Have you heard about RichPlan4u?

RichPlan4U is an insurance and road tax renewal company, in which you can do it online!  The good news is, they are offering 15% discount on insurance and road tax renewal until 31st March 2014! You can order them here.

Speaking of road tax, and well, vehicle. It reminds me of an embarrassing story that happened almost 12 years ago. It is so embarrassing, I had never told anyone about it, (until now!). So, be thankful that you are lucky enough to hear this, you’re welcome.

Anyway, I was in standard six, and I was at at school for a night class. That particular night, after the night class, I was waiting for my dad to pick me up. At 10pm, it was dark, cars were everywhere but all I could see was lights coming out of parent’s cars picking up their kids. As soon as I spotted my dad’s car, bingo!

I ran towards my dad’s car, pretty excited because my dad was earlier than usual. I dived into the car and said, “wow dad, you’re surprisingly early today!”

However, all I get was an awkward silence. I looked around and to my surprise, I didn’t know these people. and then it hit me, OH MY GOD, I GOT INTO A WRONG CAR! That’s not my dad! and that’s not my brother! Without saying a word, I sprung out of the car.  HAHAHAHA. Can you imagine, getting in the wrong car??

and guess what’s the worst part, the “brother” that was in the car, was a schoolmate (though I  had never talked to him) and they were also  my neighbour! Needless to say,  since  then, things were awkward  between me and him (and his dad) for the rest of my life. hahaha, there, story of my life. :p :p :p

Now, write your own entry for a chance to win an ipad Mini by SalamMedia. Visit SalamMedia to enter and win! Hurry, closing date is 20th March 2014.

Alhamdulillah, Sara just turned 4 months old, and while taking care of her, I managed to create my clothing brand, ImanSara. It is inspired by my daughter. I started working on it during my last few weeks of pregnancy. After I got the hang of being a mom, I slowly picked up where I left off.

ImanSara is long due. It’s been my dream to become a designer since I was small, and it is a start of MY journey. I love quality and tasteful pieces while still being affordable, and that is the things I want for ImanSara.

I pray to Allah that He will bless this venture of mine. It is not easy, but that is the challenge I’m willing to take. InsyaAllah, I’m in the process of creating more products which will be on preview sometime this week.

As a woman, I know hijab (I don’t mean just tudung but overall clothing) is every women’s struggle, and we all have our own journeys. I don’t believe anyone should condemn the way anyone wear, because you’ll never know who they are in Allah’s eyes. Perhaps they are better than us in ways we don’t know. and only God can be the judge.

That is why, I want to help ease women’s hijab journey by providing apparels that are beautiful and modest.

Visit: Imansara.com

Follow IMANSARA on Facebook, instagram, twitter.

At 3.50am in the morning of 31st October, I was woken up by what I thought was a stomach ache. It was the first day of my 39th week of pregnancy. I  thought I was going to lay a brick so I went to the toilet and tried to push my bowel. Yet nothing was happening. Before I knew it, the stomach ache was gone and I went back to sleep.

At 4pm sharp, I was once again woken up by an even more intense abdominal pain than the previous one. It was so painful, I couldn’t help to scream and that woke Eddie up. The pain lasted for about a minute. Then 5 minutes later I got the pain again and this time I noticed it was actually a contraction. Since it’s now 5 minutes, I didn’t think I was in active labour. After a couple of contractions, the contractions were coming at every 2.5 minutes.

I was in disbelief. Could this be it? I’ve always imagined that contractions start as frequent as every 20minutes, not 5 minutes!

I didn’t want to go to the hospital too early so I asked Eddie to call my parents. My mum asked if I feel any pressure on my bowels. I nodded and she said it’s time to go to the hospital.

Luckily I’ve packed my hospital bag a week before. It was just a few toiletries to pack. Eddie seemed a bit panicky and I swear I had never seen him like that before. I was somewhat calm, except during the contractions where I tried my best to get through. My mum made me a chocolate milk drink, and Eddie managed to grab one stick of Madu Azim honey.

We arrived at the DEMC hospital and I was admitted into the labour room at 5am. Eddie had to leave me for a while to check me in. The nurse came in and put on the CTG (to monitor baby’s heart rate) and inserted medication to help me empty my bowels. The nurse then hooked me up to an IV to keep me hydrated. I was 5cm dilated.

I was in relieve as Eddie came back into the labour room. I managed to finish one whole stick of Madu Azim and drank half of the chocolate milk. At that point, I was regretting that I had only less than two hours of sleep. We had an argument that night over petty matters and we stayed up late. Eddie was coaching me throughout all my contractions, reminding me to breathe and zikr. I asked for his forgiveness for so many times that morning. We both regret our fight the night before.

I was really tired going through my labour. My contractions were getting more intense and I was screaming and crying with every contractions.

At 6am, the Anesthesiologist came in to give me epidural.  I am a wuss for pain, I have to admit so that’s why I opted for an epidural. It was quite terrifying. Also, I am VERY ticklish on my back, and you can only imagine how I suffered as the doctor find the right spot to insert the catheter.

