A-Z of natural pain relief during labour

I found this interesting article on pain relief in babycentre website. This is useful during the start of labour, when the contractions has just begun, and when you still have the energy, and courage to try to pursue for a natural birth. However, some people have a low threshold for pain, thus opt to have other pain relief methods such as pethidine, TENS, or even epidural. The other options of pain relief, will be posted in the update, but here goes some things you could try and do, within the first few hours of contraction pain. You might even manage to go through the whole labour process with just these natural methods.  

Here's an A to Z of ideas to help you cope with pain and feel in control of your labour: 

A: Ask for information: the more you know, the more relaxed you'll feel. 
B: Breathe rhythmically and relax as you breathe out. 
C: Cuddle your husband/ family members thats in the labour room with you. 
D: Drink sips of isotonic drinks or water in between contractions. 
E: Eat carbohydrate-rich foods little and often if you feel hungry. (Although research shows that eating and drinking in labour is safe, some doctors and hospitals still discourage it - check with your doctor about her preferences and hospital policy about this.) 
F: Fan yourself with a small electric fan. 

Zikir dan Doa Semasa Bersalin

I found this page to be very useful to mums yang dah nak bersalin nanti. Try to amalkan, as this may help us when we are in the most vulnerable situation nanti, as Allah is the only One to hold on to. Nak cube masukkan terus the whole thing, but the ayat-ayat tak boleh nak copy kan. So, check it out yourself..

http://www.perjalanansuci.com/Informasi/Zikir&DoaSemasaBersalin.htm

Labour process

The process of labour memang menakutkan, especially to all new mums. Kadang-kadang tu termimpi-mimpi. But then, sometimes it helps kalo kita tahu whats exactly going to happen during this critical period.  So here goes the process of labour, and I found some interesting pictures to aid your imagination.

What are you going through??

Ready

The baby is at term and the cervix is beginning to dilate.

Set

The mother's membranes rupture as the cervix continues to dilate.

Prenatal Massage Continues

I find these videos very useful. Nampak very relaxing for the pregnant mothers. A good massage must have these elements:
1) keep patient ie Pregnant mums in a comfortable position, and conducted in a dignified manner
2) must use appropriate massage pressure
3) use appropriate oil (for pregnant mums, sepatutnya oil yang bukan minyak PANAS!! or too smelly, sebab kulit diorang tengah delicate and sensitive, and also their sense of smell sangat peka dengan bau-bau pelik.
4) Most important, catered for the patient needs. DO NO HARM!

*Abdominal massage*

*Back massage on chair*

*safe positioning during massage*

Hope these videos are useful to all pregnant mums. Do get your hubby to watch them too. Maybe they can help out. If you need relaxing, calming antenatal massage, do email me at mumnbaby@yahoo.com.my.

Things to think of..

PANIC!! TAKUT!! RESAH!!! GELISAH!!! PANIC!!

First-time mums slalu akan rasa macam ni.. maklumlah.. first-time.. kalo boleh nak bagi yang terbaik.. nak beli barang yang terbaik.. nak cube buat yang terbaik.. TAPI...

Apa nak buat?  Nak prepare ape? Nak kene beli ape? Nak kene baca ape? 

Dont worry.. take it slow.. take one step at a time..

What you need to know:

1) Information di internet sangat banyak.. nak baca yang mana satu? nak baca semua x larat la pulak.. banyak yang relevan, atau lebih banyak yang x boleh dipercayai??

2) Buku di kedai buku pun banyak.. penulis mana yang tulis buku dengan baik? nak ikut cara barat? petua orang tua2? ikut cara budaya Melayu? Cina? atau India? atau yang ada scientific research to support? atau ikut je mak bapak cakap apa.. tapi diorg pun dah lama jugak mengalami nya sendiri...entah-entah dah lupa dah pun..

Zaman sekarang, kita lebih suka tahu, dan merancang sendiri apa yang patut sebelum menghadapinya. Kalau ada kelas-kelas atau tips-tips berguna untuk menyediakan mental, emosi, dan fizikal sebelum bakal menghadapi hari yang dinanti-nantikan, adalah lebih baik. Sekurang-kurangnya, kita akan merasa lebih bersedia. Contohnya, antenatal class disediakan oleh kebanyakkan hospital kerajaan dan juga swasta (mungkin bayaran tertentu dikenakan) supaya all mums and dads-to-be ini dapat lebih bersedia sebelum hari kelahiran baby anda. Tetapi kelas-kelas seperti ini perlulah didaftar lebih awal kerana demandnya sangat tinggi.

Contoh topik-topik yang selalunya dibincangkan semasa antenatal class:

1) Pregnancy, labour, and post-partum

2) Nutrition in pregnancy

3) Pre-natal excercise

4) Common pain relief during labour and epidural

5) Breast feeding, bottle feeding, and baby bathing techniques

6) Common problems in infants

Selepas melahirkan anak, all mums-to-be perlu bersedia untuk menjadi super-woman..

