My Acne Story & Updated Natural Skin Care Routine

Hi. This is going to be a long blog post about my acne and how I improve it. I’ve read quite a number of stories from people who shared their experiences on battling their acne, what they have done to improve their skin condition, and also read a lot on DIY remedies to heal their skin. In this blog post, I’m going to share some of my own experiences and what I have gone through to improve my skin.

Just a little bit of my skin background first; I have oily/ combination and acne prone skin. I started to have acne when I was in secondary school at the age of 17. That time, I was depressed and stressed with my own skin condition. I envied my classmates who have flawless and spotless skin. I cried and I dare not take any pictures as the acne was all over my face. My face was bumpy, red and painful. Do not believe me? Take a look at the picture below. Scary isn’t it?

I was very sad with my skin condition and I had begged my mother to bring me to see a skin specialist. I’ve seen dermatologist, Dr. Henry Foong in Ipoh. I was given some skin care products and also antibiotic for my acne. My mother had spent over RM1000 for a few consultations with the dermatologist. My skin had improved after that but then, it came to a point when I started to wonder, do I have to rely on the antibiotic for clear skin? I’d started to default the appointment and medication. My skin condition turned back to square one; acne came out again. I knew the drug is not a long term solution and thus, I’d decided to go for another alternative, which is visiting a beautician. 

The beautician I visited was my classmate’s aunty. She’s really good. The facial session had helped my skin to improve a lot after that. She had also introduced some oil balancing cleanser, antibacterial toner and blackhead serum. The serum is not working for me, it did not help with my blackheads as all and it made my nose super oily. But the cleanser and toner were really good. I’ve used the same cleanser all the way to university life when I was 19 years old. After the cleanser finished, the beautician had changed my cleanser to a normal skin cleanser as she said my oily skin had normalised. This cleanser was not that good as it made my skin drier and tight. At this period in university, I had started to try on MANY types of products. Yep. All sorts of drug store products, from Garnier, Clearasil, Oxy, Neutrogena, Simple, Nano White, Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel, St. Ives Scrub, Naruko, Olay, Himalaya, Hada Labo and etc. You name it!

Out of all these products, Garnier’s night cream, Simple’s toner, Aloe Vera Gel, St. Ives Scrub and Himalaya’s Neem Mask were good products that I’m still using now.  From university life till now, my skin condition was ‘on-and-off’, sometimes clear, sometimes bad. So, I’m not very sure is it the products causing it, or is it my hormone. 

Anyway, I had started to use Grapeseed oil as part of my skin care routine early of this year, but I had stopped using it after the oil had finished. Back then, my skin was at the best state, clear, smooth and glow from within. See my face in the picture below. 

 

But, as the oil had finished, I was ‘itchy’ and switched to Juju Aquamoist product. I bought the whole set from groupon at RM100 for 5 items knowing that it’s cheap. The product was really hydrating and calming. But, after using for around 2 weeks, my skin started to break out crazily…! OMG! Yes, crazily. I had acne everywhere on my skin… and my beautician had a long time extracting all the white heads and cysts. Yes. It’s cystic acne everywhere. I was very sad and cried on the spot. My beautician was concerned also that I used concealer to cover the acne marks and redness. She had asked me to stop concealing the acne. Let my skin heal itself. I could not take it at all. 

The next day, I had wore a face mask to cover my skin (as if I’m sick) for I was afraid my colleague will be asking me what happened to my clear face. They do not know all these while I use make up to fake my clear skin. I had told my beautician about using grapeseed oil for removing make up and as my moisturizer previously. They had commented my skin was glowing back then. So, they had asked me to try to use back my grapeseed oil to see if the skin is better.

 I had started back my grapeseed oil as makeup remover and also moisturizer, so far, it had helped my complexion a lot and the scars had faded dramatically. I still have to use some concealer for obvious scars but those light scars, I had left them naked. 

At the same time, I had started back on my Himalaya Neem Face Pack for spot treatment at night before sleep. I am determined to go natural with my skin care now. I’m going to omit those chemical cleansers and creams once and for all. I’ve decided to start of a new DIY skin care regime for my skin. 

Make up remover = Castor oil (1/3) + Grapeseed oil (2/3) blend

Cleanser = Honey/aloe (morning), Oatmeal (Night)

Toner = Rose & green tea toner

Moisturizer = QV lotion + Sunscreen (Day), Grapeseed oil (Night)

Eye serum = Few drops of Grapeseed oil/Rosehip Oil

Spot treatment & Mask = Himalaya Neem Mask

Scrub = St. Ives Blemish Control Scrub/ DIY Sugar Scrub

Eyelash serum = Apply castor oil to eyelash in the morning and before sleep using mascara applicator

