Wow. I can’t believe that I actually am reaching the final stage of this pregnancy.  One more month to go!

I am having mixed feelings. This is going to be my first delivery, therefore I am anxious about it. No matter how much I ask my cousin about the technical details, the feelings and tips about delivering a baby, it is still something that is beyond my imagination. How much will it hurt? Will I be able to bear the contraction pain? People say contraction hurts. don’t they? Have I done enough exercise to prep myself? Will I still remember my breathing technique at that time? Will I be panic or will I be calm? Hmmm… I do hope I will be calm since I know that I am not that expressive, that I tend to keep my feelings inside… therefore I should not scream like crazy. Fingers crossed!

Will I tear “that” part? Will “it” go back to its normal size and shape? Will “it” feel “that” good again? Hehehe. How long will my body take to get back in its old shape and size again? When can I do exercise again after delivering a baby?

How much will my baby weight? How will his condition be? I want him to be perfectly healthy inside out!

Oh million questions really pop into my head all the time.

Nevertheless, on the other side, I am excited. I can’t wait to eventually meet my own baby. To hear him cry and to touch him for the first time. To love someone before I even meet him. To eventually call him mine.

Pregnancy Exercise

I have been doing more exercise since 32nd week of pregnancy. Well, okay… I have to admit I don’t do any exercise up until the doctor gave me greenlight. I walk around the neighbourhood with my husband on weekends, or strolling around malls with the kids. I jokingly said to my husband that I could reach the 6.000 steps target much easier when I do the walking exercise in a mall. Hahaha. On weekdays I alternately do low impact exercise by The Body Project and Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home exercise for 20-30 minutes. Both The Body Project and Leslie Sansone are exercises that I used to do before pregnancy. I sweat a lot and my baby kicks more frequently when I do exercise… which I think is good.

The video above is an example of video from The Body Project that I follow for exercise. I like the fact that I sweat a lot  and that I feel energetic afterwards. They have many exercise video but I always choose the ones that I think I can do (and safe for the baby!): the all standing, beginner, low impact work out!

The second exercise that I do is the ones by Leslie Sansone. Like I said before, I do The Body Project and Leslie Sansone alternately everyday. I want to get fit before the delivery as well as to lock the baby down in the birth canal soon.

I watch Bidan Kita’s Youtube Channel because the midwife, Bidan Yessie gives lots of useful tips, tricks, and advice for delivery preparation. I tried to follow her yoga video too but too bad, once again yoga is not my virtue. Yoga always makes me sleepy and impatience, that’s why I switch back to The Body Project and Leslie Sansone! Nevertheless, her videos give me affirmation and also reminder to be positive. There are lots of fear mongering narration out there about the pain of vaginal birth and as an overthinker, filtering and choosing the right source of informations are very important psychologically. There are some of her video series that I like to watch. First, the week by week pregnancy. The video informs us Mom-to-be about our  baby’s development inside the womb every week, what are the symptomps or changes that us pregnant Mom experience during said week, etc. Sometimes I watch these video series with Dza, while I rock on the gymball.

Also, these are some of her videos that I also find very useful…

What I also enjoy from Bidan Kita is that she also shares motivating birth stories from many people who follow her on Instagram. Mostly they share about how they followed her tips (sometimes also join her online classes) and how those tips helped them to have calm, positive, and less painful delivery experiences. One more informative Youtube Channel I like to watch is Gue Sehat. This one is from the medical perspective, the informations is shared by an Obgyn.

Those are some of the Youtube Channel that I frequently watch for pregnancy exercise and informations. Randomly, I also watch other suggested videos/channel that I think will be useful for me. Off course I prefer channels that are shared by professionals: trainers, midwives, or doctors since they have the necessary education to back up the informations shared.

Shopping for Baby Stuff

Having the checklist means that I can delegate and make sure that preparations run smoothly even when I am not available.

Ah! Here comes the eagerly awaited and most favorite part of the pregnancy: BABY SHOPPING!

Since many months ago I have put things (in the shopping cart/wishlist) that I either want to buy or think will be necessary for the baby and me during and after labor. I have asked tons of questions to my cousin, Asti about which stuff that I need to buy and which that I don’t need to. Plus, I am a sucker for checklists. This is one habit that I nurtured during my years working in a company. Since I tend to handle multiple events and other things altogether, with teams, I always make checklists on spreadsheet. This time, I created a checklists that are divided into six sections:

