The one with THE STORY BEHIND MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

Today I celebrated my 27th birthday! Alhamdulillah. 

Well actually by the time you read this, it would be the day after. But whatevs. 

Despite feeling super old,

(gone were those days when people would address me as 'dik', now it's "kak" or "puan")

*I CRY*

 I had a blast spending the whole day at Pavillion with my Mum, Min, Ria (my sister Iris had school), Zara, Zuzu (my nieces) & of course, my beloved Ariana.

So when it comes to presents for me, Mel doesn't trust his taste. Maybe because we're total opposites. Mel likes classic things, and I like weird/unique/LOUD/ things. (Like my sunny side up bag which he still doesn't get!) 

Hence, he decided a few years back to just give me a budget and I'll just pick something for myself. (Thank God! teehee. Just kiddin' Sayang! But not really.) 

When buying expensive or high end-ish items, I take a really really long time to make a decision, just to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.

 

(Well, Mel's money's worth. hewhew) 

And so I jalan here and there, go to various stores, jalan jalan lagi and go back to those stores, and go in and out and it can take FOREVER. Seriously, whoever came up with the "Shopping is My Cardio" saying is speaking the TRUTH! 

Penat weh. 

Moving on to the point of this post. After an entire day at Pavillion, I finally picked out my present. 

TADAAA!

My happy/satisfied face. 

Why this bag? From this store? Out of all stores? 

(I know you tak tanya pun, but I'll tell you why anyway.)

You know how sometimes you walk in these high end stores and the sales person looks at you one kind? Like "eh kau mampu ke shop sini?" kind of look? Ala-ala Pretty Woman shopping scene tu?

WELL, I got THAT LOOK a lot today. 

Yelah tengah juggle tolak stroller, carry barang and layan crying/noisy babies. Maklumlah, my tudung dah senget, my baju has saliva on it, and my seluar dah kena chocolate, so it doesn't really scream FABULOSITY. 

But this sales rep at Tory Burch Pavillion ( Darn it, I didn't get his name!) was so nice from the moment I walked in the store DESPITE all that! 

He keluarkan all kinds of bags, purses of every color for me, everything I asked for. He took it all out, laid it in front of me. He placed back all the ones I wasn't interested in without shooting an annoyed look (I wouldn't blame him though, I was so indecisive! haha). 

On top of that, Ariana and Zara were jumping and playing around, but still not a single nasty look from him. 

(Above picture) Decision making with one of my mini consultants. 

(Above picture) Mini consultant yang ni kena potong gaji sebab syok sendiri.

(Above picture) Stealing my thunder.

So in the end it was down to 2 stores. Both had equally nice bags, with the same price, but HE was the tie breaker. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, it pays off being nice to people.

Hihi. 

Like Ellen always says, be kind to others yo! 

Best, 

D.

 

 

The one with DIFFERENT PLANS.

We plan, but Allah S.W.T is the best of planners. 

There is a saying that I strongly hold which goes "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." 

I bring an umbrella in my handbag hoping it doesn't rain, but prepared if it does. I bring 2  diapers every time I go out with Ariana hoping the first doesn't rip and am left with none (has happened before), but prepared if it does. 

But I wasn't prepared this time. 

I thought I was, I asked everyone I knew of their experiences having gone through D&C procedures. Mostly all of them said the same thing. It's a 30 minute procedure, under general anesthesia, will take a few hours to recover in the daycare ward of the hospital and you can go home. Lalala. But there were different plans laid out for me.

It's 8 days after the operation and I feel stronger physically & mentally, Alhamdulillah. So I've decided to share in a timeline form of what happened. 

Monday, 10 October

As I was preparing for my scheduled D&C the next morning, the hospital called. They informed me that there were some technical issues in their Operation Theatre and gave me 2 options. Either I find another hospital to do the D&C or wait for them to settle their issues on Saturday and do it then. As you can imagine, Mel and I were super bummed but we moved on and decided to find another hospital. We ended up choosing Az-Zahrah hospital and went for a check up that night. Alhamdulillah, boleh buat the D & C tomorrow as planned originally. 

 

Just keep swimming.

Tuesday, 11 October

Arrived at the hospital at 8:30 am, went to see the specialist to scan at 10:30 am and was warded at 10:45 am. Scheduled D&C at 2:30pm.

I was nervous, sad and scared. 

