Counting the days..

36 weeks + 1 day today..

1. Having trouble sleeping at night: need to constantly change sleeping position, and wake up at least twice each night to pee. Fingers will be stiff and I wont be able to make into a fist when I wake up in the middle of the night.

2. Have bought all the baby stuff that I need-unlike my first pregnancy when the delivery was so unexpected and I didn't even manage to pack my delivery bag prior to delivery.

3. Still having guilty thoughts: whether I will still have enough time to spend with Aniq when the baby is around...

4. Breastpump is still at the service centre. Should be ready by tomorrow or day after.

5. Physiotherapy appt will be tomorrow

6. Hidung merah + kembang as always

7. Doing the fetal kick chart on my iphone.

8. Reciting the Quran and listening to Quran verses of Surah Maryam, Luqman and Yusof in the car while driving.

9. Praying often that I will have a safe and uneventful delivery..

My mum in law reminded me last night -'Bila dah dekat hujung-hujung ni kena byk bersabar..'

Yes, as I am experiencing most of my pregnancy symptoms for the first time, I do need a lot of patience till my day of delivery. After that, will be a whole different experience altogether..

Comeback

Dear blog,

Sorry for the long hiatus.

They are just so many things to blog about, but just to warm things up, I shall summarize the recents events that have happened in my life.

In short, here are some updates about me:

1. I am now 35 weeks pregnant. (Wow, that was how long I left this blog)

2. Am officially out from the on-call roster. (Fiuuh..finally!)

3. Current pregnancy symptoms that I'm suffering from now:

- carpal tunnel syndrome: numbness of both of my hands, worse at night, which disturbs my sleep...Am now doing physiotherapy for this

- leg cramps: although it is less now

- backache

- breathless when walking from the carpark to the clinic, where I am in charge at currently

And of course, I have to update about my precious son, the soon-to-be big brother...

1. He is becoming more attached to my husband and I, as though he knows that the baby is coming soon..

2. He enjoys playing in his cot -unlike before

3. Getting smarter and smarter by the day

4. Able to walk up the stairs, with one hand on the wall to support himself

5. Obsessed with balls-soccer ball, beach ball, etc: enjoys kicking it, throwing it, and shout 'Goaaaall!'

6. Favourite activity: bathing in his bathtub, playing with the iPad: specifically, going through the flashcards, apps which involve colouring, and of course surfing Youtube

7. Favourite YouTube videos: Videos of his own self, upin dan ipin, abc phonics song 2

8. Gets excited when he goes to Tesco and starts to run around, and identifying objects there

9. Increasing vocabulary: our last count was 80 words

10. Wants everything to be in order:

e.g:

- will say 'Tutup' after he finishes his milk: asking us to put back the cover, and when we are driving out from the house: asking us to close the gate

- will keep his toys back to its original place after he's done with them

- will switch off the tv and fan when he is out from the living room

11. Enjoys seeing baby photos

Here are some pictures to share...

At Hero with his favourite cousins..

Family photo on Raya Haji..

Am greeted with this everytime I come back from work..

Aniq with Mama..

Had to give him to play with my stets that day: desperate measures, ran out of toys/books in the car..

That's all for now..

New toy

Last week, I rewarded myself with a brand new handphoneand I’m loving it to bits!

As my son is so fond of gadgets nowadays, my handphone has always been one of his favourite toys. I guess that I was how the monitor of my old handphone got damaged: due to constant throwing and dropping.

The safest option was actually to buy a cheap handphone, it view of the ‘violent’ user that I have at home (and not to mention, myself!), but the new iphone4 was just to hard to resist.

When I went to Digital Mall last week to find as suitable cover for my new phone, I asked one of the sales person there for his opinion.

‘ Yang mana cover atau casing bagus untuk bagi handphone tak rosak kalau anak anak saya main?’

He then gave me a look.

‘ Aiiyyaa…Senang saja. Iphone mana boleh kasi anak main..’

I then found my answer. I just can’t be too kind to my son and allow him to play with every single thing that I own..I have been sort of successful so far..

Anyway, back to my iphone..

