Ewok's feet and EDD

I'm now arriving at my 38 weeks officially today but still no signs of early labor. I've done all I can, walked to KLCC every lunchtime last week, in fact last Saturday, right after my appointment with Dr F, we headed to Pertama Complex to look for hubby's birthday gift that I've promised him (a Seiko watch for his second watch, that is) as well as SB900 speedlight for our D90. Later we headed to SOGO coz there was a sale and I wanted to survey baby car seats price. We plan to walk a long way to Jakel but the time shows it was already 12.30 when we finished window shopping at SOGO. So we headed to Shah Alam for Fazrul & Eda's newbie, Firhan Syahmi. Later that day, we pushed off from Fazrul's house to The Curve, walk around The Curve and end up walking around IKEA sampai hubby finally felt mengah of walking too much, but I on the other hand felt there's still a lot of energy reserved in me. I wonder where did I get all the stamina, despite all that, still there were no signs of labor.


This morning, while we were in the awful monday morning traffic jam, I realized that my right feet has become more swollen than yesterday. But only the right one, the left one looked as normal as yesterday (less swollen, that is). But later in the afternoon, the left one looked as 'Ewok'ed as the right one, which resulted to me not being able to slip into my exquisitely shiny black pregnant wedges lalu terpakse la eden menapak ke KLCC dengan selipar jamban yg dh koyak2...


So what's with the popular theory that swollen Ewok feet give signs of nearing labour? Well as of now, I shall say that was just a myth.

Anyway, showed hubby my 2 Ewok feet back from work. He said they look more like udang goreng tepung..tsk!

Nandos' for the fattening pregnant lady

Yeah screw me, it was Nando's..kononnye grilled la kan, very healthy but the side dishes..i dun think so.. TT

The petite lady with a watermelon attached to her front ;)

Anonymous: Ehh pregnant ek, anak second ke?Me: Err..xla, first... *senyum kelat sbb dh bosan dgn remark yg same evtime*
Everybody keeps on saying my belly was too huge for a first pregnancy. Bile dh ramai sgt yg ckp mcm tu ape x risau nye...harusla sgt risau sbb takut baby too big for me to push him out...dhla last check-up i.e. on the 14th March when i got the false alarm, Dr. Kamsiah lupe nk cek baby's weight haduu...dh bape la berat anak mama nih..
On a lighter note, some people says (including my mama) my belly is small but because of my petite being, my belly looks relatively super big on this cute figure hehehe...that's a good thing to hear. However lately, I keep on getting comments like "Ehhh perut you mcm you letak je bola or belon dlm perut...sbb bdn you x naik, nmpk normal je tp tetibe ade bende bulat kt depan yg mcm out of place", now that can put a big grin on my face ngeheheee...suke aje klu org puji kurus, but wait a sec! Do they actually mean my belly looks too huge?? tsk..
So last Saturday, I get the chance to meet my gynae, Dr. Fatimah. As usual, baring atas ultrascan bed, she will put her hands first on my belly. She instantly blurted out "Whoa.."
Me: Why doctor?
Doctor: Your belly feels very tight..
Me: Which means?
Doctor: I think your baby is quite big coz he's occupying the whole space inside here. Tp xpe, that's just my prediction, let's see what the scan says..
And the scan proved that our baby has reached 3.18kg at his 36 weeks! That's quite big for an Asian baby. Dr. F ask hubby to bring me a lot to shopping so as to encourage me doing a lot of walking. "Biar cepat skit beranak coz if ur baby is still inside in another 2 weeks time, he may reached 3.5kg" kate Dr. F.
I was supposed to diet as advised by Dr. F, "Kurangkan sugar intake, nasi etc. But you can still take obimin, neurogain and calcium as usual coz these 3 are just essential supplements that the baby and you need, they won't make the baby bigger"

So starting this week I take my gynae's advice. I walked everyday to KLCC during lunch time, xde purpose pn saje window shopping sbb nk workout. But I still can't abide to the other advice that is diet! I'm a food lover, always am. Unlike most women, being pregnant doesn't hold me back from being a true food lover that I always am. So chronologically,

Monday: I promised to have just salad but end up buying ayam goreng cold storage yg sgt oily and pasta salad yg sgt hi-carb as well. I failed.

