Thursday, December 22, 2011

My confinement for the 6th time!


On the 23rd of November 2011, at 7.32pm, I gave birth to my 6th baby, Desheya Bisharah Binti Buna, a beautiful baby girl at 2.7kg. She was born at 36 weeks 6 days gestation week and that made her categorized under borderline preemie. My husband picked the name for her (I picked for the other 5) and her name meant Desheya: good day, Bisharah: a female narrator of Hadith.
I was 1 cm dilated when I checked with my doctor that day and he suggested me to induce labor because he knows that I don't have anybody to help me at home with the kids (he delivered all of my children except for my first born Dayana) and the baby is in a good size for her gestation age. I agreed and after 5 hours, I gave birth to Desheya, and without fail for the 6th time too, my loving husband was beside me at the whole time.
I exclusively breastfed Desheya until now, and will breastfeed her til she's 2 years old or until my breastmilk runs out - which is usually the case every time I'm pregnant with the next baby. Tomorrow is my last day of confinement, which is the 30th day! Hooray! It's not that I'm really in confinement. I don't have anybody to help me and my husband only took 1 week off. My sister help me for 4 days and my brother help me in the morning for the first week only because his wife also gave birth to a baby boy, 2 weeks before me. I was on my own. I cook, I clean, I wash, I do every housework that I usually do and still have to care for all 6 of my children.
So, I have to take extra initiative to help myself regain energy and health during my confinement days, as I have to care for myself. I eat chicken cook with kacang ma (motherwort) herb for 14 days straight to warm me up from the inside and I took Sendayu Tinggi's Amme 60 Days pills. I also take GNC's fenugreek supplement to boost my breast milk production. I used the traditional corset / bengkung to warm my stomach and I asked my regular tukang urut / massager to massage me on the 7th day and 30th day.
I bathe with 7 types of traditional jungle products (leaves and branches) which my brother bought from the open air market at Miri for 20 days. I only remember some of the names of the leaves; daun serai wangi, tepus meroyan, daun sembung. The leaves have to boil first before the water can be use for bath. After 2 weeks, I started to exercise a little bit and now, after 30 days, I lost 6 kg. I gain 9 kg during my pregnancy, so I need to lose another 3 kg (but my target is another 5 kg).

Bath herbs
Sendayu Tinggi's confinement set
I sleep with socks and for the first 2 weeks, I cover my head with a head gear and use long sleeves or jacket to cover my body from cold air that is not good for women after child birth. I'm looking forward to my post natal check up on the 5th of January so that I can proceed to make baby number 7! Hahaha.. Just kidding. But if Allah gives me another baby, I will accept it with open heart and open arms! :)
So, for those mums out there who don't have anyone to help during your confinement days, don't worry! Always wake up with positive attitude and energy and you wouldn't feel helpless and always remember to take herbs and take care of yourselves in order for you to take care of your family.