As a Schlumberger wife, I've always been told by my hubby to always be prepared for a transfer. I never took it seriously. I know the International Mobile title on him (International Mobile or IM means that an employee must be able to move anywhere in the world in short notice) means that we can never get too comfortable in one place, he can be transferred anywhere the company needs him to be. But then, I never expected 'short notice' means THIS short!

We had just finished packing up, working our way to get comfortable in a place called Bangkok (oh, sorry, I never updated in this blog that we've moved to Bangkok.. hehe) now, he's off to Sudan pulak.. The first time he told me about the transfer I was shocked, I didn't know what to say, I was stunned. But slowly, I began to accept it, I know he didn't want this but he's willing to do it for the family. So sad.

But the problem is once we've started a family, there are a lot of things to consider, such as the financial aspect, ya lah nowadays everything is all about money. I'm not saying we're doing this to be rich quickly, but we have to admit money is an important aspect, for example the time Lyssa was admitted into ICU, I wonder what will happen if it happened when Amy was born instead. (The bill for Lyssa's ICU treatment was 17k ok? And my cesarean was 10k) At that time we were just newlyweds, not much money and the company didn't cover much for delivery too since Asno was a local engineer not an IM (what a crap). Would we go up to the doctor and say "Doktor, boleh tak jangan masukkan anak saya dekat ICU.. kami tak cukup duit" sure cannot lah right? So, thinking about the pros and cons hubby dearest decided to go to Sudan and he'll just rotate to and fro from Sudan to Malaysia occasionally when he's on vacation.

Now that we're in Malaysia, I feel I really miss our time in Vung Tau. To me, that's the nicest place I've been to, with a lot of beautiful memories for us. Nowadays I will always listen to this song my Dafi.. hehe.. Macam orang bercinta pulak.. but everytime I hear it, I will have tears in my eyes. The words feel like something my hubby would tell me.

So enjoy the song ya..:)

I stumbled across this joke taken from the Malay Mail. I guess it's true after all,huh?

Learning English is difficult.

There is no egg in the eggplant,
No ham in the hamburger,
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.

English muffins were not invented in England,
and French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that:
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square,
The quinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig

And what about the noun roots of verbs?

If writer writes, how come fingers don’t fing?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of phone booth is phone beeth?
If the teacher taught, why didn’t the preacher praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Why do the people recite at a play, yet play at a recital?
Or park on driveways and drive on parkways?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language

Where a house can burn up … as it burns down
In which you fill in a form… by filling it out
Where an alarm is only heard once it goes off!

English was created by people, and it reflects the creativity
of the human race (which of course isn’t a race at all)
That is why when the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out… they are invisible
But I still can’t figure out why it is that when I wind up my watch, it starts…
But when I wind up this discussion… it ends.

p/s: oh my god, now I really have to prepare myself before the days Amy will start asking me about all these stuff LOL

Nina

  School holidays is almost over. All the craziness at home, waking up late (me including) and playhouse disney almost all the time will be over. Tomorrow will be the start of a series of hectic days, waking up early to start breakfast, waking Amy to playschool, bathing, brushing teeth, making her eat her breakfast, then carrying Lisa, the baby into the car by myself and get Amy to school on time. And after that a series of grocery shopping, errands running, house cleaning, getting lunch ready and then it's time to pickup Amy from school. And do I have to start on the after lunch activity? Napping, bathing again, getting dinner started, and then start putting them to bed. Oh do I have to mention by this time the house will be a mess and I need to start my clean up pulak?

And I still wonder why people keep asking me " Apa aje aktiviti kau duduk kat rumah tu? " Isn't this enough activities already? I can't understand why being a SAHM is so underestimated. To me it's almost like a rat race, only the ones with patience will survive. And to be honest, sometimes I don't even consider myself finishing the line. I have an upmost respect for the full time mums, especially the ones who brought up their kids well, sometimes even with limited financial support, but still able to bring up good and respectable people in the community, giving their kids full and wholesome meals, good bringing up environment, good akhlak etc. I have this one quote for you good people

"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest paying jobs..... since the payment is pure love."

  I think this is true, and such a good morale boost especially for someone like me who needs it badly after a week of school holidaying.. :) So, to all SAHM out there, let's stop complaining and get moving ya? :D

Yours truly,

Nina

     Assalamualaikum everyone,

  I've always wanted to tell you guys about my delivery experience this time. But I didn't have much time, with struggling my life back to normal, with these two precious lil girls. And plus the experience was kind of sad+traumatic+happy ending + all the feelings mixed together. But I'll try to put all these into words, hopefully I all the events will come back to me slowly...

