Confinement Lady or Confinement Centre?

Seriously, do we really need a confinement lady?

I always wonder...why do Malaysian Chinese especially like to hire confinement ladies? The western countries, for example, never had them...and they survived. Who are these ladies? To put it simply, they are women (usually quite elderly) known to be experienced with taking special care of newborn babies and their mothers immediately after births. Some may call them confinement nannies or "pui yuet" in Cantonese which means "companion for the month". They will normally adhere to the Chinese traditional confinement practices which some may find rather 'ridiculous' or 'unbearable'.

Anyway, it never really occurred to me that I should get help during my confinement days as I've thought my mom will be there for me. However, when a friend casually asked if I'd secured a confinement lady, I was dumbfounded. I was 18 weeks then and was advised that since I'm a first-time mom and the fact that I'm having twins, the more I should consider hiring a confinement lady. I did panic for a while though...

I later discussed with my mom and she said it may be a good idea after all as she has no experience taking care of two newborn babies at one time.

So without any further delay, I started calling a few contact numbers given by friends, colleagues and a few recommended by the forums/bloggers. To my dismay, all of them are already booked during my birthing date. A few of them offered to attend to me for 2 weeks or so (they are trying to squeeze me in to fit their tight schedules) but after much thought, I'm not too keen. A few ladies simply told me that they do not even attend to twin babies. What surprised me most is the 'market price' for confinement ladies for attending to twins. It's between RM6500 and RM8000 for 28 days! That excludes the additional compulsory 'angpow' of between RM300 and RM500! My goodness! I'll be spending a fortune here...

While I'm in the middle of this craze, one of my sisters-in-law (she's pregnant too and she's just 2 weeks behind me on the due dates) suggested that we pay a visit to Gina's Place. It's a newly set-up confinement centre in Taman Yarl, OUG, since April 2014. My first response was negative! A cousin sister of mine has stayed at a confinement centre about 2 years ago with her baby girl and her experience was really bad with utter dissatisfaction. So needless to say, I have a pretty bad impression with confinement centres.

Although extremely skeptical, we went to Gina's Place to check out the centre. I went solely with the thought of accompanying my sister-in-law. Little did I know that I'll fall in love with the place! Haha!

Gina's Place has a quiet and serene setting that I believe I would enjoy during my confinement period. They are operating at a bungalow with 8 rooms to accommodate a maximum of 8 mommies at one particular time. Of course they also have a room or two for the nurses and maids on duty during the night shifts. The nurses are registered nurses and they work on 8-hourly shifts throughout the days. What I love most is the fact that they are 100% breast-feeding friendly. Gina is a lactation consultant herself and the nurses are trained to only assist the mommies in breast-feeding or feeding babies with expressed breast milk using not bottles, but syringes and spoons. The centre looks very clean indeed and they allow the husbands (only husbands!) to stay with the mommies throughout the 28 confinement days.

Now, to be looked after during confinement at a specialised confinement centre doesn't come cheap. I've discussed with hubby, taking into consideration of all aspects we could think of, and I'm surprised that hubby actually encouraged me to stay at Gina's Place. Hubby is quite concerned that I don't get stressed up after the births of our little babies as we would foresee some 'discomfort' or 'unwanted scenes' with having the confinement lady, my mom and his mom (together!) at our house during my most vulnerable days.

So, we have finally decided that I shall spend my confinement days at Gina's Place. My mom wouldn't have to worry whether she could cope with taking care of our two little babies after all...at least not for the first one month after their births.  I hope we've made the right decision and that I'll be able to share my beautiful experiences at the centre very soon.

19 Weeks Pregnant with Twins!

It's been a long long time since I have last posted any updates. I just feel like, well, maybe I should wait a little longer to ensure that our babies are more stable. To be honest, most of the time I still feel like I'm dreaming! Haha! And yes, we are having twins! :)

I am into my 20 weeks of pregnancy and things have been really slow at the moment. Maybe I should start from where I stopped.

