33 Weeks

5 weeks away from a full term baby!

Alhamdulillah, since my last blogpost at 30 weeks, I have done leaps and bounds in terms of necessities for baby AY. Some were purchased via online shopping (BabyDash is the best!) while the rest were from the recent Mothercare sale. And I managed to refrain myself from buying anymore baby clothes; super proud of myself! *chuckles*

So here is my a photo of my recent baby shopping spree:

As I said, we’re reusing a LOT of Aiden and Ian’s stuff, but I simply cannot run away from purchasing certain things as brand new. Consider this as a baby shopping checklist untuk anak kedua or ketiga dan seterusnya:

• Baby hair brush. Grabbed the cheapest out of the lot, which incidentally was from Tommee and Tippee. Nak sikat rambut jer pun! Although I am sincerely hoping that she has thick hair like Aiden, but curly like Ian.
• Baby toiletries. Did my research online and finally settled with the Mustela range. Zaman Aiden dulu, Johnson and Johnson tuh dah kira top range dah tuh. *giggles* Purchased the shampoo, wash gel, moisturizing cream and diaper rash cream. HappiKiddo online was selling them at more than 50% off so I borong terus. Minyak angin is always minyak Yu Yee Cap Limau cos I really love the smell.

Mustela smells really good too.

• For hygiene, baby wipes from Snapkis and Alexa. Euky baby hand sanitizer in two sizes, one for visitors and the smaller one for the diaper bag. 
• Cotton wool and cotton balls for the early diapering days. Plus baby cotton safety buds. 
• Medela nipple cream yang super mahal but super effective. Disposable breast pads for those leak days. Nursing tea from Joy Angel to boost my milk supply. 
• Baby towel from Cleva Mama. Bought one in pink and the other in white. Should be enough. 
• Baby binder (barut) from BumbleBee. Only because my makcik urut told me to buy one. Honestly, both my boys tak pernah berbarut pun. 
• Muslin cloth/ napkins from Mothercare. I didn’t splurge on Aden and Anais (which is so in nowadays) cos my helper said, “Ala, nak buat kain lap jer Puan!” *chuckles* Was going to buy new swaddles too but a friend just gave me three of hers so that’s sorted!

My first time buying a barut!

• Laundry liquid wash from NappiKleen, for washing all of AY’s newborn clothes.
• Milk bottle from MAM and cleaning brush. I hope she doesn’t reject the bottle! Mini milk storage bottles for storing precious breast milk. 
• Baby milestone cards, to record baby AY’s progress in photos. 
• Disposable baby bibs from Pigeon. Wow, they didn’t have these back in Aiden’s and Ian’s days. It was going for real cheap so I bought it anyway although baby AY is eons away from solid food. 
• Set berpantang. After much research, I settled with loose items from NR such as Minyak Herbanika for berurut, PhytoNatal pills untuk lawaskan perut and Akar Herbanika for drinking. Plus from Tanamera, Feminine Herbal Wash for you know what, and Brown Soap for showering. Everything else such as pilis, lulur and herbal bath will be prepared by my makcik urut, InsyaAllah.
• Last but certainly not least... a new car! Hahaha my Mini is definitely not appropriate for three kids so I definitely needed something bigger. That’s all I’m going to say! *chuckles*

There are a few other things still in the list such as diapers, milk storage bags, car seat mirror, stroller fan and pati ikan haruan. But really, those can wait until at least I am discharged from the hospital. Plus the hospital provides maternity pads, disposable panties and newborn diapers anyway, so no rush. But I do have to send my Medela Freestyle for service soon; waiting for my SIL to return it to me so I can get that done.

Next weekend, I’m going to dedicate my weekend to staying at home and packing my hospital bag pulak. Honestly, walaupun this time around my feet baru nak start bengkak (with the boys my kaki bengkak awal gila), I dah tak larat nak jalan-jalan at shopping malls. I don’t know how I used to do it when I was pregnant and younger. *sigh* I’m even trying to convince Hubby to chauffeur me to work. I get tired so easily nowadays, it’s super frustrating. And this cough from the durian (see my last post) is simply not going away. I really hope I recover soon.

Till the next blogpost, take care!

Penangan Durian

Writing this in between a bout of coughing fits. And it is all the durian’s fault.

I have always been resilient towards durian. Being a hantu durian, makan 10 pun takde hal lah. 10 biji durian tau. Bukan 10 ulas. I used to be the first one to dive into the durian, and the last to stop. Memang durian buffets would rugi besar if they had to host customers like me. When I was small, my mum used to jokingly say, “Sapa lah nak kawin dengan anak Mama nie... suka makan makanan yang mahal mahal!” She was affectionally referring to my love of sharks fin soup and durians.

Throughout this pregnancy, I’ve indulged in durians a few times. But because of the exorbitant price, the quantity was always moderate in nature. Memang lah rasa panas and gassy, but I made sure that I drank a lot of water to reduce the after effects. Baby pun ok; normal movements post durian hence nothing to be exceptionally concerned about.

Recently, the price of durian dropped significantly due to oversupply. I was ecstatic! Knowing that I was just two months away from the dreaded 44 days pantang, I vowed to have 44 days worth of durians before I popped. Ok I’m exaggerating, but you know what I mean.

It all started with a neighbour who offered to bring durians from her kampung. I in turn offered my house as host for the durian party. So that night I feasted on durian kampung. First to start and the last to stop. The next day, I hosted a farewell lunch for a staff of mine who explicitly wanted to have durians at SS2. Since the company was paying, memang gluttony took over and again I was the last to give in. Bought some for Hubby to have that night at home and made some pulut to go with it. I had like three helpings of it for dinner. By the way, our way of having pulut durian is to have the pulut with raw durian, drizzled with santan and a sprinkle of sugar. Smush it all together and eat it like you would makan nasi berlauk. All that serawa or pengat durian doesn’t even come close to this. *drool* So in a nutshell, in a span of 24hours I literally overdosed myself with durians. 

Sebakul durian kampung sitting in my garden.

Ian accompanied me to SS2.

That night I started feeling the horrible after effects. My throat was so sore to the point that the next morning I woke up with no voice. The sore throat further developed into a horrible cough till I think I even ruptured a blood vessel in my nose because I started spewing out bloody mucus. But the phelgm was the worst. It made me cough so hard that my ribs and tummy hurt (I was so worried for baby AY!), plus I couldn’t breathe whenever I was horizontal. I would cough so hard in the middle of the night, panicking with my arms flailing everywhere trying to get Hubby to wake up to help me up as I couldn’t breathe. My phlegm was so thick that I would gag myself in the morning and force out greenish phlegm the size of 20cent coins. It was crazy!!! Menyesal gila melantak durian, memang taubat tak nak sentuh dah. If anything happens to baby AY due to my durian gluttony, I’ll never ever forgive myself!

It has been about a week of torture. My flu and thick phlegm are now gone but the coughs are still insisting on staying. I’ve been sleeping on the recliner chair for the past 4 days because I still cannot be horizontal. Also, with just a simple nudge the recliner chair retracts itself up which helps me get up in the middle of the night whenever I cough and cannot breathe.

Honestly, I miss my bed. I miss being able to spread myself out and turn left or right to my heart’s content. But one thing that I don’t miss, is the king of fruits.

Farewell durian, see you again at the end of the year, post pantang!