Oh boy, what an experience it has been for me!

We met our gynae for the first time, Dr. Suzanna Sulaiman. She was recommended by my gf, Tini, who had her twins in KKH as well. There were mixed reviews initially coz I heard from another gf that she is fierce and can be a lil’ bit on the rough side. But we decided to go ahead. We had our 12th week check-up about 3 weeks ago during the Ramadhan period. She was as pleasant as Dr. Sadhana so that’s a plus point for us and she did her scans and both babies are of the same size (12 cm) and that they are now 3 days apart as compared to the very 1st scan that we had, which was about a week apart! So alhamdullilah they are growing fine.

Here are the signs & symptoms in summary that I have been having in my 1st trimester. And NO… I am not complaining but thought it might be good to share so at least new mothers’ know what to expect. Each time something happens to me, I go on to Google and look out for what is the meaning coz each gynae’s visits are 1 month apart so, no chance to ask her or by the time I meet my Gynae, I forgot all about it. Hence, the lack of updates so far.

1. Heighten sense of smell
   Poor husband. I had to tell him to sit far away whenever he eats local cuisines like nasi ayam, mee soto, mee rebus, mee siam, etc. I can’t stand the smell. It’ll just make me want to puke. I always had with me a Freshcare scented minyak angin or the normal minyak angin (AXE Oil) all the time. When I can’t avoid the smell, I’ll rub some under my nose.
2. Bad Case of Morning Sickness
   They shouldn’t be calling it morning sickness at all seh coz I was a constantly being merlion, 24/7 – I’d puke in the dustbin, behind the care after parking, any drains I could find. I’ll try to find somewhere secluded so that I don’t disgust others but sometimes I really can’t help it. Else I’ll be at the comfort of my own home or at the comfort of my toilet bowl! I seriously wish that I could sleep in the toilet at that point of time. I lose my appetite to eat altogether coz of this. I can eat anything but give me 10 – 15 mins, everything will come out again (x2) and then I will feel hungry all over again and it’s will be an on-going process. Till there was a time that I was merely puking out just yellow liquid. So it’s best to just have some standby crackers to overcome the empty stomach. Some chinese friends were advising me to drink sugarcane. It helped me for a while but then again, I’ll still vomit eventually and I also have a standby of sour plums (which I sometimes forget to bring when I change bags… :p) but yeah sour plum helps! Luckily, it stopped about 2 weeks ago. But friends with twins mentioned that it might make a comeback, so be wary! :p Because of this, I actually lost weight during the 1st 3 mths.
3. Throbbing Headaches/ Migraines
   I am never the kind to get migraines at all. But during the first 3 months, I’ll get a throbbing headache and I’ll feel it all the way till the back of my neck. I’ll be rendered useless and it usually happens during the weekends and I’ll be at home being very unproductive. I have no remedy for this coz I’ll just apply some AXE oil around the neck area and sleep it off.
4. Lactose Intolerant
   I love my milk! But somehow during the 1st 3 months,I puke out any milk that I take in. Friends were recommending me to take milk powders for mums and I settle for Enfamama Chocolate milk powder. The throat and the stomach and the babies could take it in so, yeay! Got my supply in Malaysia. Errr…. Slightly cheaper and I do take it daily coz there are times that I completely forget to take my folic acid tablets so at least  there is some in it and I won’t feel guilty for missing my tablets in the morning. 😀 However, my gynae was telling me that this powder will make me gain weight so if I find that my weight suddenly shoots up, better stop taking it. 🙂
5. Supplements
   I have my gynae’s Folic acid and Dydrogesterone tablet (so called to help strengthen the womb for the 1st few months of pregnancy). I also purchased Blackmores Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Gold. It has all the iron, folic acid, fish oil, vitamin D3 and iodine that I’d think I need. At least it doesn’t have bad after taste of normal fish oil capsules. The other would be that EnfaMama milk powder.  But I do have my days where I forget to take them and I’ll be given a good toungue lash from parents as well as the husband… -______- I have never been a fan of pills/tablets!
6. Simpul Biawak (errr… bad leg cramps @ night!)
   They say that it’s good to be a little bit more active as in walk around a lot so that when you give birth, it’d be easier. I don’t know how easy is easy but then again different people have different pregnancy experiences. So i walk a round alot and still do my daily housework, though not much on carrying of the heavy stuffs. I started to get these bad leg cramps in my 3rd month onwards. I’ll suddenly be jolted out from my sleep with a bad case of lower leg cramp on my left calf and I swear i could cry. No point waking up the husband coz a bomb fell, I think he’ll still be sound asleep. So I’d try to apply Po Sum On Medicated Oil and try to walk around…. TRY is the word! Squat a lil’ or just keep hitting the calf, hoping for it to go away. I am not sure if there are any remedies for this but for me the ointment helps.
7. Stomach discomforts
   I have had my fair share of stomach discomforts in the first trimester – cramping, sleeping at night (as in I won’t know which direct to sleep on, which I would eventually sleep facing up on my back) and all I could do is talk to the babies, recite the Quls and Ayat Kursi to the babies and most of the time it goes away or again the Po Sum On oil helps. :p I dread having constipation cozthe sense of pain at the lower abdomen is really excruciating! So I try to take more fluids on my end.
8. Excessive Vaginal Discharge (TMI! but some of you may experience the same thing)
   Only recently, I start to notice an excessive amount of milky/yellowish discharge and have to constantly change my pantyliner (times like this I’m thankful that the husband ordered a carton of them during his monthly staff purchases… :p) So relax, the discharge is normal and it’s going to come out even more in the coming months. You just need to watch out if it starts having any foul smell coz this means that you are having an infection and it’d be good to consult your gynae the. Here’s a summary that I extracted from BabyCentre.

   It’s not your imagination. It’s quite common to have more vaginal discharge during pregnancy.

   What you’re noticing is probably normal leukorrhea – the odorless or mild-smelling milky discharge that you may have noticed in your underwear before you were pregnant. There’s just a lot more of it now, partly because of increased estrogen production and greater blood flow to the vaginal area. This discharge is made up of secretions from the cervix and vagina, old cells from the walls of the vagina, and normal bacterial flora from the vagina.

   You’ll probably notice more vaginal discharge as you approach labor, although it’s likely to look somewhat different from the flow you’ve become accustomed to.

   In very early pregnancy, cervical secretions filled your cervical canal and created a protective barrier – the so-called mucus plug. As your cervix begins to efface (thin out) and dilate (open up), it may expel this mucus, and you’ll notice discharge that looks like egg white or mucus from a runny nose on a cold day. You may even expel the plug in one gelatinous glob. This discharge might be tinged with a bit of blood.

With all that being said, I am thankful to be experiencing all these. I’ll just have to suck it up and go through it on a day to day basis and hopefully, praying for a smoother pregnancy as well as delivery. 🙂