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05.03.2011 – Seeing that wordpress.com has been down for the past 12 hours, I’ll be posting on my Tumblr account until they resolve the issue.
My bro, Musli, was one of the many who had waited anxiously for the ‘A’ level results to be out yesterday afternoon (04.03.2011). According to my mom, he had received a call from his school sometime around mid-day informing him that Radio Warna 94.2FM would like to conduct an interview with him at 3pm. Mom was super excited and badly wanted me to record his interview when it gets aired.
I wasn’t sure if they were going to air him live so I tuned in and waited from 3pm (having quickly fixed my laptop speakers) but NOTHING! So I sms’ed him asking what the interview was about, and he said to tune in much later that day to Berita (news) at 5pm and 7.30pm.
HAHA!!
To those who missed Berita on Radio Warna 94.2FM at 5pm and 7.30pm yesterday, here’s a recording I took at the latter time, thanks to a last-minute installation of FreeCorder4.
Click on Audio file link here: http://chirb.it/m4JsFN
To Musli: Despite the fact that your penjodoh bilangan CMI* :p, we are still very proud of you! <3 Love, Your family.
(*CMI = Cannot Make It)
On 06th February 2011, 12.26pm SGT, Mateen Aqeil Izz became the newest member of our family. He weighs 3.305 kg and measured at 51cm in length. To be honest, I wasn’t really prepared for his birth this week despite signs that he will be arriving anytime soon. But nonetheless, I am thankful that he did.
Me and my baby, Mateen Aqeil Izz
Comparing this birth to that of my previous ones, I can honestly say, this one is as tough as the ones I endured when birthing my firstborn (Misha) and second-born (Mika). I prefer the labour I had with Anaqi, despite not given any anesthesia at that time. (read here on Anaqi’s labour story: http://aprima.org/2009/05/18/welcome-to-the-world-mirza-anaqi/ )
Based on my experience, going au naturale is the way to go. No induce. No drips. You WILL feel maximum pain BUT it will be a fast, non-draggy one, as opposed to being induced. Many would say, after the third, the fourth labour should be quick and easy. Well, not quite.
I was already timing my contractions from the night before (05th Feb) around 11pm SGT. Since the pattern was irregular, I never thought I would be admitted in the wee hours of the next morning. It was when I had trouble sleeping, and kept tossing and turning in bed uncomfortably that I asked P to send me to the hospital to see if I’m already dilated. It was already around 4.45am SGT at that time. True enough, I was already 4cm dilated, and had to remain in the labour ward.
By 8am SGT, my contractions were still irregular and Dr Heng called up one of the midwives and ordered her to give me “the drip” so I will dilate quicker. The dosage started from 80mL/h to 120mL/h, and eventually the maximum dosage of 150mL/h was given.
The drip at 120mL/h.
Dejavu. Drip given, just like my 1st and 2nd labour.
Warning: What you’re about to read may contain too much info.
At around 11.30am SGT, Dr Heng arrived at the labour ward to check on my dilation progress. Since my cervix opened up at a very slow rate (it was 6cm when he arrived), he had to rupture my waterbag to quicken the dilation process even further. He then told me to inform the midwives immediately should I have the urge to push, and they’ll contact him again. I managed a “Thank you Dr. Heng. Happy New Year!” before he left the building. From then on until 12.26pm SGT, I went through a tough ordeal. The gas mask became my best friend again after a long time.
Contractions became more regular and more frequent that the pain became more unbearable that I had to request for a pethidine jab. One of the midwives had me checked and I was already 9cm dilated. She refused my pethidine request saying it’s already too late to have one. They called up Dr Heng, who then had to make a quick u-turn back to the hospital.
During the last stages, the midwives massaged my thighs excessively and asked me to blow into the gas mask several times to refrain me from “accidentally pushing my baby out” before Dr Heng arrives. I overheard one midwife telling P that Dr Heng was “around the corner, at a traffic light”, and this conversation lasted within a span of 4 massive contractions! One midwife even had to stop my baby from “emerging out” with her hands and held it there for sometime. (Okay, TMI!!)
Anyway, the doctor finally came just in time for one hard push before my newborn makes his presence 
Welcome to the world, Baby Mateen Aqeil Izz!
He will have his first pediatric check up tomorrow. Let’s hope he is free from any illnesses, insyallah, and not have a repeat of what Anaqi had went through. (Read here on Anaqi’s Heart Condition: http://aprima.org/2010/02/28/anaqis-heart-condition/ )
Till my next baby update
o·gee [oh-jee]
–noun
1. a double curve, resembling the letter S, formed by the union of a concave and a convex line.
