Iman - Intro To Solid Food

Ayah was not happy with this pic...  because he's not wearing shirt... hehehe

 We started to introduce solid after she was 6 going 7 months.  Everybody (her sitter and my mum included) was busy asking why she was not given 'any food' yet.  I just told them; she had to wait until after she was 6 months, meanwhile I would like to only feed her with breast milk !  Some people just wouldn't understand why she had to wait.  Well, I couldn't care less what others think, I just want to do what was the best for my baby. Except for her eczema, she was a healthy happy baby even without the solid food they were fussing about !  She rarely had fever after her scheduled injections, even when she was down with fever she was still smile and active.  I started her solid with apple sauce (her favorite till now), pear, carrot, avocado and butternut squash (didn't like it).  I made the sauces in batches and frozen them.  The sitter thought I was one 'weird' mother, feeding Iman like that.  Yeah... I was so much 'different' from other mothers whom children she was taking care of.  Even Iman's bottle was different from others; I used Doctor Brown's, it was a good choice since she didn't have any colic problem while using it.

Then, I made her soft porridge; rice (brown rice sometimes), fish and vegetables, always fish - salmon, cod and other fish.  Fish is always good for the developing brain.  I always remember what one professor I met once before who told me about his son which he had fed fish (his wife wasn't happy about the fish !) and later turned out to be a very bright boy.  I hope Iman would be too in the future.  Sometimes, I cooked her vegetable pasta, fish and vegetable (green if possible). 

One thing that Iman couldn't take was banana; I fed her once and it ended up with constipated Iman.  Usually people took banana to ease constipation but the opposite in Iman case.

Iman trying avocado; not her favorite.

Happy .... happy ...

Iman trying butternut squash - didn't like it either

mmmmmm...

Her skin still blemished with the HFMD scars.

Some people referred to her thighs as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) !

Iman And Her New 'Heels'

Look at her feet

Wonder what was she thinking ?

Just look at her... wearing her stack-able rings as if they were sandals and walking around the house with them and grinning (at times).  I guess she just loved the click-clacking sound of the plastic rings went she was walking.  Nowadays the rings would be dented when ever she put them on... reason - couldn't support her weight of course (she is 15 Kg at 17 months).  Hhhmm...children can be so creative at times...

First Pap Smear

Today, 29 January 2010, at last I went for my first pap smear test after few months of planning it.  First time ever and I am going 40 this year !  For some it might be too late but I hope not for me. The sample was taken by a staff nurse (SN).  She was one nice nurse.  She asked and answered question very nicely and with respect.  I had prepared myself for the test; I did some reading about it and of made sure that everything was 'in order' down there... The SN asked me whether I was uptight/tensed?  I told her I wasn't worried about the test but more worried about others having a glance 'at me'... of course I was worried, what do you expect ?   The SN did her job quickly while we were having small talk.  She told me that at the clinic they used plastic speculum instead of metal; therefore less stress down there.  She also check my breast for any lump (nothing that she could felt) and we had a short discussion about breast and cervical cancer.  Over all, I had a nice day on my first pap smear day.  Thank you to the very nice Staff Nurse.  The result?  I don't want to think about that, yet... if anything is wrong the clinic will contact us as soon as possible.  In the mean time, I just want to enjoy life and living with my baby...Iman.

Iman; Naming, Shaving and Aqiqah Ceremony - 12 July 2008

Sweet little darling

Iman's attire for the ceremony

 On the 12 July 2008 we had naming, shaving and aqiqah ceremony for Iman at Mak Tok house after Umi was done with confinement period.  A goat was bought for the aqiqah and cooked (curry - a good curry...yummy).  Ayah recited the doa and announced Iman's name - Nur (light) Iman (faith) Zarifah (intelligent and beautiful).  Then Iman was shaved so that the hair could be weighed and paid according to gold price.  Iman was a good baby, didn't cry.  There was marhaban too.  Some token were given to the people who came that night.

The goat chosen for Iman's aqiqah.

Ready for the ceremony

Ayah reciting doa and announcing Iman's name.  On Ayah's left; the ustazah for the ceremony.

The hair cutting/shaving began.  Started by Ayah.

