Ok, so here's an account of my pregnancy last year, and I'll try to keep it simple. My purpose of blogging about this is to share my experience with all mothers-to-be out there and to reassure you that you are not alone and it's ALRIGHT to feel a little anxious and have a little mood swing at times for no particular reasons.
When I was conceived, frankly speaking, I didn't even know I was pregnant - not until I started having morning sickness (or evening sickness to be precised). Again, I would like to emphasize on one thing. Every pregnant woman goes through different things- some have morning sickness, some don't; some put on tremendous weight like Jessica Simpson, while some are blessed with the body like Demi Moore; some can't stand the smell of durian, while some just can't get their hands off durians. Whatever the changes are, we need to understand that we are unique and we must never compare ourselves with other mothers-to-be. When you learn to accept your body and who you are, you will have a happy pregnancy - and eventually, your baby will feel the joy in your womb too.
Some of the physical and emotional challenges that I faced during the course were nausea, stiff and swollen fingers (third trimester), swollen feet, water retention (especially my face), swollen and itchy breasts, heartburn, backaches, mood swings (a licence to throw your tantrums), food cravings, fatigue (a good excuse to laze around), headaches, frequent urination, stretch marks, and many more. At times, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw, but my husband played a huge role in encouraging and reassuring me that it was all normal and told me to stay positive and think of the many happy thoughts of our little one. It was not easy, especially for someone vain like me to see myself all bloated up. I was reluctant to be in any photos, and stared at all the clothes that I used to be able to wear. But when I thought about the baby inside me and saw him through the ultra-scan each time during check-ups, I told myself, "It was all worth it!"
When people found out that I was pregnant, all of a sudden everyone tried to be "helpful" by giving all sorts of advice about my food intake, physical changes, emotional challenges, and the list goes on. It was so overwhelming that I started having butterflies (not only the baby!) in my stomach during the pregnancy.
I'm one of those who don't really care about the pantang-larang that most Chinese believe in, but some people felt that it was important for me to follow the rules and believe in the "myths" instead of being ignorant about it. Have you ever come across certain people telling you to ignore your gynae's advice on the food that you are allowed to take, and forbade you to consume most of the food that the gynae said was ok? And have they ever told you not to perform a certain kind of action or be involved in certain activities that would bring 'bad luck' to your baby? You know, these things are so funny that they aren't even funny!
But I don't blame them. These beliefs, and well, "superstitions", have been passed down to them for generations, and their intention, after all, is for the sake of the baby and you. But then again, that doesn't mean I have to condone their beliefs. It was frustrating at times when people went, "Hey, you shouldn'tbe doing this or eating that because it will harm your baby!" And when I asked why, they couldn't explain, and just told me to listen to them. *Zzzzz....*
I did a lot of research about my pregnancy mostly online, through books, magazines and videos. One of the websites that I would highly recommend is www.babycenter.com. It has everything you need to know - from A to Z - right at your fingertips. By keying in your estimated due date, you may subscribe to their weekly newsletter to find out about your baby’s progress in the womb as well as some other important information about your pregnancy. Plus, you may also include your partner’s email into the subscription list so that both of you will receive the newsletters and have a better understanding of what’s going on with that tiny fella in your tummy.
I went for my check-ups at Tropicana Medical Centre (TMC) in Kota Damansara. Pricy, I would say, but the service and facilities were top-notch (even the nurses were very helpful and friendly). Each check-up would cost us between RM200-RM300++. During the initial stage, we felt the burden of having to fork out so much each month because we could have easily paid lesser elsewhere. But I was very comfortable with my gynae Dr. Dev Kumar Menon. Dr. Menon is a very cheerful and bubbly doctor. Even as you step into his room, you can already hear him calling out your name and greeting you with a big smile on his face. He’s friendly, confident, very experienced, and pays attention to all your needs and problems. Best of all, he doesn’t criticize or pass remarks about you. I’ve heard a lot of stories about some gynaes being rude to their patients, or so busy that they don’t have much time for you. Dr. Menon made sure that you were alright before letting you out of his room. And for that kind of service, I didn’t mind paying the extra.
During my third trimester, Dr. Menon noticed that my baby was lying horizontally because I had a low placenta. This condition is known as Placanta Previa (also called Placenta Praevia). In layman terms, Placenta Previa is a condition whereby the placenta is close to or covering the cervix. In a normal labour, the placenta is not supposed to cover the cervix so that the baby’s head is able to engage and pass through the cervix. But for someone who has this complication, there is no way for the baby to go through the cervix normally, hence, a caesarean section(c-section) has to be performed without any question. Thank god for modern technology today that we were able to find out about these complications beforehand!
Then comes the part where everyone is anxious to know – the total bill of my hospitalization fee at TMC. During surgery, Dr. Menon discovered a cyst inside me. Right after Baby E was delivered, Dr. Menon went ahead to remove the cyst. So, it was considered two operations done at the same time. Oh, and they upgraded me to their Single Executive room because they ran out of single rooms (which I've booked beforehand). I was there for two and a half days, so everything came to about RM8K++.
I still remembered not being able to sleep on the first night after I've delivered, because I've requested for the nurse to bring the baby to me for breastfeeding. At first, I had a hard time trying to help Baby E to latch on, and he was constantly crying after sucking for a long time - and I realised that I wasn't producing any milk at all! So the nurse had to bring him back to the nursery room to feed him with some formula milk. I was so upset and discouraged by the fact that I didn't have any milk for him, and started wondering what was wrong with my body and felt guilty about not being able to give him the best.
On the second night, a nurse by the name of Patricia came to my room to check on me. She saw that I wasn't sleeping, so we started chatting a bit. She told me that it was normal not to have any breastmilk at that moment, especially for C-section patients, but we should never give up on feeding the baby, because the more the baby sucked on your nipple, the more it would stimulate your body to produce the milk. Thanks to her, I felt better. It was only on the 5th day after I went home that I finally had milk! You can't imagine how happy I was! So what I wanna say is - everyone is different, so do not be discouraged if your body is not producing any milk, because it takes time and patience, and your determination to give your baby the best will finally pay off in the end!
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