Tuesday: This time I strongly am going to be strict to myself, however went to Isetan Supermarket only to be introduced to Isetan's wider range of salads that are almost 10 types in total and much fresher with good refrigeration system than Cold Storage salads yg selalu rs mcm dh nk basi! Jadi sawan tgk salad fresh yg byk, I end up mixing 5 types of salad namely Broccoli Salad+Fruit Salad+Pasta Salad+Coleslaw Salad+Potato Salad and semua sgt sedapp!! Byk pulak tu I amik, smpi tersandar lps makan. Promised again to myself, ok that's it for today, no more munching in the office, tapiii....tetibe plak nmpk Kak Min the tea lady dlm pantry tgh refill biscuit tins with biskut mayat bergula...my alltime favorite!! Nak jadi cerite hubby at last minute had to stay back to finish up some work..so I end up munching more than 20 biskut mayat bergula while waiting for him aduhh! Hubby was bewildered hearing my terrifying eating habit today so I promised to hubby in the car while on the back that the biskut mayats are gonna be my dinner for tonight, I'm not gonna eat wat mak cook regardless sesedap mane pn...tapiiii....tgk2 Mak masak udang bercili and udang masak lemak peria!! aduhhhh..mkn dgn byk nye siap bertambah smpi Kakngah Zila tegur, "Aishah pregnant selera makan x terbantut ek.."
Erk...dat was the second after Azlee Samad tegur mase kt Ekin's wedding "Aishah makan selera ek pregnant2 pun.." Obvious sgt ke kelahapan ku ini?? huhuhu..I failed again.
Today: I plan to buy the same mixture of salads but of smaller amount cewah...tp tetibe td dpt a call from Krun, my IIUM bosom, yg nk meet up kt KLCC..I think I can picture my lunch today. It's totally gonna be a hi-carb lunch either Polio Italiano at Signature foodcourt or Nasi Goreng Kerabu Petai at Rasa foodcourt...arghhh I'm so gonna fail again!

Grand Entrance to 37 weeks!

Next week our baby shall be entering his 37 weeks! This is the starting time for normal delivery i supposed as read in many articles. And how am I feeling to date? Nervouss, of course! This is my 1st pregnancy, and I'm totally clueless about signs of having labor. I've started experiencing Braxton Hicks contraction since my 34 weeks pregnancy, and it's getting stronger approaching 36 weeks. Stronger in the sense that, I've started having disturbed sleeps every night due to abdominal pain, mcm rase nk period...sakit yg memulas, sometimes felt like stomach cramp and I can't move a winch. The first time I felt any sensation close to this, I complained to hubby n mama. But now, I'm used to it so i kept to myself and prefer to endure it alone. After all, I'm d one who's experiencing it, so it's indescribable to anyone to understand as much as i do. Like if i said to hubby, "Rase sakit mcm period pain.."


Hubby: Rase period pain tu mcm mane?


Me: Rase macam kene tikam dgn pisau kt perut bertubi2 n tulang pinggang mcm dikepak2..


Hubby: ?


See what i meant? Heheh..

The Demise of My One and Only Left GrandParent

Friday (27 Feb 2009)

The last time I met her was Hari Raya Puase tahun lepas, itu pun it was a lucky coincidence dat hubby suddenly agreed to balik Kedah 1st then baru balik KL n raya kat Puchong. He agreed pun only when I proposed us to go back 2 hari sblm 1 syawal, then balik KL on the evening of 1st Raya, before dat masing2 xnk kalah...maklum jela, 1st time berhari raya as wedded couple. It was kinda hard for both of us to accept d fact beraye without family by our side...

Nevertheless, I quite regretted for not being my persistent self when we were negotiating about celebrating Hari Raya AidilAdha last December as I gave up d discussion on the basis of Hubby buat Qurban kt Kinrara tahun ni, if not, last Hari Raya Aidilfitri would not be my last union with arwah Tok... (T_T)
Tok dh sakit for a few weeks, but I didnt visit her coz dh sarat now, I'm already 8 months by now..nk travel pn mama x bagi..So bertanye kabar from Ayah n Mama je all dis while until dis morning, when Mama called me saying, "If u wanna see Tok for d last time, I think u better book a flight to Kedah dis weekend..kalau x i takut xsempat..."