- kene jaga baby siang malam.. nak susukan baby lagi.. dan semua keperluan baby

- nak kene cepat-cepat sihat and recover from sakit selepas bersalin

- additional to that kene pikir jugak nak kene cantikkan balik badan macam sebelum pregnant dulu (takut jugak suami nanti lari plak). Try and browse through the beauty products section above, as I have tried them, eventhough a bit costly, but worth it. 

Apa yang perlu dititik beratkan ialah:

1) Berurut selepas bersalin - untuk kembalikan semula tenaga yang hilang semasa bersalin, disamping melancarkan pengaliran darah.

2) nutrition during confinement period

3) proper breast feeding technique

4) post-natal excercise

5) baby's condition

Untuk first-time mums yang berminat (area KL dan selangor) untuk dapatkan maklumat tentang tips-tips dan persediaan sebelum bersalin (personal antenatal class) secara persendirian dengan lebih banyak discussion based, serta mendapatkan khidmat selepas bersalin seperti diatas (berurut serta nasihat tentang pemakanan, penyusuan, dan post-natal excercise), bolehlah email ke:

mumnbaby@yahoo.com.my

dan sertakan:

nama

alamat dan no telefon

tarikh baby due

khidmat diberi secara personal, supaya dapat mengenali, jika berminat untuk mendapatkan khidmat berurut selepas bersalin nanti. Harga yang dikenakan sangat berpatutan, RM50 per couple.

Nutrition in Pregnancy

During pregnancy is the critical time when you have to think of the baby inside you, and at the same time thinking about your health too. Therefore a good and balanced nutrition is always the key thing advice by healthcare professionals to all pregnant mums. However, macam mana sekalipun kita cuba untuk makan makanan yang berkhasiat, sometimes it is not good enough. Yang masak sendiri, kadang-kadang sayur2 tu terlebih lama masak, pufff! nutrients die hilang.. sometimes pulak, tergoda dengan makanan yang beli kat luar, and fast food, exampe KFC, Mc Donalds, etc. Therefore, untuk melengkapkan nutrient yang diambil, supaya baby kita cukup segala apa yang diperlukan, it is good if you could add a bit of supplements to your daily intake. 

It's recommended that you take two important supplements during your pregnancy: 

   1)  400 micrograms (mcg) folic acid a day for the first 12 weeks

   2)  10mcg of vitamin D a day throughout your pregnancy

Later on in your pregnancy you may need to take an iron supplement, as some pregnant mums cepat rasa letih due to kurangnya iron in the body. 

Calcium

20 Changes After Having a Baby

With the arrival of your newborn, a lot of things will change. Of course, having less money, less sleep, and more responsibility. But when all the attention now focus to your new born baby, you have a lot more to appreciate too.

1) You discover an inner strength you never realised you had.

2) You accept that the pregnancy weight you gain (nearly 15 kgs) are ABSOLUTELY worth it. 

3) You don't need an alarm clock any more - your baby sets your daily schedule, even wakes you up for Subuh prayers.

Prenatal Massage

This is a very useful simple, but informative guide to prenatal massage. To dads out there, boleh la tolong release kan sket sakit-sakit, and lengoh2 kaki bakal2 ibu tu. Make sure its a good, broad based, light hand massage to relieve all the aches. Jangan dok tekan sekuat hati tau!! 

 But if you would like more info, and learn more specific, or if you dont have the time to do this, ada jugak service for prenatal massage disediakan. Look at the services link above. But to be clear here, ini bukan massage untuk mudahkan beranak, ataupun nak betulkan kedudukan anak songsang atau sebagainya. Lebih kepada nak legakan lengoh2 badan sahaja (which are practiced worldwide).

Welcome!

All new mums-to-be or those becoming pregnant again for the 10th time, still need the guidance, support, and appropriate check-ups and care during pregnancy and after birth. It is a challenge being a women, but more challenging becoming a mum. Therefore to all first time mums, I would like to help you all in making it easier going towards this transitions.

Modern mums nowadays kene balance the knowledge of medicinal practices, and traditional practices. Pengetahuan perubatan modern dan perubatan tradisional jika digabungkan dapat memberi manfaat yang optimum bagi para ibu. Therefore, as a mum myself, with a medical degree, and currently exploring the new world of traditional medicine, I would like to encourage other mums to explore both of these worlds, hoping that it could give a more wholesome benefit to you and your family. 

As someone who had gone through pregnancy myself, and labour of course, there are things that I wished my mum, or other people had told me before I had to go through myself. Sometimes, things as little as “do not be afraid to go to the toilet after your delivery or else you will be in BIG trouble if you constipated” is actually very important and useful when you have to go through  it. I am not promoting any specific products or brands that is good for mum and baby, but I will give suggestions to products that I have used before. Therefore, you can let me know if you would like specific products to be used on you during berurut for example. Some products that I'm convinced with, or that I have tried before and personally liked them, I will post them on the blog for viewer to order/buy.

Finally, I am providing services (antenatal and postnatal) to guide and support mums in going through this journey, and of course sharing all the little knowledge and experience that I have, hoping that your pregnancy and delivery will be a memorable and exciting journey.