 We went back to Malaysia a few days before I'm 36 weeks. I think maybe around Week 35.4 . So after we arrived in KL, the next 2 days we straight ahead went to Johor, to my parents-in-laws' house, so that I could deliver and spend my pantang days in KL. But one day after we arrived in Johor, I found there's a show (few drops of blood) showing it's already signs of labour. I was scared and confused, because I knew it was only around 36 weeks plus. I called my mum in KL, she asked me to go to a hospital or clinic nearby to make sure whether it is a sign of labour or not. But I didn't dare to go, because I knew if I went to the hospital, and the show was really a sign of labour, I would be admitted and would have to deliver there. So we took a risk and straight away drive back to KL at around 7pm and arrived in KL at 11 pm, and we straight ahead went into Ampang Puteri Specialist hospital's emergency department. And after I did the checkup, the nurse said I was already 3 cm dilated. Lucky for me, although I didn't do one single check up in Ampang Puteri, Dr Fauziah agreed to be my gynae because I had some records of my first pregnancy with her.

  So, we spent the night in the labour room. The next morning, the checkup was as usual. I was quite disappointed when Dr Fauziah came at 10 am, and said I was only 4 cm dilated. What???? All those hours, but only 4 cm dilated. So Dr Fauziah decided to break the water bag and she went off to her clinic leaving me to wait for labour. And she also gave me a shot which is meant to strengthen the baby's lungs. And I also took an epidural shot so that I wouldn't have to feel the labour.. :P

All of a sudden, the nurse came and looked at the heartbeat chart on the CTG and said the baby's heartbeat had gone low. It was 120 before and suddenly went down to 60. And she called Dr Fauziah to come to the labour room. Once Dr Fauziah arrived, she looked at the chart and said this is not good. She panicked and said the heartbeat haven't gone up in 5 minutes, so we need to do an emergency cesarean section immediately. She gave me an oxygen mask to breathe in, she said it's not for me, it's for the baby. So I was brought to the operation room, once more, and my husband didn't get a chance to see me deliver for the second time.

The operation went on, and all is well. After the operation, they sent me to my VIP room (hehe) and I rested for a bit, and met all my family there. A few minutes after that, 2 nurses came and send me the cutest little baby for me to breastfeed. But I didn't have much milk, so the nurse said she would bring back the baby to the nursery for formula feed, and would return her back to me at the next feeding.

But the next feeding, the nurse told us the doctor had to observe the baby because her skin was a little shade of blue and had to be kept for observation for another day.

The next day I went for breastfeeding, and Elyssa breastfed for the first time, and I noticed it was very hard to breastfeed her, because she keeps stopping for breath. After an hour of on-off breastfeeding, I sent her back to the nursery room with the other babies. But as we arrived to our room, the nurse called and told us to go back to the nursery because the baby is still hungry and crying. So we went back to the nursery.

I breastfed her again, and after that the nurse told me the doctor wanted to see me. So I went outside to call Asno and we both went to see the doctor. The doctor said Elyssa was a little bit blue, so he needs to give he an antibiotic shot because he believed that maybe the baby has a little virus infection.

Suddenly, after the antibiotic shot, Elyssa suddenly stopped breathing. As soon as she closes her eyes, she will stop breathing. We had to wake her up, everytime she sleeps. The doctor then decided to put her in the incubator with an oxygen head box for oxygen supply, but she still stops breathing everytime she dozes off. The doctor then made the decision that we had to put her in NICU at that very instant.

I went back to my room, and Asno followed the doctor to the NICU. An hour after that, Asno came to fetch me and brought me to the NICU. It was a very sad moment for me, when I saw my daughter. She was lying only in her diapers, and there's a wire coming out of the right nostrill, and the wire went right into her trakea - this is for her oxygen support. And there's another wire coming out of the mouth, and the wire goes right to her stomach - this is for her milk feeding. And there are more wires coming in and out of her body, I was crying most of the time I saw her. I 'tak sampai hati' to take any pictures of her in the ICU, I didn't want people to see the sad memories that I experienced.

She stayed in the NICU for 7 days. Everyday we would come to the ICU to bring her breast milk and we will stare at the monitor looking at the graphs of her heart beat and breaths per second, and everytime she stops breathing, we would panic and wake her up. We suddenly learnt a new word we hadn't known before - SLEEP APNEA. It is a state where someone stops breathing for more than 20 seconds. All those days in NICU we would spend time to look up about sleep apnea in the internet, and how to take care of a baby with sleep apnea.

To cut the story short, and not go into too much details, on the first ramadhan (13th September) Elyssa was discharged from the NICU and moved to the nursery. Alhamdulillah. And one week later she was discharged, and we brought her home.

