Gentle Birthing

Earlier this month, following the advice of my hypnobirthing consultant, I had attended a talk on Waterbirth by well known American expert, Barbara Harper. It was held at yoga instructor, Ninie’s studio in Ara Damansara on October 7th, Barbara’s last day in Malaysia. The talk was organised by Malaysia’s Gentle Birthing Group and the response was amazing. I guess I felt rather privileged to be able to attend the talk, meet all these fabulous mothers (and fathers) who support natural birth and also to have a one on one chat with Barbara who gave me a DVD on water birth (which she asked to pass on once I’m done with it). There was so much love and compassion in the studio that day. The tidbits and lemonade served were delightful as well.

After that event, I would frequently visit the Gentle Birthing Group’s FB page. Although I haven’t joined in on any discussion, it was great to see all these spirited mothers giving moral support to each other during those moments of needs. I’ve been yearning to ask whether any of the mothers’ have given birth to twins vaginally without medical intervention. But I hesitate knowing the odds of there being one. Most of the twin birth stories that’s been shared with me were hospital deliveries. Is it really high risk to give birth to multiples?

Every day, I would pray for my twins’ and my own good health. I pray I would be able to breath my babies down easily and naturally without medical intervention. I pray my twins and I would be able to work well together for a fast and smooth birth. Insya’Allah.

Preparing For Our Twins’ Arrival

Though the clock is ticking and my unofficial due date is approaching (which I target to be on the 20th or the 27th of December 2012), I still haven’t gotten all the essentials ready for the twins. Here are a list of things that I still need to purchase:

1. a compact twin stroller;
2. car seats x 2;
3. more cloth diapers - to be bought at Lunatots in November, our anniversary month for
                                    additional discounts;
4. nursing pillow - the one I already have looks soiled even though I’ve washed it;
5. more newborn clothes;
6. clothes bin/box/rack/shelf/drawer;
7. towels and napkins; and
8. playpen - I could borrow my sister in-law’s.

Hmmm...at least those are the things that I do remember. I may be adding to the list now and then.

As for things to do before the twins’ arrival, they are as follow:

1. wash baby clothes;
2. clean up bedroom - remove cobwebs, dust, vacuum, mop;
3. pack up overnight bag - in anticipation of a hospital stay; and
4. pump up birth ball - for use during birth process to relax during surges (contractions).

Alright then, I better get moving while I still have the strength and energy! And also the bucks!

Pregnancy Health Monitored

I am now 29 weeks pregnant with my twins. So technically, I have around 9 more weeks to go! I guess I should do a weekly countdown starting this week.

Recently, the health practitioner at our public clinic diagnosed me with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). So I’m doing my very best to control my diet. The counselling session with the nutritionist was very helpful. I learnt a lot of new things I wasn’t aware of previously. For example, I can only eat one plate of rice a day consisting of 3 serving spoons of rice, half a plate of vegetables and a serving of lean meat or preferably fish (steamed, roasted, stewed or grilled). Fruits should be taken but only after meal. There are also several fruits to be avoided or taken in moderation such as bananas, watermelons and durians. Apples, oranges, honeydews, guavas, dragon fruits are fine. Milk should be taken skimmed and only once a day. When drinking hot beverages like horlick or other brand of malt, take it with oats to bring down sugar level. For bread, choose the wholemeal type. The same goes for rice, where brown rice is best and glutinous rice should be avoided. Also oily and fatty food are a big no-no. I guess the same goes for anyone aiming for a healthier diet.

The recent Eid holiday was spent at my in-laws. What with all the delicious food my mother-in-law cooked up, it sure was hard resisting. Now back at work, I feel my stomach is unsettled and a bout of nausea come and go.

My feet are also both very swollen. They look fine when I wake up in the morning after a night of putting them up on a pillow. But after awhile, fluid will gather and make them look all puffy again. To make matters worse, I’d been up on my feet a lot yesterday due to my hunt for a new laptop. But I guess it was all for a good purpose and pain worth suffering. After heeding advice from my husband, I finally bought the lower range version of the ASUS N series which had all the qualities I required of a laptop: sufficient for word processing (for translation work), big screen (15.5 inch) that are friendly on the eyes and with keyboard backlights to enable me to be up doing work at night without having to flood the room with lights. So with this new equipment in my possession, I should be more than ready to start taking translation jobs which I plan to do during my 5 years hiatus post delivery.

Other health concerns: low hb, occasional nose bleed (only coming from the left nostril though), and seeing stars when I get up after sitting on the floor. Apart from that, I guess all is well. The twins are doing great too judging from the active kicking I get from them. And for that, I am thankful. Alhamdulillah..

Shopping For A Doctor

How do you go about shopping for doctors who support natural birthing? Especially when you’ll be birthing twins? Gosh, this is looking to be pretty tough. I’ve tried calling relatives who are doctors but sadly twin natural delivery appears to be too risky for them. How upsetting is that? But let’s not get too worked up shall we. I still really want to birth at home. However, for my own safety and that of the twins, hubby insists that there be someone experience on stand by at home. Otherwise, he says we need to opt for hospital delivery. Boo hoo.. I know it’s in our best interest. Still i can’t help feel disappointed.

On the bright sight, Wai Han says that the bidan kampung (village midwives) would be a better option. Hmm..my cousin is actually one but then she lives in Kelantan. I’d have to give it a try. She may know other counterparts who live nearer to our place.

Ok, babies..I hope you both know how hard Mommy is trying to achieve the most gentlest birth us three. Tap, tap, tap and kisses xoxox

Hypnobirth Revisited

It was back in 2005 when I had first enrolled my husband and I into a one-on-one hypnobirthing class with one of the few Malaysian practitioner, Ms. Soo Wai Han. Hypnobirthing (the Mongan Method) had opened our eyes to the freedom of natural birthing, the way God intended it to be. However, although armed with the knowledge, we didn’t succeed in putting it all into practise for the birth of our first son in 2006. Medical interventions just got in the way, as well as lack of support from the care provider.

So yesterday we had set an appointment with the very experienced Wai Han who’s unofficial accolade includes having birthed 2 of her children successful on her own through hypnobirthing. She and the many other students she had inspired are living proof that the birthing experience is meant to be a peaceful and calming one, with the birthing mother and baby work together in synchrony. In the brief meeting with Wai Han yesterday, she managed to give us a refresher on hypnobirthing, provided tips on choosing a care provider and she even showed us delightful videos of recorded hypnobirths where one was an amazing natural, home birth fraternal twins.  

It is therefore with steel determination that my husband and I have decided to choose a home birth for our twins in order to fulfill our dreams of bringing them both into the world through hypnobirthing. For that to become reality, we first needed to gently persuade our twins to be in head down position (optimal positioning) by the 28th week.

In my mind, I have a picture of a peaceful water birth with the loving support of my husband. We’re at home, everything is calm and relaxed. We have Quran recitations played on our Sony. I go through the surges at my own time, peacefully in bed and at times on the birth ball. Then when I feel ready, I get into the pool and breath our twins into the world effortlessly. Receiving them lovingly into our arms, one by one. Afterwards, my husband would perform sujud syukur to thank Allah for his countless blessings and for making our birthing experience a beautiful and successful one for myself and the twins.

On another note, should medical intervention be deemed necessary, we’d have an understanding, trusting and experienced medical team on stand by. 

For more information on hypnobirthing visit http://hypnobirthing.com.my/