Happy Birthday Mama!

Ibu mithali ibu yang sejati.. Tak tahan!

I celebrated my 26th birthday (3rd November 2009) as a first time mother! Baby Hana is the best gift I ever have. Just look at her, who can resist those beautiful eyes!

Suka buat muka comel tau. Nak marah pon tak sampai hati.

Ni nak cite sket pasal birthday haritu. Ada orang tu kan, dia bole lupa birthday saya. Menyampah btul. Sib baik la ada alarm reminder kat handphone dia tu. Kalo tak sampai ke tahun depan la dia tak ingat. Pastu konon nak amik hati gua balik, dia belikan kek Secret Recipe sampai 3 jenis yang berjaya saya abeskan dalam masa 3 hari berturut2. Haihh camne la nak kurus kalo macam ni?

Ouch!

Yes, that's the sound that I make whenever I feed my baby. It hurts! At first, I just ignored the pain because I just thought that there's nothing I can do with it and hope that somehow it will disappear by itself. But I was wrong. In fact it just getting worse and worse. Until one day, I was down with fever and Panadol won't do any better. Fever and sore breast both at the same time, believe me, you don't want to know.

I did some research on the Internet and found out that I might have an infection based on the symptoms that I had. Ok, that freaks me out. I went to a doctor and she prescribed me with pain killer and antibiotics. And the remedy for sore nipple is to apply some amount of our own breastmilk to the affected area. She also reminds me to keep on feeding my baby no matter how painful it will be.

I need to write this thing down as a reminder to myself and perhaps as useful tips for you guys.


My findings are:

1. It's very important to know how to breastfeed your baby in a correct way. It's a learning process to both mother and baby. I find this breastfeeding guide really helpful. Last time I don't really care with my sitting position and I just let the baby to latch on her own in any way she likes. Big mistake.

2. Engorged breast can be treated by massaging it around with a warm cloth. This will encourage milk flow and also to avoid milk duct blockage.

3. Nipple cream is really unnecessary. Dah la mahal giler satu tiub kecik sampai RM40 (lebih baik makan Nandos lebih mengenyangkan). And takde la work la magic pon. Like I mentioned earlier, just apply a small amount of your own milk after every feeding. Lagi mujarab tau!

4. Go and see a doctor right away whenever you have breast pain and fever occuring at the same time. You really need antibiotics to fight the infections.


Okay now, sape nak blanje aku Nandos?

Hello Hana!

I bet most of you wants to know the experience I was facing in the labor room. And I would love to share it with all of you. :)

But before I start, I would like to state here in my blog that I really miss my pregnancy. Only now I realize how I love being pregnant! No menses for the whole 9 months, dapat puasa penoh, and of course the best part of it, to be able to feel the baby's movement from inside.

Ok now, shall we..

. . .


Wednesday morning, 30th September, I went for my regular weekly checkup at the hospital. Everything was fine the day before so I didn't expect anything. But when the doctor told me that my cervix had dilated to 3cm, I was a little shocked and terrified. I have to be admitted into ward immediately.

I've had the hospital bag ready in the car, but I was still emotionally unprepared. I kept telling Iwan that I'm so afraid and not ready. It's almost 10am but still, I felt no contraction whatsoever. So there I was in the hospital bed, waiting for the time to come.

Iwan bought me nasi lemak Tanglin. Actually we'd planned to have breakfast together after check-up, but we end up having breakfast on the hospital bed. I lost my appetite, so I just ate normal size of nasi lemak (I used to have nasi lemak tambah eversince I got pregnant). Later, I started to have this mild contraction. Like most people describe it, just like a normal period pain. It then came more frequently and much much stronger.

Around 3.00pm, the contraction was no longer like a normal period pain. It came for like every 2 minutes. I never had serious kind of senggugut before so I don't really know how real period pain feels like. But the contraction that I was having at that time was unbearable!

I was finally admitted into the labor room at 3.30pm. And my water was broken manually. I thought that I could handle the pain, but once the water broke, I was shaking all over! The contraction was extremely painful! There's nothing I could do to ease the pain. Baring senget baring telentang semuanye tak jalan. Yang saya mampu buat hanyalah mengerutkan muka tahan sakit, itu aje. Bukan saje sakit, takut pon sama. At that moment, the midwife gave me an option for epidural. I was told that I could only take the epidural while I'm still at 4cm dilated. Once it reaches 5, I'm no longer allowed for epidural. So, it's now or never. The doctor even said that we never know how long would it takes to get fully dilated to 10cm. It could be hours! Ok, that's scary enough to make me go for it.

After I took the epidural, the pain reduced for only like...30%? Well, at least that was something. Iwan sat next to me holding my hand all the time. I was so so afraid. There's few times I felt like crying, but I didn't want to break so easily. Plus, I didn't have the energy for that. Although inside I do feel like giving up. I was in so much pain..