Ayah was worried ..

Careful there Ayah

During marhaban.

One quiet baby

Some of the guests enjoying the food prepared for the ceremony + the goat

For the guest. 

Iman: Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD)

Just look at her...

This is the worst thing that had happened to Iman so far.  The night before (14 Nov 2008) we found a pimple like bump on her buttock and thought she might be coming down with chicken pox or something but no fever whatsoever furthermore she was happy and active as usual.  The next day went we came to fetch her from the sitter, she was having fever and the dotted with blister all over her body.  The the sitter said Iman's having chicken pox and we had to take care of her ourselves (of course we would, no need for her to remind us, Iman is ours !!).  But I was angry why the sitter didn't call me and tell about this but waited until we came back from work instead.  We were puzzled actually, how did this happened just within a day, so unlike the normal chicken pox symptom !  We brought her to see a doctor and the doctor too was puzzled.  But prescribed us with some med/antibiotic and calamine lotion (common treatment for chicken pox).  Iman still active and smiles as usual.  But then she started to vomit (few times) and looked tired and the 'dots' got worst.  Most of the dots on her legs and arms but only a few on her lips and face.

Fever, but still active

That smile....

Sad...

Skin start to peel

All over the legs ...

 Then the dots turned dark and the skin peeled off.  I was so sad to see her.  Then I was down with fever and blisters like dots started to turn up on my hands and feet but not as bad as Iman's.  When I went to the clinic thinking I was having chicken pox but was told HFMD instead.  We showed Iman picture and the people at the clinic said ; HFMD.  What surprise us were, I was not being quarantine or anything.  May be I was infected because I was BF Iman.  As a grown up I had felt uncomfortable, Iman as a baby might felt worst !  Again, I prayed the worst episode be gone soon.

Iman is always a strong baby and she recovered fast just that the peeled skin looked pink and then the scar turned dark.  Looked like she lost a bit of weight too.

Peeled ... scar

That toothless smile ..

The scars were very difficult to heal.
Only after her HFMD episode did her eczema was visible again.

Iman in action again

hehehehe...

Iman Eczema

Hello there little darling ...

Trying to take the shirt off ? One hot day huh ?

After the peeling skin episode, came eczema for a few months.  There were rashes like (the skin was red) on her cheeks, ears, neck, inside her elbows and on her knees   She would scratched and scratched all those places which made it worst and the skin broke .  We were prescribed aqua cream by the doctors, small container at first then the biggest tub that they can gave us.  I was sad to see her scratching, wished I was the one having the itch instead of her.  We were told not to bathe her with soap but to use the aqua cream instead.  We did used the mildest soap which we could find to wash her bottom after her 'business'.  I browsed the net in hope to find any information and cure (if there was any) of eczema... unfortunately I came to a conclusion that there is no cure for eczema !   I was sad to think that what Iman had to live with for the rest of her life...  We used to light the salt lamp while she was sleeping after I was told that salt lamp is good for respiratory illnesses like sinus and good for the skin too.  Salt lamp effect on Iman?  I didn't see any clear result but one thing for sure, my blocked nose was better.  I could breath better while lying down or sleeping.  Then, I just had an idea to use virgin coconut oil (VCO) on Iman as a remedy for her eczema.  I had been reading about the VCO before but not about it as eczema' remedy.  So we started to buy VCO, bottle after bottle and rub it on Iman, all over her body from head/hair to toes... she smelt like 'dodol'.  For quite some times, we began to see improvement on her.  Less dry skin, less itchiness, less redness and of course less scratching.  Sometimes I rubbed in calamine cream on the worst red itchy skin.  We were happy to see her improved skin condition.  But the problem was still there... we believed that the baby sitter didn't or put on too little aqua cream on her troubled skin (we gave the baby sitter the cream to use while Iman was in her care while we were at work).  It ended up a scar at the back of Iman shoulder, the mark of her scratching, and the scar will be there for life !  Well, others won't cared for our child like we did, of course !  Some were just doing it for money.  We made it a practice to pay before the job was even done in that month...and I paid her on that very moment after she had asked for more money... there were few more incidents which we were not happy with the sitter...Back to eczema story... I left my milk for the sitter to give to Iman while she was caring for her ( I pumped my milk while at work).  But then she began to make noises about Iman hadn't had enough milk (not so sure about this, or may be she was too lazy to warm up my milk; I even gave her a bottle warmer to ease her job!).  So, in the end we provided the sitter with baby formula; soya milk that was, because of her eczema. 

