My pregnancy story : Anemia in Pregnancy

 This is a story about my pregnancy journey.

I did film some videos talking about my pregnancy journey but I feel like writing about it will be more meaningful, for me and hopefully for Iryss to read about it in the future. Though there’s also a detailed journal with polaroids that I wrote for Iryss.  

A bit of history, Pan and I got married on October 17 last year and I got my period on October 28. Little did I know, that’s the last time I got my period lol.

When we found out about the pregnancy

It’s November 30, and I realized I didn’t get my period in November yet. But I always got my period late anyways. However, I started feeling nauseous, bloated, and had backache. I started cravings for certain food. 

I told Pan, maybe we should buy a pregnancy test kit and did the test, just in case. We went to Guardian and bought 5 different types of pregnancy test kits just cause I didn’t know which one’s accurate.

We reached home at 1030pm, I rushed to the toilet to take the test. After a few minutes of nervously waiting, it’s POSITIVE!

But what if it’s a false positive?

And oh yeah, we’re supposed to take the test in the morning lol. So I retook the test the morning after and it’s (still) positive! Alhamdulillah.

What I felt after finding out about my pregnancy 

Honestly, I was over the moon! I’ve always wanted a baby and to be a young mom. But I didn’t expect it to be this early hahaha! But we’re very thankful for this blessing. 

Pregnancy checkup and complications 

Most pregnant women in Malaysia will do their antenatal checkups at Klinik Kesihatan, later on, they will either choose to deliver their baby at a government hospital or at a private hospital.

As for me, I did my first antenatal checkup at Klinik Dr. Nurzawati and did our first scan there, when I was 8 weeks pregnant. I could just continue my antenatal checkup there as it is my company's panel clinic, but I decided to continue my checkup at Klinik Kesihatan Shah Alam Seksyen 19 as a government clinic would do a more thorough checkup although the waiting time can be a bit long. 

I found out that I’m anemic and I needed to take extra supplements to ensure my baby and I receive sufficient iron. And due to my condition, I had to do my checkup biweekly. It’s a bit tiring but I took it as my time off from work. At that time, I experienced quite a challenging work environment and with the morning sickness that’s quite bad, I was glad I got that time off.

Due to the challenging work environment, I started to feel very stressed out that I resorted to seeing psychiatrists - two psychiatrists to be exact. Honestly, I was glad I seek for professional help because a stressful mind with anemia would lead to more complications in the future.

I’ve made up my mind to give birth at a private hospital due to the rising of covid cases and because it’s covered by my company. My OBGYN was initially Dr. Imelda Balchin at KPJ Damansara till, towards the end, I decided to give birth in Melaka, as it’ll be easier for pantang and stuff. My OBGYN is Dr Azlina at Mahkota Medical Centre.

Thank God for my company’s policy, a pregnant woman is not allowed to be in the office and even my OBGYNs had issued me letters for me to work from home due to my pregnancy risk.

It's my first pregnancy and it is very challenging. Pan and I were anxious and worried over the littlest things and because of that we’ve met more than 15 unique doctors throughout my pregnancy. 

My anemic condition that only improved the last week before I gave birth had caused me to take blood tests every biweekly and I had to also check if I had thalassemia or not. Alhamdulillah, my anemia was only caused by iron deficiency.

During my third trimester, I once lived in a wheelchair for two weeks due to pelvic girdle pain (PGP),  a pain that is felt around the pelvic joints, lower back, hips, and thighs. I had difficulty in movement, I couldn't walk, part my legs when getting in and out of my car, cannot turn in bed, sleeping is a pain too. I resorted to prenatal massage and alhamdulillah it got better. 

Anemia, work stress, PGP had caused me to take weeks of leaves and MCs. They also pushed me to speak up for my right to higher management due to the injustice afflicted upon me.

With all the complications and challenges I had to go through, I’m glad I have a strong support system behind me. My husband, my family, my besties, and my small team at work.

My pregnancy essentials 

1. Maltofer Fol & Calcium

A pregnant woman should eat prenatal vitamins like iron and folic acid. Often, clinics will give Obimin. But I never knew these vitamins can give you side effects. In my case, Obimin made me more nauseous. 

Due to my anemic condition, I couldn't skip any iron supplement and God bless Dr. Hannah, my friend for telling me about the existence of Maltofer. Specifically Maltofer Fol. Because my hemoglobin reading was low (it reached Hb 8), all doctors I met recommended taking two tablets of Maltofer daily.  I have no qualm eating that because it tastes like chocolate. Yeap, it's a chewable supplement :)

Apparently, there’s a way to effectively eat your vitamins. You shouldn’t take vitamins with milk, especially an iron supplement. You should take iron supplements only 3 hours after drinking milk. And oh, for anemia, caffeine is a big NO. That includes tea, hot chocolate, and milo. Yeah, I was milo sober for my whole pregnancy. 

