I have borne six wonderful children during my marriage of
thirty years. For each and every
pregnancy, I experienced morning sickness.
My eldest daughter who is now six weeks pregnant, and having to endure
morning sickness too, asked me how I managed to ‘survive’ during those periods.
This is my story….
When I became pregnant for the first time, I was so
happy…who wouldn’t, right? Anyway, I was
still working as a Confidential Secretary in a huge and reputable mining
organization in Kuala Lumpur. I was with
the Engineering Department (Oil and Gas).
Anyway, besides me and another five female staff, the rest are all male. They are either engineers or draughtsmen.
Morning sickness does not attack only in the mornings…they
hit you all day… You cannot eat, cannot drink, in fact, anything you consumed,
even the most scrumptious, will be vomited.
That was what I experienced during the first trimester.
At work, I was lucky because I had a very understanding
acting boss (my own boss, Encik Hussin Omar was overseas). He was Encik Mohd Seth Bakar. When Encik Seth caught me a few times not
sitting at my desk, and seeing me sitting, but with my head ON my desk…he told
me to go home and rest… So, hubby sent me to my parents’ house in Seremban
where my mother took care of me.
The first thing my mother did was to use this old shoe
string (lace), where she made seven knots equally spaced, and tied it around my
neck. Voila! I now have a shoe string
necklace. When I asked her why seven
knots? She just answered that was what her mother taught her. No chance for me to ask her mother then,
because she had passed on. Al Fatihah.
So, there I was, wearing the ‘necklace’ 24/7 until I
stopped having morning sickness. I was
lucky, because my morning sickness lasted only three months. Well, wearing the
‘necklace’ did help, because it managed to control my vomiting, meaning I did
not vomit so frequently in a day.
But then, morning sickness is not only throwing up
(vomit), sometimes you get headache too, but very mild. Your sense of smell becomes so sensitive that
a whiff of anything that comes from the kitchen, makes you vomit too. So,
during my morning sickness period, I avoid entering the kitchen. I kept all my biscuits and a jug of ‘air mati’
(warm water) in my bedroom. In fact, I
stayed in my bedroom all the time, either sleeping or just lying in bed and
watching television but not seeing….Felt like a zombie too…
I was also wearing a mask covering my nose and
mouth. I did not use a surgical mask, I
took my hubby’s handkerchief, fold it into a triangle and tied it at the back
of my head. Voila! Just like a bank
robber in a cowboy movie! Hehehee….. So, every time I leave my bedroom, I will
put on the mask. That was during baby
no.1. From baby no.2 onwards, I use
disposable surgical mask….
I cannot remember whether I was hospitalized when I had
morning sickness during my first pregnancy, but I do remember being
hospitalized from my second until my sixth pregnancy. My O & G specialist, Dr S Maheswaran,
delivered all my six children at Pantai Hospital. Each time I became pregnant and had severe
morning sickness, I was hospitalized for
a few days.
When I had morning sickness, I lost a lot of weight. My husband said I became so skinny….Of
course, I lost my appetite during that period, but my desire to eat was there.
I would ask hubby to buy me assam laksa, roasted chicken wings, roasted chestnut
(buah berangan) etc… Then when dear hubby brought it home, I would only eat a
spoonful, that also I would throw up again!! Dear hubby sure was very patient
with me during my morning sickness days….. I remembered he had to drive all the
way to :Petaling Street to buy buah berangan because he could not find any in
Kajang those days….That also I only took a bite! Hehehe….
Well, there were instances where
hubby got to drive in the middle of the night and look for mee goring mamak
because I was suddenly craving for it just when he was about to sleep….. Well,
if husbands did not fulfill any of his wife’s desires (especially food), can
blame the husband if the newborn baby started to drool all day as he/she gets
older each day…..(Thank Allah, none of my children had that drooling problem when they were babies...)
So, to my dear daughters, when you are pregnant, observe the following:-
1) Do your solat
2) Read the Holy Quran
3) Obey your husband (Taat pada suami kamu)
4) Your husband obey his parents (Suami taat kepada kedua ibu bapanya)
After every solat, doa to Allah that you have a normal delivery, a healthy baby who will become anak yang soleh/solehah. Amiin.
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