1. 1. 1. Mom’s Needs: the things that I need to buy for delivery and after (example: homedresses with easy front opening, bengkung and corsets, etc.)
      2. Baby Needs: obviously the things that the baby needs once he is born!
      3. Hospital Bag: the things that I need/want to bring in the hospital bag for the baby and myself as well as for my husband.
      4. Day Dil Dza Rules and Schedules: Yup, let’s not forget the big brothers and sister! My husband and I will be at the hospital and I already asked my Mom and brother to help out. Having the kids’ printed rules and schedules will make sure the kids will still follow the dicipline and their schedules, and not trying to find a loop hole just because their parents won’t be around for a while. Plus, it will help my Mom and brother to manage the kids.
      5. Mom’s Postpartum Plan: Basically list of things that I need and will do for my post partum care such as: ciak po, chicken broth, etc since I plan to do pantang or Chinese confinement for 40 days!
      6. Weekly Menu for at least 40 days: Yup, doing pantang means that I will take full and PROPER rest after delivering the baby to make sure that I get my mind, body, and soul well recharged. It means no household stress, therefore I prep the menu in advance so that my Mom (who will stay with me during pantang) will know what to cook/ask Bibi to cook.

I will share more details about these checklist on other post, okay!

What are those things that you put on your list???

I guess that was the look that my husband gave me when I showed him the printed checklists a few weeks ago. He said that for the previous three kids, he didn’t even shop that much. Well, you are with a different kind of woman now, honey. This one is Miss Perfectionist Well Prepared Master Checklist kind of woman. Monica Geller is my role model!

I told him once, “You know how we prepared for our wedding back then right? How I have a folder full of checklist that I distributed to the team as well as how I used to work in the company? Having the checklist means that I can delegate and make sure that preparations run smoothly even when I am not available. It spares me headache and panic later on!”

As predicted, he vetoed some of the things I put on the list but hey, a woman always gets her way…

Doctor Visit

I am very grateful that I have a very kind doctor. I am not a discipline patient. There is always something in the way (Covid-19, kids’ school, etc) whenever I want to visit her for routine check up. Thank God that the baby is InsyaAllah healthy. Though I sometimes late for the routine check up, I always monitor my condition, just in case something unusual happened (alhamdulillah everything is fine!).

This time, my pregnancy is in between 34 to 35 weeks. I was supposed to visit the doctor 2 weeks ago but I decided to wait until I have visited the opthamologist. I wear glasses and my obgyn required me to have my eyes checked to make sure that the retina is in perfect condition for normal labor. The opthalmologist for this is the one who subspecializes in retina. I thought the eye-check will be as simple as I sit in front of the usual tools and get my eyes checked. As it turned out, the doctor gave my eyes some drops to dilate the pupils and then anasthetized my eyes. I waited for two hours for the drops and anasthesia to work. The checking itself took quite a while for each eye and I had to lean on the tool while sitting on a stool with a big belly. Now I understand why obgyn ordered the patients to get their eyes checked before the third trimester. For some, the big third trimester belly cause discomfort when one has to lean on to get the eyes checked. Thank God I managed to stay calm.

Alhamdulillah both eyes are in good condition! Bismillah for normal labor!

My eye doctor also reminded me (since he knew that this would be my first delivery experience) to remain calm during contraction and pushing. He said, “Actually it only needs as little as three pushes to get the baby out. What makes it risky is because the first time laboring woman is panicking and not remain calm during the contractions. Go watch Youtube videos, there are many people sharing about the proper breathing techniques, what to expect and do during contractions etc. Educate yourself and do exercises like yoga, walking, and breathing. It will help you and you’ll at least get an understanding of what to expect during labor since this will be your first time. That’s what we (his wife and him) did back then.”

Very useful encouragement indeed! At least one more person to assure me! Thank God I met this eye doctor.

I informed my obgyn about the opthalmologist visit result during my routine check up. She also checked on my medical check up result… and turned out that my Hemoglobin level is a bit low. She prescribed me Hemobion supplement for that (bye-bye Iced Tea Tarik! Tea could counter the work of the supplement to produce more blood).

Last but not the least, my baby’s condition! First, he got nuchal cord a.k.a wrapped in umbilical cord. The doctor said it was okay and that I could still give birth normally. At this week of pregnancy, my baby weights 2,8 kgs. She said that the baby has gone back to the normal weight. What a sigh of relief! Hopefully when the labor time come, my baby can weight normally and not too fat (max. 3,5 kgs only pleaseeeeee… *fingers crossed*). I already switched sugar with Stevia, reduce the amount of maternity milk I drink into only one glass per day (even sometimes one glass per two days!), as well as reduce the amount of rice I consume (by a lot, I don’t really like rice anyway huh…) at each meal time to avoid putting too much calories in!

Bismillah ya Allah, please give my baby and I health, strength, safe and smooth delivery. Aamiin. The due date is getting near and I am nervous as well as excited about it!