Safiyya Balqis Birth Story

 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

This is the birth story of my youngest baby, Safiyya Balqis… She was a surprise baby I would say.. bak kata orang jaman now, know know have… hahaha ( lame, I know). She came shortly after the miscarriage I had in January 2021. I found out about her presence a few days before my second vaccination date.. Most probably she was already there when I had my first vaccination. Wallahu ‘alam.

I was contemplating to take my second vaccination at first, because I was afraid it might harm the baby. After consulted with a Dr Farhana and Kak Mimi (an O&G Specialist from HTJ) about the doubt I had, they answered my questions patiently, and I decided to go for the second vaccination. I don’t know if my fatigue during the early stage of pregnancy was due to my morning sickness or the side effect of the vaccination. Tapi, dak Bapak kata… vaccine ke tak, mami ni memang macam tu… melepek je kejenya. Hahaha… complaint ke tu??

Pregnancy Journey

The morning sickness as usual.. heartburn, nauseous, extreme fatigue, cough, headache. Tak boleh nak kata side effect vaccine sebab my other pregnancy pun macam tu juga. Muntah – muntah tu subsided lepas 13 -14 week of pregnancy. Tapi heartburn ( pedih ulu hati) memang sampai 5 – 6 bulan kot.. hilang kejap, and came back towards the end of pregnancy. Nothing unusual laa kiranya..

Tapi this time around, mami punya Hb count selalu low.. Pernah sampai 9.6 and fluctuate between 10.0 dgn 9.6 tu laa. Setiap 2 minggu kena pergi check Hb count. Cucuk laa kat pelipat lengan tu, ada hari sampai 3 kali cucuk ( sebab lepas jumpa Doctor dia decide nak hantar blood test untuk tengok mami ada Thalasemia dan nak check iron dalam darah). Ade misi yg lemah lembut mukanya.. misi macam garang pun ada ( tapi sorang je laa) , siap kata “ balik- balik muka awak je yang ambik darah ..” Ada yang ambil darah sampai lebam. Tak sempat hilang lebam tu, dah kena pi amik darah lagi.

Another issue that I faced during this pregnancy was symphysis pubis as early as 4-5 bulan pregnancy. Dan lepas bersalin pun masih ada sisa – sisa dia dirasai.. kalau takda condition ni pun, nak beralih mengiring dari kiri ke kanan, kanan ke kiri pun adalah satu issue yang agak besar dengan perut besar (mak2 yg melalui trimester ketiga faham la kan..), inikan pula dengan ada rasa nyeri tu lagi… uishhh.. I really need a session with an osteopath practitioner or chiropractor, like seriously.. tapi entah bila laa dapat nak pegi tu ..

Shopping for “The Doctor”

My initial plan is to give birth with my favourite Obgyn, Dr Sukhilmi from Hospital Bersalin Sukhilmi, so that I don’t have to convince another doctor about my preference. But due to the pandemic, the hospital only accept for planned caesarean, and I would have to look for another doctor who would agree with my birth plan. Mami tak pergi government hospital bukan sebab banyak sangat duit tatau nak buat apa, bukan juga sebab tak bagus, tapi I understand that I have some requests that they won’t fulfil. My main request is to be able to birth the baby in the position that I preferred and diorang ada banyak lagi benda nak layan.. kan? So those yang takde nak request macam2, government hospital is the best place sebenarnya.

In my mind, I do have some visualisation of birthing at home kalau tak jumpa juga doctor yang berkenan dihati. Tapi kita try juga as hard as possible to do doctor shopping untuk doctor yang mungkin akan agree and accept mami punya birth plan.

I went to KPJ Muar for doctor shopping after patiently wait for a month in the queue to see the doctor there (punya laa orang2 Muar ni takde much choice, queue sebulan tau). On the day of the appointment, appointment pukul 3, I arrived 2.45 pm. Pukul 3 tu ada Ward round katanya, then tiba2 ada pukul 4 ada patient nak bersalin, sabar je juga lagi sebab mana tau, masa mami nak bersalin nanti macam ni juga kan (Fyi, I was the only patient petang tu utk appointment). Pukul 5, the assistant kata Doctor tgh buat Csect dekat patient tadi yg nak bersalin tu.. So, pukul 6.15 pm baru jumpa.. tapi, lepas jumpa .. how should I put it eh? The moment mami naik kereta nak balik tu, the visualisation of birthing at home has become more clear than before ..haha..