I will start and stick to this natural skin care regime from today and follow up to see if my skin condition will be better with this natural skin care routine. During the day when I have to go for work, I will still wear some concealer for my acne marks but I’m using it with limitation; just a small dot on the scar and use my finger to smudge the concealer around the scars. I will ensure the first thing I do after I come back from work is to remove all the make up with my DIY makeup remover (castor oil & grapeseed oil). These oils work wonder on my skin, they remove all traces of make up from my face. I will use about 2 pumps of the oil, gentle rub it between my palms and then rub it all over my face. Using circular motions, I massage the oil over my face about 2-3 minutes. Then, using a clean tissue paper, I gently wipe off all the excess oil with make up from my face. Sometimes, if I had worn heavier make up with foundation, I will do this process twice to ensure all make up is removed. Then, I will cleanser my face with my DIY honey & aloe vera cleanser. This cleanser is to remove the excess oil which the tissue paper did not take off. After cleansing, I will quickly rub on 2-3 drops of grapeseed oil as my face moisturizer.  

Below are pictures of my naked face with quite a number of acne scars on my chin and jaw line on 30^th December 2015. The picture was taken fresh after removing make up and with grapeseed oil moisturizer. The acne marks on my cheeks had faded DRAMATICALLY…. Now only left the scars on the chin and jaw line.

     

I'm very lucky that my scars and acne are not that visible from far!

My Current Natural Skin Care Routine Previous skin care routine

Day Routine :

1) Cleanse my face with my aloe vera & honey cleanser

2) Tone with my rose  green tea toner

3) Moisturize with few drops of grapeseed oil + my sunscreen lotion for both face and neck. Apply a drop of grapeseed oil below my eyes for the wrinkles.

4) Treat acne with tea tree gel (Thursday Plantation)
5) Apply eyelash serum (castor oil) using mascare brush & Q-Tip. 

6) Simple makeup by concealing the acne marks, draw my brows and eye liner. Apply Vaseline on my lips to moisturize it.

Night Routine :

1) Cleanse my face with oatmeal

2) Tone with my rose green tea toner

3) Moisturize with few drops of grapeseed oil. Apply a drop of grapeseed oil below my eyes for the wrinkles.

4) Treat my acne with Himalaya Neem Face Pack.
5) Apply eyelash & eyebrow serum (castor oil) using mascare brush & Q-Tip.

Weekly Routine :

1) Scrub my face 3x a week with either honey sugar scrub or St. Ives Blemish Control Scrub

2) Apply a face mask 3x a week after scrub. My choice of mask: aloe vera gel mask, honey mask, Skin Food Rice Mask, Himalaya Neem Face Pack, Freeman Black Sugar mask, green pea mud mask, dead sea mud mask.

Now, I'm looking into customizing my own face oil blend. I had read Cruncy Betty's post on Simple Homemade 3-Ingredient Face Oil, so I thought of getting back my previously loved 'Rosehip Oil'. I should have another 15ml left but I had accidentally spilled it till zero left. Sobz. It's an expensive oil and I had wasted it. Crunchy Betty's facil oil blend will need 3/4 carrier oil, 1/4 nourishing oil & 7 drops of essential oil.

Thus, I think the best oil bled for me will be Grapeseed Oil (my favourite), Rosehip Oil &Lavender Oil. It was stated that both Rosehip Oil and Lavender Oil are great of acne prone and scarred skin. *fingers crossed, hopefully it works for my scars*

Oils are so expensive, especially nourishing and essential oils. They come in small amount and usually very expensive. It's not easy to get 'over the counter' and most of the time, I have to buy it online. I got both my castor oil and grapeseed oil from Natural Wellbeing Malaysia. Their products come in various volume and sizes and their products are not very expensive compared to other websites in Malaysia. I got some of my oils from Lelong as well when I see the price is not what I wanted! =P

 Ok. Let's have a look at my recent picture taken about 2 weeks ago.

 

 The skin is clearer with some scars only. ^^

For now, on and off I still get cystic acnes but it's not as crazy as before. Mostly the cystic acnes appeared along the jaw line on both sides. No idea why is that so. But, I just try to apply frequently the tea tree and lavender essential oil and rosehip oil. My skin care routine is very much the same but I have started to incorporate back my QV lotion blend with the face oil before applying to the skin. The lotion healps to heal the dried up acne scars and helps the 'dead skin' peeled off easily. Face is less patchy! Pray hard that the current routine will help my skin to be clear again like before!

Just to update,  I had changed my routine a bit as I tried for 1 month plus the previous natural skin care routine did not work well for my skin. I still suffer from breakouts again. I just recently discovered the root cause of my massive breakouts which I will share in another post. Thus, I has changed my skin care routine a bit to treat the problem:
  

My Current Natural Skin Care Routine My NEW Skin Care Routine

Day Routine :

1) Cleanse my face with myPhysiogel Gentle Cleanser

2) Tone with my rose green tea toner
3) Apply Snail Bee Essence from Benton + Hyaluronic Acid Serum from MingShuang

4) Moisturize with few drops of QV lotion + my sunscreen lotion for both face and neck. Apply a rosehip oil below my eyes for the wrinkles.

