What's in a name?

Natasha Hulya.

The name flashed in my mind like a neon sign last night at 4am whilst I was semi-conscious and feeding Sofia. It was a name I had wanted for my future daughter... back when I was 14? 15? It was a name inspired by a Turkish girl whom I met on the sea crossing from the mountain resort of Ankara to Istanbul. I found a picture of her recently whilst spring cleaning my old room, which was probably what prompted the random recall.

As with my life, a lot of things that happen are like intended coincidences- some purely satirical, others simply strange.

My daughter is actually named, in part, not after a Turkish girl but after a Turkish historical site- the St Sophia (Hagia Sophia) which is a beautiful Byzantine basilica/church, turned mosque, turned historical museum in the city of Eastern Istanbul. In fact, Sufia means just that in Arabic- "beautiful".

Inside is a marriage of Christianity and Islam, a reflection of the great Byzantine and Ottoman empires.. *do you see a painting of Jesus Christ between the Islamic scribes?

(http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-hagia-sophia.htm)

Visiting that place invoked an awakening in me about how I was tied to this great civilisation and should probably know some of its history well. But back then, all I remember was how breath-taking it was being within its walls, a lot like those Roman churches in Angels & Demons (which incidentally was the last movie I watched a day before giving birth to Sofia).

Sara was my mother's idea. She who is the first wife of Prophet Ibrahim- the prophet who restored the Kaabah to its current glory. Whose footprints I chanced to see during one of my Umrah excursions with Mum & Dad.

But the names I truly like best are universal ones- they carry multiple meanings in various languages.

The girl's name Sarah \s(a)-rah\ is pronounced SARE-ah. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "princess". Biblical: originally called Sarai, Sarah shared an adventurous nomadic life with her husband Abraham. She is described as being exceptionally beautiful even into her older years.

The girl's name Sophia \s(o)-phia\ is pronounced so-FEE-ah. It is of Greek origin, and its meaning is "wisdom". Used in English-speaking countries since the 17th century. The famous Istanbul mosque Hagia Sofia was once a Christian church.

It occurs to me in the wee hours of yesterday morning how intricately pieces of my life are linked together without me intending it.

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Whilst still on the topic of baby names, here's a hearty congratulations to Heidi and Manu... their long-awaited firstborn is finally here. Tino & Sofia share the same EDD- 30 Jun 09- so I was anticipating having Heidi as a roomie at TMC. I really should ask her what Tino means as Kai has various meanings:

"Rejoice" in Finnish
"Keeper" in Scandinavian
"Beautiful" in South African
"Ocean" in Hawaiian
"Forgiveness" in Japanese

Tino Kai Seth, 3.3kg popped out on 22 Jun 09, I guess the tips on inducing labour worked after all! *teehehehe*

An Idiot's Guide to: jaundice & jamu

Sofia's 1-week newborn review was up and I went back to our trusty Dr Vella at Singapore Baby & Child Clinic at AMK.

In spite of being cleared of jaundice on check-out day at TMC, she went from rosy to slightly yellow on Day 4. She gradually became more and more yellow and by Day 5 was looking much like a member of The Simpsons family. Even the morning sunbathes did little good. We hurriedly took her to Dr Vella who sent us straight to a Diagnostics lab for a blood test.

Here're some facts about jaundice, as explained to me like An Idiot's Guide by Dr Vella:

1) Bilirubin level should stay below 12. Anything more than 14 requires phototherapy (i.e. hospitalisation). Sofia's test results came back as 209. Divide that by 18 and her score is a borderline 11.6.

2) Jaundice peaks between Day 5 and Day 7 after which bub's liver begins to function well enough to steer her/him clear of danger.

3) Mother/Bub blood type plays a role. I am A+, Sofia and Arissa are B+, "not too bad a combination, I would be more worried if you were an O", says Dr Vella.

4) Traditional Indonesian jamu could trigger jaundice so I need to stop all that I am taking for at least a month.

5) Breastmilk could worsen jaundice so Sofia will be mainly on formula for the next 2 days. (Urgh, I thought my engorgement days are over!)

Then of course there are differing opinions about 4) and 5). My masseuse tells me one of her patients was asked NOT to stop breastfeeding by her baby's paediatrician..

Speaking of masseuse, this one is a whole lot better than the last one I had. She's thorough and has magical fingers, her package comes with the variety of jamu (herbs) from Mustika Ratu. In fact, she's MR-certified, being fully-trained by an Indonesian ibu.

I was so impressed by the packaging!