Lepas tu, search laa lagi doctor dekat area Seremban, Bangi and Kajang yang possible. Kenapa Seremban? Bangi? Kenapa Kajang? Sebab masa tu fikir, kalau dekat situ, kitorang boleh laa letak anak2 kat rumah mertua (Bangi) atau rumah uwan (Seremban). I know, some people yang dengar mami punya plan kalau tiba – tiba ia terjadi, macam tak logic je, duduk bermastautin dekat Tangkak, Johor, tapi bila tanya nak pi bersalin mana..mami jawab Kajang. Banyak muka yang boleh di interpret macam nak kata “is it possible?”, tapi tak terkeluar je, kan? It’s OK..mami paham je.

Skodeng punya skodeng… I try tengok Kajang Plaza Medical Centre.. ada 3 ObGyn. Zaman dulu-dulu it is known dengan Arwah Dr Jamil yg pro gentle birth. So, boleh jadi ada doctor kat sini yang mungkin boleh accept my request. Mula – mula nak try Dr Haizal, sebab nampak gaya macam Dr Sukhilmi dan hari Jumaat (sebab Johor cuti) tu ada 2 doktor je. Sorang lagi Dr Missdalia Mat Kiah. Tapi hari tu Dr Haizal offday sebab cuti tersepit lepas Deepavali Khamis tu. So, mungkin Allah nak lorongkan jumpa dengan Dr Missdalia. I booked an appointment with Dr Missdalia.

First time jumpa, I thought “OK, macam serasi je dengan doctor ni…” Sebab verbally, mami terus tanya, would she be OK if I want to birth the baby in kneeling position? Maybe this is the first time patient dia request ni.. she asked “Why?”. I replied 4 out of my 5 children were born in this position with no vaginal tear. What I liked about this doctor is that, she is willing to try my way first, and then baru guna acara dia kalau my way is not working. Satu lagi, this doctor banyak juga refer to the blood test yang mami dah buat dengan KK ( kan I kata KK kat sini memang sayang kat mami and run lots of blood test to make sure the pregnancy was in good condition).

Drilling the Baby

Drill macam mana? Ni banyak dak Bapak yang selalu drill baby. Dari awal- awal lagi, we did think about how are we going to handle everything during “The Day”. Mana nak letak anak (since we have 5 already, kan? ). Nak tumpang jiran-jiran atau kawan- kawan tu, 5 orang bukan sikit, ye? So we thought of all possibilities / arrangement yang kitorang boleh susunkan. Below, are some of the things yang dak Bapak cakap kat baby, and turned out, memang baby ni ikut, OK… hahaha

1. “Nanti keluar weekend tau.. weekend!” (convenient to both of us, to arrange the kids)

2. “Keluar lepas mami dah abes marking tau..”

3. “Keluar masa cuti sekolah tau” (easier to arrange the other kids)

4. “Tunggu at least lagi 3 jam lagi, baru keluar..” (ni masa on the way to Kajang ..)

5. “Keluar lepas pukul 12 mlm ni tau..” sambil dia gelak2.. ( uiiii, mami yang tengah tahan surges tu sabau je laa, ade laa rasa nak tumbuk sesikit ..hahaha…)

6. “Ok, dah boleh keluar…” (lepas dah pukul 12 ..)

And for your information, memang baby ni to’at dengan dak Bapak.. ikut SEMUA arahan dak Bapak tu, OK? Memang compliant, cam Bapak eh, macam Jepun!!

Mami suruh dia keluar awal, tarikh cantik 21/12/21, 25/12/21 (biar boleh cuti tiap tahun..) dia tak mau. Siap pi pusing The Mines on Christmas Day tu, dia tetap taknak keluar.. berjam - jam mami jalan..

To Come Out, or Not ?

On 30/12/21 tu.. memandangkan café staff tutup, maka pergi la cari makan dekat luar… masa keluar tu, ada laa beberapa surges yang “rasa” dalam 4-5 kali gitu. Kebiasaannya, surges tu tak laa rasa pun ..kalau betul fokus, dapat laa rasa.. kalau tak, bizi laa buat benda lain kan… balik dari makan tu mami whatsapp bapak bagitau. Pastu bapak decide utk balik dan jemput mami bawak gi rumah TTU. Then lepas drop kitorang kat situ dalam pukul 5.30 tu, he went back to office sebab dia ada nak jaga exam pukul 8 malam tu.