5) Treat acne with tea tree oil
6) Apply Dermatix Scar Cream (this is verrryyy good)
7) Apply eyelash serum (castor oil) using mascare brush/ Q-Tip. 

8) Simple makeup by concealing the acne marks, draw my brows and eye liner. Apply Vaseline on my lips to moisturize it.

Night Routine :

1) Cleanse my face with Snail Cleanser/ oatmeal

2) Tone with my rose green tea toner
3) Apply Snail Bee Essence from Benton + Hyaluronic Acid Serum from MingShuang

4) Warm a few drops of Rosehip oil and pressed in all over my face

5) Treat acne with tea tree oil
6) Apply Dermatix Scar Cream (this is verrryyy good)
7) Apply eyelash serum (castor oil) using mascare brush

Weekly Routine :

1) Scrub my face 3x a week with either honey sugar scrub or St. Ives Blemish Control Scrub or Peeling Gel

2) Apply a face mask 3x a week after scrub. My choice of mask: aloe vera gel mask, honey mask, Skin Food Rice Mask, Himalaya Neem Face Pack, Freeman Black Sugar mask, green pea mud mask, dead sea mud mask.

 

This was taken on 9th March 2016. As you can see, large cystic acne are not so prominent, but I still have lots of small white heads all over my face and I hope that this condition will improve soon..!

Wish me luck!
 

The Growing Up Journey of Little Biri

I’m not a professional writer or blogger but today, I would like to write down the story of how my son grows from day 1 till now. This post was inspired and suggested by Ms. Jyn Ling, my besty. Haha. This story is not to show you how good I am or how strong I am. This is purely to share my own experience and to give inspiration to new mums out there that: You are not ALONE! And you are definitely not an expert as you are learning everyday as you child grows. You will be an expert as you go along. So, do not fret if you were not doing so well. Be patient and just do your best! For the hubbys, always be a strong supporter to your wife..Help out to ease her burden and stress of taking care the young one as first time parent too, especially at night. You are learning too! Ok. Let’s begin.

A Great Supporter - My Huby

My little prince was born on 15^th January and he is a Capricorn baby! Giving birth to him was not difficult as I went through C-Section straight away. However, the after math was the tough journey as a mum. Like I said before in the previous post, I suffered from wound breakdown due to too much blood clots below my wound. And I suspected that this was due to the medication error occurred during my hospitalization. I was given Voltaren which I was known to be allergic to. I had also inform the MO when he was clerking me at ED. Well, they did not notice the allergic drug note written on the clerking sheet and the nurses served the drug to me and I had taken it. Within an hour post medication, the itch started to come in and spread all over my body including my wound. After a few light scratches on the skin nearby my wound, the wound was swollen and painful. To cut the story short, the wound was badly affected. Blood clots were everywhere and could not heal properly and thus, it had to be opened again for dressing. I went in and out from the hospital for the whole month of my confinement. I told myself, no more Government Hospital after this!

Cute baby is born

My little son was not easy to handle when he was young. He was very bad tempered at young age. When he wants milk, he means it!. He will cry and cry and cry till he gets it! As a new parent, this is very stressful for me. I remembered crying many times when I could not sleep due to his crying. There were times where he cried non-stop and nothing could soothe him. As he grows older, he slept better and longer. Mummies and daddies, this is very normal when the baby sometimes cried for nothing at night. Sometimes he/she just wants you to carry and soothe him/her and reassure that you are around. But, there are cases of exception as well. Do check out his forehead and tummy, if they were cold, it could be stomach ache. So, quickly rub on some warm oil on the tummy and forehead. The oil I meant is the ‘Cap Limau: Ru Yi You’. Google out and see. Rub the oil on both your palm till warm and leave in on the tummy and forehead (be careful not to put too near to the baby’s eyes), then repeat rubbing your palm and leave them again on the tummy and forehead. This will ease the stomach ache. 

When baby cries at night, this can due to few reasons; i) wet diapers, ii) hungry, iii) stomach ache, iv) too cold, v) not feeling well vi) teething or the least possibility is vii) saw ‘spirits’. So, when your baby cries at night, check for all these and see what measures to take. You can always google or speak to a paediatrician for soothing measures. These normally happens during the first few months of their life...As my son grow older to 3-5 months, when he started to turn his body, another worry came. There were times he turned middle of the night when I was sleeping, and you could not imagine what could happen. Our queen bed is enclosed by a large mosquito net (luckily) and nothing can goes in out from the net. When my son learnt to turn, there were times when he turned after I slept and he fell from the bed. Luckily he was not on the floor but protected by the enclosed mosquito net. After such incidences, we moved our bed to the side of the wall and so that he will not fall again. This incident happened not just that time, after he started crawling, he would crawl to the other end of the bed after I slept and fell down from the bed also...! But again, saved by the mosquito net. So, my highlight is that, for safety, maybe we should not let the baby sleep on bed with us. Actually, he is not supposed to sleep on the bed with us, but for the convenience of breast feeding him, I had him on the bed with me daily and nurse him to sleep. 