2. Also called gula. Architecture . a molding with such a curve for a profile; cyma. Abbreviation: O.G., o.g.
- Dictionary.com
For those who are not yet aware (yes, I have been babbling much about this over twitter since August 2010), we are moving house for the second time since we got married in 2004. Our new home will be my second, but P’s third (I was just an occupier when we were putting up at Teban many years ago).
When we first bought our Tampines home in 2007, I was heavily pregnant with Mika (second child). The house was purchased at a pretty reasonable price for a place near central area. No renovation done what-so-ever. We never engaged with any interior designer, not even professional painter. We did the paint job ourselves (yes, I painted the house partially during my third trimester then).
It was an eventful journey. Here are some photos taken after our home was prettified then:
More on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aprima/sets/72157607899532168/
Three years passed (and third child later), we decided it’s time we sell what we call our home, with reasons due more to certain circumstances than any other. It was decided with a mixed feeling of emotion.
After several public viewings, it was on 19th August – slightly after the stroke of midnight – that we finally found a buyer and ultimately the deal was sealed.
Above snippet from my twitter timeline.
Months later (and pregnant with the fourth 
), when the sale completion date is almost near, we find ourselves having to pack our belongings and clear the house. It was a tiring affair, but manageable nonetheless. Thankfully this time, I have a maid to more or less help out.
Since 27th Dec 2010 *is* the completion date, we thought moving out on Christmas Day would be ideal. So we did just that. On the morning of 25th Dec 2010, our movers came to wrap our furniture up and had them moved to a storage warehouse. We had engaged Rodex Movers – very professional and efficient, and charged us reasonably – to handle the move. I will definitely recommend for those of you who wish to engage in one. [Rodex, if you're reading this, pls kindly reward your men generously for their tremendous job despite having to work on a public holiday!]
Here are some photos of the move.
More on my Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aprima/sets/72157625773639588/
That’s all for now. Till my Phase 2 update.
P.s: If you’re wondering where we’re putting up now, we’re now staying over at my parents, at least until our new home reno is done, and my confinement is over (after birth of forth child, that is).
After nearly 7 years, it’s time to bid goodbye to my existing webhost, SGDomain. It is during this period that I was able to pick up PHP web design on my own, created a number of fan pages for Valentino Rossi and Camoranesi of Juventus. But ultimately, I am now no longer able to maintain it, so I’ve decided to stop renewing the hosting service.
At the moment, it is hosting mismyra.net. It’s a small gallery I initially put up using PHP webpages – it has a couple of albums including my best-friend’s wedding (Yati), my engagement photos, and also my wedding and honeymoon photos. But sometime ago when I had signed up for a multiply account, I had migrated these photos (or mostly) there.
So if you haven’t got a chance to view them yet, here’s your last chance before it goes down permanently. You can view them at http://mismyra.net before 31st December 2009.
I would still retain the domain for future use.
My girlfriends, Ria and Sue, are embarking on a new project called Suu.Chic.Baby, an online shop showcasing chic and fashionable line of clothing, brought in from the USA, for baby girls and boys. These items are perfect for Christmas gifts, Birthdays and even Baby showers!
My personal favourite is their Mudpie Baby Buds and Gifted Initials Tote (see pictures)
Mudpie Baby Buds
Gifted Initials Tote
Do feel free to check out their range of products here: http://suuchicbaby.multiply.com
If these adorable items are your cup of tea, go ahead and start making your online purchase now!
Dear P,
Today marks 5 years since we’ve been married, and 13 years since I’ve known you. This is to thank you for all these years. I appreciate the sacrifices you make that allows us to go this far. I’m grateful to the One above to be truly blessed with this family that we’ve built, to be thankful for the walks of life we’ve traveled together no matter how rough or smooth-sailing they can be. We share everything life has given us, and given back good what we could. I hope with each day we spend together our love will grow and forever blossom. Cheers to these 5 years. Here’s loving you today and always.
Happy Anniversary!
xoxo,
Sarah
For years I’ve been using Livejournal to host my blog, and now it’s time to move on to a new arena; a place where there are more functionality and easy customization to suit my needs.
So here I am now at WordPress, having imported all my entries back from year 2004 to-date.
What’s left to do now is to re-map my aprima.org domain which requires at least 72 hours to take effect.
*** Updated ***
Domain name www.aprima.org has now been mapped to my WordPress blog. Finally!
I’ve decided to open up a Tumblr account where I can post random day-to-day events and short little thoughts (which may be too short to be posted on a blog like LJ, me thinks). This is after being seduced by its easy-to-use Dashboard with nice little control panels for posting Text, Photos, Videos, Quotes, Links, etc and also read other Tumble-logs (people you "follow") on a single page. Furthermore, integrating with daily tweets has never been easier!