It has been my savior for a few occasions this past one week:

1. Used it to review my script that was sent to me via email by my partner, when I was rehearsing for the Allergy Seminar, as I didn’t have a functioning printer at home.

2. Used it as a translator as the script was in Malay and we had difficulty to translate a few English words.

3. Used it a camera, when I saw interesting clinical signs at work.

4. Used it as a torchlight to view the fusebox when I house was blacked out today.

I initially couldn’t decide whether I should sign up for the 1 year of 2 year contract, but now, I don’t think I will ever be tired of this phone..:)

MVA at NKVE

I was driving to work on Thursday when I saw smoke coming from the other side of the lane. I initially thought it was some open burning going on at one of the nearby residential areas.

As I was approaching the spot, I then realized that it was a lorry burning into flames. The scary part was that, I witnessed and heard small explosions come from the crashed lorry. The fire truck was nowhere in sight and some police officer have already stopped the traffic which was coming from the KL. Some drivers were out from their cars, observing the fire, while some were busy taking photos/videos.

I sped right past the scene of the accident, hoping that the lorry won't explode further. Who knows that the lorry was carrying flammable agents? Even while driving at least 100km/hour I could still feel the heat coming from lorry on my right arm. While I was almost approaching the Sungai Buloh exit I then saw the fire truck zooming by.

I wonder what happened to the lorry driver. Hope he manage to escape in time.

Stets from US

I've been doing online shopping for the past two years. It all started when I was looking for DHA supplements, ie Neurogain when I was pregnant back in 2009. Surprisingly it was not easily available at local pharmacies, and hence I had to order it online. Since then, I began to trust websites that offer online purchasing and delivering.

Subsequently, I began ordering clothes and mostly shawls. I enjoyed the thrill, suspense and surprise after receiving each parcel. It was like getting a gift from someone, only that I had to pay for it myself! So far I have been lucky with all my purchases..

You see, I have been hunting for a Raspberry Coloured Littmann Paediatric Stethoscope for the past few months. I have enquired from Kamal Bookstore, University Bookstore and various other medical bookstores that I know, but all of them did not have what I wanted. They only have stethoscopes in black and red. I even looked up the official Littmann website and called up the official distributor for Klang Valley. From what was told to me, the colour that I wanted is not available in Malaysia.

Hence, I started looking for an overseas company that had the exact stethoscope that I wanted, at a resonable price, which could ship it to Malaysia. I then found a website called IP Mart, which had what I wanted. I closed one eye (or maybe even both eyes!), made a few clicks here and there, and I was done. Yes, I was aware of the high shipping cost, but the desire that I had for that particular stethoscope was just too strong. The price of it is equivalent to 5 hours of locum in ED..More reasons for me to continue doing locum..

After 2 weeks, I finally got what I wanted and I was definitely satisfied with my purchase!

My most expensive online purchase so far, but definitely worth it! :)

PD Trip

After weeks of waiting, we finally get to spend our free hotel stay voucher..just one week before it's expiry date. In view of our busy schedule, our holiday getaway had to be postponed numerous times. With the limited number of mutual free days that we had, the task was made more difficult as Corus Paradise Hotel seemed to be fully booked on most days. As we are only entitled to use the voucher on a weekday, we decided to head to PD on a Sunday..At least I get to save my leave..

We gave Aniq a bottle of milk just before we left and he slept the whole way...Good boy!

After putting our luggage in the room, we decided not to waste any time and headed straight to the nearby stalls to look for Durian. A must-stop everytime we visit PD.

We decided that it was time that Aniq had his first taste of Durian. He just took it in and did not even make a face. That's my boy!

We then headed back to the hotel and decided that the weather was just nice for us to spend some time by the beach. The great thing about Corus Paradise Hotel is that it has a private beach, and a small cove. At the time that we went, we were the only ones by the beach..so tak payah la nak kena control2 sangat..

First time touching sand....

Another thing that we had planned to do was to make sandcastles by the beach. I bought a sandcastle making set from Penang, and I was excited to try it. Aniq was too young to appreciate it, but he did have fun playing with the spade and banging the utensils together...

We wanted to sit in the shade, so my husband had to make more then ten trips to the beach side just to get wet sand for us to build sandcastles. Haha. parents pulak yang seronok.

