lepas ni si adik bakal keluar dan perlu perhatian. Lalu si kecik ni akan dipaksa membesar lebih awal dari usianya. Dia kan masih bayi, bayi berusia 24 bulan. Nanti dipaksa berkongsi perhatian dan kasih sayang dengan si adik. Tiada lagi 100% perhatian untuk dia seorang.
Lantaran itu sang emak sedaya-upaya memenuhi permintaan si kecik. Biar perut sudah membesar - jika dia mau didukung, mau tidur di lengan atau di perut, mau cebik2 bibir lalu mengamuk, mau sekotak kismis - sang emak tetap akan melayan kehendaknya.
Kerana dia masih lagi satu2nya buah hati pengarang jantung walaupun untuk sebulan lebih ni sahaja.
Help - the baby is coming and we haven't bought anything for the her!
I feel pretty sorry for the little one - if I don't do anything about it, she'll most probably end up with the Middle Child Syndrome (eh, already I'm planning to have more babies after her!). Even my parents bought new clothes for me instead of giving me hand-me-downs when I was a baby.
Then one fine day, I got a text message from Mothercare - they are having a sale and VIP members get additional 10% discount from 2-4 November only:
I must grab some bodysuits for my baby because I had given away Khayla's to my friends before I found out I was pregnant. They are not just cute, but also made of quality material so the clothes don't stretch even when machine-washed. I also want to get a new raincoat for Khayla coz it's rainy season now.
On Friday, I joined throngs of working ladies buying stuff for their children at Mothercare. The queue was so long that I gave up because I had a meeting at 2.30pm. So after my appointment at the hospital yesterday, I asked Suami Terchenta to make a stop at KLCC to continue where I left off the day before.
I grabbed the clothes and stuffed them in the net bag, and after that we calculated the overall cost and started eliminating the unnecessary ones. In the end, we only bought bodysuits for the baby, new pajamas for Khayla who is fast outgrowing her clothes, nipple shield and milk collector from Avent, and maternity pad to use after delivery. I didn't get the raincoat because it's still too expensive even after the discount. Maybe after this rainy season, the price will be slashed further (crossing my fingers).
After getting something for the kids and me, we decided to go to Best Denki. Why? Jeng, jeng, jeng!
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the latest addition to our gadgets:
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| Samsung Galaxy SIII |
Ok peeps, this one is Suami Terchenta's latest love - Samsung Galaxy SIII. He lost his Android phone a few months back and had to use his durable Nokia phone. Only problem is, he's into developing apps for Android and thinks he must have an Android phone for that purpose.
This time I agree with him. It doesn't feel fair that I own a smartphone and he doesn't. He's been postponing to buy this phone because he has to settle his study fees this semester and other family commitments but out of the blue last week he mentioned it again - 'I wish I can buy that phone'.
I suggested that he used my credit card to buy it using instalment plan. He was not so keen at first because normally when you buy electronics using instalment plans, banks normally charge a nominal interest on top of the retail price.
I took the time during Friday long lunch break to visit some stores selling handphones and gadgets to check out the price and the payment method - even Samsung outlet did not offer 0% interest for instalment plans.
Then I went to the last shop in KLCC - Best Denki. From afar, I saw the banner '0% interest with selected credit cards'. Apa lagi, I fast-fast waddled to the shop and to my joy found that they have the model that my Suami Terchenta wants - hooray!
The sweet thing is, they offer 0% interest not just for 12-month instalment plan, but also for 6-month instalment plan. The price is standard - RM1999. So, for 6-month instalment plan, Suami Terchenta will have to pay RM300+ a month for the phone he much desired.
He wanted the blue model but they only have stock for the maroon and white versions - so he settled for the white version. On top of that, he got 8GB SD memory card for free.
Right now, he's still smitten with the phone (who wouldn't, with a brand new gadget?). I wished he had gone for iPhone as well, but apa nak buat, hatinya lebih kepada Samsung...
I was dreading my checkup today. Seriously.
According to this site, these are some of the detox symptoms (I highlighted the symptoms that I had T_T ):
headaches
lethargy
temporary muscle aches
mucus or other discharge
a coated, pasty tongue
flu-like symptoms
irritability
difficulty sleeping
weakness
cravings
nausea
constipation
diarrhoea
gas
Read more: http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/Detox_Symptoms#ixzz2B9s40ucE
Tu lah, pandai sangat kan. Dah menyusahkan diri-sendiri...
Note: The baby is doing fine, growing at the right pace and still very active alhamdulillah. I can't wait - 7 more weeks or less to go!