We still keep a very close view of her, we put a monitor to monitor if she stops breathing in her cot. To me, Elyssa is a fighter. She fought her way in my womb, and she fought again in the ICU. There's nothing more meaningful to me than to see my two girls grow up healthy and happy. It's what we as parents are here for them, to give the best to them.

This is unconditional love.

Nina

p/s: now i'm waiting for abang's version of the story pulak.. :P

   In a few weeks we're heading back to Malaysia :) .. I'm going to deliver my second baby in Malaysia again. Although deep in our hearts, we feel a little bit disappointed, because at first we would have loved to deliver a baby here in Vietnam, but then, due to the circumstances that the distance from Vung Tau to the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City is about 2 hours by car, and also there isn't anybody from Malaysia that could come and help us to babysit Emilia for a few days while I'm in labour, so we decided we have to go back to Malaysia .. We would have loved though to be able to deliver here in Vietnam, so that when our child is bigger, we could tell her that once upon a time, we had been in Vietnam for two years, her sister was raised in Vung Tau and she( our second baby, yes! it's another girl!) was born here in Vietnam...

     And maybe too, when we're older, and we're already back in Malaysia for good, if we met a Vietnamese guy, we could mention to him "Oh, my daughter was born in Vietnam.. We used to live in Vung Tau bla bla bla.. "....so on and so forth... Although we had been in Vung Tau for only 2 years, this place has left us with so many beautiful memories.. This is where I first started my job as a full time housewife, I started to learn how to cook, how to take care of my baby by myself, the place where I made friends with ladies from all over the world for the first time , the first time we really stayed together as husband and wife, the place where Amy started to crawl, walk, weaned, learned to talk etc.. This place maybe is just an ordinary place for some people, but it is a very special place to us because this is where we learnt to become a real family..

     But as I said, due to the circumstances, we had to go back to Malaysia, no choice there, because I wouldn't want Emilia to be taken care by the maid while I'm in labour, I need her to be in good hands, at least people we could trust. Plus we miss our family in Malaysia so much, it would be fun to meet them all again.. And of course they would love to meet Emilia and the newest addition to our family..   So the decision is made, we're heading back to Malaysia in one or two weeks time. Please pray for everything to work out smoothly, insyaAllah...

    Oh, and as of today, the baby is already around 34 weeks.. She looked healthy from the ultrasound we did in Franco-Vietnamese hospital, everything looks in order. Asno even said our baby looks just like Emilia when we first saw her during those days when we did her ultrasound. Looks like everything is A-OK, I don't have much problem carrying my baby this time around. I didn't even have morning sickness in the earlier days, and I don't gain much weight this time, I've only gained about 6-7 kilos till now, but the doctor said the baby is a healthy 2.6 kilos now. So far so good.. I would love to deliver normally this time though, hopefully everything will be ok..

    Anyway, till then... Take good care of yourself, you good people...

Signing off

Nina

Thanks to dearie Mama Fahim and Faris for tagging me to be a rockin' girl blogger.. yeaahhh!!!

    Isn't this cool? Girl power, rocks!! hehe.. (Although this is supposedly for my fotopage photo blogging, but I couldn't seem to be able to upload this in my fotopage) .. Anyway, thanks a lot to Kak Dilla.. yeaaaaa (rasa macam dapat title Miss World la pulak.. ) hehe...

   Anyway, I don't really like to read blogs, I like to see photos instead. But there are some blogs that I usually read that I would like to tag too...

1) Mai- Nasya's mummy

2) Nasz the newlywed

3) Mazz - Adam's mama

4) Sabrina - mummy-to-be

That's it.. :)

Girls rawks!!!!

Nina

   I feel very happy today... Yesterday Emilia's teacher remarked that Emilia is now developing and making a good progress. Yup, she can now listen to what the teacher tells her to do, follows instructions, and immitates and sing along with her teacher. And what makes me happier is that when the teacher was teaching numbers, and showed the number to the student, a few times Emilia was the first to answer... When the teacher showed number 10, she quickly shouted 'TEN!!!' .. and when the teacher showed number 8, she was the first one to answer too... Even the teacher was surprised.. I wasn't surprised at all, because I know my daughter could recognize the numbers and the alphabets too, but before this she wasn't too interested in participating in class.... Partly because she is the smallest, most of the kids are almost three... Phew, I was one happy mama... You really made my day, sayang...

Only when the teacher started to teach the alphabets, Amy wasn't too interested.. partly because I had only taught her the capital letters, but the teacher showed all the small letters, so Amy wasn't interested in them. That's ok.. We'll start learning the small letters now...