As Aniq was still all excited, we decided to bring him for a swim in the pool. After washing off all the sand, we wore him his new pair of swimming outfit and Splash!

We didn't spend so long in the pool, coz he had a fever after his first swim a few months ago..Didn't want history to repeat itself..

We had early dinner that day, and after feeding Aniq with porridge and a bottle of milk he immediately slept..He must have been so exhausted..At least, Husband and I get to spend some time on our own at dinnertime..

At Barakah Seafood Restaurant. Fast service and excellent food.

The following day we spent most of the time in the room since we have done everything on the first day...

While having breakfast that morning...

Ocean view from our room

It was a truly wonderful holiday..A chance to spend quality time together and it was also fun taking care of our baby on our own without any help from the maid..:)

Thank u NST and Corus Paradise Hotel, for our partially sponsored holiday!

Aniq's first word

There are just so many new things that Aniq could do now, and I can't manage to get everything on video or even camera. Especially when now he is so into gadgets. As soon as I pull my camera out, he'll try to grab the camera off me.

He is starting to babble now, although his most frequent syllables are 'AAAahhh' and 'Eeeehhh'.

When I came back from my 4-day Perinatal Congress in Penang last week, there were just so many new things that he could do. He could even initiate Peek-A-Boo with me!

Anyway, I managed to get a recording of him saying his first word a few days ago.

Papa is not something significant for now coz he needs to learn to say 'Ayah'..Don't know how long I've to wait till he says Mama...

Smooch!

One of Aniq's daily routine is to go out for a stroll down the road, just before his dinner. The maids from the nearby household would meet up and I'm sure that is something that they look forward to everyday.

My maid is so proud of my son, coz it seems that everybody will comment on how cute Aniq is when she parades him down the road...

You see, our neighbour has a daughter called Fatin, who is about 4 months younger than Aniq, and she owns a stroller which is exactly the same as ours. Just that it's red in colour.

And yesterday, my maid showed me this...

.

.

.

.

Owh no..my son's a big boy now..And this is what he has been doing behind my back!

Aniq Sipping Green Apple Kasturi

One of the treasured memories of an infant is when he has his first taste of food.

Here was Aniq's reaction when he had his very first taste of a very sour drink. Classic!

V - Day

How I spent my Valentine's Day:

1. Left a valentine's day card on the study table for my husband. He was truly surprised!

2. Went to work as usual. A very busy day, even had no time for lunch.

3. Came home and had chicken soup with Macaroni: lunch cum dinner

4. Went out to have Durian by the roadside with husband for dessert. Something that we had planned for ages. Aniq tinggal kat rumah. Felt that he is a bit too young to have his first taste of Durian..


------------------------------------------

Happy Valentine's Day to everybody that I love out there...

Aniq's first debut

I was over the moon on Thursday coz I won the Best Holiday competition organized by Travel Times NST. Not only that, the photo was featured in the newspaper that day and we won a one night's stay at Corus Paradise, Port Dickson! Well, if given a choice, I would definitely prefer a much better hotels like Avillion, Legend or Thistle, but since I won a free holiday and a chance to travel again with my family, I am not going to complain!

My son is so lucky to be in the papers at such a young age. Something exciting to tell him once he's older.

Looking forward to our next family trip!

House Rules

I haven't read a storybook in ages. The last storybook that I've read was probably Twilight, but I stopped reading it halfway coz I found it a chore trying to finish it. (My sis would kill me when she reads this.) Guess I'm not a fan of fictions.

Surprisingly I managed to read this book from cover to cover. Reasons being:

1. It tells about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, on how his family cope with his disease and how he was convicted with murder. I find it interesting to read about a medical illness, probably because of my job.

2. I was relating the main character with my brother, who also was diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome many years ago. I'm grateful that my brother's symptoms are not as full blown as Jacob, the boy from the book.

3. I felt that what his family go through everyday could happen to anybody. It is interesting to look into how unfortunate ppl go through their everyday lives.

4. I liked how Jodi Picoult outlined story. How each situation was perceived, from the eye of a parent, a sibling and the person with Asperger's.

