The Birth-Day Story of Adam Koay!

It has been more than a month since we brought Adam out to this world. It still feels surreal, but we are truly enjoying every moment we have with him now. 

The experience of carrying Adam was a lot more different and tougher than when I was carrying Alex and Sofia. If I can rank them from the easiest to the hardest, it would be Alex, Sofia and then Adam. I truly enjoyed being pregnant when it was Alex inside me, and with Sofia, I constantly struggled with acid reflux and horrible backache and with Adam, no need to say liau. The worse for sure - backache, rashes on the entire body (which did not actually go away even after he is out) and other usual pregnancy things. 

Third trimester was the beginning of everything tough carrying Adam inside. I was diagnosed with a more serious case of GDM and had to be on medications because even with diet control, my blood sugar would still spike up. I think even if I don't eat anything, the readings would also be higher than normal. 

So, my doctor recommended (or demanded really) to bring the baby out when he is at 38-weeks. I was given 2 steroid injections to strengthen Adam's lungs so he would be healthy and ready to meet with world at 38-weeks. I remembered feeling all sorts of different emotions because as much as I want him to come out earlier, I also wanted to be sure that he was healthy and strong enough. I would not be able to take it well if he has to be put on tubes and stuff. But the risk of keeping him inside me for more than 38-weeks were bigger and I am not a risk taker in this kind of things. 

On 9-December-2022, we checked into Island Hospital in the morning and did all the required things like taking a swab test (just for me). We requested for a single room so that Adrian could spend the nights with me, but they were fully booked. So we were given a double room. We then put in a special request (urgently) for a single room in case someone checks out that noon. 

Once we got to our room, the nurses did everything that needed to be done like shaving, taking blood pressure, give me some liquid up my bum-bum so I can empty them tanks and tracking Adam's heartbeat. I was super excited to get him out because I was still very much scratching everywhere, and it has been the toughest 38-weeks of being pregnant with him. 

While we were waiting for them to wheel me into the OT, we were still so focused in getting a single room. To the point Adrian kept walking out of the room to see if anyone would check out, and kept telling the nurses to keep up on top of the list. Hah. 

Someone at the end really did checked out, and they moved us to a single room. The downside was there is absolutely no view in our new room. After moving in, we requested (again) to change to another single room with view if someone checks out. Hah. We are thankful that the nurses didn't go crazy on us. They were very nice and accommodating heh. 

In the end, we didn't manage to get a new single room with view because no one checked out. Still thankful we got to stay in a single room la. 

When it was time for me to go in, we found out that the hospital's new policy now is that daddy is no longer allowed to go in during the C-Sec procedure. It was implemented after MCO. Adrian was pretty upset because we really thought he could be inside with me when they bring the baby out. 

We wanted it so badly, that he went to Dr. Eric's office to get clarifications. Hah. But Dr. Eric confirmed what the nurses had told us, so no choice la. He had to wait outside.

I was getting a lot more nervous the moment we separated at the front of the OT's sliding door. I remembered feeling super cold and while waiting for them to inject me with the epidural, I looked around and noticed that the OT's lobby was filled with so many patients. Memang good business this hospital. 

Once I got into the main OT, everything happened really fast. My blood pressure was dropping to a point I was feeling really nauseous, but the pressure picked up and I felt normal again. Dr Eric came in, and cut me open and Adam came out screaming heh. 

After cleaning him up for a little bit, the nurse brought him over to my face and I gave him a kiss. I stayed in the recovery room for a little bit before they wheeled me into my own room. Everything happened so fast! I remembered not feeling itchy anymore, and in the span of 3 days, some obvious scars disappeared too! 

But now that I am writing this, it is with so much sadness and frustration that new rashes appeared again, and I am back to seeing different skin specialist. It's really one tough battle, but I know we will get there one day - when no more rashes and no more scars be terrorising my body anymore. 

The most popular question now is how much did it cost to go for a Caesarean procedure at Island Hospital with a single room? The answer is FOURTEEN THOUSAND RINGGIT. 

Crazy right? 

Now, because GDM is considered as one of the complications that could occur in a pregnancy (as recognized by my work insurance policy), Allianz have confirmed that they would cover the cost of the procedure and stay, so yay! 

