Last Day of 2020

It’s the last day of an epic year, so I decided to take a photo to remember by.

And also, I have my 34 weeks check up today. I’m huge, aren’t I? We are just so excited for the baby, I really can’t wait, but at the same time we want him to be comfortable in there for as long as possible. Hopefully he’ll get to go to full term at 40 weeks, just like his sister.

At the moment, I’m just enjoying this pregnancy and indulging in all the attentions I’m receiving from my family and friends.

Happy new year 2021, everyone!

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My Experiences with Ob-gyns

During my pregnancy (and even before pregnancy), I’ve had my checkups with a few ob-gyns.

• Dr Lee Joon Lung, Miri City Medical Center, Miri, Sarawak : Back in 2014, right after I got married, I did my pre-pregnancy checkup with Dr Lee Joon Lung, in Miri City Medical Center. A pre-pregnancy checkup is a medical checkup you get even before pregnancy to help make sure you’re healthy when you get pregnant. The doctor looks for health conditions that may affect your pregnancy and the health of your baby, scans your uterus and ovaries, and order a blood test. And alhamdulillah, my pre-pregnancy checkup result came back okay and I was safely pregnant 3 months after that.

If you are in Miri and looking for ob-gyn, I would highly recommend Dr Lee, as he’s a really good doctor. He’s very patient to entertain all of my questions, very soft spoken and most importantly very reassuring when I had my doubts.

Dr Lee Joon Lung, Miri City Medical Center | Phone Number: 085-426 622 | Clinic opening hours: 8am-4.30pm (closes on all public holidays) | Address: Lot 916-920 & 1202 – 1203 Jalan Hokkien, C.D.T. 100, 98009 Miri, Sarawak

• Datin Dr Suhaiza Salleh, Gleneagles Hospital, KL : I had my monthly checkups during my first pregnancy and delivered my first baby with Dr Suhaiza, after getting many positive feedbacks and recommendations from my friends. I couldn’t vouch for her more, she’s definitely my favorite doctor. She’s very detailed, yet very comforting and you won’t leave her office feeling worried. She’s very famous now especially among celebrities, so you really need to make appointment and book in advance. InsyaAllah I’m hoping to deliver my second baby with her again, but with this Covid-19 situation, it’s really hard to tell. Let’s hope for the best.

Datin Dr Suhaiza Salleh, Gleneagles Hospital, KL | Phone Number: 03-41413309 | Clinic opening hours: 8.30 am-4.30pm (closes on weekends and public holidays) | Address: Gleneagles Hospital, 282 & 286, Jalan Ampang, Malaysia, 50450 Kuala Lumpur

• Dr Haslina Sarkawi, Columbia Asia Bintulu : As we are now staying in Bintulu, I opted to refer to her for my pap smear, and I even referred to her on fertility, as we wanted to try for our second baby. I was recommended to her by my aunty, whom had her surgery to remove Bartholin’s cyst with Dr Haslina. So when we found out that we were pregnant, we had our first few baby checkups with her as well. I would highly recommend her if you are looking for ob-gyn in Bintulu.

Dr Haslina Sarkawi, Columbia Asia Bintulu | Phone Number : 086-251888 | Clinic opening hours : 9.00 am – 5.00 pm (closed on Sundays and public holidays) | Address : Lot 3582, Block 26, Jalan Tan Sri Ikhwan, Kemena Land District, Tanjung Kidurong, 97000 Bintulu, Sarawak

• Dr. Khairul Anwar Bin Mohd Saman, Columbia Asia Taiping : Since I’m currently stuck in Taiping due to Covid-19, I need to go for my monthly checkups here. My sister, who is also currently pregnant, is having her checkups with Dr Khairul, so I decided to go along with her for my checkups. My sister vouched for him since she started to visit him for her fertility treatment. He’s very fatherly and very laid back, and I think that is why many are referring to him. Currently my backup plan is, if I couldn’t cross district to go to KL to deliver with Dr Suhaiza, I will deliver here in Taiping with Dr Khairul.

Dr. Khairul Anwar Bin Mohd Saman, Columbia Asia Taiping | Phone Number : 05-8208888 | Clinic opening hours : 9.00 am – 5.00 pm (closed on Sundays and public holidays) | Address : No 5, Jalan Perwira, 34000 Taiping, Perak

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I love meeting doctors especially ob-gyns, and I enjoy every checkups I had. So if you would like to know more about my experiences meeting these doctors, feel free to ask in the comment below.

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Week 28

Alhamdulillah, I’m now in week 28 of my second pregnancy, where it is the start of the third trimester.

Pregnancy has been smooth so far alhamdulillah – my energy and appetite have now pick up. I can brisk walk for one and a half hour on Saturdays and Sundays, half an hour on weekdays, although I will still be out of breath every time I climb up the stairs, lol. I’m starting to incorporate more fruits in my diet now for my vitamin and mineral needs (still hate veggies) and overall just trying to eat healthily, yet still enjoy this pregnancy.