I remembered when we first started, I was almost crying, because Emilia couldn't sit still, while all the other children were so focused on what the teacher was teaching...I know it is unfair to compare our child with the other children, but all the children were so well-behaved, I thought maybe I had done something wrong.. But in Emilia's defense, she is faaar smaller than the other kids... But now she's developing and learning things quickly, alhamdulillah... I guess all kids develop in their own sweet time...

Anyway, that's all the update.. I'm a very happy mama today, I feel like going on a little bit retail therapy.. (I already did this morning, in fact).. hehe... and maybe Emilia will get a little gift of lego from mama? so that she would grow up creative and with a good imagination.. maybe can become an architect or a structural designer?

Nina

    Suddenly I feel like updating this blog. Not much things happened lately, everyday is the same as any day ... Just want to update on this huge bumpy tummy which is past 7 months now.

     Just wanna share this interesting piece someone posted on my website mybayi.com :-

First Son vs Second Son

First son: three baby showers - coworkers, girlfriends, and family members
Second son: none

First son: Adorable, new, stylish, perfectly-matched outfits, lovingly washed in fragrance-free detergent, folded neatly and placed in paper-lined dresser drawers
Second son: Hand-me-downs and consignment store finds, typically pulled from the laundry basket full of clothes which have been ready to fold for two days

First son: sanitizing wipes on the grocery cart topped by adorable padded shopping cart cover
Second son: throw the receipts and stray lettuce leaves out of the cart and plop him into the front

First son: Baby book kept current and complete as time passed
Second son: I need to buy a baby book, I suppose

First son: Four different studio portraits taken in his first year
Second son: I may find time for the second trip to the photo studio before his first birthday…and I should really get a frame for that one we got done at Christmas so we can put a picture of him on the wall

First son: constant awareness of his actions and activities around the house
Second son: where did that bruise come from?

First son: Daddy-made personal homepage, complete with current photos and milestones
Second son: a dozen or so snapshots in my free Photobucket account… from three months ago

First son: diaper changes every two hours like clockwork
Second son: what do you mean you didn't change him? You thought I did? I was loading the car, YOU were supposed to change him!

First son: the smallest smear of food or spitup warrants a new outfit
Second son: hey, these green beans from dinner make a nice contrast next to the banana from breakfast on those overalls

First son: strict, conservative calendar awareness so no potentially allergenic solid foods are introduced too early
Second son: Wait, can they have citrus at one year or 9 months? Oops.

First son: 1st birthday party features cute theme in primary colors, complete with matching decorations, plates, party favors, hats, separate tiny cake for baby, elaborate menu planned for weeks, and invitations to all neighbors, friends, and extended family on both sides
Second son: You can't be serious… it is THIS week? 1 year old? I wonder if your mom would make a cake. She's out of town? Damn. I guess I'll call my parents and tell them to come over. We still have paper plates left over from the 4th of July, don't we?

First son: OMG, he has a runny nose! Call the doctor!
Second son: Eh, he's probably teething.

First son: Playgroups, swim lessons, music class, etc.
Second son: Go play with your brother.

    Do you think this is gonna happen to our second child? No lah.. I don't think so.. Furthermore, Asno and I are both the second child. We both share the same sentiment about being the second child, so I hope we can be fair to our second child, insyaAllah.. I think being in the second pregnancy, I'm more laid back and more relaxed in a way. When I was pregnant for the first time, I was more paranoid about everything, I didn't touch a single cup of coffee, I drank milk all the time, ate loads of yoghurt, careful about almost everything. But the second pregnancy I'm more relaxed, I drink one cup of coffee a day, and I do drink milk, although not as much as my first pregnancy, and I'm more active too (how can you not be? of course in the first pregnancy we can sleep whenever we want, watch tv etcetera.. but now, there's a little toddler running around, all the chores to do.. how can we not be active? :P)

   And not to mention about not really excited about shopping. But I think it's nothing to do with not loving my second child lah... No way.. It's just that, during those days when I was carrying Amy, I was still young la... What do you expect? Only 24 years old.. And didn't have a single clue about parenting, how much clothes we need, how much this and that. And at that time, maybe I wasn't matured as I am now (blush blush).. Didn't really think much about saving money, just spend spend and spend whatever I make for that month.. (Lagipun kalau tak cukup, Asno kan ada... mintak aje lah.. hehehehe)... But this time is more different, we see things in a more different perspective. Not that I don't love my second baby, but all the clothes from when Amy was small are still nice.. Plus the baby gets big so quickly, it's always buying and buying clothes.. And we spent a lot on my first pregnancy, we bought a lot of good quality and expensive stuff, and they're still in good shape. So is being smart and thrifty means we don't love our child? I don't think so ... And there are so many things to consider now that we're more like a big family. We need a big house (oh, guess what? we already bought a house.. yippeee yay!!), good quality furnitures, good amount of savings for their future education, savings for us, when we get older (so that our children wouldn't need to worry they need to give their parents money when we get older), blah blah blah... the lists are endless..