Anyways, thank you all again and again for always praying with and for us. We are beyond thankful for each one of you. 

We celebrated Adam's fullmoon by sending a box of yellow glutinous rice and chicken curry (the usual traditional style) from Li Er Cafe Penang. We love the bamboo box packaging as compared to the usual box kind. Of course they cost more but hey, packaging is everything. Heh. This time, we brought all three kids along while we go around Penang Island distributing them boxes. Thankful that my mother in law and sisters helped with some boxes. 

So yeah, everyone please meet our third born. 

Adam Koay Wey Jie

2.8kg

Hairy and loud

OCD-baby

Till next time, bye now. 

Adam's Birth Plan.

 More updates that no one is asking for. Heh. 

So, we are down to like the final few weeks (written this few weeks ago), and I was instructed to do the blood sugar test every end of the week (usually on Sunday) because I will need to go consult my GH's gynae on a Monday to continue monitoring my blood sugar level. 

I am thankful that my dad got that prick-own-blood-machine so I get to do it at home (or wherever I go). 

This is how it goes. 

Test the blood sugar level once before breakfast, then 2 hours after breakfast, 2 hours after lunch and 2 hours after dinner. Then, just record the readings in my pink book. 

For a consecutive of 2-weeks, my readings post-meal has been high. Higher than it should have been considering that I really controlled what I eat on the day I have to do these tests. So, ultimately my gynae consulted a specialist and they agreed to get me on Metformin (1 tablet, twice a day). 

I thought that was it. Just take more medications to control the blood sugar. But that was not it. Hah. 

"So with Metformin, kita kena ambil baby keluar latest by 38 weeks ya"

My face got curled up, and I was legit confused. She explained more and in GDM cases like this one, the doctor do not want to take any risks so the safest thing to do for baby and mom is to bring baby out by 38 weeks. 

Well, I was definitely not ready for that "statement". 

I was alone in the Klinik Kesihatan so I nodded and agreed, and left the place. I called Adrian immediately to tell him the news and hung up after that. 

Then I took a long deep breath and cried. 

I felt lost and helpless. 

But after those tears, I felt so much better. I took many deep breaths. Heh. 

It was a scary thing to hear especially when I didn't have Adrian with me. Such a baby I know. Hah. We talked more after that, and decided to go back to Dr Eric for second opinion (sort of). 

I was also alone during the initial time with Dr Eric because Adrian got caught in the traffic jam but he made it halfway through the consultation. 

Dr Eric agreed with my GH's gynae and proposed to bring the baby out at 38 weeks. He also prescribed 2 doses of steroid jabs to strengthen the baby's lungs. I took 1 on the day itself and boy, that jab was painful alright. My bum and right thigh was sore after that. Definitely not looking forward to the second jab next week. Hah. 

Many people asked us if we plan to deliver at GH or at Island Hospital, and to be honest with you, the original plan was to go to GH all the way. I was comfortable with delivering the baby at GH. 

But things changed la okay. Hah. My work insurance covers the entire cost of the delivery because it is categorised under 'Complications of Pregnancy', so we will definitely be checking into Island Hospital. 

So yeah. Delivery date has been scheduled to be on the 9 December because Adam will be chun-chun at 38-weeks. The Caesarean surgery will happen at 1PM. 

My Skin Specialist has reduced my Dhasalone's dosage, and I started noticing new rashes appearing on my arms - oh what a nightmare. But I keep telling myself to tahan for just few more days! 

As I am updating this again, it's two days left, and today is my last day of work so that's a huge relief. Stress has been somewhat contributing to my itch in the day, but at the same time, work is the one that takes my mind off it. So no win-win in this. 

I will have a one-day off tomorrow - just finalising all that's needs to be done before Adam comes. How crazy is it that we are going to be a family of five, real soon? 

MADNESS. 

But yeah, see you all when Adam joins the gang! :) 

Tough Third Trimester!

The month of November (for me) has been surprising - in a good and bad way I supposed. 

We got into the third trimester, and boy was it a tough entry. I was somewhat happy and glad because that means we are so much closer to holding our baby boy and no more to nausea things. 