Sedang mami duduk-duduk lepas solat maghrib tu sambil Whatsapp dengan Adnin dan sambil – sambil chat dengan maklang and masik yang tengah dinner kat KLCC masa tu, tiba2 datang lagi surges yang “rasa” 2 kali yang agak rapat. Mami try untuk time the surges (sambil tengok jam), eh .. tak datang pulak dia. Bagi tau bapak, bapak pun reply balik, “nak jalan je ke?” Mami masih unsure .. cakap, entahlah. Then dia kata, “Jom je lah”. Funny thing is that lepas tu, mami gi toilet, rasa… kunci pintu rumah rasa…then, keluar pegi tutup gate sebelum naik kereta tu .. rasa lagi… Masa tak time, kemain yak yak yeay dia datang.

On the way ke Kajang, dekat highway, we tried to arranged for the 2 ketots ( Meena Micha). Tanya rumah Bangi kot ada orang available, then tetiba mami teringat maklang dengan masik yang kat KLCC tu. Terus call masik tanya, boleh tak kalau jumpa kat KPMC dan dia tolong hantar ketots ke Bangi? She said, “Boleh!”.

So, long story short.. jumpa dekat hospital dan dia hantar kanak2 tu pegi Bangi. And datang balik hantar kereta (this was actually not part of the plan.. tapi Allah susun kasi kereta ada balik kat hospital).

At the hospital

The moment we arrived, kena masuk PAC room untuk assess whether masuk ward dulu atau boleh terus hantar labour room. After CTG and VE yang baru 3 cm plus a negative swab test, at 10.00 pm, mami pun admit ward dulu. The nurse, said later if mami rasa surges tu kuat sgt boleh la tekan call bell. So, bermulalah episode layan surges dalam ward. Mami kejap kat atas katil, kejap kat sofa untuk comfort measure while having the surges. Tak sempat dinner, tapi alhamdulillah siang tu Nisa ada belanja kek.. so, makan laa kek tu for energy…

Masa ni laa bapak kata kat baby, tunggu kol 12 baru keluar… Tarikh 31/12/2021, baru best katanya. Ehhh..suka suki je kan dia. Nasib baik surges macam manja - manja je. Last sekali ..masa dah lepas pukul 12, bapak kata kt baby.. “Ok, dah boleh keluar Dik..”

Datang surges yg kuat , mami tekan bell.. nurse datang. Mami kata dah kuat ni..dia tanya ada rasa nak teran dah ke? Mami jawab belum. Dia kata tunggu kejap midwife tengah turun bawah ada patient. Labor room 2 sedang occupied, ada 1 je yang free. So, kena tunggu midwife tu naik kejap. Dia pun keluar. Selang 2 surges lepas tu, mami tekan lagi, Nurse datang lagi..dan not long after that, a midwife masuk untuk assess. Dah 6 cm (Mami tau, tak lama dh ni..based on experience anak no 1 sampai 5). So, they decided untuk pindahkan mami pegi labour room.

Mami pun naik la wheelchair pegi LR, as soon as panjat katil, my water broke. Terus next contraction rasa meneran datang. Paut kat leher dak bapak, dia sedang berdiri kat tepi katil. Midwife insist suruh mami baring nak pasang CTG. But, what can I do? Tengah surges dan rasa nak meneran tu mana boleh gerak2, kan? And finally masa mami rasa baby nak keluar, mami just bagi tau kat midwife, “baby dah nak keluar ni..”, lalu.. midwife pun tadah je baby nak keluar tu. Alhamdulillah dalam 15 minit++ je fasa meneran tu. Memang Doctor tak sempat sampai.. sebab fast and furious kan? Lepas baby dah keluar, baru laa mami boleh baring … I felt accomplished. Tapi senak laa lagi, uri belum keluar. A few minutes after that, midwife keluarkan uri pulak. Baru laa betul-betul lega.

Masa Dr. Missdalia sampai, dia cakap… laju betul. Masa saya dpt call 3 cm. progress laju. Memang dapat la kan yang natural birth macam yang you request. Alhamdulillah. The Doctor checked for tearing, alhamdulillah no tear – intact with only some abrasion due to overstretching.. no suture needed. Alhamdulillah..

It's a healthy girl. The birth weight is 2.85 kg. Born at 39 w 4d. In kneeling position. Born at Kajang Plaza Medical Center.

Alhamdulillah.. Syukur for the journey.. Allah has granted us His best plan. Everything is perfect. Semua smooth je, tak ada adegan terberanak tepi jalan. On that very day, memang kebetulan sangat Maklang dengan Masik pegi KL and always ready to help. Jadi driver bawak Mok dengan Micha hantar rumah Nenek. Timing semua pun semua sangat cantik. What else should I asked for? I’m just blessed.

Confinement Journey? Next one laa kalau rajin… but this confinement memang mencabar sangat physically and emotionally…