Well, I spotted/bled from 20/3/2014 to 9/4/2014 (21 days) and thereafter, I had another scare on 18/5/2014 (Sunday) at 13w6d! I'd just started bleeding red suddenly like a light menstrual flow at about 11pm at night and I'd imagined the worst! I wore a pad as I didn't know if the bleed will get heavier through the night. Sleep was almost impossible and I kept my fingers crossed for a miracle until the next morning. I called Sunfert early Monday morning and was asked to go to the clinic that day itself for a scan. It was such a relief to see both my babies still 'dancing' in my womb. Phew! Dr Wong said that it is very likely that the blood is due to the low-lying placenta of baby A [the baby that lies nearest to the cervix/exit] and unfortunately, bleeding and spotting is very common in multiple pregnancies. So, I have to be prepared for situations like this and to stay calm always. However, I have to notify Sunfert whenever I experience bleeding or spotting of any sort. This second bleeding episode quickly tapered to spotting which lasted until 30/5/2014 (13 days). In fact, I'd only used panty liners from 19/5/2014 onwards. So much on bleeding/spotting but thank goodness ('touch wood'!) I have not had any since then. I have no cervical mucus either.

I have gained about 8kg thus far even though I don't really eat that much. I just don't have the appetite to eat and I don't look forward to eating at all. I still feel queasy after meals, especially after dinner. It might sound silly, but standing under the running warm shower, blow-drying my hair and brushing my teeth also make me feel sick. However, I am feeling so much better these days. I have never vomited although there were those awful days when I had to fight the urge to throw up, standing helplessly with teary eyes next to the toilet bowl and swallowing hard to calm my stomach. I'm glad I'd managed to keep everything down.

I drink about 3 litres (or more) of plain water every day so that probably helps to avoid constipation too. One thing I noticed, I don't have to urinate as often as I'd used to once I'm sleeping. Sometimes I could even sleep through the whole night without going to the toilet. How nice!

My tummy area started to itch at about 17 weeks and I know the stretch marks are coming! I have to confess that I am not disciplined enough to apply lotion/oil everyday. Sometimes I will apply twice a day and sometimes I could skip a day! Haha! I'm just using Bio Oil and the normal moisturising lotion. I try to cover as much area as possible including my breasts, my butt and my upper thighs. Hopefully those marks won't be too visible.

I also find that I couldn't hold my bladder when I cough and sneeze! How embarrassing! Maybe I should really try the kegel exercises to strengthen my pelvic muscles and bladder? :)

And oh, the vertical line, which they call the linea nigra, has also appeared between my navel and pubic area. I find it quite cool actually. Hehe! At first, I'd thought those were marks left by my maternity pants. So I'd kept adjusting my pants to make it looser until it's too loose that it kept falling down! Silly me! It is very light brown in colour and the area along the line seems a bit hairy. Weird, huh? My belly button is starting to protrude too and I just love it! I find all of these changes very amazing indeed.

I'm always out of breath by the time I reached the top of that flight of stairs in my house. I couldn't even go grocery shopping without panting for air so very often. Bear in mind too that I don't even carry anything! Stamina seemed to have escaped me totally. Sigh... I've tried a couple of times asking for Dr Wong's advice to have some exercise during my second trimester. To my dismay, Dr Wong is against any form of exercise (pre-natal yoga and swimming included!) in any multiple pregnancies. Again, his advice is to rest, rest and REST. Hmm...

Every night, I'll be having weird dreams. I've dreamt of my family, my relatives, my primary/secondary school/collage/university mates, my colleagues, my friends whom I haven't met in ages, my hubby and even superstars! All in the weirdest scenarios. I haven't dreamt of any babies yet though.

One thing I've dreaded to feel so much...movements. I couldn't make it up whether it is just wind or gas or could it really be movements of my little pumpkins! Oh well, I will wait for it. ;)

My next appointment (in 2 weeks time!) will be with Dr Jason Lim of Sunway Medical Centre too. The reason for the change being that Dr Wong no longer attends to delivery of babies since mid of year 2013. So I had my last appointment with Dr Wong at 17 weeks and thereafter, Dr Jason Lim will take over my matter. Hubby and I have decided to see Dr Jason as we think he has done a great job with my 2 laparoscopic surgeries earlier in year 2008 and 2011 for termination of my ectopic pregnancies. We'll see...

I love my growing tummy and I've been talking and singing songs to my little darlings like a crazy woman! Haha!

I will update more very soon...till then, I wish that all those who are trying to conceive to have faith and not give up hope yet and for those who are expecting, to stay happy and healthy throughout the pregnancy.