But we were greeted with the diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and I had to go on diet control - which isn't all that bad. I was already used to replacing my white rice with quinoa rice and I usually already don't take sweet drinks, so I can forgo the sugar. 

Then, the dessert cravings happen, and all I want to put inside my mouth are cakes, donuts and brownies. All of which will kill me and the baby if I don't stay away. Haha. Drama kan? I am proud to say that I managed to resist the temptations for as long as I could - with occasional one bite here and there. 

I also started to like eating rolled oats with Bovril and deep fried ikan bilis, so that's really another win in my book. My dad introduced this diet wan. Hah. 

Then, there's some of those episodes where my back would hurt so much whenever I sit or stand, so the only thing I could do is to lie on my side for a while. Then, just repeat them many times. It was hard because I had to juggle doing that at work and it was just so distracting and troublesome. 

Thinking that I just have to pull through the last 3 months with just controlling my food intake and tolerating with backaches, I was thankful. I was like, "Oh I can do this". Because with Alex, I also had GDM and we pulled through alright. 

Wrong! 

One day I woke up with some new blisters on my legs. Both sides. I thought it was odd, but didn't seem to need to go see a doctor to get it checked. Then, the next day, more water filled blisters and rashes came out on my arms, then the back, then the hands and last place was my belly area. 

There were like those super uncontrollable itchy-blisters and rashes and I was going out of my mind - just trying to 'manage' the itch. I obviously could not manage the itch and was just out of it. I was easily triggered - by Adrian and the kids because I was struggling so badly. 

We went to 2 gynaes (1 from GH and 1 from a private hospital) but they didn't take a second look at my rashes and concluded that they are pregnancy-related-rashes and will go away when baby comes out. They gave me some medications to 'control' the growth and itch, but to be honest they were not very effective. 

I was still having so much issue with the itch and mentally, I was so out. I wanted to bring baby out like immediately okay! We are not even talking about being itchy on one place. We are talking about scratching the entire body. I was itchy on both my arms, my back, my belly and my legs! I was scratching so hard that I didn't even care when blood comes out of those blisters. I just wanted (and needed so badly) for the itch to go away. 

I rather feel the pain than the itch. It was insane. 

Adrian wanted to help so badly but there was nothing he could do, really. I could see him feeling defeated and helpless. I was also not able to help him not feel that because I was struggling myself. 

On top of that, the daily things I do with and for the kids were also affected. I could not cuddle with them, wear clothes for them, be physically close to them and worse part is I had to tell them that they cannot touch me, because a single soft touch would trigger the itch. I was heartbroken. 

And yes, there were many nights of tears and lots of praying. 

I am thankful that my kids were understanding. 

Alex came over to me one night while I was sitting by my bed (daydreaming) and said, "Mamy, everytime I hug you, your pain will go away okay? So, can I hug you?" 

How could I say no? 

I said yes, I agree with you. So he gave me an awkward hug - the kind where he try not to let his arms touch my skin so I won't be in pain. I held my tears back, but decided no matter what, I am going to hug my kids at least once a day - even if it has the risk of triggering the itch. 

And we did just that. 

Everytime after a hug, Alex would ask me if I am feeling better, and I would say yes. And he would go, "See mamy! I told you. Hugs will make things better wan!"

Things started getting better when a few of you suggested for me to go see a skin specialist, and I don't know why I never thought of it but we immediately did that weekend. We googled the nearest skin specialist that is still open and drove to the clinic at once. 

I was so relieved after seeing Dr Chong from the MD Dermatology Skin Specialist Clinic. At first he was shocked to see the rashes on my body and was a bit surprised that both my gynaes did not refer me to any skin specialist. 

His diagnosis is Pregnancy Eczema and yes, it will go away once baby comes out. He prescribed me with Dhasalone pills (yes they are steroids and yes it is safe to take in my third trimester of pregnancy) to stop the growing of the blisters and rashes, and then Fucicort cream (steroid cream). 

Oh, and someone suggested Suu Balm Rapid Itch Relief Moisturizer and we got that and have been glued to it ever since! 

With the medications and the Suu Balm Moisturizer, things started getting better. I was slowly becoming myself again. I was able to try enjoy carrying this baby again and on some nights, I got to hold Adrian's hand a while while we sleep. Yes, holding his hand gives me a certain kind of assurance that everything will be okay. It's weird and clingy but say what you want. Heh. 