As he got to 6 months old, he was able to sit and started teething. Another night mare; he had difficulty sleeping due to teething and he was too active to practise his turning and sitting skill at night on the bed. Conclusion: daddy and mummy also less sleep. Well, we had to rub some teething gel on the gums to soothe the pain so that he could sleep. We also offered him teething toys to bite to ease the pain but he rejected it! LOL. Anyway, you can try for your baby and it may works for you! When he got to 7 and 8 months, he started crawling. Owh! Baby crawling is super cute and again, he also practised crawling at night on the bed middle of the night. It’s very tiring for the parents. But this is a part of their growing process and we also have to understand and help them to go through it. 

Do take note that sometimes baby can also be clingy to the dad instead of the mum. Like me, my son wants his dad more than me at night when he wants some comfort. He will prefer his dad more. Well, jealousy and guilt will come in naturally. I started thinking: am I not a good mum that he doesn’t want me when he is crying for comfort? Is it because I always scold him not sleeping so he rejects me?? But hubby said this is not the fact. Sometimes, he just wants to stick to daddy and doesn’t mean that he no loves me!! 

I love u Daddy

When baby got to 10 - 12 months, he learnt going up and down from the bed but he could not walk yet. Well, we taught him how to go up and down from the bed. Hubby taught him everyday how to use his leg to get down first when going down the sofa or bed. It sounds ridiculous but he taught that so that our son won’t let his head goes down first from the bed. Thank god we did teach him, he never had any incidence of falling from bed or sofa with head down first. *Touch wod* Around this age, he also started to stand up with assistance from tables, chairs and walls. 

Biri at 5 months - Gong xi Gong xi

Biri at 6 months - In baby walker

Biri at 6 months - round round

                                                       

Biri at 8 months - sitting up

Biri at 9 months - Sitting his walker

Biri at 10 months - Crawling here and there

Biri at 1 year old - Standing with some support

We celebrated his 1 year old birthday with family and besty Chia Wen. We did not have grand birthday party as his grandparents refused it. But, we brought him out for a simple birthday celebration at a cafe and he got few angpaos and presents from the Jie Jie and his daddy! Couldn’t believe how fast he grows. He is also a car racer in nature. Hahah. He's super good with his car. I'll upload some videos of him drifting next round.

His first car from Daddy on his 1st Birthday

Oh oh! Another thing is, after teething, my son was and he still is; a doggie. Bite everything that he can reach with his hand. From towel, handkerchief, toys, food, clothes, pillows and even me and my hubby. He just love to bite us. Like a vampire! Ouch!

                                         

Bite bite bite

One important thing that my mum taught biri and us the parents is that baby must be potty trained when they are young. When biri is less than one year old, she already started potty training by carrying him and let him sit on the potty after meal to make him get used to the potty. After he was one year plus when he knew how to walk, she let him wore pants everyday instead of cloth nappy. But the first few months it will be tough as he will not know yet how to get the potty in time before he peed. So, be prepared to clean the floor and change the pants often. Sometimes, it will reach up to 2-3 times of cleaning in a hour. After he had an ‘accident’ for not making in time to get the potty, we cleaned the mess and then showed him the potty. A bit of punishment is needed to make him remember to take the potty. Smack the buttock a bit..then show the potty. Well, he is now trained and he is able to get his potty each time he wants to pee or poo. =) And he is only 1 year and 9 months. 

Biri Potty Training

Try to start potty training early because this saves some hassle when you want to bring them to holiday (less pampers to bring). Hehe and it’s good also because when they enter nursery, they are independent enough to go to toilet without having to pee their pants wet!

My son all these while has no problem with his diet. He eats everything that was offered to him. When he was 6 months to 1 year 7 months, he eats well without much issue. One advice I must give to new parents are, ensure your baby get enough fluid (water, fresh juice, cooling drink - leong sui, and soups) and fiber (various fruits and vegetables) to keep them healthy and strong. I find that sufficient fluid helps my son to be free from fever and hard poop. But, now my son is 1 year 8 months and he starts to show some sign of picky eating...those favourite porridge and fruits he refused to eat all of them for a week...and made us worried like sick. OMG

Ahhh nom nom nommm

Yes ? Never see baby waiting to eat??!!