Mel solat and baca doa for me :') 

Mummy brought Ariana to see me :) 

*Praying someone comes up with nicer hospital gowns in the future.*

Here I am trying to hide under the covers before someone snaps a 

photo of me wearing THAT. 

But for the sake of this blog, I'll post it anyway. 

When they started to wheel me out, thats when sh*t got real. Beyond nervous and scared now. Zikir all the way but sempat imagine scenes in Grey's Anatomy. -____-

Mel could only go this far and that's when I got really scared. 

Met the anesthesiologist and the nurses whom all said "Takpe Puan, D&C je ni. Kejap je ni."

Aha. They were also umprepared haha.

Last thing I remember them saying was "Baca selawat ya Puan" and I was out. 

Woke up apparently 3 HOURS later. 

I remember being able to say three words over and over again. 

"COLD, HAUS, SAKIT"

The meds were still kicking in and I couldn't open my eyes but I managed to say these three things because that's exactly how I felt. 

I couldn't stop shivering, my throat felt so dry and I was confused why I felt SO MUCH PAIN. Like someone slashed my stomach. Which is NOT what I signed up for. 

 My mum and Mel's mum comforting me, though I had no idea at the time.

Excuse the poor censoring skills. 

Apparently the room was full of people, my family, Mel's family all praying for me but I was well...like that. 

Sedar tak sedar kind off phase, I can hear people talking but couldn't respond. 

Later that night when everybody left, I could finally open my eyes, to see Mel in front of me. I asked what happened and Mel explained in tears. So naturally, I cried too. He kept saying "Ujian kita memang besar kali ni tapi takpe asalkan you selamat" 

He told me he waited outside the Dewan Bersalin and was confused to why it was taking so long. An hour passed and finally the doctor came out and explained to him I had a complication and needed to be cut open and rushed back in the operating room to continue. 

From what I understand, that complication is caused by me having a 

condition called "endometriosis."

It's a condition resulting from the appearance of endometrial tissue outside the uterus and causing pelvic pain. 

Due to that, the doctors couldn't vacuum out everything that needed to be taken out. Hence, they cut open my lower abdomen to push everything out.

Something like that. 

I understood and was happy Mel and I had our moment together, we cried together and finally just fell asleep.

Wednesday 12th October 

Pain. Pain Pain.

Nurses came in at 5:00ish am to get me cleaned up since I couldn't move. 

I went in and out of sleep the whole day, the painkillers they were giving just didn't work. Every time I moved, it hurt. 

I was so happy when Ariana came. Although I couldn't hold her, I was still so happy she was there. Mel's family and my family were all there and I felt stronger in a sense. 

Doctor came in and explained to me what happened, she said we needed to wait a year before conceiving again. Those words felt like a punch in the gut, especially for Mel I'm sure but he masked the dissapointment and so did I. 

*Dang it, I ALMOST went through writing this whole post without crying.* 

Okay sambung balik. 

So I wanted to go home like NOW but the doctor said to wait till tomorrow. Boohoo. 

My family and Mel's family went back to leave just the three of us in the hospital. 

Ariana, Mel and I.

My poor babies sleeping on the hospital floor. 

Mel's parents took Ariana home and we went to bed. 

Thursday 13th October

Woke up determined to go back home today! 

Mel looked at me and said "Yang, we balik harini" I nodded confidently and we high-fived to it. Obviously I was still in pain. I could go to the bathroom with Mel's help and at a snails pace but things were looking up.  

Our plan was to show how strong I was to the nurses so we could go home faster. hihi. 

FINALLY GOT TO SHOWER PEOPLE. FROM TUESDAY...TUESDAY. 

Doctor came in to look at my stitch, she sprayed something on it and said I could be discharged after lunch. Alhamdulillah! 

Moving was a real struggle for me, Allah je tau the amount of pain I was feeling as the nurse wheeled me out to the car. The pain from the wheelchair to the car. From the car to my house. From the living room downstairs to my room upstairs. Allah je tau. 

And other c-sec patients I'm sure can relate. 

Super happy to be back, but felt a surge of emotion laying down in my room. Mel had gone to do some work stuff and I just felt so bad. He was rushing everywhere to balance his work, me and Ariana. 

Alone in my room, I broke down. Hard. 

I just didn't get it. Why it happened to me. I just kept saying its suppose to be a 30 minute procedure, I should be able to walk by myself and go home afterwards...now look at me.

I couldn't even get up from bed without help. 

