OUR FAMILY ARE VACCINATED!

Abah, Mak & Me: Pfizer

Syaqirin: Astra Zeneca

Abah & Affiq: AstraZeneca

Mama: Pfizer

Affiqa Aime: Sinovac

Alhamdulillah me and my family already got our COVID-19 vaccine. It was such a relief because i've always been thinking that i'll be the very last person to get the jab (since i'm pregnant and late etc) and my mom had also been worrying because literally everybody already got their jabs but us. But thank God, Allah is the best planner of all.  

My husband and my sister got their vaccine appointment since the first AstraZeneca introduced to Malaysia. If i'm not mistaken, my SIL helped my FIL to get his AstraZeneca dose during the second batch. My dad and my mom both noticed their vaccine appointments during the same day (but got their jabs on different day at different places). My SIL (and probably my MIL as well) got their appointments after my SIL dm-ed JKJAVMY's Twitter. And as for myself, i dm-ed JKJAVMY, called Klinik Kesihatan and send my query at MySejahtera Helpdesk to finally got my appointment. Haha. 

All of us will be getting our second dose starting the end of the month until early of August 2021. So yeah, i pray that me and my family to never get COVID-19 since the cases today are terrifying. COVID-19 is literally no joke especially when i am currently 25 weeks pregnant and everywhere in the news were about how pregnant moms and their babies affected and got very sick by this virus. And thank God, Malaysia also already made COVID-19 rapid antigen testing kit which we can perform the test just at home without the need to go to any clinics. I am so going to buy that kit especially when i already deliver my baby soon. Better to be safe than sorry right? 

May the goal for Malaysia to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 by December be achieved and may Allah protect us all from the killing virus. Amin YRA. 

MCO RAYA 2.0

No annual raya photos this year because everybody is celebrating raya seperately due to another MCO so here's our custom made kad raya from the very recent photos of us together as a family. Haha. Happy Eid Mubarak from my family to yours! May this Eid brings nothing but joy and peace for us all. Maaf zahir & batin 💗

OUR TTC JOURNEY

Every couples have their own story on getting pregnant. Some had it easy, some was not even trying, some waited for years only to conceive and some even had their family planning to not get pregnant as soon as they get married. It is all depends on the needs and wants of the couples. As for me and my husband, we are that kind of couple who would like to conceive as soon as we can hehe. Like, one of the main goals of this marriage is to get our own baby. 

So, me and my husband are not living together since i am working at Putrajaya and my husband is working at Melaka. So our chance to meeting each other is only during the weekends. But that doesn't include when my husband has to work on the weekends, plus when our first months of marriage, the CMCO was still on (thanks to the coronavirus). So technically we just meet only like one to two times in a month.

We got married on the 3rd October 2020. And our first TTC (trying to conceive) was around November since that was the first time my husband was home and (we thought that) i was on my ovulation period according to the Period Calendar app. Before my husband was home, i already consulted with some of my married girlfriends on this and that for, you know, to make things work. Haha. One of my friends' suggestions was to use the Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) test. She said that even though the Period Calendar app telling us that today is our ovulation day, the OPKs test usually just telling the otherwise.

And somehow on my case it's true because the app told me that it was my ovulation day but when we tested using the OPKs test (like 3 times on that day), my results were all negative. But we were still all positive at that moment and just hoping and praying that i'm not going to get my period at the end of the month haha. But as the saying goes, "good things happen when you least expect them to". And we were expecting too much during our first try, so yeah, my period came like a thief in the night literally 3 days earlier from my expected period date, crashing our hopes into dust on the ground. Haha. 