But, after trial and error few times, finally we found out that he realized that he is big boy now, he wants to eat himself and feed himself. He managed to finish his milk if he drank from his sippy cup instead of milk bottle. He ate finish those small bites of food and dishes which we separated in a different bowl. Till now, he is still rejecting rice and some option of fruits. But, anyway, at least he is in progress of eating back the food. Step by step and we have to be patient! Mummys out there, this is very normal for baby to be picky as early as 7-8 months. Just be patient and be more creative with the food cooking method and choices. Try not to force feed (which we did) because force feeding can make baby rejects the food more. If they refuse to eat, just stop and wait to feed again later. As long as they can eat certain food they like, active, happy and cheerful as usual, there is nothing to worry about and the picky eating will slowly go away in few weeks time.

Another parenting guide is to teach your baby to pick up the toys after they played. Teach them to keep at the respective storage area. Every time tell them to do it. Eventually, they will remember to tidy the place after playing. Not just toys, any other things you see on the floor, you can ask your baby to pick it up and put back to the correct place. Like my son, he is now very systematic and remembers to keep his toys every time after playing and before he sleeps. It’s a habit that parents need to instil in their child since young. It’s responsibility that we are teaching them since young. 

Also, always talk to your baby at young. Tell him who you are, who the father is, who the grandparents are, the uncles and aunties. When you point at the person, tell your baby who he/she is. All teaching starts from young. You might look silly because your baby doesn’t know how to talk yet. But I can tell you, they KNOW and UNDERSTAND everything you said. Around this age, it is easier to take care of him as he is able to tell you roughly what he wants and he can perform simple task like 'bathing' and drinking his milk. He is also able to self-feed using utensils like small fork. He also runs here and there after learnt walking, runs like nobody's business. You scroll down you will know what is loves to do after 1 year old

He loves to do some acrobatic stunts

He loves watching his favorite cartoon, Sorry for the messy table

He loves to scribble

He has undying love for  water

He loves his koala bear back pack

He learns to brush teeth

He is riding the 'Busy Bugs' by himself at Genting

He learns to think of what to wear... 

                                                         

He runs all over the park like as if the park is his

                                       

He bathes on his own,,with our supervision

                                             

He drinks milk by himself while staring at the ceiling

He eats by himself

                                               

He scares off all types of puppies due to his 'over-friendliness'

                        

My husband and I grow together with our little boy. None of us are expert with parenting, but we learn to be expert as we grow together. I must say that my son that made me grow so much, to a mummy that I am today! Children are growing up very fast and they pick up things very fast nowadays. Early parenting and teaching of good values are needed to shape them to be who they are in the future. We are trying our best to be a good parent and teach him the best. *fingers crossed*

Alright. SO long for this post. Shall write more in the future.   

Love, 
Biri Mummy Grace

Hello Again! * Blow blow the dust*

Hi everyone. I'm been a really really long time since I last posted in my blog. I have been really busy for the past whole year with my baby came into the family, and I got my current job back then, and also managing my small family by myself as a wife and a mother. It's not an easy task and which is why, it took me so long to write a blog post. Haha.

I was inspired by my besty to write again in the blog. She has been reading some of my old blogposts regarding our friendships and it just struck my mind that I had left my blog for some time already. It's time to write back! Yay!

I'm not going to write anything specific because a longer blog post about my baby growing up will be coming up in the next post. *also inspired by best friend- Jyn Ling*

Stay tuned!

Love,
Grace

The Beginning of Parenthood: Becoming a Mummy FOR REAL!!!

Hello readers. Here is another blog post of my sharing, well, after delivering my baby. My baby was delivered on 15th January 2014, and for the moment, he is 43 days old already. I have been a mum for more than a month. After my baby was born, I wasn't fully taking care of him due to confinement. Confinement seems to be a complicated, and also a simple topic. Like what my mother said, "If you believe in it, then you need to follow the advice for confinement properly, otherwise, you can don't follow it". Those believes in confinement are actually carried down and passed down from our ancestors to our grandparents, to our parents, and finally to us. Believe it or not, the choice is yours. For me, I choose to believe it. No harm following those advice since it can be a good thing to us. From what I understand, women is very weak after they have delivered their baby and their bodies are so called 'cold' and easily catch 'wind'. Which is why during confinement, women are advised to always keep warm by eating and drinking warm food. Warm foods include key ingredients sesame oil and ginger. These two items can give 'heat' and keep the body warm during confinement. In addition, they are encouraged to take alcohol like DOM or rice wine because alcohol can promote blood circulation and make the body warm. =)

Besides keeping warm through diet, I also keep warm physically by wearing thicker clothes, sarung, wearing socks and slippers all the time. Also, I wrapped my head with towel, to prevent wind from blowing directly to my head. In addition, for the first 12 days after delivering baby, it is not advisable to bathe and wash hair because cold water can make our bodily easily catches cold and wind. So, I have been saying so much about catching wind, what is the big deal about catching cold and wind during confinement? We might not experience the consequences right away but later in life (eg. like in middle age time). Most common effect are body ache and severe headache which could not be treated with 'over-the-counter medications'. The elderly in my family told me that if a woman caught wind in the body during confinement, it would be a tough issue to heal the problem. Treatment includes drinking some special wine called 毛鸡酒. The problem is that, this wine is not easily found anymore. Sort of like 'antique wine' and people always said, if you caught wind during confinement, you cannot be treated due to no wine. =(  Even if you could find, it cost about RM20 per one small cap and I am not sure how many caps need to be taken to remove all the wind. *No idea*