I am now not scratching desperately anymore, and can somewhat control scratching lightly. 

Also thanks to social media and you guys, taking a cold shower apparently will help, and I have been taking many cold showers every few hours, or when I feel like the itchy-wave is about to come. I would stand under the cold water and let them run for a while on my body. It's life-changing. 

I am okay with cold showers now. Hah. It's really very refreshing and it lets me take deep breaths which I think helps me handle the whole situation better, mentally. 

As much as the physical side looks bad, I am aware that everyday is a battle in my mind. I had to remind myself constantly to remain thankful and remain knowing that God is watching over us and God is with me and I am safe, and he is safe. I still have bad days when I just want to give up (don't know give what up also) but just that feeling of feeling so defeated and just want it all to be over. 

But the good days are more now so it's okay. 

Thank you all for your encouraging and calming words, and for praying for me and baby. Please know that I truly appreciate all of them. I may not say it out or show it but I truly am. 

Till next update, bye now. 

Gender Reveal Party for Baby #3!

It took us such a long time to find out the gender of this baby as compared to our first two - but we finally know! 

It was during one of my pre-natal check up at the Klinik Kesihatan and I was telling my doctor that we have no idea yet what it's gender is, so she was like, "Oh, okay - let's find out today!"

She moved the ultrasound wand thing around and immediately saw and confirmed it. To be honest, I already knew (in my heart) that our third baby is a boy. 

Many people asked both Adrian and I which gender we would prefer, and for me, I was okay with either boy or girl because I already got both. Adrian on the other hand wanted another boy - and his only reason was because, "then Sofia gets to be my one and only girl". 

Obviously my heart melted when he said that, and I find myself secretly (unconsciously) hoping that this baby would be a boy too - because that would make my husband really happy. But we also know that if this baby turns out to be a girl, then he would be really happy too because this would mean that he will have 2 girls to love and spoil for the rest of their lives. 

So, during that trip to the clinic, I was on my own because Adrian had to fetch Alex to school and Sofia to grandparents' house - that means only the doctor and myself knew about the gender - and it was in my intention to keep it that way. 

Obviously I had to plan for a small intimate gender reveal party with our closest. We extra like that heh. I also know that I do not have the capacity to keep it a secret for long (I can accidentally blurt out please), so the gender reveal party was planned and executed in less than a week. 

I immediately ordered a giant black balloon (36 inches) with 20 helium-filled mini colored balloons (either blue or pink) inside from One Image Balloon Deco - RM165 (I know - balloons are not cheap heh) but I prefer to pop a balloon then cutting a cake because a cake would be more costly since I want those kind of customized pretty looking cake. So, in a way, cost saving also right to get balloons. Hah. 

The owner of One Image is a friend of Adrian's so I had text the owner and told him not to tell Adrian the gender because now he knows  and he super steady of course. Heh. 

Got party means sure need food, right? 

My mother-in-law cooked lemak laksa (which is the best we have tasted so far!), my mom made her famous Shepherd's Pie and then we got all other side dishes from family and friends. No photos too bad because we so busy talking and bonding. 

It was really just a simple get-together in our humble home on a Saturday evening. Before the sky turned dark, we went to the garden and did the popping. I was nervous (no idea why) but I was super    thrilled to see Adrian's reaction when he pops the balloon. 

It was everything! He went to bed smiling (and snoring 5-seconds after that hah). 

Here's our gender reveal balloon popping moment caught on video - thank you Sharon and all of you for helping us record and take photos of the moment! 

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

Many of you have guessed it right - and many didn't haha.

And thank you for loving us and celebrating with us as we patiently wait to welcome our baby boy to this world in December! We are starting to be a bit scared but in a good way. 

We really need to start assembling the baby cot and do up the breastfeeding corner in our room. We are turbo-ing through it as we need to first move both Alex and Sofia to their own room - which will happen really soon. 

That - I am really scared because I have no idea how it's going to be. Will they transition well? Any tips and tricks are appreciated! 

So yeah, till next update - bye now. 

We are halfway there!

Wow - I realized that it has been rather quiet over here. Heh. 