The last time I went for my checkup, my doctor told me that I have to go through the glucose tolerance test - in short OGTT. This is the test that all expectant mothers are terrified of. We have to fast overnight, have our blood drawn before the test, gulp down a glass of overly-sweetened glucose drink, wait for an hour and then have blood drawn again after the test. Lucky I'm not squirmish about the whole blood-drawing thing or I would have another thing to be terrified of this visit.
To tell you the truth, I am not really happy about having to do this test. I was close to rolling on the floor in despair when I was told that I had to do it - c'on! With my history of having PCOS, what other results can I expect??? Plus, my baby's size is right for her age (33 weeks, fyi), Khayla was born at 2.81kg (a.k.a. normal size) and I declared that none of my family members have diabetes. So what's the point of going through this torture? So, pfft. Welcome to the world of being pregnant in Malaysia where doctors insist that we go through the whole process regardless of my previously healthy state of pregnancy.
No chocie, but to prepare for it - The day before I went for the test I drank a lot of water. Waaaayyyyy a lot more than I used to drink. You see, I am not much a fan of H2O. This week when I keep a food journal of my food and drink intake, I discovered that on average I only drink 3 glasses of plain water per day and another 2-3 glasses of flavoured drinks (Horlicks, Milo, coffee, milk, etc.). In total, it's probably just 1L of drinks per day.WOAH! My doctor would certainly raised the roof if she knows that!
Anyway, back to my efforts to err, dilute my blood sugar level I guess, I drank bottles of mineral water one after another. Being in a meeting where the toilet is just across the meeting room helped a lot. By evening, I started to feel unwell. My head felt dizzy, my body felt achy all over and I felt terrible - like I was about to come down with cold / flu / fever.
It was strange because in the morning I was perfectly fine but after gulping down 2L+ plain water (the only time I took flavoured drink was the during lunch - I had Juiceworks banana+chocolate blended juice), I started to feel unwell. I googled my symptoms and guess what, I had accidentally detoxed my body!
According to this site, these are some of the detox symptoms (I highlighted the symptoms that I had T_T ):
Read more: http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/Detox_Symptoms#ixzz2B9s40ucE
Tu lah, pandai sangat kan. Dah menyusahkan diri-sendiri...
After a really bad sleep of tossing and turning (and suffering from extremely parched throat), I woke up feeling like I didn't want to go to the hospital to do the test. While downing another half litre of water after waking up, I changed my mind though. Might as well get it over and done with...
So as early as 8.30am, we were at the hospital. Suami Terchenta had to leave to go for his mid-term so I had to look after Khayla myself. Luckily she was in a good mood today - she woke up without a fuss and was really thrilled that she didn't have to take bath as we were already late. At the hospital, she enjoyed herself playing slides in the playroom and hide-n-seek in the playhouse. But when other kids came, she got all shy and stuck by me watching them play.
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| Playing slide at the playroom |
Back to the test. I was so desperate to skip the test to the point that I decided to cheat - I sneaked a packet of M&Ms in my bag and was thinking to surreptitiously swapped the drink with a lot of M&Ms. Both are sweet and made of sugar, right? BUT.... this time around, a nurse lingered around to make sure that sneaky Moms like me finish those drinks without any hanky-panky tricks.
Sigh. What to do? I contemplated my unlucky situation sadly, took a deep breath and chugged down the drink while pinching my nose desperately trying to ignore the sickly sweet flavour.
Based on my experience, o expectant ladies out there, bring your own water bottle with a slice of lemon to give it a tinge of sour-ish flavour to counter the over-sweetness of the glucose drink. The hospital may provide plain water as well, but my lemon-infused water helped A LOT. Secondly, when you are about to finish the drink, drain the remaining into the plain water glass instead of chucking the drink from its own glass - that way it's less sweet because the non-dissolved glucose remains at the bottom of the first glass. And of course, chug it down the back of your throat where the sweet tastebuds are less - you do know the anatomy of your tongue right?
The test result will only be made known in two weeks' time, but my doctor told me that I had already almost flunked my baseline test (the blood test before the OGTT) - my reading was 5.8, whereby a 6 means that I am for sure having GDM (gestational diabetes mellitus). She warned me that my post-test will surely show that a higher reading, but I shrugged it off as 'one of those PCOS-thing'. Like I said, I knew it already.
Note: The baby is doing fine, growing at the right pace and still very active alhamdulillah. I can't wait - 7 more weeks or less to go!
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