Besides keeping warm, confinement lady need to eat healthily and sufficiently. Do not think about dieting during confinement. Confinement is the time to heal your body after delivery, so, eat more foods that are good for you. For this time, chinese herbs are coming in - like red dates, goji, black fungus, ginseng, and etc. It would be handy to get a confinement recipe book in hand as it gives a lot of ideas on the cooking recipes and also it explains the benefits of all the herbs to our body. I took alot of food and drank lots of herbal teas which can promote blood production and would healing in this 30 days. Heaty food can be taken in the first 30 days after delivery and one miracle thing is that if you continue eating those food after 30 days, you will start getting sore throat and get fever due to the heat. But the first 30 days, no matter how much ginger or sesame oil you take, you won't feel heaty at all. =) 

In addition, I could not simply eat other food other than confinement foods. I was unfortunate as my confinement month was in the middle of Chinese New Year, so, all the delicious new year cookies and biscuits are OUT from my menu. Sobz ='( Besides that, I was advised to rest as much as possible- sleep and lie down is the best. My mummy told me that lying down can rest the back to prevent back ache after confinement.Talking about confinement will take a long time, but thank God, confinement was over. If you would like to know more about confinement, it is best to seek advice from the elders. 

OK, going back to the main topic: Entering parenthood. One word: Sacrifice. Entering parenthood = Sacrifice. 

1. Sacrifice time for own self

2. Sacrifice from movie marathon

3. Sacrifice from going out dating esp baby now is too young to go out

4. Sacrifice sleeping time (gotta feed baby middle of night)

5. Sacrifice lots of money to buy baby things & milk

And the list goes on. But, those sacrifices are meaningful because the little one gave us a lot of happiness and makes us smile. My hubby came home everyday with a smile when he sees little Biri. He makes both of us so happy. Of course, being parent is a new thing for both of us. We are learning to be better everyday. Like I said before, I was not fully taking care of Darren during confinement as I need to rest and recover. But now, before I start working again, I took the challenge to take care him all by myself for a week. I am proud to say that I can be a mummy. I can take care of him- from his feeding, to bathing, to giving him potty train, changing diaper, washing his nappies and cleaning his buttock from poo poo. It is really tiring taking care of him the whole day. Sometimes can be a little stressful esp. when he cries SOOO LOUDDD, as if like being beaten. The cry makes me scared and nervous, don't know what is wrong with him. When I manage to soothe him and he stops crying, I felt relieved! Phew!

But anyway, these sacrifices are worth it! We love him very much.So far, Darren eats, sleep, cries, pee and poo. Occasionally he will stares in the blank and make baby noise to get our attentions. Such cute baby. If you want me to comment about him: He is very active, strong and smart baby. Being just one and half month old, he can kick and raise himself up when we rest him on our lap. Now, he is learning to turn and lie down on his chest. He is half way through though. =P 

More sharing to come next time. So long for this time. Got to take care baby again. Crying again =P

Lets see some of his photos =)

Take care,

Grace

MY JOURNEY OF DELIVERING LITTLE DARREN

Hello there my dear readers. Its been a while since I last posted about my experience in pregnancy. This time I am going to share my experience in labor and what I went through after delivery my little darling- Darren Lee Jun Kit.

I delivered my baby on 15th January 2014 at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun Ipoh. My delivery due date given was on 13th but somehow it was delayed. I woke up that morning and noticed bloody discharge from "you know where". Most people experience water flowing down, indicating broken water bag or amniotic sac, or experience contraction pain. My husband was in joy when I told him my symptom of labor. We rushed to the hospital for check up. But unfortunately my cervix was not opened yet for delivery. They said the cervix should be around 10cm before they can push me to the labor room. So I was told to go home and wait till time is right. *nervous*

Before I leave, the houseman doctors wanted to scan my baby first. They were surprised to see my tummy. Although it was not big but the baby had completely filled up my abdomen cavity. The senior doctor came and scanned me again. From the screen, my baby was estimated to be 4.2kg *wth*. They suspected I had diabetes which caused macrosomic baby but I wss perfectly healthy throughout my pregnancy. So it was due to my healthy diet. Haha.