These few months has been insane (in a good way of course) and with another human growing inside me, I actually do not have the time, and energy and motivation to sit down in front of the screen to pen down random events and thoughts. 

But today is something - because we are halfway there! 

Little Bean is 20 weeks old, and unlike the last two pregnancies, this one is a bit shy and we are still in the dark of its gender. I get asked a lot (like a lot) on what do I feel it is going to be. 

And I really have no neutral answer to it. I may be biased with what Adrian wants - which is a boy. And his reason is simple and sweet. 

"So that Sofia can be my only daughter - so precious"

Of course with that said, if Little Bean is a girl, Adrian's heart is going to explode because that means he get to love and spoil another baby girl of his. 

I really don't have any preference on the gender of this baby. If it's a girl, then Alex will be our only boy and if it's a boy, Sofia will be our only girl. It's a win-win for any gender really. 

Our primary goal is for Little Bean to grow well and grow completely inside me and for smooth, quick and easy natural birth - with zero complications including jaundice. Alex and Sofia never had jaundice when they were born and the common food factor is really the same craving for nasi lemak and all things curry. Hah. 

I can go eat banana leaf rice all day err day if I could - but Adrian would puke at the thought of it. 

With 20 more weeks to go, we are glad that the nausea is gone and I have managed to somehow learn to live with the constant tiredness. I am also stating to feel some aches on my back and some occasional pain on my left knee. I think it was from a previous injury which I don't remember how or what happened also. 

I am double dosing on my Isotonix Calcium intake (morning and night), my Isotonix Vitamin C and Isotonix Vitamin D with K2 (to make sure my calcium absorption is maximized). Of course I take my Isotonix Digestive everyday. I don't want acid reflux or constipation to come visit so precaution is better than cure. Heh. 

My clothes choices are very limited now because my previous tops and shorts are all kept in the box and I shall see them next year. I was very tempted to get more maternity dresses on Shein, but proud of myself for not succumbing to the temptations. 

I shall be a good girl, and just endure wearing the same clothes for the next 20 weeks.

I do need breastfeeding-friendly clothes for the post-birth but we shall get there when we are near there la. But if you have some and you don't plan to wear it anymore, feel free to message me haha. #shameless

One more thing that I noticed was different from other pregnancies was the fact that I drink a lot of water now. My lips would get dried up quickly and I will usually just drink iced water. yes, iced water. Don't be shocked please. I cannot drink warm water wan sorry okay. Only iced water my whole life. Hah. That also means I go to the toilet really often. 

Okay, funny (embarrassing) story time. 

There was once when we were out and my bladder was quite full and Little Bean was probably also leaning on it and there were no toilets nearby. I know with full confidence that I could hold them in because it didn't feel that full, and I didn't have that urgency. 

Then came a sneeze - out of nowhere! 

Next thing I know, a gush of pee came down my legs to my ankles. In that second, I thought my water broke. The very next second, I realized that it was actually pee. Like the kind where it is not supposed to even exit my hooha and down my legs. 

I quickly grab a wet tissue and confidently wiped them away. I was among people so I pretended nothing happened and went into Adrian's car like that. HAHAHA. I of course felt disgusted the whole time but what else can I do! 

I only confessed to Adrian after we got home and after I showered. 

So yeah, the sneezing and peeing at the same time has started. That incident taught me to go to toilet often and not try be a hero and tahan it in. It is not going to work. Hah. 

Lesson well learnt on this one for sure. 

So, other than all that, we are doing great. We are currently consulting Dr See at Gleneagles Hospital and we also go for check-ups at my favorite Klinik Kesihatan Ibu & Anak. I have not decided if this time we would go to GH for the delivery or Gleneagles but it is nice to know that we've got choices so we shall see. 

I am also 90% sure that I will not be taking epidural this time because the pain will help me to push (like in Sofia's case) but there is a 10% so we really shall see. 

Happy 20 weeks old, Little Bean and mamy! We got this! 

Till next time, bye now. 

Hello Baby Koay #3!

 I realized that this is a really long overdue post. 

As excited as we were when we first found out about this pregnancy, I was not enjoying the celebration as much and that was really because of the horrible first trimester morning sickness. I didn't get them this badly as compared to when I was preggo with Alex and Sofia - so this time was new and full of surprises. Heh. 

