Saturday, August 4, 2012

Morning Sickness - Tips to overcome



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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