At that time we were like, okay this is it. Allah definitely doesn't want us to get it easy. He also knew that we were not ready yet. He wants us to strive for it and pray hard to Him so that we earned it. And so, our second and foremost TCC journey begins (bismillah). So, me and my husband read some blogs and articles here and there on how to conceive successfully, what foods and what supplements should we consume, what to do and what not to do and everything. We also asked some of our married friends for the pro-tips that we can try as well. So here are what we did: 

Body Basal Temperature (BBT) 

So literally BBT is we take our temperature first thing first when we wake up in the morning (during the same time like ± 30 minutes and at the same position). We are not required to move or do anything yet before we take our temperature, we need to have at least 4 hours of sleep before the temperature is taken and use the same digital thermometer (preferably 2 decimals thermometer) throughout the cycle. Ideally, we should start charting on the first day of period and continue to take the BBT everyday for the month. The purpose of taking our daily BBT is to observe when it rises. Ovulation usually happens a day or two before our BBT rises. As for myself, i recorded my BBT together with daily OPKs test. 

I swear i'm not good at explaining this one because it kinda confusing to me especially during the first cycle and till the end tbh haha. Because i don't see much different on the reading and the chart and maybe because i don't do it as consistently as it should be. So, for better understanding, i suggest you, to do your own reading and research on this as well. 

OPKs Test, Period Calendar App & Premom App

I've been using the period calendar app since as long as i can remember. Back then, i only use it to track my period. And only after i got married, i knew that the app can also track our ovulation period. Lol lame, i know. My best suggestion is, never rely on only 1 app. Please download at least 2 period calendar apps to record your period regularly to increase the accuracy to forecast when is your next period and next ovulation day. As in my case, i used Period Calendar App and Premom App. And these two apps never show the same prediction. Ever. It will always be like one to three days differ. Which means, you can't trust exactly when one app said that your ovulation day is on the 1st day of the month and the other app told you that it is on the third or fourth day of the month. But still, you can take note on what particular day after your period ends to predict for the upcoming months. 

So to double confirmed if the day is actually my ovulation day, i will use the OPKs test. I bought like 50 strips of the OPKs test at Shopee and it only cost me around RM20. Seriously, but at Shopee guys. Because we will use this strips everyday for every month after the last day of our period. Only to confirm when is exactly the ovulation day. I mean, you don't want to spend like RM4 per strip to use daily while you can get way cheaper online. Haha. 

The OPKs test is very simple to use. It's almost exactly like the pregnancy test. The pregnancy test is to test whether you are pregnant or not. But the function of OPKs test is to determine whether you are ovulating on that day or not. If the strip is double line (clearest double line), that means, it is your ovulation day. Go make babies and increase the number of human population. Hahaha. 

As for myself, to record the daily OPKs tests, i used the Premom App. I took photo every time and uploaded the strips on the app to evaluate my progress. It's actually easier when you uploaded them on the app because you can compare clearly the T/C ratio and the contrast level of the double line to define when is your ovulation day. In my pov, this was the most accurate procedure so far compared to others.

Supplements & Sunnah Foods 

Me and my husband also consumed pure honey throughout the process. I also consumed olive oil, black seeds and almonds. I bought these all from Mahnaz Food. And for supplements, i consumed Appeton Folic Acid while my husband consumed Himalaya Kapikachhu and Himalaya Speman. Tbh, i don't really consumed these everyday because i was not that disciplined enough. But i did try to never skip them for too long in a week if i ever forgotten. 

Make duas (drink warm water with a pinch of salt - recite Al Fatihah 7x & Al Ikhlas 7x)

It was my husband who shared with me this one. I also did read this online when i googled things on TTC. I did try it (warm water with pinch of salt) but only like two or three times because i was forgetful as always. Hehe. And yes, we have to make duas to Allah all the time. Specifically. 

Extra: Buah Zuriat (doum)

My husband and i never tried this buah zuriat. But i did read about it and saw it online on the benefits of this fruit which is believe to boost female fertility and sperms quality (can read more online). We can get the fruit from Shopee and there's also like tea bags made from buah zuriat that i saw from Shopee as well. 

