let's pray for this little boy....

a friend of mine who is also Jihan's school principle (The Little Caliph Bandar Seri Putra), delivered a baby boy about 4 months ago... but it's not always sunny out there, her baby was diagnosed with a heart condition called Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), or in other word "a hole in heart"...

he was born with the weight of 3.0kg but already showed symptoms of heart failure at early age such as, rapid breathing, very breathless and excessive sweating when feeding, bluish discolouration of his lips and fingers when crying (cyanosis) and did not gain weight satisfactorily....in fact when he was first admitted to the hospital, his weight reduced to 2.6kg....

he was given antifailure medications and was nursed in the hospital for quite some time before discharged home...he was fed via Ryle's tube (feeding tube through the nose) so that he won't become tired if fed through normal route (sucking)...

unfortunately, he was again admitted to the hospital for heart failure symptoms and stayed there until transferred recently to IJN for a heart surgery....

today, as scheduled, this baby boy through a major operation to close the hole in his heart so that he will regain his normal physiological function of his heart and grow up healthily....

let's pray for the safety of this baby, Taib Muhammad Nafis and his family, so that Allah will give them the strength that they need at this point of time...

surviving fasting month while breastfeeding...

first of all, salam ramadhan to all my viewers....may Allah bless us with ggood health and iman...this is my 2nd experience fasting while fully exclusively breastfeeding my children...the first one was 4 years ago, at that time Jihan was about 4 months old....and i survived without having to break fast earlier due to excessive tiredness or for whatsoever reason...but at that time, during ramadhan i got my first menses after i gave birth....so still i have to replace my fasting...

but this time, Imtiaz is 5 months old + and about a few more days to his solid food....i'm glad i'm on leave at the beginning of ramadhan so i can rest too....

so the first day of sahur, i ate few kurma and bread and drank a lot of plain water and nutritious malt drink...i was able to complete my fasting that day despite fully breastfeeding little Imtiaz on his demand...i was able to pump my milk twice and expressed about 2 oz each time just to empty my breasts....i did not feel tired or thirsty and alhamdulillah, Imtiaz was full and satisfied after each feed....

subsequently, i make sure that i drink a lot of water at night time..well, i only drink mainly during breaking fast...and eat healthily and a lot too...!

think positive and be calm too help...not to think much about how much milk i can produce and pump out for Imti....it's ok if i can get only 2 oz each time, but i have to increase the frequency (especially at night and early morning) to meet the demand of my little boy...

Imtiaz is currently taking about 4oz of expressed breastmilk each time, about 4-5 times during my working hours....i usually prepare about 5-6 bottles of newly expressed breastmilk in the fridge...those were the milk expressed 1 -2 days earlier... and i have about 20 bottles of frozen breastmilk in stock which i have never use to feed Imti (thanks to our side-by-side Samsung refrigerator, i can use 1 whole shelf for Imti's frozen milk) ...i believe that the fresh one is better than the frozen one...but i will resort to the frozen one if really, really needed....i'll probably use them to make Imtiaz's fruit or vegetable puree later...

be back working next week after this long leave...hopefully i'll survive this ramadhan in good health...

Jamuan Teh Malaysia

about 2 weeks ago, me and a few friends have gathered at my house to take part in Jamuan Teh Malaysia as our social responsibility to the public....we had good foods, good stories to exchange and at the end of the day, we emptied our pockets to contribute to the National Canser Society Malaysia (NCSM) and the Breast Cancer Welfare Association (BCWA)....

alhamdulillah, we managed to colect a few hundreds and it had been handed over to the NCSM...

thanks friends for the superb foods and the supports...!

5th month vaccination and update

last week we went for Imtiaz's 5th month vaccination of triple antigen and Hepatitis B...he weighs 7.4kg....and he still feed solely on mama's milk....

Imtiaz can now turn from supine to prone to supine, eagerly reach out his hands to grab whatever is given to him, laugh out loud especially when Jihan make some funny movement in front of him and put everything in his hand inside his mouth (to show that he is ready to eat)...