Surbex Calcium-D3

Calcium. Dr. Imelda also recommended me a calcium supplement, with vitamin D3 and I’ve been taking that till now. Calcium is very important for the baby’s growth but most importantly for the mother’s bone and teeth. 

2. Goat Milk - Wildan Mama Premium 

Wildan Mama Premium: Original RM79

Funny I couldn’t take any cow milk during pregnancy. I would get diarrhea. Only goat milk works for me, my uncle introduced me to Wildan Mama Premium, it claims to help to improve the Hb. It has dates,habbatus sauda, and all the good stuff in it. I love that milk, it gives me energy especially during my first trimester. There are two flavors for this type of milk, Vanilla, and Original. Vanilla is too sweet for me. So, I opted for the original flavor, and thank God it has NO goaty smell or aftertaste at all, fuuhh.

Wildan Chocolate: RM45

I continue drinking Wildan goat milk till now because I am breastfeeding Iryss. But for now, I drink the normal Wildan milk, chocolate flavored. Not the mama premium. It’s also cheaper haha! 

Other than that, I was also being forced to eat kerang like three times a week, to improve my Hb level. To the point, I don't wanna eat anymore kerang now.

3. Pregnancy pillow(s)

During my get-together with my girls last Christmas, I told my secret Santa that I needed a pregnancy pillow. Thank God for Aida, she granted my wish, and oh boy I never slept without my pregnancy pillow until the day I was warded, just because I forgot to take it to the hospital with me :(

It is so comfortable and especially because pregnant women are not advised to sleep on their back. Yeah, shocking! There are so many don’ts on the list. The pillow may take half of the bed but yes, I needed my space hahaha!

Another type of pillow that my body thanked me for is the wedge pillow. I used it in the car. Lifesaver, for my back.

4. Pregnancy book and mobile apps

One book that I read on a weekly basis is What to Expect When You're Expecting. The book explains everything about pregnancy, from pregnancy symptoms, lifestyle, week-by-week developmental information. Don’t be intimidated by the 600+ page book—you don’t need to read every single page.

There is also a 'What to Expect' app, that provides me with summarized, important information that I need to know. There's also an insightful daily article for me to read, it makes me look forward to opening the app daily. Another app that I love is 'Pregnancy+'. It's neater than the previous app, and it also has a pregnancy countdown, which is so useful. Like I literally counting days to meet my unborn child.

5. Pregnancy Ball & Maternity Belt

Best purchases during my pregnancy. Birthing balls are essentially the same as exercise balls. They’re both made from a durable material that makes them extremely difficult to puncture. But exercise balls used at the gym tend to be smaller than birthing balls.

I used a birthing ball to exercise, to sit and it's a great help when I had PGP.  

The maternity belt has saved me from having severe backache, especially during my second trimester. As I approached the third trimester, backache wasn't really an issue, but note to self, to buy a bigger size maternity belt, so it could fit till the end of pregnancy lol.

6. A 3L water bottle

Water. water. water. Hydration is key. Because I always felt thirsty, and I didn't have the energy to keep refilling my water bottle, so Pan bought me a 3L water bottle from Mr. DIY and that bottle had become my staple pregnancy item.

7. A helpful, wonderful husband

I cannot thank Pan enough for all his sacrifice and help throughout my pregnancy. He's been such a great husband, helping me with chores, driving me around, accompanying me to every single clinic/hospital visitation, fulfilling each of my cravings, buying all the things I needed and wanted, massaging me, pushing me when I had to be on the wheelchair, helping me get into showers when I was immobile.  He's been such a wonderful husband, I don't know if I deserve it but maybe I do, because I'd risked my life for our child :P You're welcome hahaha!

But in all seriousness, to all single women out there, we really need helpful husbands for times like these. May he be helpful and wonderful and loving and caring till forever, aminnn!

Keeping my pregnancy a secret

Pan is a very secretive person. I respect that about him and we have decided since early on to keep our pregnancy a secret from social media. Did we have any explanation for it? Maybe we didn't. Maybe we did. We didn't really know. We wanted to share the good news with the world, but we also knew that not everyone will be happy with it. Regardless, we're glad it's kept as a secret. A little surprise goes a long way ;)

 A small part of me wants to do a lot of preggy ootd on Instagram but due to MCO, I hardly dressed up anyway and this pregnancy made me a lazy person. I hated dressing up, I hated morning showers and I hated perfume.

So I guess, keeping my pregnancy a secret wasn’t really a hard thing to do. Only family, close friends, and colleagues know about my pregnancy. For every photo I posted on the gram, it’d either be half-body or just a selfie. I also wore a big, loose kaftan for Eid just to hide my belly.