Still after all, we just need to put our trust to Allah because we can try so hard or perhaps, not trying at all, but in the end, only Allah determines the grant. Tawakkaltu ala Allah. I'm sharing these on my blog not to pretend to be the next Miss Know It All (cause i am definitely no expert on this) or to be Miss TMI (too much information) exposing 'everything' about our marriage. But tbh, i was one of those who just knew about these only after i got married and TTC. And i believe that there are actually a lot of women and couples out there who have no closed friends to consult on this matter or even don't know which and what to read regarding on this. So yeah, here some from our very own little experience. 

Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, we are currently 10 weeks pregnant. Definitely still very new in this and have a long way to go from here. I pray that i will have a smooth, safe and healthy pregnancy. And i also pray that my baby will grow and develop healthily, normally and beautifully. InsyaAllah. May Allah ease everything. Amin YRA. 

LEAF ART MILESTONES @BYSTFRHN

Graduated with Diploma in 2014

Graduated with Degree in 2017

Went to Emara's Degree Convocation in 2018

Graduated with Master's Degree in 2019

We got married in 2020

"Allah, You created everything. We belong to You. Ya Rabb we raise our hands. Forever we thank You" - Maher Zain. 

P/S: Get your leaf art from @bystfrhn on Instagram.  

SO LONG, 2020

That said, 2020 finally come to an end. Though the elephant in the room (read: COVID-19) is still around like it will never going to leave us anytime soon, but let's not overlook and still be thankful on the good things that also happened this year. I often hear people say that "2020 is cancelled" because of the pandemic. However, i don't think we should think about it that way at all. We should somehow feel grateful than ever because we are part of this pandemic in 2020 and we are still breathing healthily until today. Alhamdulillah. 

To recap, 2020 taught us that we humans are fragile by ourselves. Our strength lies by being part of the community. The virus simply does not choose from one to another. Which showed us how we are all so equal to each other. Like, even if only one person or one small group fail to adhere to the SOP, in turn, it can and might result in an exponential surge of new COVID-19 cases which affect everybody in the region and the country. Crazy how this pandemic really 'forced' us to finally listen, to care, to respect and to tolerate others and everything. Needless to mention, the new norms that already the norms in our everyday basis. The online meetings, work from home, 1 meter apart from each other, wearing face mask all the time, and etc, you list it. And yeah, 2020 was really not just about ourselves. 2020 was about and for all of us. We can all claim that. 

As for myself in person, 2020 is definitely my special year because it's the year i got married to my main man. Other than that, it's the year we got us a new car, Bezza and my first year of running half marathon. Of course there are more little things that were achieved and lost this year. But yeah, Alhamdulillah for everything. I read somewhere, no matter how we ended the year, whether we're running into a bright season or limping across the finish line or crawling our way out of a tough calendar, we are enough and we did it. 

May 2021 be the year we achieve more goals for life and for the hereafter. And may 2021 be a year fully loaded with happiness and success for all us and our families. Here's to a wonderful 2021! InsyaAllah. Bismillah.

HALF MARATHON FINISHER #KLSCM2020

 

I ran my first half marathon! Yayy! What a way to end my 2020! (Though 2020 still have like 17 days to go hehe). My initial goal for 2020 was to participate in run (10km) for at least once in a month. And yeah, because of corona virus, the goal was literally just gone with the wind. Lol. But since i signed up for the gym months before i got married, so i did joined the virtual run, did it on the treadmill and earned myself like 2, 3 medals. 

Thanks to Armira for asking me join the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon 2020 Virtual Run (KLSCM 2020). Tbh, i already saw some of my colleagues, DOSM friends and runners posting here and there about their practices for KLSCM 2020. But you know, you just couldn't care less especially when nobody was asking you to participate haha. And suddenly Mira texted me and asking me to register the run with her and told me that our mutual friend, Puyi already signed up for HM. She also told me that she will do HM as well. 

So i was thinking, since i always told my husband that i feel like i didn't achieve anything new this year (except from getting married), and i also been doing 10km few times already and all okay with it, so why not this time i try to finish 21.1km? I can also do it in my own pace since there's no cut off time as well. So, i persuaded my sister to do it with me and yeah, we signed up for HM. Needless to mention, my sister hated me for it lol. She is actually not really into long distance running especially when she is now already has her own bike that she prefers to cycle more. But whatever though haha. 

