Women's Day - The Joy of Pregnancy

Mar 8, 2010 marks the second year anniversary of a certain tsunami in the Malaysian political ground . But  I will not ramble about that today...as today is also the International Women Day.

I am honored that there is a day dedicated to women - to celebrate our contributions to society. Ladies, your day might not be different from yesterday - it's not like we are getting free lunches or will be treated for a shopping spree by our other half. But somewhere, sometime ago, there were some geniuses who thought of celebrating us!

So what is so special of being a women ??? The most obvious - none of the men can do it - is off course, childbearing ability. Getting pregnant and then the birth of your precious is simply magic. Well...I might be exaggerating here. I mean it's not all sugar and spice and everything nice. There are ladies who are confined to bed-rest, those who had major morning sickness that seems to go on and on, and those who walk about with gigantic feet (thanks to water retention problem).

Alhamdullilah, my pregnancies were all quite smooth. The only hiccups were the food poisoning episodes which prompted my dearest doctor to warn me to ward off street food. And I did get the morning sickness -  whoever coined the term MUST know that the sickness is not confined to morning, but is throughout the day - mine was mostly at night. There were times when I dreaded brushing my teeth as I ended up throwing up the just-eaten dinner. Well, at least I can sympathize with the sufferings of those bulimics who needs to throw up every time they munch something!

And off course there was the uncomfortable third trimester - where you feel like a hippo - where lying down and getting a good sleep is a chore. I remembered the consistent (and not to mention painful) heartburn - I ended up sleeping with leg stretched and body resting on a pillow propped onto the bed's head rest. Yup I was actually sleeping, in a half-sitting position during the last month or month and half of the third trimester.


Thankfully....I did not get severe nausea nor the pregnancy-induced high blood or pre-eclampsia. Nor was I confined to the bed because of severe tiredness. I was healthy and enjoyed my pregnancy. And I did not actually ballooned. In fact I got a friend who commented that from behind, I did not look like I was pregnant!

While pregnant, I am sure well-wishers will shower you with old wife's tale, pantang larang and what not. Don't eat pineapple or else you'll miscarriage. What??? But I love pineapple...... So, Dr. dearest, can I still still have my pineapple ? Don't watch horror movie, else you get ugly babies! Don't kill any animal, else your baby will be born with permanent deformities. Fuh...I tell you, it was a scary stage!

Then came the scariest part of all - the giving birth part! For my first born, I actually went for an induced labour - as I was already over my estimated due date. And did I tell you that my dear Dr. does NOT believe in using epidural for first-time mother. Yup, she believes that a mother needs to feel the pain of giving birth - to appreciate the beauty of it. 

Beauty ??? The labour pain was excruciating. Waiting for one to come - and you know when one is coming - is even worst! Imagine  anticipating excruciating pain which comes every few minutes!!!  

 

And then the urge to push. I was one of the 'lucky' ones - in which being a primigravida - I had a baby with the biggest head. Yup, my first born head is bigger that his sisters'.

 

But you know what - all that pain really  disappeared - once that precious is put onto your stomach - all covered in blood and mucus! I guess Allah made us all mothers have a short memory - when it comes to labour and labour pains. If not, every women will only have one child - no way we  will want to go through that excruciating  pain over and over again!