Pregnancy experiences - before, during & after

How long was it before you found out you got pregnant?
~ We tried for 3 months


Can you tell (6th sense) when you got pregnant?
~ Yup. Was a few days late with period and sort of felt there's something different this round.


How do you confirm it?
~ Buying the pregnancy test kit was quite tough... so shy and had to hide it from other people in case it turns out negative.


What was daddy's reaction?
~ "Oooooo.. I'm gonna be a daddy!!!"


Gynae: How & reasons for choosing?
~ Ask around friends for good referrals. (*note: Thanks to Siew Choo & Wei Yun for their advice)

• 1st was a Chinese lady gynae at Tmn Desa Medical Centre. Changed after 3 months due to personal reasons.


• 2nd was an Indian male gynae with his own clinic in Subang (he was attached with SJMC). Changed on 7th month onwards as giving birth at SJMC is very expensive, be it natural or C-section.


• 3rd was a Malay male gynae at Putrajaya hospital.

Preparation during pregnancy?
~ Buy books on pregnancy, surf the Net for info & guides, ask around friends, go for monthly check-ups, sign up & attended an ante-natal class (very very good!), eat more healthy foods (yes, I do go for Wendy's & McDonalds when the mood strikes), use the BabyPlus gadget borrowed from Siew Choo (hopefully it helps Benjamin! :P), sort out the baby stuff given/lend by friends & relatives


Any pantang?
~ Err... actually broke some... things like:

• Don't tell people you are pregnant until like the 3rd month (I actually told my brother, in-laws, best friend & close friends at work as soon as I meet them hahahaha...


• Don't eat crabs (your child will end up with very 'active' hands like crabs!)


• Don't move the things in your bedroom (we actually moved our master bed on the very day I started having contractions!)


• Don't sew things when you are pregnant (I had to sew my bag cos the coin pouch part tore off and my handphone got stuck in the hidden layer in the bag)

Perks for being pregnant?
~ Not much, occasionally cars will stop to allow you to cross roads, the rice portion is more when you go tapau for lunch, your food will come faster than normal, can eat alot and not worry about people saying you are fat (cos you are already way past fat :P), but I don't recall people offering me their seats when I took the LRT though...


Things that bums you out when you are pregnant?
~ Not much choices in terms of office wear (unless you are rich and willing to spend money to buy fashionable maternity wear - which I don't cos its only for 9 months & my sis in laws are giving me theirs), having to carry extra 11kg around, not able to eat alot of junk foods, not able to see below your tummy once you hit 7th month pregnancy, getting leg cramps while sleeping at night (thank God I had this twice only throughout the 9 months!), needing to rest and pee alot.


Confinement preparation?
~ Was supposed to get a confinement lady to help out in the 1st month after delivery but 2 weeks before I delivered, the confinement lady broke her leg during a trip to Bali (imagine how irresponsible of her to go for a trip right before my due date!) - anyhow, ended up DIY the confinement ourselves, which turns out great really... cos David gets to bath Ben & care for him while I rested, mum in law will cook & boiled red dates drinks and we saved RM3.3K for not hiring the confinement lady! :)


Place to give birth? Reasons for choosing?
~ Putrajaya Hospital. Reasons: recommended by close friend (*thanks Siew Choo!), cheaper (we took the Full Paying Patient scheme which means we can jump queue during check-ups, we get to choose our gynae, I stayed at VIP executive room but all this are still cheaper than SJMC), semi-private hospital, pro-natural delivery, very pro breastfeeding.


Worries before delivery?
~ When will it happen? How will I know this is IT? Will I be ready for it? Is my water bag going to burst right in the public? What if I had contractions at office? All sorts of questions in my mind... and to think by 9 months Benjaimin has yet to engaged and locked himself is quite worrying although he has already turned head down.


How do you know this is IT? (the time to deliver laaa...)
~ It was on 3rd March 2009, well, I don't actually know it until late at night. Wasn't even aware I had started my contractions until I asked my close friend & sister in law why am I having period pains every 15 minutes... :P


Natural or C-section?
~ Natural. Thank God cos the morning itself, we had our gynae checkup and the doc was telling us my amniotic fluid is very little, he proposed to admit me ASAP & start to induce the labour (6 hours each pill, after 12 hours if Ben is still not engaged, doc will perform a C-sect on me). Doc told us to think about it cos the max he gives me is 1 week to come back on which he will definitely C-sect me already by then. Thank God we didn't say yes immediately, we went home, discuss and think about it, move the bed around to make space for baby crib, then I started having contractions in the afternoon (which I don't even know until 9pm that day). We were actually preparing to admit myself to hospital at night thinking maybe I can sleep through the 12 hours on the inducing pill. Praise God, I had my contractions and delivered Benjamin naturally on 4th March at 4.30am.


Any pain relief options?
~ Wanted to get the pethidine but not able to locate my gynae at that time and when the gynae came it was already too late to use it (plus risky since cannot monitor Ben's heart rate) so ended up relying on the Entonox (laughing gas) and Benjamin was out in 4 pushes (in which 1st push was wasted screaming with all my might...!!)


Experience after baby was out?
~ Ben shot out real fast like a slippery fish at the 4th push, I just felt something shot out from my body and right after that, my tummy just went lighter (though it still looks like a 6 months bump)


Breastfeed or formula?
~ BREASTFEED! Nothing can beat the benefits breastfeeding gave for the mum, baby & daddy! :)


God's wonders in this pregnancy?
~ I do not have any morning sickness at all, able to wolf down tons of food (oh, the 3 times a week meal at Wendy's, having 2 sets of McD meal sets), very very fast natural delivery (and doc saying I lose very little blood only!!)


Advice for other mother-to-be?
~ Start taking folic acid if you plan to conceive, eat healthily throughout pregnancy, stay away from cigarettes smoke & alcohol, read up all you can on pregnancy & babycare, sign up for ante-natal classes, go for breastfeeding, if possible try your best to go for natural delivery, pray for God's protection throughout pregnancy & during delivery.