We also had a gender reveal iftar for my close family at Holiday Inn, Melaka. Just for the record, I’ve been staying at my parents’ in Melaka since before Ramadhan as Pan had to be in the office in Pengerang and my OBGYNs had warned me not to stay at home alone because I could pass out anytime due to low of hemoglobin. Thank God for working from home policy, I could stay at my parents till I delivered.

Oh yeah on the gender, only my close family knew. We decided to not reveal the gender till the baby’s born. But you know by now, it’s a girl named Iryss.

When will we reveal her face?

I'm respecting Pan's decision not to reveal her face on socmed / blog / vlog yet. We only share her pictures with family and close friends upon request. Cannot deny, it's very tempting to post stuff about her on igstory though. But it's not the right time yet.

My pregnancy journey has been nothing but a beautiful one. Despite being in lockdown, I think it's such a great blessing because I got to be working from home, I didn't have to drive to work, my husband's also working from home, so we wouldn't have to be in a long-distance relationship. I don't know what will the future hold with the status quo in Malaysia but I wanna spend my time, appreciating the present, our little family, and I am hoping to have a work-life balance once my maternity leave is over. And yeah, to drive again after 9 months of not driving at all. 

I know some of my friends who are pregnant now or trying to conceive, I hope my story doesn't scare you. No two pregnancies are the same and being a mother is the best role and sometimes the only role I want to be in life. It's such a blessing to become one, I thank Allah for this great gift. I pray for you to also experience motherhood and may Allah ease everything for us :)

My labour story

It’s been awhile since I’m writing on my blog. I’ve been writing on my journal a lot, just not on my blog. But it’s mostly on my pregnancy. I guess, it’s about time I shall write about my labour story before this mind forgets.

It was Eid Adha, Pan and I started the morning early, to go to my grandma’s house. A little back story. I haven’t been in Selangor since April. We decided to give birth in Melaka, and since I was working from home since then, and Pan had to be in Pengerang for work once a while, it’s best to just stay at my parents’.

Covid cases in Selangor have gotten so much worse, that I didn’t feel safe in that state. So Melaka it is.

Back to my labour story. It’s Eid Adha, my grandma’s house was kinda occupied. My aunt had just given birth to her third child, Aisyah. Because it's Eid, Tok Mak had been cooking a lot for us. I was happily eating rendang and all. I got excited meeting my newborn cousin, Aisyah and listening to my aunt’s labour story. She had to go through c-section because her baby was in breech position. My cousin, Kak Mira also had delivered her son two weeks prior. The three of us were only 1 week apart each and I was the last woman standing (pregnant). I knew my time was almost up, but labour is something that will catch you by surprise, lol.

I was surprisingly active that week. I didn’t feel much pain, I’ve been having a lot of energy to clean up and to finish up my work. It’s like the body was preparing myself for labour but it’s two more weeks till my estimated delivery date. I was only 37 weeks 6 days that day. It’s in the nature of a pregnant woman to keep going to the toilet as the baby thought her mother’s kidney is her squeezed toy, so as Rachel would say. I saw brownish discharge on my panties. I wasn’t sure it was normal, or it’s a bloody show. So I asked my mom to confirm that for me. Yeap, it’s the bloody show, so I just had to make my way to the hospital. 

Before heading to the hospital, I went home to shower and change, preparing for the big day. Took some photos, of my last moments being pregnant.

Last pregnancy OOTD

We reached Mahkota Medical Center and headed to the emergency department. They didn’t have much staff on standby at labour department because it’s public holiday and because I didn’t take Covid-19 swab test yet, the staff needed to be in full PPE to check on me.

I needed to head to one of the wards, alone, and I should wait for the midwife to check for my dilation. She also did CTG scan on me to check in my contraction. Contraction was present but I I was only 1 cm dilated. She called my OBGYN, Dr Azlina telling her my whole situation and because the baby’s head wasn’t still engaged and this is my first born, they suspected my labour will still be a while.

We went back home, empty handed lol.

That night, I did all the pregnancy exercises to induce labour naturally and my bloody show had gotten worse.

The next day, Dr Azlina requested for me to meet her. She scanned the baby and recorded the baby’s movement, gave me the whole recording in a CD. She said, that’s the last pregnancy scan before we met the baby. I was only 2cm dilated, even with all that blood. 

The doctor explained to us there’s a possibility that normal delivery wouldn’t be an option for me because it’s been 24 hours and I still hadn’t dilated as much. It's also because of the baby's weight and my height. It's a condition called Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), a pregnancy complication in which there is a size mismatch between the mother's pelvis and the baby' head. The baby's head is proportionally too large or the mother's pelvis is too small to easily allow the baby to fit through the pelvic opening. So, she gave us time to decide whether to go for normal delivery or c-section. She didn’t want to medically induce me because I would be in so much pain. It would be worse if I were to be in pain but still not dilated. I had to go through another CTG scan and take swab test. I told Pan I wanna walk like a lot, take the stairs just to help with the dilation, before making our mind later in the evening.