Prof B was very satisfied with Imtiaz's development...during the jab, Imtiaz let his loud voice out....! so painful...!

and good thing, he did not have fever after the jab...good boy!

he is due for the meninggococcal vaccination next month....and ready for his first food next month, yeay!

the road isn't always smooth as you want it to be...

today, i feel like blogging about my breastfeeding journey, particularly with my little Imti currently...alhamdulillah, i am still able to fully breastfeed him and i'm proud to say that Imti is exclusively fed with my breastmilk only....so far, i have good supply of breatmilk and i 'm able to produce more than his demand...

i'm going through a hard working life now...i'm doing my attachment in HKL and i travel almost 100km everyday, from home to work...it takes me about 45min - 1 hour to work and the same duration back home, depending on the weather and road condition of the day...i wake up at 5 or 5.30 everyday to express my milk and get ready to work....i have my breakfast in the car in the traffic jam or at the carpark when i arrive in HKL.... i've been doing this routine for the past 2 months + and it's going to end soon...since starting this routine, i always pray that Allah make it easier for me to express my milk at the designated time (every 3-4 hourly) and my prayer has been answered most of the time...

but being an attachment medical officer at a very huge hospital is not easy....i have to struggle to do my job as a pumping and breastfeeding mama....many people think that working in an environment of baby-friendly hospital makes you easier to to carry yourself as a breastfeeding mum, but that's not always true...sometimes i couldn't find the right place to express my milk and people look at me weirdly...the medical staffs seem not to know that you can express the milk and store them in the refrigerator for your baby to feed the next day! and some gave a disgusting look at my face trying to tell me that, "i'm not going to do that when i have kids later.."..some even made fun of me.......sometimes i have to beg the owner of the place to use a corner of the room for me to express my milk...but some of them were really nice, they really gave me the freedom to use their space for 20 minutes for me to do my job...

at one time, my breastpump and its apparatus were purposely locked in a room because they didn't want an intruder messing around with their stuffs inside the room...i was left with engorged breasts for more than 7 hours...when the door is opened, i got my stuffs and ended up expressing in the car on a very hot afternoon...

there were times, somebody (male colleagues/staffs) just stormed into the room while i was expressing, luckily i was wearing the nursing poncho to cover....

i realized that my milk production reduced than the norm these few days but still sufficient for Imti's need.... probably i am a bit stress as well....so i express more at home to stimulate the milk production and it kind of help....

perhaps, there's more can be done to educate the public as well as the medical personnels regarding breastfeeding...it's my dream to do this professionally in the near future...may Allah bless my good intention and make this dream a reality...

Breastfeeding Day 2009

Breastfeeding Week is celebrated worldwide on the first week of August yearly....and this year , i am proud to celebrate this wonderful event together with my breastfeeding baby....in fact, this is my 1st year celebrating it as a breastfeeding mum!...when Jihan was born in 2005, i wasn't aware of such event, so i missed the boat....the subsequent years, i already stopped breastfeeding and i was busy doing my oncalls, so there goes my chance to support the event...and this year, with the born of my little prince, i made an attempt not to miss this auspicious event!

it was organized by susuibu.com and Majlis Perbandaran Kajang, held at Dewan MPKJ Kajang, last Saturday....the 3 of us (me, hubby and Imti - Jihan had to stay home as she had cough and cold), woke up early and arrived in time for the ceremony...we took part in the Breastfeeding-thon where mums breastfed their babies for 5 minutes at the same time together...there were at least 30 pairs of mums and babes participating....Imti couldn't wait for the event, so he started about 10 minutes earlier as he was so hungry...

i was so happy to meet my breastfeeding mentor, Puan Kamariah of susuibu.com and Puan Rita Rahayu of momslittleones, and i made new friends with other breastfeeding mums too...i was surprised to meet the silent reader of my blog, Salwa...thanks for saying hi and acknowledging yourself to me...really nice meeting you...

we had potlucks party...i brought kuih talam labu berlauk....

i hope to participate and support such event next year and i pray that i am still breastfeeding Imtiaz at that time...