Less than an hour later, I started to feel the urge to push. Rasa macam nak terberak taik besar, but in an extremely strange kind of way. The midwife taught me how to push, and I just did everything she said. Take a deep breath and push as hard as I can for 10 seconds. Release and quickly take another breath and push again.

Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing, but the midwife said that I was doing great. The baby's head can already be seen down there and the midwife asked Iwan to look. Then I heard him saying, "Eh, baby ada rambut!" or something like that. But I couldn't care less.

After a few push, I could feel the baby's head popped out. Then everybody in the labor room went like "Okay, kepala dah kuar, teran lagi sekali!". So sekali lagi aku push, terkeluarlah badan baby. The time was 4.44pm.

Then... I heard her... crying so loud...

The nurse brought her near to me, "Ha, tengok ni baby ape?". Confused and exhausted, "Erm.. girl?". Of course it's a girl!

One word to describe exactly how I feel right after she was born - LEGA!

What happen after that, takyah cite la kot pasal jahit2 semua. Itu semua tidak penting.

The baby was taken away to be cleaned and warmed up. Iwan took a photo of her and showed it to me while I was still resting in the labor room. I was so happy to see such a cute creature that I'd been carrying around inside my tummy for 9 months, is finally here to meet us. It's a bliss. I just couldn't stop smiling. :)

It's the most painful yet the sweetest experience ever!

Itulah dia, the magical story of the day Hana was born into this world.

Bliss

Hello everyone!!

I'm currently at Seri Iskandar, Perak. Being here, near to a place where I first met Iwan and became his special friend is just nostalgic. I would say that we were (and still are) so close back then during our university years. We did most of the things together. We shared problems and laughters together. We went to classes together. We have our lunches and dinners and suppers together. We did our revision at the library together. We played online games together. We watched movies and played bowling for like every weekend together. Daripada naik bas Perak Roadways takde aircond ke motor kapcai Yamaha 125z ke Toyota Hilux pinjam bapak dia punye sampailah ke Gen2. Ahh, it's a total bliss!

The skinnies

After 8 years of knowing him including 3 years of marriage, I would say that he has changed a lot, in a good kind of way. He has changed me too, into a better person. He also changed me into this...

36 weeks

And now, we are still good friend. But with addition to that, we are husband and wife and we are the parents to our newborn baby, Hana Ashran binti Mirwan Ashran.

Baby Hana

Hello World!

Khazanah Jiwang

Our long raya holidays was being utilized by cleaning up the store room secara besar-besaran. The room was a total mess. Semua bende pon campak situ, scattered all over the place. All unwanted stuff, toolbox, luggage, tangga, ampaian kain, wedding gifts, tilam, tilam, tilam.. haih, u name it. Barang2 dalam tu macam beranak pinak. Barang yang saya tak penah tau pon ade situ, tatau la sape yang letak. So, as a preparation to welcome a new member to the house, we need to clear up the store room and transform it into a guest room, and the old guest room will be our little one's bedroom. Sorry guests, korangnye bilik terpakse di'downgrade'kan.

While clearing up all those junks, we found a box of my old stuff. My old-jiwang-memory stuff. All was given by Iwan back then during our romantic days I would say. Greeting cards, souvenirs, pictures.. I could hardly remember that I possesed all this thing before. We went through all the greeting cards. There's raya greetings, Valentine's and birthdays. All musical cards are still singing like new. Ada lagu Selamat Hari Raya la, lagu My Heart Will Go On pon ada. Ahakhakhak! We laughed our lungs out reading through every single words that Iwan wrote for me. Trust me, you don't want to know. Saya sendiri pon geli bulu telinga membacenye. It's cute, but geli is still geli. But yeah, it's cute. :) Can't believe he actually wrote those words, but the bad handwriting proves it. Ahakhakhak! (apsal tah gelak macam nih?)

I miss those days.. :)

Selamat Hari Raya!

1 Syawal 1430

Raye tahun ni lain sket dari yang lain. Kitorang balik raya kat Perak malam Jumaat tu. Kononnye tanak jem beramai2, so kitorang plan nak gerak midnight. Petang tu gi pikap abang saya yang datang dari Johor, then pegi bukak pose sama2. Pastu balik umah dulu, packing barang2 nak bawak balik, tup tap tup tap dah kul 12.30am. Baru lah kitorang gerak nak balik Perak. Excited! Sekali masuk2 hiway, arghh ramai gak kereta!! Paling laju bole bawak pon 80km/h. Oklah tu kan, at least bergerak jugak. Rasa macam meriah pon ade. Nasib baik la dah isi minyak awal2.