I, yg sememangnye mmg lebih berat nk pegi tgk Tok, terus book d 1st flight for d 2 of us tomorrow morning xkisahla tiket mahal ke x..Hubby during lunchtime, terus drove to An-Nur to collect my gynae's approval letter for air travelling of which he has to wait for 2 hours n skipped his lunch plus terpakse solat Jumaat at Masjid Bangi pdhal I've called them very early in the morning to prepare for the letter and told them hubby is coming lunchtime for collection (An-Nur is extremely slow in service, they really have to improve on this)

Malangnye, dat evening, while we were about to have our early dinner at Chili's KLCC, I received a call from Mama saying Tok baru meninggal at 7.20pm, innalillahiwainnailaihirrojiunn...mase tu makanan pn xsampai lagi, I cried through d whole dinner. My Mushroom Fajitas was hardly touched, even Hubby is having a hard time swallowing his Lamb Shoulder seeing me crying non-stop..I felt so regretted, kenape la aku x berkeras nk balik Raya Haji..suddenly I felt dat I really miss her, and I'm gonna miss her forever. ..

Called Adam, he wanted to come back home too..suggested him to take tonight's bus to KL and book the same flight ticket with us tomorrow morning online right away. He did so and his bus is to arrive in Pudu at 4a.m tomorrow morning.


Saturday (28 Feb 2009)

As planned, Adam called us at 4a.m informing his arrival, hubby xnk mandi, but I chose to take a bath 1st sbb dis late pregnancy I'm experiencing rase kepanasan yg amat coz baby has also produced his own body heat. So my body heat + baby's body heat = 1 super hot mama. We drove to KL to fetch Adam, then drove straight to LCTT. Arrived just in time in LCCT for the check-in, dpt pulak mamat check-in counter yg tersgt la sengal, ade ke die nk amik my original copy of doctor's letter n xnk watkan a photocopy for me? ade ke die ckp sepatutnye doktor kene tulis 2 referral letter for pegi n balik? 2 original copy??? die igt gynaes xde keje lain ke nk buat selain tulis surat chenta utk airlines? Tahan die suruh mak buyong yg dh in her 33 weeks pregnancy dgn perut besar nye berjalan satu LCCT pdhal rupenye kt counter selang beberapa counter dr counter die tu ade photostat machine utk photostat mende2 formal mcm my surat doktor.. To my surprise, I was so calm at d moment, maybe I was too pre-occupied dgn kesedihan psl tok kot...so I was not being my alert and impulsive self, ikut je ape die suruh tanpa byk soal. Sampai keras2 perut contraction n rase kepala baby dh nk terkeluar dh berjalan satu LCCT...hubby pn bengang gler..yela, bini die yg dianiaya...isk, sabar je la aku, esok bini mangkuk tu mengandung org buat mcm tu kt bini die baru die tau...beria2 die nk simpan my original copy n ckp kene wat copy sendiri utk bagi kt atas plane and mase check boarding pass...hmmmmm sorang airasia personnel pn xde yg mintak......

Following d mishap with the check-in counter, I said to hubby dat my instinct says something bad is going to happen and we won't make it on time for the funeral. He assured me that it was just my wild imagination. In the plane, hubby dozed off out of exhaustion, poor baby...But I can't sleep a wink, kept on thinking of arwah Tok and regretting for not visiting her for quite a long time, so instead I recite surah Yassin throughout d journey for arwah Tok. As guessed, when the plane was about to land and paddy fields are already visible in close proximity, suddenly the intercom went on. The pilot informed us that the plane couldn't touchdown at the moment due to mist covering the runway and visibility is only 500m, we were to land at Penang Airport and wait till the mist is reported thinning by Alor Star Control Tower. I burst to tears hearing the bad news, and chanting.."I told u soo, I told u soo...I know this is gonna happen.." to hubby. He comforted me and looked so worried..I felt sooo miserable, felt it was a way Allah is punishing me for not seeing arwah Tok for such a long time, now she's gone, I can't still see her no matter how hard I try to make it on time to see her for d last time..i felt cursed.