Imti sits in the bumbo seat...

that's the jumbo thigh!!!

i tried to sit Imti in Jihan's bumbo seat yesterday...(arghh, the seat looks very much worn out and the bright yellow colour has blackish smudge on it...)..that didn't matter, that's for being number 2 in the family, Imti..you'll get hand-over stuffs....whatever..!

Imti was very delighted seeing the yellow seat...when i put him inside, oh my gosh!!!...his thighs won't fit in the legs compartment..!!! i had to push them in and then he sat comfortably in it...

he laughed and played in the seat for a while then i took him out of it...goshhh!!! another problem...his thighs got stuck in the legs compartment...! someone, please pull the chair off Imti...!! hahahah...!!!

oh, my..! Imti..you better start on your leg exercise...make your thigh slimmer please....

girls hang out (+ Imti)

got a lunch date at my good friend in Nilai Impian, just 5km from our house...kind of birthday celebration for both of us...we were born in the month of july, so it was a good time to get together...

she was oncall the day before but still the plan went on..oh, yes, she had sorethroat and fever too (not H1N1 though) but we still met and have a good time together...

initially, i planned to buy some pizza and a cake and had a blast at her house...but then she told me her mum in Bangi cooked something for our lunch that day...so, i just bought a chocholate cake....

i arrived ther with the 2 kiddos tagging along....and we had a smashing meal of plain rice with sup tulang, sambal tumis and telur dadar, not forgetting icy cold, ice tea.......that was super, duper yummylicious!!!

we chit chatted, mainly girls' talk plus interruptions from Jihan and Imti....

then, time for cake...sang happy birthday, blowed the candles and cut the cake....then, indulge...

time for presenting a bag of goodies to my dear friend, D...well, of course she was really surprised with the stuffs that i gave her....then, we experimented the stuffs that i gave her and it turned out really good on her...so glad you like it, D...

a new milestones....

little Imti is 4 months old now and he weighs 7kg+... phew, ain't that heavy..? he's a cheeky boy with a charming smile that'll melt everyone's heart...

so now, he can turn to prone position, lift up his head for a while and that's it...!!! isn't that great...? bravo my little boy...that's quite an achievement for you....he has strong legs and likes to kick and kick in the bathtub....

and he's out of reverse cycling...he started to feed normally during the day and more at night and on weekends with mama....!

happy birthday, dear hubby

it's hubby's 29th birthday...! so , i hope you'll enjoy the entire year ahead before you turn 30...then, there's no twenties in your life, ever..!

nothing special today...i thought of getting a card and some small thing for him (yeah, i bought the Blackberry Storm 1 month ago)...but the unplanned happened... the only available car at home became smokey when my dad fetched Jihan from school in the afternoon..so it had to be sent to the workshop to be fixed...my mum took the other car and the big car is too big for me to take...

i didn't have time to get him anything, but i already bought 3 GSC tickets to watch Transformers tonight for both of us and Jihan wanted to tag along too...but what am i doing at home now..?..i told you about Imtiaz is currently reverse cycling...so he refused to let me go as he wanted to breastfeed directly with me when we were about to go....so, i told hubby to go ahead watching the movie with Jihan and without me, as it was running late...

i was quite disappointed but i didn't have the heart to leave my little boy crying for milk...he slept soundlessly until now, feeling satisfied after the feed....and my other 2 precious are not home yet...i'm still waiting for them...

we'll celebrate their birthdays tomorrow with a special cake that i'm going to make tomorrow morning....

bottle strike or just reverse cycling..?

oh oo....my little Imti is on strike now....!!!! he just refuses expressed breastmilk (EBM) through his usual bottles for the past few days...!

it was quite worrying for my mum and my maid who are taking care of him because it was his ritual to finish up 4.5oz each feeding in every 2-3 hours....for the past few days, he just took a sip or two of milk and started to spurt it out...

i came home early and fed him straight away and he has no problem with direct breastfeeding...at night he feeds frequently with me...