Well as my baby was surprisingly big, they refered me to the specialist.  They scanned again and decided to discuss with me and my husband on their management- they suggested Caeser due to baby size. They explained the possible complications if we insisted on normal labor. We agreed on surgery and the operation was scheduled in the afternoon.  I fasted and was given medication to prevent gastric.  Before the operation began, I met the anaesthetic doctor as they have to inject anaesthesia drug at my spine to paralyze my lower body.

then the surgery began. I was so nervous and I closed my eyes trying not to feel anything. Then the miracle happened, I heard the crying sound of the little rascal I have now.  Loud and strong cry. The nurse carried him to me and I kissed him. The surgeon then continued stiching my wound back. Everything ended and i was left to rest before i was sent to the ward. I was tired and slept through for an hour. Then i was sent to the ward with my little baby between my legs. Half paralyzed, I started breast feeding him.
Wow he is good at sucking. Lol

Well, things did not end here. I started vomiting due to the side effect of the drug. Imagine you are in pain and you are jerking and vomiting. Double pain especially when the drug effect was slowly going off. I was so dizzy and couldn't even stand stil. The bad thing about government hospital is that we have to take care baby and start breast feeding straight after labor for C section mums. Haiz the mothers are in pain and couldn't even raise their body easily to carry baby and feed. It would be easier if the nurse can assist. I stayed for 3 nights and I can tell you that it was not easy nights. Suffering from pain and sleepless nights due to baby cries for feeding. On top of that, I suffered from drug allergy which worsen my wound . I had many bruises around my wound and it was swollen and pain on palpation.

After discharging to home, the nurses will come to assess my baby and me. They will check my wound and see if baby is having jaundice. thank god baby is healthy but I was unlucky.  I was going In and out from hospital due to various complications to my wound. I suffered from wound hematoma which caused my wound to have blood discharge.  In the end, they open up the wound again to clean the dead skins and  blood clots. after that I have to go for daily dressing until the wound is okay for second stitching. After don't know how many times into the hospital I managed to stich my wound up again. Now that I have opened my stitches but there are still gapping between the skins. Haiz, now just wait the wound heal itself. Take more  vitamin C and go for daily dressing.

So I would say giving birth is not an easy task. We will never know what kind of complications we face. As long as baby and me are ok now, we are grateful already.

So long for this time. Will share more next time.

Take care

Christmas 2013 with Hubby

This year, my hubby and I celebrated Christmas together at Ipoh. Previous year we were bond together on Christmas. So this year we can consider that we are celebrating our first anniversary together =)

Hubby brought me out for dinner at Olivenz. One unfortunate thing is he will be working on Christmas day itself, and we have agreed to celebrate our Christmas earlier with little baby. The dinner was awesome and somehow I felt the romance in the air. People are staring at us when we feed each other food and laughed at silly stuff we saw online via our phone ^^  

 

After dinner, we had a walk at Tesco to do some shopping (Nah, shopping is a norm thing for married couples). We bought ourselves a pair of CNY couple tee. I got mine in pink while hubby's one is red

We also decorated our home with the lovely Christmas tree just to have the Christmas feel. I was proud of my hardwork. =P Although I am pregnant, but it did not stop me from making our home feel 'Home Sweet Home'. 

I gave my hubby the first christmas present this year. =) Along with it I included a DIY christmas card for him.

I created the bells with buttons. Cute eh?! Hehe. As for the inside, I created a 3D effect with the shape of a present at the middle of the card. Just want to make the card looks more special. =)

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and also Happy New Year 2014 !! ^^

I AM GONNA BE A MUMMY SOON!!!

Looking at the post title you should have known what I am going to write here in this post ^^

Yup, you are right. I am going to be a mother in like less than a month. To be honest, I am very very nervous, and so is my husband. We both are new at being a parent and we do not know what to expect. We just hope everything will be fine =)

I am now at 36th week and by just imagining how I would look like...I think you can imagine I am 'huge' with a round belly. HAHA..Well, my belly is big now, but overall I did not appear to be gaining lots of fat. Although I have gained a lot of weight, but so far the weight is not visible. LOL...

I have been like 'gone' from social network after I have married and I believe that most of my friends are wondering how am I doing, how is my baby doing and so on. Just to inform my dearest friends, I am doing fine here in Ipoh. Currently resting at home waiting for the new member to arrive to our family. I must say that I do enjoy my time at home, doing housework, exercise and enjoy my pregnancy life.

I want to share my experience throughout my pregnancy in this post. Just like any other pregnant mums, I had the same experience like all of them. Pregnancy are divided into 3 trimesters and we have to go through various physical, mental and emotional changes throughout all the trimesters. My first 3 months was not easy for me. Just like other mummies, I had bad nausea and vomiting. I vomit almost everyday and the worst scenario was 6-7 episodes of vomiting a day. When I went for the first checkup in government clinic, I was referred to doctor and also hospital admission. I had hyperemesis gravidarum- a condition where pregnant mums had serious episodes of vomiting and nausea leading to dehydration. The doctor tried to hydrate me back in the clinic but they failed and so, I had to be admitted to the hospital for further management. Thank god. I was ok after a night stay in Hospital Ipoh. The doctor gave me anti-nausea drug and I was so much better after that. During my stay in the hospital, the gynea specialist performed an ultra sound for my baby. I was so happy to see my baby for the first time. Although the baby is not fully formed, but roughly I could see the shape and the heart. When the specialist paused the scan, I could see my baby is moving actively in my womb. Can you imagine the feeling?? There is a new life growing in me and I must take good care to protect it...