On top of the pain, I felt useless, alone and so...menyusahkan to the people around me, 

to Mel especially.  

Not only does he work to make a living for us, he takes care of Ariana at night and she's not a deep sleeper. She'll wake up crying once or twice almost every night. In the morning, he wakes up makes sure I'm okay, makes sure I take my meds, makes Ariana's milk, gets ready for work, send Ariana to my in laws, picks her up when he comes back from work.

 And the day repeats. 

Jump 5 days to today, Thursday October 18

We're getting used to the pattern now. I don't cry not being able to carry Ariana anymore. haha.

I can move without help! Alhamdulillah so at least Mel can breathe a little easier. 

Pantang has been hard. Most probably because I'm almost always alone in my room so it gets boring and you know me and my thoughts. But I try to make the best of it now. Trying to be as productive as I can without over-doing it because the stitches still hurt! 

I have 8 days to go until my pantang ends and I just can't wait. 

Looking at the view of my desk right now, a sad reminder of what could have been stares me in the face but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. InsyaAllah it'll get better in time. 

I pray for everyone out there. 

May Allah ease the small and major troubles in your life. From the ones hidden from the world, to the very severe. May Allah bring comfort to us all. Amin. 

Thanks for reading. 

Love, 

DD

The one with NO HEARTBEAT (Part 1)

For those who haven't figured it out from the title, we sadly lost our baby on 6th October 2016. 

Al-Fatihah to my little angel.

As much as it pains me (obviously crying all over the keyboard) to write this when the wounds are still fresh, but I'd like to share what happened. Also cause I could never get through explaining the details in person without breaking down in tears.

It started like a normal day, I went out to get "healthy pregnancy snacks" because the nausea from this 2nd pregnancy was making me eat asam which Mel really hates. So we bought a lot of fruits, vegetables and salads for me to snack on instead. Later that day, Mel headed to Sabah for 4 days for work at 450 pm. 

I had a routine check up with a private clinic that night at 7:45pm and wished Mel could come because it was suppose to be an exciting night, the day we get to hear the baby's heartbeat. After Maghrib, I left Ariana in my family's care and went alone. My dad offered to teman but I told him it's just going to be a quick one, so I'll be okay. 

Everything was normal and I was feeling okay, playing Candy Crush while waiting for them to call my name. And once they did, I sat down with the doctor and we discussed how I was feeling. I told her this time around, the nausea is really bad compared to Ariana, where I basically had no morning sickness. But I told her it's bareable and I was OK. 

I laid down to get scanned and there the baby was! The doctor also got excited too and said "haa comelnya!" It really was, the little hands and feet have already started forming, and I was so happy! Then, my doctor started frowning and was looking for something. I was so happy I didn't take much of it until she started asking me scary questions. Like " Ada spotting tak? You ada bleeding ke recently? You last rasa mual-mual tu bila?" I answered no to the bleeding and the spotting and I actually couldn't remember when I last rasa mual. 

And she dropped the bomb, "Sebab by right kita dah boleh dengar jantung dia, and kalau you tengok kat monitor ni, jantung dia tak ada pun"  I thought to myself " Is she saying what I think she's saying" and got defensive. I said we heard Ariana's heartbeat at 11 weeks, maybe it's still too early. (I was 9 weeks 1 day at the time) She showed me another scan which shows red colours when there's bleeding. There was actually a bit of bleeding on the monitor, I saw it on the screen but I guess it just hasn't come out yet. And she pointed out that there should also be blood where the fetus was to show blood flow but there wasn't. It was just the shape of the baby. 

I know what she's trying to tell me but I didn't want to believe. She said that it's not my fault, it's not the husbands fault this happened, these things unfortunately just do happen. She continued to say she's sorry it happened to me and asked if she could call someone as I was there alone. By this time tears started streaming down, how could a check up that should have been a happy day for me, turn like this?

The doctor assured me, if I wanted a 2nd check up, to be completely sure, I can come next week with Mel. In the end, I just kept nodding because I just couldn't talk anymore. Outside the doctors office, there was a lot of people and I just didn't want to make a scene. I wiped my tears and held it together. They called my name to make payment and tears just started filling up as she handed me the last scan I'll ever see of my precious one. 