If you’d like to follow me on Tumblr, here’s the add: http://aprima.tumblr.com
I’ve also created separate Tumble-logs for Misha, Mika’il and Anaqi respectively. You can follow them here if you like:
Misha – http://mismyra.tumblr.com
Mika’il – http://kaylz.tumblr.com
Anaqi – http://naqee.tumblr.com
Today I have found a pretty decent Tumblr application for Blackberry device, which I’ve installed and works nicely on my BB Bold. There is still room for improvement though, but for now, it fits my need for a straight-forward post directly to Tumblr.
Today we celebrated my cousin Ridhwan’s engagement. If all goes well, he’ll tie the knot in two years’ time. Such a grown-up he is now. It seems like only years ago we played ‘fights’. Really, we used to fight for no apparent reason, just for the fun of it. I think we’re still in kindergarten/pre-school at that time. I hope he doesn’t bear grudges against me, because I started most of them if not all (oops). Fast forward 20-odd years later, he’s already engaged! And his fiancee Nadia is looking very ravishing in that gold outfit!
It was afternoon when I reached his place today. I had brought Misha, Mika and Ipul along. The husband and Baby Anaqi stayed behind at home. I try not to let the little one be exposed to crowds as yet in his current condition.
The gifts were all ready. We just needed to add a few last minute touch-ups to beautify them further. Taking photos was a challenge for me especially with the kids in tow. Thankfully, I’ve got help from Syiq, a second-cousin of mine. The pictures turned out beautiful! (Thanks, Syiq!).
When Rid’s entourage left for his fiancee’s (which is just a stone’s throw away), the kids and I stayed behind to enjoy the deliciously-prepared food, courtesy of my uncle, Caca.
Congratulations Ridhwan and Nadia on your engagement!
Shortly after 0600hrs on 14th May 2009, Mirza Anaqi became the newest member of our family. He weighed at 3.225kg and measured at 49cm in length. Even though this was my third labour ordeal, the whole experience did not fall short of being dramatic. So much for the "I-should-be-used-to-it-by-now" mentality.
Me and my newborn, Mirza Anaqi.
I was already having slight contractions throughout Wednesday night. As the frequency was irregular, I simply just ignored them. It was in the wee hours of Thursday morning, around 0115hrs, I was still online checking my emails (even forwarded a Pumpkin Patch Mid Season sale promotion to Liz and Yati), when I felt the contractions were about 10 minutes apart. I thought I’d just shut down my computer, head to bed and try to sleep off the pain, and probably wait till the next morning to go over to the hospital after both Ipul and Misha had headed for school.
Well, I thought wrong! Trying to sleep sucked as I was feeling really uncomfortable. I took a hot shower and felt that I needed to go to the hospital right away. After bath, I woke P up (who apparently had just dozed off while I was showering) and requested him to send me to East Shore. I think it was around 0300hrs at that time (I wasn’t exactly keeping track). The contractions felt even closer now (and a bit unbearable), and we really had no choice but to leave the sleeping kids behind, at home alone, while we zoomed off to the hospital.
As soon as we reached there, I was a little lost because the place is just newly-renovated, and the entrance has been detoured. Ultimately the security guard saw me, and helped to wheel me in on a wheelchair. I was sent straight to the labour ward, as opposed to the previous two experiences where I had to register myself first before being sent to the ward. P made a return trip home in an attempt to send the kids over to my parents’.
In the ward, I had to change to the operating gown while lying down on the delivery bed. The midwife checked me and I was told I was already 8cm dilated, and can deliver about anytime soon. I texted P to ask him to return back to the hospital immediately, after I called and spoke to my dad to help fetch the kids instead. At that time, it was about 0400hrs in the morning.
The midwife did all the prep work – strapped me to check my BP, contraction level, baby’s heart rate, etc. This time, there was no inducing required. I was informed that the baby’s heart rate was pretty low on and off, and warned me against using any form of anesthesia – the gas and/or pethidine drug – as it may put the baby at risk. I was asked only to inhale oxygen to help regulate the baby’s heart rate better. Imagine the pain I had to endure throughout the whole thing!
Baby’s heart rate was low on and off.
Time passed by pretty fast when you’re in pain. After reaching 10cm dilation, Dr Heng (my gynae) eventually arrived, and with the midwife’s "assistance" (I’m not going into much details on that), at 0605hrs, the baby’s finally outside, instead of inside, before you know it! It was all 100% natural! I was of course sore and a bit tired, but recovering well, and very happy to be done with pregnancy.
The baby is indeed adorable and cuddly, and P and I are having a wonderful time getting to know our new son! I will upload more pictures on Flickr, Facebook and Multiply soon.