Although, to be honest, I’m taking this pregnancy one week at a time. It’s hard to be separated from my husband due to this COVID-19 pandemic, since he’s working in Bintulu and I’m currently working in my hometown in Taiping as I can’t be back to Sarawak without having to be quarantined and to go through swab test (I don’t mind, but I just don’t want my daughter to go through it). We’ve also agreed that it’s best for me to stay in Taiping for now and not expose to this virus if I were to commute back and forth. I want him near, because he will usually pamper me when I’m pregnant. He will be the one massaging me at night, buying me my favorite food when I don’t have any appetite, taking me out for breakfast dates… Hm. I’m counting days for us to be reunited again, but meanwhile, I’m just keeping myself busy.

I have a lot of goals during this pregnancy (as always). One of my goals throughout this pregnancy is to read the whole Quran, insyaAllah. But I’m only on the 14th juz’ for now. 16 more juz’ to go in 12 weeks time. Not quite sure if I can finish it in time, but I’ll try my best.

Other than that, I’ve been practicing my piano, reading, listening to podcast, catching up on my favorite shows, and obviously shopping!

Guess what, I’ve completed the shopping from my baby shopping list, alhamdulillah! There’s not much stuffs to buy for this second baby since we try to recycle as much as possible from the first one and I already have many big ticket items from back then, but now that we could afford a bit more, I bought a lot of nice-to-have stuffs heeeeeee just really excited to be parents for the second time.

So here’s my shopping list:

No	Item
1	30 days confinement lady service
2	Jujube diaper bags
3	Baby clothes
4	Baby Playpen – Graco Pack ‘N Play Quick Connect Portable Seat Deluxe Playard With Bassinet
5	Playpen Bedding Set and Baby Nest from Tinypalms
6	Diapering (Diapers, Wet Wipes)
7	Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail
8	Coby Mini UV Sterilizer
9	Infant Carseat – Koopers Danza
10	Maternity belt and postnatal belly band
11	Sophie La Giraffe
12	Sudocrem Diaper Cream
13	Medela Purelan Lanolin Cream
14	Hairbrush
15	Pigeon Bottle and Food Warmer
16	Pigeon Breastmilk Storage Bags
17	Pigeon Baby Laundry Detergent
18	Pigeon Sterilization Tong
19	Pigeon Peristaltic Plus nipple 1M+ (S)
20	Pigeon Peristaltic Plus nipple newborn (SS)
21	Pigeon Nose Cleaner Aspirator
22	Pigeon Pacifier
23	Pigeon Breast Pads
24	Pigeon Breastmilk Collector
25	Mamaway Maternity and Nursing Pyjamas

All of these items are already secured here in my mom’s house, so all I need to do now is enjoy this pregnancy, let this baby go to full term and try to relax (because God knows I can’t relax).

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Sunnah Food During Pregnancy

During my first pregnancy, I religiously took Shaklee supplements – started when we were trying to conceive, until postpartum. Shaklee provides me with enough energy and nutrients that I need during my pregnancy.

This time around, I wanted to incorporate sunnah recommended food into my daily supplement plan. I still take multivitamins given by my gynecologist too, but I take them at least 2 hours apart.

So here’s what I take on daily basis:

7:00 am – 1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

7:30 am – 20 ml Salus Floradix Formula (iron, vitamin B1, B2, B6, B12, and vitamin C)

8:00 am – Breakfast

10:00 am – 2 dates with almond

12:00 pm – Pomegranate juice (after lunch)

2:00 pm – 2 tablets of Ganilia (multivitamins for pregnancy)

4:00 pm – 2 dates with almond

6:00 pm – 1 teaspoon of honey

7:00 pm – Dinner

9:00 pm – Milk

10:00 pm – 30 ml Salus Saludynam (calcium, magnesium, vitamin D3, zinc)

I also try to ensure that my water intake of 3L daily.

For the sunnah food, my preference is the products from Olive House, as the quality is good, the price is reasonable and they taste oh-so-good! I bought EVOO, pomegranate concentrate, honey and dates from them. I would highly suggest for mom-to-be to try their products.

The EVOO is so good and easy to digest. Sometimes I feel like I’m slightly addicted to this haha…

Olive oil provides enough essential fatty acids for the development of the new-born child and its ratio of linoleic acid to linolenic acid (essential fatty acids) is similar to that of breast milk.

I usually add 1 tbsp of this pomegranate concentrate into 1 mug of cold water. It tastes like Ribena to be honest.

Pomegranate is proven to be good for your heart and may help lower blood pressure, which is great news if you are suffering from pre-eclampsia. Rich in vitamin C, pomegranates are excellent for the immune system. Eating pomegranate has a positive effect on bone health and density too.