After her one year birthday (she was no longer BF), her eczema was gone.  No more redness on her skin, no broken skin, gone ... Alhamdulillah... thank you Allah... she seemed cured... and I prayed it won't come back, ever again...  We concluded that the best remedy for eczema is VCO !

Visible sign of eczema on her cheek.

Her skin improving.

A year old Iman ...  without eczema.

Will be writing soon...

Iman Rashes And Peeling Skin

Peeling skin

After her jaundice had gone Iman started to have rashes all over her body and then her skin peeled.  We didn't know why.  Even the people at the clinic didn't give us any answer.  But her skin did become dry under the uv light before.  Was that the reason?  We tried to put the starch flour all over her body and then tried to oil her all over.  Not much help.

Here she was, oiled all over

                         

Look at her skin.  What to do ?

To be continued ...

Iman Jaundice

Jaundice

Iman was warded at NICU, Serdang Hospital for jaundice (face to tummy) after day 5 she was born.  On day 4 a visiting nurse came to visit and she advised us to bring Iman to the hospital for further check up since she was seen yellow from face to tummy.  So, we went to Putrajaya Hospital (where she was delivered) but was told that they couldn't accept  more little patients since all the beds were taken (they just rejected us !) and we were asked go to other hospitals nearby.  That was why we went to Serdang Hospital.   They did the blood test, she was jaundiced  alright, but asked us to come back the next day to repeat the test.  Then, next day Iman was warded at NICU.  A nurse did asked how old Iman was and she was surprised when told Iman was 5 days old because she thought Iman was 5 months old...she said Iman was a big baby (hhhmm...not that big to me).  I had to be there with her since I was supposed to BF her (they have BF Policy at the hospital).  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to BF her since the milk was not coming out !  I was so stress, without milk to BF, I was alone, I had to walk quite a distance from where I was given a bed 'to rest' to visit Iman. and  I was in pain ( from the wound after the delivery and the vacuuming so to speak).  She was put under the UV light, of course.  My heart sank every time she cried  (she cried a lot and her voice was loud compared to most of the little babies there).  Since I wasn't able to BF, I had to gave her the milk provided by the hospital using a syringe.  At the same time, I was busy massaging and praying for my milk to come out.  Then the colostrum came out slowly, I collected it then fed Iman using the syringe.  There, I could see how the nurses worked.  Some were very nice, polite and dedicated  but some were pretending to be nice and hardworking in front of the doctors !  That was why I tried my best to be with Iman to do the feeding and changing her by myself.  One night I asked  the nurse  on duty to wake me up when it was time to feed her at 5 am (every 2 hours) because I was so tired  and sleepy.   The nurse didn't wake me up for 5 am feeding because she said she was sorry to wake me since I looked so tired.  She was right was, I was out cold during that few hours of the early morning until she woke me up at 7 am in the morning.  She did what needed to be done while I was 'knocked out' .  Well, it was her job anyway, right?  What an experience.  During that time we were in the hospital,  my hubby tried his best to be with us.  He came to visit and brought some food for me at the same time (he did the cooking himself !)  Well, in our culture we believed in staying away from certain food (which was provided by the hospital) during the confinement period.  Thank God Iman's jaundice had improved and after 3 days 2 nights we were released  ( I bet the hospital just couldn't wait to get rid of us, there were so many patients) but  still need to do blood test at the nearby clinic.  At home, we tried other method to reduced her jaundice.  We tried bathing her with some herbs bought from the senseh but discontinued to do so since the herbs which made yellow solution once they were mixed with water would make Iman's skin more yellow and that was not good because it would make it harder to see how yellow Iman actually was.  Then, another visiting nurse told me that her aunt once told her to give her baby (was jaundice too) the pulp of grape and her baby's jaundice improved quickly.  We did as the nice nurse had suggested to us.  We gave Iman her first taste of red globe... and her jaundice had improved tremendously after that.  Thank God.  My mother, who was to help me during my confinement period, did help by bringing Iman out, walking in the morning sun.  Some said we could give a jaundice baby to drink water with glucose and some believe that taking sugar cane juice might help. Once an old Chinese man came  to our house asking for our sugar cane which we planted outside the fence by the road side.  When asked he told us the sugar cane was for treating a baby (must be jaundice baby).  However, when it happened to Iman, we totally forgotten about what the old man had told us.  We didn't try the sugar cane remedy.