Once I got my epidural, my gradually intense contraction had come down to the pain level as my early contractions at home.  I opted for a low dose epidural so that I could still feel my contractions. At around 8pm, my OBGYN came in and she checked my opening. I was 6cm dilating and we were expecting to start pushing at 11am.

Suddenly, at 9am, my contractions were coming stronger. I was screaming like hell. I called in the nurse and asked for higher dose of epidural. Then a couple of contractions later, it got even stronger and I called the nurse again. The pain was so intense I felt like my bones in my body were breaking. and I had a low dose epidural! I can’t imagine if I hadn’t. The nurse then checked my dilation to find out I was fully dilated. My water suddenly popped and the nurses got me ready to push. 

At 9.25 I started pushing. The nurses coached me on how to push. I was already so tired yet with every contractions I find every bit of energy left to push. 50 minutes of pushing, the nurse finally said that I have only 10 minutes left or there will be interventions (forceps or vacuum).  The doctor arrived and I gathered all my last bit of energy to push.

I was determined to push within this last 10 minutes. I got my fiery crazy eyes on and pushed harder than ever. I was focused. With a lot of motivation, and cheering from the my husband and the nurses, Sara was finally out, and on her way to make her big debut into the world, she kicked the birth canal that sent her flying on the bed. I did not lie, I saw her flew out of my vagina and she cried as she landed on the bed.

The nurse then threw her on my chest and she stopped crying. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing (actually I didn’t really know what I was looking at). Then the nurse took her away, cleaned her up a bit, swaddled her and placed her in the warmer. Soon, the nurse let me hold Sara while the doctor sutured my tear. She was looking around, wondering where she was. She was looking at both of her parents back and forth. It was a really precious moment for me and Eddie. Alhamdulillah. I was so grateful and happy it sent me to tears of joy.

Alhamdulillah, my labour went on smoothly and Sara is so perfect, I couldn’t ask for more. Every detail of my labour was how I wanted (except for the tear). Eddie was very helpful at saying the right things to keep me going and I had a pleasant experience at DEMC. The nurses were so wonderful and the service was excellent.

I had never been this thankful in my life. Thank you Allah for this blessing, I feel so lucky and blessed, mashaAllah. I can never forget that day, it was such beautiful day and I would do it again. *wink* *wink*

I will write on some tips for a smooth labour in my next post.

As many of you know, I gave birth to Sara, on 31st October. It was an amazingly beautiful day, indeed. Sara is now 27 days, she’ll be 4 weeks tomorrow. As far as my recovery, I finally feel a lot better now.

Although my pregnancy was smooth and relatively easy than other women I know, it was really tough and challenging. If you ask me when I was pregnant, I would say being pregnant is not worth it! Yes, that sounded bad.

Then came labour. I was really terrified of labour. I was. I researched so deep so that I could be physically and mentally prepared. I practiced visualisation every day and think positively about my labour. 6 hours in labour, and it turned out to be the most painful yet the easiest thing. It went smoothly according to my visualisation, Alhamdulillah.

Now, the postpartum. It is the worst thing about having a baby. It’s a lot of pain. Contraction pains, breast and nipple pain, body aches, perineal pain, pelvic girdle pain, you name it. My recovery was slow and I was in 3 weeks of agony. I cried so much.

The first 2 weeks, I lost hope that I will ever recover. I guess it was the baby blues talking. Came the third week, I started feeling more sane, and tried to think positively about my recovery. Soon, I started to see improvements. Talk about mind over matter!

Now that my baby blues are completely gone, I’m starting to enjoy taking care of Sara. It used to feel like a chore, perhaps it was all those pain I was feeling. I love waking up in the morning to Sara. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. To us.

I can never forget the first time she was thrown onto my chest right after she came out. Yes, thrown is the exact word. I looked at her and I did not know what was this moving thing that just came out of me. She looked so pale and grey. Guess  I was still fuzzy from the labour. Then, she was taken away, the nurse put a blanket on and swaddled her. Soon she was given back to me while the doctor sutured my perineal tear.

I looked at her and her eyes were wide open glancing back and forth between me, Eddie and the surrounding. She looked like she was trying to understand where she was and what was she seeing (although she probably couldn’t see anything clearly then).

Immediately, I fell in love with her. I was shedding tears of joy. I’m  truly happy that she came into this world. She’s so perfect and beautiful. I had never been so thankful in my life before. Everyday, since she was born, I thank Allah for this gift. I feel so blessed for having her.

Sara, a few hours after she was born.

9 days old

21 days old

If you ask me now, she is definitely worth it. It was worth all the pain, agony and not to mention, all those emotional roller coaster. Truly, she is a gift. And she’s my personal achievement.

P.s, Read my husband’s story on my labour.

P.p.s, I will write about labour and postpartum recovery soon.