Confinement Crisis

So im at my mom's to cont on my confinement period of 44 days which feels like a life sentence at the moment. I had seen my mom's hitler ways when my sister was in confinement- often rendering the latter to tears. She wasn't allowed to eat anything!! ok fine she was allowed the basic three meals a day n a hot drink for tea n supper. But that's it!! like even her water intake was rationed coz apparently drinking too much water will make u all bloated n fat- my mom's worst nightmare. So prior to coming here I was super scared I would face the same fate coz really- food is like air to me. 3 basic meals a day is as good as the death sentence.

The lactation expert at the hospital had explained to me the needs of a breastfeeding mom and that included 6 meals a day. Including a high calorie tea time. She specifically mentioned cake- all sorts of cake. I wish my mom was there to listen to all that. But I was adamant to eat well n eat enuf coz I'm planning to bfeed my baby for as long as I can. Cut a long story short- i got my cake(s). Cheese cake, chocolate cake, white cake u name it. And cream puffs too!! My sister is all bitter and jealous coz my mom clearly loves me more since she's feeding me more.

I'm still pretty much living on 3 hours of sleep a day. Nuha has established a routine of waking up 4 times for feeding. She'll be up at 12am- 2am- 4am and 6am. What's difficult for me is getting her back to sleep after feeding. If im lucky (hardly ever) she will fall right back to sleep after being burped. But most times she will insist on being carried and coddled till she falls back to slumber- often times this will take anything between one to two hours. I cant wait for her to grow into the 'sleep-thru-the-night' stage.

That aside- I am enjoying motherhood tremendously. Nothing feels better then to feel her fat cheeks against mine and her baby mouth is just incredibly luscious i cant stop kissing them! She turned one month old 3 days and I cannot wait for my confinement period to be over in two weeks time.

On another note- We celebrated our anniversary a day after Nuha turned one! But since I couldnt go out yet we made do with takeaway from Tony Roma's instead. I cant wait to go out for real!!! One week two days to go!! weehoooo!!

The stork has arrived!!

And baby has arrived!!! Oh mai god i have so much to tell!! I was at my inlaws for 2 weeks right after i delivered and there isnt any internet connection there and of course i could not go out- tho i did guilt trip hubs into taking me out for a spin arnd the neighbourhood.

So how has giving birth changed my view on life? I now worship the ground my mom walks on. Seriously guys- whoever said giving birth is a beautiful thing should eat their foot. But I am very thankful (Alhamdulillah) that my painful contractions only lasted a mere 4 hours- i say mere because i have heard so many cases where the mummy endures 10 and sometimes even 24 hours of extreme pain.

So here's what happened. On Sept friday 21st while being home alone (I was working from home the last few weeks of my pregnancy) i felt a bit off. I wasnt in pain or anything but i just didnt feel right. Called hubs and he asked me to call the doctor for advice since I was 2 days away from my due date. Called the doctor at 12pm n he asked us to come in at 2]
\ for a check up. I later found out that after receiving my call hubs lost his appetite for lunch to nerves n went without.

Went to the hospital and the doc said i wasnt dilated yet but he sent us up to the delivery room anyway to check and c if i was having any contractions yet. Apparently i was- 10 mins apart. But i wasnt feeling any pain at all at that moment. He asked if I had eaten n i said yes and he wanted to admit me straightaway. I asked if I could leave for a bit n come back later to be admitted n he asked y. I said i wanted to get a bite to eat 1st. He looked at me like I was talking gibberish- Hello doc. Goodness knows when I will be able to eat again so lemme go ok. He told me i could go down to the cafe for a bite to eat- we ended up at McD's whr I had their samurai burger n my last iced fizzy drink. 'Twas heaven in a cup. Then i insisted hubs stop by BSC n i ran in to grab some stuff from body shop coz the nx time i step into a shop would be 2 months later n i dont kno if body shop will still b operating by then n i was out of face scrub- of course i grabbed more then just a face scrub. I swear their vitamin c range is the best!!