As soon as I was out the door, I broke down. I didn't even make it to the car to cry and scream. I called Mel right away and he picked up after a 3 tones waiting for exciting news and all I did was cry for a solid 3 minutes. He asked what happened over and over again and I couldn't talk, I tried to catch my breath, to calm down but i I couldn't for that 3 minutes. I managed to spit out " I lost the baby, I lost the baby" and he was just confused and asked "how?" Macam mana boleh jadi mcm ni?" and broke down as well. 

Eventually, we both calmed down and I explained to him what the doctor said. He apologized for not being able to be there with me and said he'll try to come back home as soon as he can and I ended the conversation by apologizing myself. The doctor warned me not to blame anyone for the miscarriage and I truly don't blame anyone, especially Mel who has been so amazingly supportive through out the whole pregnancy. But being the mother, the one who's carrying the baby, you can't help but to blame yourself, and so I did. 

After talking to Mel, I called my sister who was living in KL and she told me it was a mistake, and told me to get a 2nd opinion right away. I wish I could believe her, but I saw the scans myself, there was no heartbeat but I said okay anyway. In the car, I took a minute to calm down and started driving back home where I'll have to repeat this over again to my family. All the way back home I just kept saying "Sorry" "Mummy's so sorry" over and over until I reached home. Standing in front of the house door, I took another minute to compose myself and opened the door and walked in. My dad was napping on the couch, my sister was watching TV, and my mom and maid were just talking at the dinner table. My mom looked at me and asked how the appointment went. I managed to mumble " I lost the baby" and collapsed on the floor against the door and cried again. 

Later, they took care of Ariana so I could settle down in my room. At this time, I was having a horrible migraine, obviously from all the crying. Mel called to say he's taking the first flight back and we'll get a 2nd opinion straight away. I told him to tell his family because I just couldn't repeat myself again. I got ready for bed, and my youngest sister came to teman me sleep that night and suddenly my phone rang. It was Mels mum and I picked up the call outside and broke down again. Everybody was trying their best to comfort me, to support me, and I'm so grateful to have such a strong support system from both sides. Alhamdulillah.

I solat Isyak, prayed hard and went to bed. 

I woke up with the same horrible migraine which lasted the whole day. I picked Mel at the train station around 11. As soon as I saw him, I went out of the car, salam him and we hugged and cried together for a good 1 minute. I realized that everyone there was looking at us but I just couldn't care. We then decided to get a 2nd opinion at An Nur Clinic which is a womens specialist in Bangi. At the clinic, I would cry occasionally thinking about going through this again but I was much better with Mel by my side. Before we went in to see the doctor I told Mel to prepare himself. Long story short, the doctor confirmed the baby was no longer there, and the causes of it are unsure because 12%-15% of pregnancies will result in a miscarriage. She said they call it "OGK" which stands for, 'Only God Knows'. I was calm, proud of myself that I didn't break down and just accepted. We decided to schedule for a D & C on Tuesday morning and that was that. 

It's 2 days later and I do cry occasionally, we all terima by far the biggest ujian in my life, but it still hurts. My parents went through the same thing when we were living in New York. My mom was finally pregnant with a boy (I have 4 sisters) but sadly we lost him. My dad said he's not meant to have sons and he redha, and I have to as well. I do redha, it's just going to take time. InsyaAllah. Mel has been pushing me to go out, to clear my head, because once I'm alone, the thoughts start coming. The scenes in the clinic play repeatedly in my head. It repeats word from word of what actually happened but even worse, it sometimes repeats a different scene. A happy scene of me hearing the baby's heartbeat, calling Mel to say how healthy the baby is. 

 Writing this post has been emotional, Mel asked me to stop because it was making me so upset but I told him I somehow feel a bit of closure being able to share this. I know many have gone through this before, so here's my story. 

InsyaAllah we will still try again for our little rainbow baby, but now it's time to heal.

"You can't have a rainbow, without a little rain"

Love, DD

The one with ARIANA'S DELIVERY.

*have to get in my zone to remember all the details since 2 years ago*

Pre-Delivery

9 September 2014

HEAVILY PREGNANT. I capitalised and bold that because I was literally heavy. My last recorded weight before delivery was a whopping 82KG. 

My mom kept saying she gained a ton of weight when she was pregnant with me so its all normal and just in our genes( probably just trying to make me feel better) but gaining 25 KILOS IS JUST CRAY. SERIOUSLY. 

So we had the normal check up, we were 2 weeks away from the due date. Suddenly our doctor said the baby was big and she's scared if we wait for the actual date, the chances of me getting a c-section would be higher. So she proposed for me to be induced THAT VERY NIGHT.