I don't want to talk much about it because it can (and will) quickly turned into a massive noisy endless complaints. I've had that many moments of just sulking in that because of how terrible it was. 

Not until I saw Little Bean's heartbeat on the monitor, and the guilt just overwhelms me. I promised (since that day) that I would not complain to that extent anymore. 

It was so bad that I vowed to never have a fourth baby okay. I am guilty of saying that loud. But it's because I really could not bear going through those roller-coaster physical things again. But I am sorry, and I am taking that back, because who knows, maybe we will still have a fourth kid. Hah. I can imagine Adrian's facial expression as he is reading this. He is settled with 3 (I think) but let's leave this topic to next time. Hah. 

But morning sickness story aside, I am now in a much better place (physically) with morning sickness only showing up once or twice a week, so I am thankful and I am ready to pen this down here. 

To answer many of you, yes we were planning to expand our family and we were very intentional to make that happen by this year, however we decided to take a pause because suddenly, there were many international travel plans that pop out, and we didn't want to risk going through miscarriage again by being pregnant and doing long haul travels. 

But guess what?

We didn't know it then, but his Michael-Phelps-sperm had already met with my egg even before we decided to take a pause. It never crossed our minds that we could actually be pregnant, but then again, we were actively trying so no surprises there la please. 

My period was late for 2 weeks but it didn't raise any suspicions because they were late for 2 weeks many months before so to avoid spending more money in those overpriced-pregnancy test kits, I decided to just wait it out and I was really sure that it was not pregnancy la please. 

We went travelling that week to the East Coast Region of the Peninsular (Kelantan, Terengganu & Pahang) and I was always tired (with slight nausea) but we thought that could be because of the long-distance travelling on the road (motion sickness) and having to handle the kids and things like that. So we didn't put much thoughts into it. 

The nausea and tiredness got worse after we got home and that night, I decided not to wait any longer and took out our last cheap test kit and peed on it. Three seconds after my pee touched the place where the pee is supposed to go, the two lines appeared and appeared very clear and I knew then that I was confirmed to be pregnant! But I wanted (needed) to be 2 test kits sure hah. 

So, I took out the last expensive Clearblue test kit out and peed on it. Yes, within that same hour that night. It didn't take more than a minute for the cross lines to show up. That was how clear and pregnant my pee was showing. 

I remembered smiling from ear to ear, and thinking in my head o how to tell the father of my children - whether to make a big gesture or just plain and simple 'I'm pregnant'. 

I went with the latter but his reaction was nothing I expected! 

I passed him the stick and he thought I was playing a prank on him. Even after I explained to him that it was real, he still had that doubt. I HAD TO GO TO THE RUBBISH BIN AND SHOW HIM THE FIRST TEST KIT THAT WAS POSITIVE. This man I tell you. 

He then smiled and gave me a long tight hug. We told our sisters the same night because I could not hold it in any longer please. It was such a big happy news that I felt came at the right time. 

Of course, then the whole morning sickness continued but it made sense to why I was feeling all those things. Just thankful it was not Covid again. Heh. 

So yeah, that was how we found out about Little Bean, and no we do not know the gender yet (or maybe we do heh). I guess we will just have to wait for the gender reveal party to find out. Hah. 

 And this shall be my first letter to Little Bean.. 

Hello you little baby. We were not expecting you although we wanted you already. Make sense? Anyways, you became the reason I had to let go of some travel plans that were already in the planning, and although it seems like such a sacrifice, it really is not. When I know that you were already growing in me, letting go of those my hearts also desire was easy and was a no-brainer. 

You were hard to love at first, but watching your little heart beating on that screen changed me. Maybe it was the hormones too, but it felt as though that was my first time seeing a heartbeat on that monitor, although I've already gone through that with your brother and sister.

Make no mistakes and never doubt me okay because even with Alex and Sofia with me now, I realized that my heart can actually grow bigger to create that space to love you infinitely. It's really a wow thing. So yes, I love you now and I will love you till my last breath. See you in December okay. Don't come out too early and also don't come out too late please. Heh. 

Grow well, you. 

Love you now and will love you till my last breath <3