We started our practice two weeks before the date. Not everyday but slowly starting from 2km per day, up until 10km. Thanks to Kak Nisa for accompanying me while doing the 10km practice one day before the real deal. Honestly, previously when i was first doing 10km, i never practiced at all. I just signed up for 10km and did it on the day of the event. But that was only 10km. This time it's 21.1km. My mind can be saying that i can do it like crazy, like now or never whatever. But my body might be responding otherwise. So i had to train my body for it so that it will not be shocked like, "the hell gurl? Are you trying to kill us?" hahaha. 

I knew it will take at least 4 hours for me to finish this HM. Honestly, i am not that kind of person who can run fast and non stop for such a long distance. Most of the time i will just brisk walking / walk as fast as i can without stopping. And i am well aware that my pace is nothing to be proud of. But i was and am not even trying to lower my pace at all at this moment. Because i wanted my pace to be steady and correlate with my stamina. I swear i'm no fit as fiddle haha. Plus the main goal was just to double the distance. 

So i started my half marathon at around 8pm. My sister was joining me doing the HM but she was riding her bike. It was raining lightly. I was praying hard for God to let me finish the HM that night and please don't let it rain cats and dogs that we had to stop the activity. Alhamdulillah the weather was good enough for a night run. The first 10km was a-okay. But after the first 10km, i accidentally stepped in a puddle of water that my shoes were all soaked. My feet was also melecet out of the blue maybe because of the size of my socks. But i can still keep on doing it, keeping my goal straight until i reached at 17km. Haha. I swear that was my cut off point. At that time, my positive mindset was all over the places, my feet started to tell me to stop and i also felt like the running apps were not functioning well. Hahaha. I mean, you were already super tired, of course nothing is no longer right or okay for you. 

Somehow the KLSCM 2020 app was a bit off. It was literally like 1.5km behind compared to Strava. Strava recorded that i already done with 21.1km but KLSCM app said that i was not done yet and still have about 1.5km to go. Hm. Deep breath. Lol. Alhamdulillah i finished my first ever HM at around 12.20am. It was all worth it and i am so proud of myself. Phew. To avoid severe sore muscles or to be sick on the next day onwards, that night, i promptly ate two bananas, pop a panadol (because it was raining), drank glasses of water and applied Yoko Yoko on my feet to relieve muscular aches. Alhamdulillah everything was well and okay even on the next day. 

Here's to more positive achievements and good memories. May we always have the will to do and experience new things in the future. InsyaAllah. 

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY AS A HUSBAND!

 

Happy 27th Birthday & Happy 1st Birthday as a husband to my person! I am grateful that we managed to spend the birthday weekends together though i was kinda pissed in the beginning because we supposed to have our staycation at Cyberview Resort & Spa but the the resort didn't mentioned to us earlier that they don't accept any bookings during this CMCO. Thank God we knew about this when we were still at home since i was absentmindedly browsing the resort's website at that time. Or i will be more pissed. Haha. We ended up having our staycation at Marriott Putrajaya instead. The foods were good. Our tummies were good, so we're good. 

We also got to celebrate your birthday with your very closed friends, Senyumers at Blonde, Damansara. Were planning to surprise you but obviously i was the who screwed it all hahaha but whatever. I am beyond happy that you have your small circle of friends who are very closed and dear to you since you guys were kids until today. And i also feel lucky because they too accept me to squeeze in the circle that we get to blend very well together. May this friendships last forevermore. Amin YRA.

So, happy birthday to you, Affiq Emara! One year older and wiser. The best things are yet to come. InsyaAllah. Amin YRA. I definitely owe you black pepper beef but till our next meeting with each other xx

P/S: I'm so homesick at this moment. The last time we balik kampung was on the day we got married. That was literally like more than a month ago. I never even once balik kampung to Batu Pahat yet. This RMCO sucks, but may Allah ease this pandemic for us all. Amin YRA.