is there something wrong with the milk or bottles or what???

i went to see my friend who is a lactation consultant, Kak Kamariah of susuibu.com and she reassured me that it's a normal behavioral changes in breastfed babies in every 3-4 month....well, i didn't have such problems with jihan though but every babies are different....it is reverse cycling and imtiaz feels more comfortable tu nurse directly with me rather than with the bottles nowadays...

more info on it here:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling.html

well, i will just keep offering the bottles during the day, and when he realizes that mama is not around during the day, he'll take it especially when he is really hungry...

happy 4th birthday, Jihan Qaisara....

it's Jihan's 4th birthday..!! and she got to bring a 2-tier Dora & Diego cake to school...thanx to kak ayu for baking and decorating a great cake for Jihan....!!

Jihan brought some goody bags for her schoolmates and teachers as well...she got a set of stationary form her teachers...

she really enjoyed the day...

i bought ice cream for her to celebrate her birthdya at home...

her party at home will be on Saturday, celebrating it with kak sofea, abang ikmal and abang emir...and i'm baking a Disney's princesses cake for her...hope it'll turn out well...'

so, Jihan, mama and papa pray for you always...be a good big sister...you will always be our little girl in our hearts...

my sumo wrestler and a little updates...

he does look like a sumo wrestler, doesn't he..? my handsome "bulat" and "botak"...i love calling him "lat" and "tak"...

a little updates on my gorgeous little Imti...he had his 2nd dose of Infanrix Hexa with Prof B 2 weeks ago...he didn't cry, just a short, soft scream...but he developed a mild fever at night and a little bit cranky in the next 24 hours...he weighed 6.3kg at 3 months...no wonder he's sooo heavy!!! he was 5.2kg at 2 months when he got his first Infanrix Hexa, an increment of 1kg+ in a month...! and he feeds on nothing else but only mama's milk!!!

alhamdulillah i still have aplenty of breastmilk for him...i pump 3 times a day at work with at least twice at home and that gives about 6 bottles of 4.5oz in 24 hours...Imtiaz needs about 4-5 bottles when i'm at work...

back to his development, he simply loves cooing and talking to people...very talkative and "kecoh"...his head is getting stronger...he likes turning to his side and about to turn from supine to prone...he has very strong legs...he loves kicking his play gym so much and listen to the tunes it makes....

he directly breastfeed from my breast every 1.5-2 hours...yes, it is tiring for me but i guess that's the best foundation that i can give to my children...i'm making use of my time at work to learn, study and work at the same time for my coming exam in November...

and now it is June..more headache for me as it is birthdays time....my dear hubby and Jihan's...i ordered a Dora and Diego from my sifu, kak ayu for Jihan to bring to school next Wednesday...and i'm making her a Disney's Princesses cake for her party at home next Saturday so she can celebrate it with Kak Sofea, Abang Ikmal and our close relatives...present for her..?hmmmm, not sure what to buy..usually we let her choose herself...

for dear hubby, well....i bought him the new Blackberry Storm on our anniversary...so i don't think i'm spending much on him (hahaha...sorry dear..)

and Imti is going to have fun having to taste some birthday cakes through the breastmilk...yum,yum..!

Majlis Aqiqah & Potong Jambul Ahmad Imtiaz Iman

was held on 30th May but delayed in uploading all the pictures....thanks to all who made it to the event...had a real good lunch of gulai kambing, ayam goreng rempah, bergedel, really nice sambal tomato, my favourite sambal goreng, pulut kuning, dadih, and few other deserts...

enjoy the picts...!

now you see it, now you don't...arrgggghhh!!!

NOW YOU SEE IT...

NOW YOU DON'T...

I'm so sad, i lost it on a lovely Sunday morning...

it sounded so scary when it approached my ears...

i thought i'd lost my ears too...

luckily it went away, far, far away...

but then it came again...

nibbling my precious tresses...

now i lost it forever...

will never come back tomorrow and the day after...

that's my soft, shiny, mohican-styled hair...

- Ahmad Imtiaz Iman -