4. I just wanted to get away from medical books, for a change.

I found it difficult to put the book down, especially from the middle part till the end. However, the ending was rather a disappointment. I won't reveal any spoilers here.

I would recommend this book for others to read. Although I must warn you that you may get overboard with the description of Aspergers Syndrome, which are being mentioned again and again in almost all the chapters. Jodi Picoult truly did her research on this topic.

;(

I haven't really been myself lately..

Alif's death has effected me much more that I have thought. I could just feel my tears whenever I think about it, even though it has been days after his death. Not only that I felt that I have lost a friend, but I just feel sad thinking about his parents and siblings. How it feels like having to just lost a son and brother. Sigh..

To make things worse, my brother has just left to UK and my sister will heading of to Australia next week.

Seems like everybody is leaving...

Not only that, I feel that I have to drag myself to work nowadays..

Probably coz I just feel so exhausted..

Anyway, the good thing is that I will be on leave the next 5 days. Hooray for me!

I shall spend this next few days wisely..

Goodbye, Ashburn..

I just lost a friend today. Permanently.

We have known each other for the past 20 years probably. But we got to know each other better since we were both in the same class from 1995-1999.

He was probably one of my closest guy friends. Probably because we had a few things in common. Us being neighbours, having the same group of friends, being in the same school, among other things.

Here are some of wonderful memories that I had of him:

1. I would make a point to visit his house every year for Hari Raya and we could spend hours talking, while munching on his sister's yummy homemade biscuits.

2. I remember him as being the organizer for many of our primary school reunions. He would find out when would be the best day and place for us to meet up and he would take the extra mile to inform everybody about it. Without him, probably the bond among us, ex-Raja Muda (s) won't be this strong.

3. A few weeks before my wedding reception, he volunteered to announce the great news to everybody as I was just too busy to do so. He emailed everybody that we both knew.

4. He was the official photographer for my 'majlis khatam quran' a week before my wedding day. The photos that he took turned out to be fantastic.

5. As for my wedding gift, he framed a portrait of myself: one of the best photos that he took on that day.

6. The last time that I had a chat with him was end of 2009, when he was the official photographer for my sister in law's solemnisation ceremony at Kelana Jaya.

7. The last news that I heard about him was about his engagement. I just couldn't believe it when I first heard the news from my cousin. I went to facebook to check and turned out it was true. I regretted not having to sms him at that time to congratulate him.

8. The last time I saw him was when he was in bed a few days before his death. With the amount of medications that was running through him, with him being ventilated and sedated and watching his vital signs fluctuating on his monitor, i just knew that he had a slim chance of surviving. Despite that, there was tiny voice inside me telling that there is still the slight possibility that he'll make it. Sadly he didn't..

Alif, I will treasure all our fond memories together and you will always be in my prayers.

Al -fatihah..

1/1/11

A new year, A new beginning..

What I did on new year's eve, despite it being a public holiday..

On 31st December 2010:

1. Was post-call, so was stuck in NICU until 10 am..

2. Also had one death in NICU at 9 am that morning. Sigh..thought that the baby would have survived at least for another day. I was up all night taking after the baby...

3. Reached home at about 11 am and slept until 5pm. (i didn't sleep the whole night, okay!)

4. Woke up, had lunch, played with Aniq and filled up part of Aniq's scrapbook..

5. Had dinner at 8pm, and went to Subang Parade.

6. Bought 3 sleepsuits and a cloth book for Aniq at Mothercare. Mum bought a pint of World Class Chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins. 31% off okay!

7. Headed home, and put Aniq to sleep at 11pm.

8. 12 MDN: Zzzzzzz

On 1st January 2011:

1. Husband came home at 3am, and had some Famous Amos cookies with him.

2. Aniq woke us up at 9.30am

3. Had breakfast-nasi ayam kukus that my father in law bought somewhere from TTDI the day before.

4. Went to Adam's wedding at the Shah Alam library with Aniq.

5. Uploaded photos from my camera to iphotos.

Here are some of the photos..

Congratulations, Adam! Am truly happy for you..

Aniq's first visit to the museum

Happy new year everybody!

'Look, I can now sit on my own!'