There’s about 5-6 dates in this packet, but I limit my intake to 4 dates/daily. This is date with almond, but there are also other options – date with apricot, date with cashew nut, date with dark chocolate.

Dates are rich sources of proteins, fiber and many vitamins, while being very low in fat. The calcium in dates is essential for firming bones, the phosphorus for forming the brain, and the potassium for preventing wounds/sores in the stomach.

The honey is the best. It doesn’t taste super sweet, and it has a flowery smell too. I really love this.

Honey  possesses natural antibiotic properties. Honey is a healthy and natural sweetener yet has so much health benefits, which is perfect for pregnancy.

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Let me know other supplement products that your are taking, mommies!

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Baby Shopping List

Realistically, I don’t need to buy anything for baby number 2 since I got a lot of stuffs already during baby number 1 (except of course all those perishable like diapers, wet wipes etc).

But where’s the joy in not shopping, right? Right? Haha. So I came out with a list of nice-to-have things to buy for our baby. So exciting!

Disney x Jujube Diaper Bag

So I’ve been eyeing on this diaper bag since baby number 1. But they come with hefty price tags, hence it just stayed in my wish list. I settled with a SkipHop diaper bag back then, which was also decent. But since we are slightly more financially stable now, alhamdulillah, and since there’s not much things to buy, I think we can splurge on these beautiful diaper bags. #justified

Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail

My BFF has been promoting on Tommee Tippee Nappy Disposal Bin, but I don’t quite like the idea of buying its specific refill cartridge. Enter Ubbi steel diaper pail, and I’m sold since any kind of plastic bags can be used for this. I remember those stinky diapers during newborn days, so it’s nice to have this diaper pail as it can properly contains the smell.

Coby Mini UV Sterilizer

Well, this is more like a necessity now that we are in this pandemic. Been eyeing on UV sterilizer, as back then we only relied on steam sterilizer. I like Coby Mini size and the price is affordable too. So why not?

Graco Pack N Play Playard – Baby Travel Cot

During baby number 1, we used a hand-me-down cot, and later when she had outgrown it, I passed the cot and accessories to others. So we definitely need this, and this time around I decided on a travel cot. I don’t think it’s hygienic enough now in this pandemic to borrow the cot when we need to stay at hotels (don’t even think we’ll get to travel much), so having our own travel cot is convenient and safe enough. And don’t you think it’s cute? It’s cute, say it.

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Well, that’s about it! Anything else that I should add into the shopping list? 😉

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Week 20

Alhamdulillah, we are now half way through the pregnancy 🙂 It has been an almost smooth sailing journey so far (I say almost since I do experience occasional nausea, other than that I’m totally fine).

Surprisingly, I haven’t gain any weight yet, probably because I started this pregnancy with being overweight lol. Weight has been stagnant at around 60-61kg throughout this 5 months, so I’m just hoping to stay that way, or potentially lose some weight in a healthy manner. I’ve been trying to eat better (since I got GDM) and I’ve been trying to stay active on daily basis by brisk walking.

Btw, I’m enjoying my skin and my hair now. Hair’s more luscious and thicker, skin has that healthy glow to it without much effort. #win

Bismillah for the second half of this pregnancy. Please keep me in your prayers, ya 🙂

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It’s A Boy!

We just got back from the gynae and we found out the sex of the baby today, alhamdulillah!

Which means that I can start shopping…

Anyways, we brought AJ to the checkup today since she was so excited to see the baby on scan. She has been asking me how the scan machine looks like, how the doctor scans the baby etc. She’s also scheduled for her annual influenza vaccination, so I just double booked for my gynae appointment and her pediatrician appointment in Columbia Asia Hospital Bintulu. We had a very fruitful afternoon, we were in and out of the hospital in less than 1 hour!

(Actually, AJ was nagging at her doctor to speed things up because she can’t wait to scan the baby so we were in an out of the paed’s office in less than 5 minutes lol)

Once we were in the gynae’s office, AJ was so chatty and asking a lot of questions that I can’t even hear the doctor properly! She was just so over excited and telling the doctor that she was hoping for a baby sister and she was nervous to find out the sex, and she thought the baby looks like a pear in the scan, yada yada yada omg it was chaotic! But luckily our gynae was so patience, and entertained all her questions.

When she found out that she’s having a brother, she was just equally excited, so I know she’s just excited to have a sibling. And I’m elated too that alhamdulillah I’m having a pair now, and glad that baby is healthy (that’s the most important thing). My husband on the other hand was still confused because he didn’t ‘see’ it from the scan lol. It’s okay B, hopefully you can be assured during the next checkup hehe…

But I’m glad I brought AJ along for this checkup. It was nice to see how confident she was when communicating to the doctors, and I can already see that she’s going to be a protective, big sister, insyaAllah.

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