Under UV light

One nurse advised me to put her down like that to reduce her crying and it worked, most of the time

I was so sad to see my baby this way and her skin started to crack too.  But that was the only 'treatment' for her condition, I just prayed for her to get better quickly.

Iman bundled up and ready to go to the clinic for routine blood test to check her jaundice. 

 

 

 

    Iman and I, ready for the clinic visit.  She looked like a doll...so adorable

To be continued....

My Little Angel

Name:  Nur (Light) Iman (Faith) Zarifah (Intelligent and Beautiful)

DOB :  15 May 2008 (09 Jamadilawal 1429)

TOB :   5:20 am

BW  :   3.48 Kg

Welcome my dear darling little angel .... love you so much

She came to me after 38 weeks of pregnancy and most of all after seven years of marriage... I was surprised and so was my dear hubby... conceived naturally...I never thought that I would be given the opportunity to be a mother ... but here she is ... the fruit of our love so to speak.

Delivery?  Heard other women screaming in pain in other rooms ... wow....terrible sound I tell you... Hhhmm... I got some help, 'the gas' during the contraction (not much help actually)  and the doctor's quick action to use the vacuum since her heart beat was slowing down.  The doctor was afraid to loose the baby since she was considered as a precious baby (conceived after 7 years !).  All I can say; the labor pain was gone once I saw her, she's so perfect (how much perfect can perfect be?), so pure ...the little angel of mine...Thank you Allah...for the miracle You entrusted me with...

Talking about pregnancy; I loved to eat peach and I loved looking at the shape of the fruit, just looking at the fuit (her cheeks look like a peach...round and smooth...don't you think so?).  For about 5 - 6 months I was haunted by the 'sickness'; most of all I couldn't stand the smell coming from the kitchen, other then that; I was doing okay and energetic.  I was diabetic during the pregnancy.  I used to controlled my food intake when it was time to do the glucose test... hahahaha..  But thanks a lot to my dear hubby, he was a saint while I was pregnant; helping me a lot doing most of the things around the house, ironing my working clothes and lots of other chores.  In other words, I was treated well by my hubby during the pregnancy (he is always helpful anyway).   Love you darling...

Then, I learned how to take care of her, how to breastfeed and so on... I did prepare myself beforehand by reading and getting information from books and the internet.....yeah I really wanted to breastfeed my baby.  I was stressed when I was only able to BF her after day five...so stressful that I cried...wondering why I was unable to at first.  At last the milk @colostrum came out...yes...success. I was able to BF her for about 7 - 8 months only.  She refused to BF even though the milk still there (or may be because I scolded her when she had bitten me ....hhhmmm... now I regret that I had scolded her then !).  Another reason why may be because she had been fed formula (soy) while staying at the baby sitter's house during my working hours.

Iman after birth; yawning and hic up too 

Iman's placenta 

Have you seen one?

Have you ever seen your baby's plasenta ?

I didn't, that's why I asked my hubby to take some photos.   Some of my friends were 'surprised' to see it because they never saw or even thought of taking photos of it when they had their babies.  Well, I don't blame them, many might just focused on the newborn arrival and forgot about the baby's 'best friend'.

My hubby did wash/clean, wrapped and then buried it. Older generation used to say that a girl's placenta should be buried in front of the house or else she won't get married if you buried it at the back of the house....hhhmm.  I asked my hubby where did he buried it....and he told me ; in front of the house (of course!).  According to the oldies believe, Iman will be okay then... (don't really believe it anyway hhhmm)

Be writing more about Iman....