For the first 3 months was the most critical time for all mummies because the placenta is not strong and stable yet. Thus, I had to be careful all the time wherever I go and whatever I do. By doing so, it helps to reduce the changes of miscarriage. In addition, we have to control our diet because based on chinese beliefs, there are many 'cold' foods are not allowed especially in the first 3 months, while some have to be omitted the whole pregnancy. I followed all the advice and 'pantang's. No pineapple, no watermelon, no herbal drinks, no winter melon, no DURIAN!!!...and bla bla bla...Although it is REALLY TOUGH to go through strict diet, but it is for the benefit of the baby, so no harm following it ^^ After the first 3 months, you will go into 2nd trimester, which is the BEST period of pregnancy. During this period, the bad nausea and vomiting slowly gone and appetite is slowly picking up. Here, my weight slowly goes up, just like my baby is growing up day by day. During this trimester, focus on healthy food choices, which are rich in calcium (milk and dairy products), protein (lean meat, eggs, nuts) and sufficient carbohydrate and healthy fats. Not only that, as the baby grows, more blood will be produced and thus, foods high in iron are also important. Besides taking good diet, doctor will prescribe supplements (iron, vitamin C, folic acid and vitamin B) and always remember to take it daily ^^ In addition, mother should undergo physical activities as frequent as possible. Not only it helps to maintain healthy weight gain, it also can promote smooth labor (exercise can enhance muscle contraction and enhance vaginal opening during labor so that the baby can come out more easily).

Now, coming to 3rd trimester, I would say this trimester is also not a smooth period for pregnant mums. As the baby is growing bigger, you will start to feel discomfort especially around your abdomen because the baby will be kicking and stretching so hard that sometimes will accidentally pushed and kicked your ribs. I always experience that. OMG. Of course you will also feel heavier at your belly, and maybe experience difficulty to move fast like previously. But, for me, the worst case is back ache.As the baby is growing larger, the abdomen has to support growing weight and this causes the back bone to support it more and without proper posture, we can experience back ache easily. Yup. I do experience that..Poor thing. In fact, because of that, I have to lie down and rest my back. Back ache is not easy for me because it limits my movement and activities. Haiz..Anyway, it is going to come to an end soon.. =) In addition, I heard that mummies also experience ankle swelling and also fluid retention during the last trimesters. But, so far I did not experience that yet {touch wood!} maybe because I am active everyday doing brisk walking and sometimes going for underwater exercise =P. BTW, one awesome thing during the last trimester is BABY KICKING and HICCUPS. My baby kicks everyday and every hour. Strong kicks and stretches sometimes makes me quite painful too. This is the most wonderful thing during pregnancy because you can feel your baby is healthy and active in your womb. Not only that, they can hear you too. My husband talks to baby everyday day and night and he responds well to his daddy by moving, touching and kicking. For daddies, although you don't carry your own baby, it is crucial to communicate with baby when he/she is still in the womb. The baby can feel you and knows who is the daddy after birth. I feel that this can create a stronger bond between the baby and daddy after birth. My hubby is very happy every time he hears the kicks and heart beat. Sometimes our baby also hiccups (super cute) and hubby will laugh and smile hearing it.

Well, besides getting emotionally and mentally ready for the baby, we also need to get ready all the necessary stuffs for the new born ^^. Things like feeding bottle, diapers, nappy, baby clothes and bla bla bla need to be ready already by now. In fact, to prepare for a new born really need a lot of things. We bought lots of stuff for him.. Now as the days gets nearer, both me and my hubby are nervous and excited. We do not know what to expect and sometimes we both just can't sleep because many things are going through in our mind. I bet all new parents experience the same feeling during the first pregnancy =)

Overall, I feel that I am lucky throughout my pregnancy because I did not experience those bad symptoms and have to lie down all the time to rest. I am happy that I can go anywhere and move easily like pre-pregnancy. Also, I must thank God that I did not experience any pregnancy disease like gestational diabetes (high blood sugar level during pregnancy) or pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy). I have read other bloggers that had these problems and some were at the dangerous state where they have to take out their baby before full term. Really poor thing but luckily the babies are fine now. ^^ Therefore, I strongly believe that genders of babies are not very important. What is more important for me during pregnancy are that I do not want to have a suffering period during pregnancy and also hope that my baby is growing healthily and well, without any malformation and diseases.

So long for this post. ^^ Take care people and lots of love

Grace ^^