Baby names

These past 2-3 years, I have seen friends who opted for single names for their babies.

Maya, Jannah, Arsyad, Jamal to name a few.

It looks like single name is trending nowadays. It goes way back to ancient histories where most people were mononymous. Even most of our parents, I believe, are mononymous. Probably gone are the days of people naming their kids with three names, or even four (plus four of the dad's. tabik spring dekat these people. penat weh nak tulis kt borang hehe). Actually it is really convenient. Simple and meaningful. Even if you have four names, you are likely called just by one. But even if you have just one, people would still cut it short anyway haha. Hafiza jadi Ija, Adilah jadi Dila. So, really it's up to individual. But kudos to these friends of mine who chose to name your baby just by a single name. You guys inspired me :)

H and I are still undecided on our baby's name. Siap one time tu we both decided to 'one two jus' everyday for 30 days to agree on one name. But then after the third day dah terlupa nak jus -__- so we are back to square one. I guess once the baby pops out, once you see his/her face, you'll just know the perfect name to give.

Is that what happened to you guys?

Hypnobirthing Class

At the beginning of our 5th month, I started asking around for antenatal class. A friend suggested either SALAM or HUKM antenatal class, and I also looked at options for classes in Penang as it would be more convenient for us to go to. Then one night my ever-so-helpful sister tagged me on this Facebook ad 'Seminar Hypnobirthing Womb2Room' or so it was called (she has been tagging me on pregnancy/baby/mommy related posts since I got pregnant). I've heard of hypnobirthing before from various sources, but I didn't thought of going to its seminars/classes. To cut the story short, I signed up for the seminar that very night.

At the seminar, we were briefly introduced with the whole hypnobirthing concept.There was also a session on breastfeeding and birthing experience sharing from hypnobirthing parents. At the end of the class an offer was made to attend the full class at discounted price. I was hesitating at first, because to be honest with you the full class isn't cheap. But somehow H easily made the call that we were going for the full class because he said 'It's gonna be good for you', and 'There's money back guarantee' if I didn't succeed in getting a gentle and easy birthing experience. We registered for the intensive 2-full day class since we couldn't commit to come to a 2.5 hrs class for 5 consecutive weekends.

We almost couldn't make it for the class because I just reported for duty at the beginning of the week and the classes were held on Thursday and Friday. I only managed to get my boss's approval on Wednesday morning. We decided to take the midnight bus from Penang to KL, and 5.5 hrs later we arrived in KL with my ever-so-swollen feet. Note to self -  don't take bus while pregnant!

It was a 9am to 6pm classes for both days with 1-1.5 hrs of break in between. There were just two couples other than us, one from Sabah, and another couple from Seremban (she's due in 2 weeks). So the intensive class was meant for couples outside of KL and mommies who are >35 weeks pregnant. Kak Ayuni is oneof  the Certified Hypnobirthing Practitioners in Malaysia and has been an advocate since 6 years ago. She started Womb2Room 3 years ago and has helped hundreds of hypnobirthing parents all over the world (yes not just locally) to go through a gentle and easy birthing experience.

We learned in depth about the history and the concept of Hypnobirthing, got hypnotized by Kak Ayuni's soothing voice (I enjoyed this part A LOT!), watched many hypnobirthing videos (never seen so many vjjs and boobs all my life haha), discussed about birthing plan (the dos and donts), learned breathing and massaging techniques, and so many other things in between. H was the sole note taker during the class because as Kak Ayuni said, this class is more crucial for the birthing companions (the husbands) to focus and listen to than the mommies because when the time comes, the mommies won't probably remember what she has learned in class. It'll be the husbands who'll be in charge calming and reminding the mommies of what to do (and not to do) during the labor and birthing process.

All I can say is, the class is really worth the money spent. Thank you H for not hesitating to register at the beginning and for being so involved during the class. Even now he keeps reminding me to do the 'calm breathing' every time I am anxious or in pain for whatever reasons. At night he would turn on the CD we got from the class so that we both could practice the relaxation/hypnosis technique.

May the hypnobirthing force be with us!

p/s: There will be a seminar on 16 April. Check it out on Womb2Room Facebook.

A new chapter of life is about to begin.

Collecting dust is what this blog does best -___-'

Anyhoo, that's gonna change! (very loud scream)

It will be filled with amazing mommy-to-be stories from now on, and of course some other stories as well.

Yes, I am pregnant! Or we (me and H) are pregnant! I read on What To Expect app that you should always say 'we are pregnant' because both of you are implicated in this huge life event, even though you are the one carrying the baby. What to do kan, men don't have uterus. But that doesn't mean you should exclude them from the equation.

So reminiscing the time when we first found out that we are pregnant...

Back in October, while were still in the UK, we planned to go on a short vacation to Brighton-Portsmouth-London before we went back to Malaysia for good. So off we went to Brighton for 2 nights, then headed for a day trip to Portsmouth factory outlet (too lazy to Google the name now). At the time, I already missed a day of my period. Yeah, people said to check after 7 days of missed period yada yada yada, but I know my body, my period is always regular and somehow I got the feeling that I am pregnant (mother's instinct at its best). Plus, since this would be my third pregnancy after two previous history of miscarriage, we decided to not take chances. If we found out we were pregnant, we were going straight back home to Nottingham.

To make it more dramatic, on that day, my UK bank card could not be used. Then I figured it was 14 October, the bank sent me a letter saying that they would close my account on this date. Silly me I didn't remember at all! I would've transferred all the money into H's account if I did (that's another long story of how I finally got access to my money. Waited 4 months for it). So then I tried my Malaysian cards, no luck. We didn't try H's UK card because there was not enough money in it. In the end, we had to buy the pregnancy test kit using H's Malaysian credit card. Tried 4 cards just to buy a pregnancy test kit lol.

And so the verdict came out..



OK not sure how to turn that image now..

Right after we found out, brought ourselves straight to the parking and drove home (about 4-5 hours of driving).

It was then time for us to board the 12-hour flight home on 20 October. We were a bit nervous because the pregnancy was still at a very early stage (read: very fragile) and flying home can be a bit strenuous. I lost my second pregnancy one week after flying home in June 2016. So yeah, you could understand the worry.

This time around we took all the precautions - no heavy lifting, no long walking etc. I was resting for the whole of duration my first trimester. We were in the middle of moving into our rented house sometime in November. H did not let me lift a single box. Basically I just sat and saw things happened haha. But the most important thing of all, we leave everything to the Almighty. Whenever I felt worried, I kept chanting 'Yakin yakin yakin', that I always have to believe in Allah for all His decisions are for nothing but the best.

Alhamdulillah for this rezeki. We are now 6 months pregnant with a baby...surprise!