As soon as the plane touched down in Penang International Airport, hubby and Adam rushed to the cockpit trying to talk things over with the pilot, persuading him not to delay time as we were rushing for a funeral. We were lucky dat the mist did not stay for long. Half an hour later the plane was already ready for take off to Alor Star. We arrived at Alor Star Airport at about 10.30a.m, rushed to the taxi stand. The taxi driver was very kind to drive like crazy and to go by the highway instead of jalan kampung especially when he saw me crying, he looked so concern. When we arrived at Tok's house, relatives have just finished mandikan jenazah..I know deep inside ayah was in grieve and he's among d most affected but Ayah seemed so composed and calm until when pengurus jenazah was about to close Tok's face with kain kapan, I saw dat Ayah couldn't hide his sadness any longer...ayah nampak hiba and sayu sgt, mata ayah start berkaca2 and i saw tears rolling down his cheek. sedih sgt tgk ayah macam tu, Ayah seorang anak yg sgt soleh...xpenah lg jumpe org yg betul2 menatang mak die bagai minyak yang penuh..Tok mintak ape semua dapat..klu ayah xde duit, ayah akan usahakan jugak..janji Tok happy..dulu mase ayah stationed in Korea for LNG projects for 2 years and a half, everytime he got a call from Ngah saying dat Tok is sick, he will immediately be on the 1st plane to Malaysia. Bukan skali, tapi banyak kali...Pdhal Incheon Airport is 5 hours away from our house in Geoje Island. Sampai kn his friends cakap Haji Razak balik tgk mak die macam mak die duduk satu taman je...Ayah selalu ckp, org perempuan kalau dah kawin, kene utamakan suami baru mak ayah...tapi org lelaki, klu dh kawin skalipun mak tetap yg pertama, kedua mak, ketiga mak, keempat baru ayah...seterusnye baru la wife...

I was soo relieved to get the chance to pay my last respect to my beloved Tok. Poor Kakngah..she's so far away and was in grieve alone in Korea...I followed my family to the cemetery for the burial of arwah Tok...semoga rohnya dicucuri rahmat, Al-Fatihah...

The Day We Were Officially Belonged To Each Other..

Wake up for Subuh and didn’t sleep back after that. Too much to do and too nervous to continue slumber! Last night I slept at almost 2a.m. Started applying henna on my finger and toe nails only at 1a.m and finish applying at nearly 2am with the help from Kakngah. This morning, when I anxiously opened the wrapping of henna around my nails, I was very disappointed looking at the pale orange colour of my henna. It was not anticipated at all since I was using Makkah henna which I bought during my Umrah visit last year. “Dh masuk angin agaknye..” said 1 of my mom’s disappointed friends. Everybody promptly suggested me to apply the liquid henna (on top of the pale coloured henna) which I was avoiding from the beginning coz the colour is bright only for a few hours after application and later on faded as though you are applying only magic colour on your nails. It was not my favorite at all. But what choice do I have at this last minute? I decided to wait until the wrinkle on my finger skins (due to prolong henna wrapping) to vanish and only then will I apply the liquid henna coz they still hurt. After an hour, the wrinkle starts to disappear and I noticed the pale colour of the henna starts to darken into bright orange. Another hour later, it starts to turn into beautiful reddish orange! I was amazed and also delighted coz I don’t have to resort to the boring liquid henna, hurrah!

The atmosphere was even more hectic today with people (especially my mom) pacing from the kitchen to the buffet table under the porch. I tried to help around but my mom doesn’t allow me to, just like yesterday. “You’re the raja sehari today. Don’t touch anything..it’s your big day..so just watch..” she proclaimed. Wahh..bestnye…betul2 rase mcm raja…jadi mandur ajer dr semlm…bukan senang mama nk bg peluang ceni…hehehe…

Dayana and Tasya came as early as 10 o’clock am dh siap berbaju kurung… my baju nikah belum iron lagi…Dayana la jadi mangsa kene gosokkan…bibik dh sibuk kt dapur tlg Cik Mu. “Esah, aku nk tlg ape?” Tasya eagerly asked.

“Kau ek? Hmm…” me thinking deeply.

“Owh..bole x tlg jahitkan kain nikah aku…butik tu jahit x cukup kemas la die punye renda patches…you just have to jelujur jer…x susah…just to ensure the renda is well intact with my kain.”