These 2 herbs are amazing. I was never a full believer of traditional therapy but I swear by these 2 tablets for breastfeeding mums. In the early days of breastfeeding Arissa, I remember having to pump for 20mins on each breast to harvest a measly total supply of 20ml. With the help of these tablets, I managed to pump out 75ml yesterday from one, yes just ONE!, breast- I was well and truly shocked! (maybe the $700 Medela breastpump had something to do with it too! All I had was a $99 Avent manual one last time..)

The best part of the post-natal massage is the bengkung or belly wrap, artistically tied from a long piece of cotton cloth, meant to deflate that jiggly, bulging post-partum tummy. Oh how I dreaded wearing a wrap as it usually leaves me hot and itchy all day long but this one has no wiggle room and is incredibly comfortable that I wear it for most parts of the day as it keeps my posture upright and slouch-free. Goodbye backaches!!

If anyone is interested, my masseuse's name is kak Siti and her number is 96541203. The only downside is she has many customers (pre-natal, post-natal, fertility treatments, weight-loss treatments...) so appointment times may vary from day to day. Her 7-day comprehensive package starts from S$500, depending on location.

D-day

Once again, Lawrence Ang proved his worth. After looking me over on 10 June at 5pm, he appeared disconcerted and wanted me to check into hospital by 8pm the same night. By then, of course, I was just SOOOOO looking forward to giving birth and ending all the 3rd trimester discomforts I was having.

When we left his office at 6pm, I started getting mild contractions which became 3mins apart by 7pm. I was in so much pain but forced myself to eat some dinner before leaving for fear of having no energy through labour. Arissa saw Mummy grimacing and sat on the bed by me, shoving spoons of rice into my mouth and telling me "Mummy must eat wokay?" while the husband gets ready for the night.

Here I am at 8.45pm in the labour ward still calm and coherent, falsely thinking "Hey, the 2nd time ain't that bad"- hah:


9pm Lawrence announces I am 4cm dilated then proceeds to break my water bag. At which point the contractions just hit me like a growing tsunami until it was practically one on top of the other. I tried surviving on gas alone but was begging for pethidine at some point. By the time it was administered, I had almost graduated into the pushing stage, rendering it redundant. The side effects- nausea and numbness- came afterwards and I was confined to my bed overnight.

930pm Baby is down the birth canal ready to be delivered but Lawrence is attending to another patient down the hall. The attending nurse puts her fingers in to stop baby from travelling much further down but her head is almost crowning and the pain was unbearable!!! Husband was gone the whole time I was in labour, he said he was at Delifrance grabbing dinner, thinking the drama would take sometime to unfold- wtf. By the time he got back, the nurses had gone into hysterics paging for Dr Ang yelling that I'm "in stress".

935pm Lawrence appears like Superman and I'm told I can start pushing. 3 pushes later followed by some blood-curdling screaming at the end and we have the latest edition to our little family who arrived promptly at 943pm, looking exactly like her sister. What a sense of deja vu for me.


We had spent an indecent amount of money at Toys R Us to get Big Sis presents supposedly from the Little Sis. It was advice well dispensed and money well spent.



Mum and Bub #2 are both resting at my Mother's house until the end of the confinement period. A little sunbathing to keep the jaundice at bay:


Please say hello to Sara Sofia Abdul Hafidz, 2.77kg at birth:

Suck it in.

It all started with a busy busy Saturday where Arissa & I attended 2 birthday parties- one in Marine Parade for Anish and the other in Woodlands for Alya.

I was so pooped by the end of the day my feet swelled up badly and I started waddling like Barney.

Yesterday's checkup revealed that I am 2cm dilated at 36 weeks (read: I'm already in early stages of labour- GAaAaH!) and baby is low, very low. Doctor Ang has given me some Salbutamol to help relax the womb and told me to take it easy. In no uncertain terms, he is basically telling me to hold it in for another week so that bub is not pre-term. Fidza tells me she was dilated 1cm at 35 weeks during her 2nd pregnancy so it is a normal occurence apparently. Strangely enough, bub is not engaged.. her head is near my right kidney but to that Lawrence has said that 2nd babies engage only at the last minute, unlike the 1st.

Thanks to my new diet regime (only good ole milk after midnight, if hungry), bub is only 2.6kg now. Which really means with 1 week to go, I can start binging again- muahahaha!

Beef rendang pie from Joo Chiat Road, good good good!

A kaftan's not the most glamourous of apparel but when you're big enough to balance a plate on your belly, its the most comfy! :p

I'm taking this time off to get the newborn stuff laundered and aired and sunned- ..take it easy, what's that when you don't have a maid!

Note to self: Finish that online FWD course asap!