Kitorang benti kat RnR Tapah dalam kul 3.45 pagi macam tu, sebab tank masing2 dah penoh, plus mengantuk gile bab. Penohnye RnR tu jangan cakap ar.. Ada yang tido dalam kete, ada yang sebok2 nak sahur, ada yang berpakaian baju tido lengkap. Meriah2.. Orang sebok2 nak sahur, kitorang pon sahur lah skali. Makan sandwich kat Dunkin Donut sambil minum2 kopi. Pastu sambung gerak balik..

Sampai Seri Iskandar kul 5 pagi. Sebelom sampai kitorang dah call siap2 tuan rumah suh bangun sediakan sahur untuk kitorang yang bakal tiba ni (walaupon kitorang dah mencekik tadi). Sampai2 je, sahur dah ready. Makan lagi. Barulah betul2 kenyang.

Owh ye, saya masih belom beranak lagi. Kalo ikutkan ticker di atas, masih ada 12 hari lagi. Harap bersabar ye.

Selamat hari raya buat semua! Maaf zahir batin..

Baby saya malu nak kuar di hari raya

When I'm Supposed To Feel Like On Top Of The World

One day he asked me,


Him: Hari apa yang paling bermakna setakat ni?

Me: Erm.. Hari kite kawen?

Him: Hari kite kawen memang la bes. Ada lagi satu hari yang macam bermakne sangat.

Me: Ape?

Him: Hari Ella betau Iwan yang kita nak dapat baby. Macam tak percaye je..

Me: Ye ke? Tapi aritu Ella tengok Iwan nampak macam biasa je. Tak cakap ape pon.

Him: Terkejut sebenarnya.


Memang itulah dia Iwan yang saya kenal. Memang tak reti nak menunjukkan perasaan langsung. (Tapi perasaan marah reti pulak tunjuk).


It's common when a woman become pregnant and feel like on top of the world. The thing is, when they become extremely proud of it they don't realize that they had just been plain annoying. Yes, pregnant women are smug. But I personally think that once the baby pops out, they would become even smugger. Just look at the evidence spread all over blogs and Facebook of those smug-mommies. You'll know what I mean.

I myself had been trying to have my own baby after a year of marriage. There was no serious discussion between me and him, but it's more like "yeah, we think we're ready". And to be honest, it's quite stressful for me when I fail every freaking month. I don't know about him, because I'd never ask and he had never ask me too. There's until up to a point when I just gave up and started to persuade myself to accept whatever fate which has been destined for me. I believe everything happens for a reason and all I need to do is to look at the good side of it.

And when I least expect of what to come next, I become pregnant! Of course I am happy and yeah it do feels like on top of the world. But it's not just happy. It's more than that. It's heavier. I'm blessed, worried and confused at the same time. I feel blessed that God had answered my prayer. I'm worried if I can't be a good mother. And I'm just confused with my whole life. To become pregnant is not easy, and being one seems a lot harder.

But one thing for sure, the most precious feeling of them all, is knowing that I am having a baby, not just a baby, but it is his baby. The baby of a man that I love. It's priceless..

Pasti Rasa Cukup Sedap

What a minute.. I've been neglecting makansutra for almost a year! Wow!

To kick start the foodie entry again, let me feast your eyes with some pictures of my latest food addiction. Sesuai sangat lah di bulan yang mulia ini.


Bubba Gump Shrimp

I like shrimp! Very very like! And at Bubba Gump the food is just shrimply delicious!

Pink Lemon-Ups in light-up glass, and Mango Sparkler (my favs!)

Bucket of Boat Trash
shrimp, fish and lobster tail, served with fries
*MUST TRY*

Shrimper's Heaven
Coconut Shrimp, Chilly Shrimp (udang sejuk yg tak bes), Fried Shrimp, Tempura Shrimp, served with fries

Captain's Fish & Chips
(sedap Fish & Co. New York Fish & Chips lagik)

Posing sesudah kenyang..

Chili's

These are the food which I've tried recently at Chili's during buka puasa few weeks ago. It's so delicious that I'm still craving for it until now. Looking forward to dine at Chili's again soon, probably after raya before the baby come out. Sape nak blanja? :)

Wings Over Buffalo
(meleleh air liur saya skarang)

Fajita Trio
*MUST TRY*

Baby's Wishlist

Assalamualaikum to all makciks and pakciks out there!

Mommy tells me that I have generous aunties and uncles out there waiting for me. I don't really believe her. Let me give you some kind of generosity-test. Listed down are mommy's my wishlist. You know what to do..

Moses basket

Avent ISIS Pump
OR, any other Avent product :)

Maclaren Universal Organizer in red/black


Mini Laser Safety Clip-On Fan in pink


Nuby Jiggle Giggle Vibrating Teether


Diaper bag in red/black

Well, this is all what I can think of for now. This post will probably be updated from time to time. I'll put the link on the sidebar for easy reference. :)