“Err…okkaayyy….jelujur tu cene?”

Duhh…I forgot that back in SHAH Pekan, Tasya and Ayu were the only girls who refuse to take Home Science and opt to Pertanian instead, joining all the boys. Hahahaa…no offence dear, but I seriously forgot!

Not long after that, Azlee Samad (my wedding photographer cum Abang’s primary school friend) arrived. Asked him to have breakfast first (prepared by another kind neighbour, Aunty Azizah) and later asked him to make himself at home while waiting for my Make Up Artist to arrive. At about 11am, my Kak Lela TV3 the make–up artist arrived. Asked her to have some breakfast first while I get prepared for the make-up session. At about 11.30am the make-up session starts. Kak Lela was a very nice and very soft-spoken lady. She was kind enough to share some make-up tips with my sister and friends while doing my face. And she was a real expert. True as Kak Siti claimed, she made over people’s face as though our face is only a piece of canvas and she’s Leonardo Da Vinci. She doesn’t even need full concentration as she could chattered away with me and everybody in the room while doing my face! And the result was super gorgeous. Even Azlee Samad admitted it.

Today was Friday, so the men including the wedding photog had to go for Jumaat prayer. So he couldn’t capture the moments while my face was been done. He arrived back at about 2.15pm while I was about to put on my tudung. At nearly 3 o’clock, I went downstairs straight to the pelamin to get ready for the Nikah ceremony. The Tok Kadi was already at the living hall with Ayah and all my relatives and Abang’s family. I saw abang and he looked soo drop dead gorgeous in his Nikah baju melayu complete with his Songkok yang tinggi. And he looked quite nervous too taking deep breath a few times pretty obviously hehe…I was quite calm. And the procession went on quite well. At exactly 4.02 pm my watch, Abang lafaz akad sekali lafaz sahaja and we were officially husband and wife..Alhamdulillah.

A Day Before My Big Day...

Today’s Valentine’s Day, for those who celebrate it. As for me, I never celebrate today coz was exposed with the fact that Valentine’s Day is related to the St. Valentine of Catholic whatsoever’s death or whatnot, I dunno, don’t even care to know. Anyway, being a true Muslim, I shall not celebrate it. Period.

Anyhoo, my nikah nearly falls on today due to some circumstances. Luckily, at the end of the conclusion, both parties (my family and his) have agreed to set the nikah ceremony tomorrow after Jumaat prayer.

Kak Siti the Wedding Planner is coming this afternoon to set up the Nikah pelamin and send my hantaran that she had designed for tomorrow. But I have other plans and can’t be at home at that time. I need to find my nikah scarf at Jalan TAR! Kalau x, xbertudung aje la saye esok…no way jose…

The first place me and abang headed to was the Jakel. Finding the tudungs that perfectly match my wedding dresses was harder than I thought! Berpeluh2 jugak la minah perfectionist sorang nih hehehe..searching for the exact colour high and low. I was lucky coz everybody was very helpful in Jakel and abang especially, was extremely patient.. While I was contemplating on one scarf which I thought was the closest match to my nikah dress, 1 salesgirl said to me, “xpela kak, akak beli je yg ni..pastu akak bwk balik..kalau akak rase warna die mcm akak xkenan or xsame..akak dtg balik tukar dgn yg lain..”

“Xbole dik…akak nk nikah esok ni..”

Chorusly all the salesgirls there gasped in disbelieve. Hahahaa.. What to do, baju bersanding pn baru dpt semalam.. *sigh*

2^nd place was the Gulati’s. The same procedure like at the Jakel went on again and this time was even harder coz my baju bersanding at the hall is peachy brown in colour so the colour was not so universal and to find the closest match was much troublesome. In the end, I chose a color that is light brown but can go with my peach dress.

Arrived home just in time. Kak Siti and team pn baru sampai. Kak Yanti, her assistant was busy amending my hantaran’s deco. While Kak Siti and her sister and her male workers were about to set up the Nikah pelamin. Mama, Cik Mu and her other friends were busy packaging some kerepek given by my kind neighbours especially for my wedding. The atmosphere was very cheerful and busy. Smells of fresh flowers filled up the whole house. Here’s some pics of the preparation. I’m so excited!