So, don't worry dear baby in mummy's tummy, we love you very much.. And guess what, you don't only have mama and ayah to love you, but you have Kak Amy to love you too... How cool is that? So many people can't wait for your arrival dear... Mama hopes that you will fill our lives with more and more of your laughter, and fill this house full of love and happiness... InsyaAllah.... Mama and Ayah loves you, Emilia and Adik :)

  Disebabkan flat sangat semalam.. punya lah penat berjalan seharian dekat Disneyland.. Kami pun tidur tak ingat dunia.. Lepas bangun solat Subuh, then sambung tidur balik... Then bangun-bangun dah pukul 7.. Alamak.. Sebab kami dah book character breakfast dekat Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, and the chauffer akan bawak kami pergi ke sana pukul 8.. ( We booked through the net, dapat 30% discount.. untung sangat.. and sebab kami dah book awal, kami dapat chauffeur driven limo pergi Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.. yeayy!!!!!) .. So apa lagi, kelam kabut la siapkan diri... Amy pulak susah nak bangun, so terpaksa la angkat je dia, terus masuk dalam bilik air.. heheh... mandi sikit-sikit, pakai baju.. nasib baik Amy jenis yang ok kalau bangun tidur, cakap dekat dia, kita nak jumpa mickey, terus happy... terus lupa pasal mengantuk...

  Dah siap-siap tu, kami pun turun ke lobby... tengok-tengok takde pun kereta tunggu.. So tanya dekat bell boy, and terus dia panggil kereta.. so kami pun bergambar dengan chauffer tu dulu, then terus pergi ke Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel..

   Sampai-sampai hotel, cantik sangat hotel ni.. Tapi terlalu eksklusif, nampak mewah .. I think untuk orang macam kami ni, tak sesuai la yang mewah2 ni.. heheh, lagi sesuai yang muda remaja macam Disney Hollywood Hotel tu..

   Masuk-masuk restaurant, nampak pluto.. I dah excited giler dah.. pusing-pusing nampak Goofy plak.. pastu eh, ada mickey.. minnie pun ada.. Amy dah terlompat-lompat dalam stroller... Best betul, characters ni kacau-kacau orang makan... And memang puas hati la dapat bergambar betul2.. siap dapat peluk2 lagi characters.. memang berbaloi la bayar 80 ringgit sorang untuk breakfast ni..

    Food dia not bad.. Ada waffles bentuk mickey tu, then pancakes.. and ada macam2 jenis cereals, ada muesli bars macam2 jenis jugak.. Ada hash browns, omelette or apa-apa jenis eggs yang kita nak order.. And macam-macam bakeries and pastries.. Ok lah jugak, ada sushi bar.. Ada salad bar.. Not bad la, for the price.. Apa lagi... dah lupa dah.. so makan je la kenyang-kenyang.. sambil-sambil makan tu, characters pun datang kacau2 kami... Tak senang duduk dibuatnya, baru nak makan, mickey datang.. pastu goofy pulak.. etc etc.. tapi memang seronok la, bila tengok Amy seronok.. at least she's having fun.. :)

    So puas hati dapat tangkap gambar.. Then lepas makan, kami pun jalan-jalan dalam kawasan hotel... takde apa sangat nak tengok, so kami pun ambik shuttle bus pergi balik Hollywood Hotel.. Sampai Hollywood Hotel, kami jalan-jalan dulu dekat garden hotel, ambik gambar.. belakang hotel ni ada laut, so kami pun jalan-jalan dekat kawasan laut.. Ambik gambar lagi... Sebab lepas ni nak check out dah, nak pindah hotel dekat Kowloon pulak... So ambik la gambar puas-puas.. :)

   Dah siap ambik gambar, kami balik hotel, kemas-kemas beg.. then pergi ambik shuttle pergi Disneyland lagi.. Tapi kali ni tak masuk ke Disneyland.. nak ambik Disney MTR pergi Ngong Ping 360, nak naik cable car.. Dapat la naik train yang ada kepala mickey.. handrail pun bentuk kepala mickey..

    Oklah, tu je la ceritanya.... the peak, ngong ping, avenue of stars semua tu takyah cerita la kan... tgk gambar pun ok.. so that's all folks.. see ya lata alligata...

Nina