Alhamdulillah, our Covid test turned out negative, and the CTG scan showed that my contraction was getting more frequent. But I still had not dilated more than 2cm. It’s been more than 24 hours, we decided to just go on with C-section as we didn’t wanna take the risk of stressing the baby. So, my c-section was scheduled at 10am the next morning and I’d have to be warded that night. 

For my c-section, it’s covered by my company, thank God. We had to go through all the procedures before getting warded and I requested for single room but it wasn’t available for the night, so we had to co-share the room with another person. Thank God, Pan could accompany me through the night. It was a bit uncomfortable that night as the aircond was too cold and the blanket was too thin and I didn’t have my pregnancy pillow with me. Pan had to sleep on a lazy chair that the hospital provided, with no blanket. But he got my scarf to the rescue haha. I had to start fasting from 2am, to prepare for the operation. That night was the last night before we’re becoming parents.

my jersey scarf for the rescue

thank God for McGill Engineering sweater that 

kept me warm through the night

I woke up at 6am, took a shower and I was looking at myself in the mirror, looking at my belly thinking I’d finally get to see this child I’m carrying for 9 months. My pregnancy journey such a beautiful one even with so many challenges along the way. Maybe that part is for later, I have that all in my journal that I’ve written for my baby to read when she grows up.

I had mixed feelings that morning, because c-section was definitely something I didn’t prepare for. Mentally and physically. I just read about it, how to take care of the wound, the recovering days, what to eat, what not to eat, what to do, what not to do the night at the ward. But for my baby’s safety, I had to go through this, regardless. I prayed so hard it’d be okay. That there wouldn’t be any complications. That the baby would be alright. That I would be fine. Most importantly, the baby. 

OT OOTD

The nurses had to do all the procedures before pushing me to the OT, had to sign couple of forms and I was pretty sad Pan couldn’t be there in the OT. All because of Covid. While waiting for the OT to be ready, I had to receive the spinal anaesthesia, but the anaesthesiologist was a bit occupied, delaying my operation by 2 hours. I had no phone with me and the bed they placed me on at the staging side of OT was really uncomfortable. Later, I had a kind nurse, asking if I was okay. I just told her I wasn’t comfortable, she helped lifted up the head of the bed, making me feeling much better. 

I had the whole nurse team that was in charge of my operation around me, talking about my company’s insurance and life basically just to buy time. The kind nurse helped me dialling in Pan, just to ensure he knew I was okay and operation hadn’t started yet. 

It’s 1150 and they finally pushed me to the operation theatre and what happened in there was quick. The anaesthesiologist gave me the spinal anaesthesia, the effect was immediate. I couldn’t feel my legs, my OBGYN arrived and I was cut opened.

1218, the baby was out, I heard the baby crying and gosh, I cried so much like alhamdulillah the baby’s alive, super grateful and the paediatric showed me the baby, it’s a girl! I got to kiss her and they took her away from me. They had to sew me lol. 

That lasted for an hour. And I could feel the pain while they stitched me up and I remembered screaming in pain. That got everyone shocked, and it’s because I got some acid something going on. Probably acid reflux while they’re ‘rearranging’ my organs. After it’s all done, they had to put me somewhere to monitor the side effects I’d experience. The sleep I got that time and the sleep after that was probably the best deep sleep I got ever since lol.

At 2-ish pm, they pushed me back to my ward and on my way I saw my mom, Ina and Pan. I could just wave at them. Back in my ward, I needed to continue fasting till 6-ish. Pan took my baby to me, he recited Iqamat and Yassin to her and just like that, we’re a family of three.

Special thanks to Mahkota Medical Centre team - Dr Azlina, Dr Tee Ah Cheng, all nurses and staff who were involved in the whole antenatal and labour process. And to the nurse who ensured we got transferred to a single room soon after my operation, as per our request, thank you! Single room was so much better, we got to control the aircond temperature, Pan had the whole couch for him and my family helped sending clothes and my pregnancy pillow and Pan took ownership on the pillow hahaha! 

MMC Single Room

It’s quite a journey, my labour experience. Do I wish it to be different, going through normal delivery instead? I don’t think so. I don’t even know if I could handle the normal delivery pain, although c-section recovery is a pain. 

This is my labour journey, it’s been 46 days since that day. 46 days of sleepless nights but definitely 46 days of happiness. 

46 days of Iryss. our little bundle of joy :)