*FIRST TIME PARENTS PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART* 

Obviously having no experience whatsoever, we were SCARED SHITLESS when the doctor dropped that bomb. The 'dream' or more precisely, 'the pressure' society puts on us mothers is to have a 'normal delivery'. Like "wah so hebat you normal delivery" blablabla (don't get me started, that's another story. haha) So we weren't too keen on the idea but who are we to go against the advice of the doctor? I mean, she studied YEARS to get to where she is and I've studied from google for like 9 months? So back home, we googled (again, lol) ways to "naturally" induce labour like eating super spicy food, exercising, dancing, but nothing worked. We redha and packed our bags, checked in PCMC to start the inducing.  

*PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN*

People forgot to mention THE PAIN of induced labour is said to be 10 times more painful than natural births (quoted by mothers who have experienced both) 

And honey, I believe them and wished I'd read about it sooner! 

So they broke my water bag (which hurts too btw) and I'm already induced and it's 12ish am? 

*sorry been 2 years*

The contractions started coming in, hard! Like every 5 minutes for just 2 seconds but it hurt! I'm gonna try my best to describe the pain. probably like if you're being stabbed in the lower abdomen repeatedly? Or something along those lines. You get my point. And every time the contractions hit, I stiffed up my body to numb the pain (didn't work) and we repeat this lovely process until 12 pm the next day. 12 PM THE NEXT DAY. The nurses came in every hour to check and propose I take an epidural because I'm too stressed and if I was too stressed, there's no way I'll open.  

INDUCED LABOUR PATTERN NO ONE WILL TELL YOU:  

1. Once you're induced, prepare for the pain.

2. Once the pain kicks in, prepare to be told to get an epidural. 

3. You need the epidural to stop the pain so you can relax. 

4. Because you wont open if you're not relaxed. 

5. So once they give you the epidural, you can finally sleep, rest and chill. 

6. Then you'll open.

After all that pain, I was still only 1cm open. Fer real. Like basically nothing happened la, and I gave in to the epidural and within 20 minutes, I was 4cm open. Although I was on epidural, I could still feel the pressure, which helped me know when to push. I need to give some credit to Mel here because he was super awesome in the delivery room. Like way way beyond my expectations. He was holding my hands, giving me all the support I needed and he actually went in front to look. Like I don't even think I would look in front, it's seriously gross. (like have you seen the videos on youtube? That ain't for everybody) As soon as he saw Ariana's head, his face light up and he said "I can see the head, sikit lagi Ya!" and with one final push at 7:11pm, Ariana Adzalea was born. All the pain, confusion, and anger just went away in that moment. 

But it's been 2 years and now I can recall my anger, my confusion, how I felt like I was somehow tricked because she was not "big", she was only 3.18kg. But we took that experience as a real lesson. And now that we're expecting our 2nd child, InsyaAllah we're more prepared. 

I'm sharing this so first time parents know what to expect, or maybe other mothers who had induced labour can share their experience too? Hopefully it can someone in a way.

It's important to know that all pregnancies, deliveries are different! Never compare, never judge. And please please please do your research. This applies to the husbands as well, know the facts, information, and always be there for support. 

Adjusting to life after a baby? Now that's a whole other post. 

For now, I leave you with the first picture we ever took of Ariana. 

Till next time! 

Love, DD

The one where you GUESS WHO'S BACK!

*que Eminems song* 

"Guess who's back, back again?! Dewi's back! tell a friend!" 

*ends career in hiphop* 

I'm back, hyped and missed writing soooooo much! I've decided to keep this blog and my youtube channel (Life of a Dewi) linked so you get the best of both worlds! 

Now it's been like 2 years since my last post, so before we move on, A LOT of things have happened! So here's a quick catch up marathon to what you've missed. 

CATCH UP MARATHON: 

1. I previously mentioned it in my last post that Handsome (we're calling him Mel now cause you know, I'm grown up already. lol. ) and I got married in September 6, 2013. 

2. I was pregnant with our first child, Ariana Adzalea and delivered her on 

September 10th, 2014. 

3. Now 2 years later, am currently pregnant with our second child, 

due early quarter next year. Yay!

And that basically sums up the last 2 years-3 years of my life. haha. 

Planning to blog about my pre/during/post pregnancy details with Ariana just to share for those who are expecting, planning or just wanna read how it was like. 

Till then! 

Love, 

DD.