Went back to the hosp n was properly admitted and tagged n was forced to wear that hideous tissue paper gown with strings at the back that show flashes of ur naked butt when u walk. It was about 6pm then. And the waiting began... Hubs n i talked.. then got bored looking at one another so i read the book i brought while he buried his nose into his phone then went down n bought a football magazine or something. We tried sleeping for a bit. Poor hubs had to make do with sleeping on super uncomfy single seater chairs.

At midnight the nurse came in and inserted the pill to induce delivery. And we waited sumore.. I walked out of the room at 2am coz I was bored outta my mind- consciously pulling at the back of my ugly gown to make sure I wasnt flashing anyone. Then I heard screams of agony coming from one of the rooms close to mine. That was enuf to send me scuttling back to my own room n shutting the door tight.

At 630am another nurse came in to check on my dilation- 2cm (only!!). I had been there 12 hours n i was only 2cm dilated!!- again i was thankful that i wasnt in any pain. By now my contractions were 5mins apart. As soon as the nurse left I felt a kind of bubbling in my tummy then felt a whoosh of water between my legs. My water had broken. Hubs n i got all excited for abt 3 mins then the pain started. Omg the pain was so baddddd!! I immediately requested 4 painkillers having been briefed of our pain management options earlier. Hubs actually asked me to wait. I was ready to punch his nose when he put the nurse call button out of my reach. Thank goodness the nurse came in to check on me just in time. I told her i wanted painkillers n hubs kept shaking his head to the nurse saying not yet not yet. I swear if I wasnt in excruciating pain our daughter's first view of her father would be one with a blackeye.

The nurse was smart enuf to administer the painkiller anyway despite hubs' protests. I guess she knew better then to mess with a women in labor. Got two jabs on my butt n was pretty sleepy n drowsy fr that point on. Mama arrived shortly after (hubs, moms n mils r allowed in delivery room) but i was pretty much out of it by then. I downed one kampung chicken egg togather with a bit or oil in a cup after my water broke- a tip passed down fr my mil to ease delivery n i vaguely rmmber both mama n hubs asking me to drink sumtin thru a straw that was either 'air selusuh' or 'air akar kacip fatimah'. I was too drowsy to care what it was but sipped it anyway.

At 10am i was sure baby was ready to see the world. My mom called the nurse to check on me but she had her panties in a twist and was really bitchy insisting that it wasnt time yet coz the doc predicted i would deliver my baby at noon. At this point my body was in autopilot mode- pushing the baby out against my will. My mom went into hulk mode and insisted they check on me anyway. A glance at my nether region sent the nurses in a flurry and there were shouts and screams calling for the doctor to come quick and for twisted panties to hurry her little butt pls (by a senior staff nurse)!! Of course i was too drugged out to gloat.

The doctor materialised out of thin air and everything happened so fast. They dropped the bottom half of the bed I was on and fixed my feet on the stirups and all the while my head was lolling to one side and my eyes refused to open- all i wanted to do was sleep. I heard hubs and the doctor asking me to open my eyes and to be awake coz baby was coming. They were telling me stuff like when im spose to push and when to take a breather- I was barely listening. Then all of a sudden both nurses, the doctor and hubs started cheering me on to push like i was running the olympic. It was overwhelming really. I pushed till i felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out of its sockets- literally. After three eye popping pushes, baby was out! The doctor placed her in my limp arms n I couldnt even hold her coz i was so worn out not to mention super drugged still.

They took her away to get cleaned while the doctor stitched me up- without any painkillers or anesthetic mind u. He lied and told me he had already given me some. tipu!

Im blogging now with a sleeping baby by my side looking all contented and cute. She came out looking exactly like me for about 10 hours, then she started taking after my husband. Now two weeks later- the only part of her that looks like me are her lips and double chin. The rest is all hubs. Oh well, at least i got a girl like i wanted so i guess it's fair that she takes after her dad.

I'm in my confinement period now and I cannot decide which is worst- the actual delivery or this. I long to go out and eat real food. I have another month to go. Pray I get thru this ok?

Baby kisses from Sharifah Nuha Alanna :)