my 2′nd pregnancy

me? pregnant? again…?
yep…i’m officially a pregnant woman again. now 6 months into pregnancy, started to feel very pregnant, with all the usual things…

this is the turning moment where i can start writing again, after all this ‘war’ time. first of all, my first child gus ata seems getting over his transformation from breastfeeding to NOT breastfed anymore. it’s been a though time, for me especially, since from the past 3 months he insist of changing his night time breastfeeding with rocking him in my arms while i’m walking, very cranky in the day, won’t get off of my arms. it means waking up 3 times in the middle of the nights carrying him around the house. i know it’s only for 10-15 mnts max, but it was enough to rob me off my sleeping time, plus he’s quite heavy now, 12 kgs, that’s enough weight for my pregnant body.

this past week my parents have been here to help, and it has been a tremendous relief for me. gus ata would sleep with them in the night, and since he no longer need to breastfeed, he finally ok with his grandpa carrying him around when he wakes up in the night instead of me. so for the past week i had a good 8 hours sleep in the night, hence for the back into writing thing:)

mom exhaustion

being a mom is so exhausting i don’t even want to blog about it anymore!
now, on my son 16 month, i have lost my weight and back into my previous weight again (that’s one thing I can control). i’ve cut my hair into a very very short model and colored it, regardless of what effect it may bring to the breast milk (i’m still breastfeeding). but those two things is about the only thing I can control. There come the days when I just want to get away from it all, and the only thing i wanna do is sit in starbuck to stare at people and not doing anything all day long. Or just sleep all day without anyone nagging me to get attention at whatever it is they’re doing. And NOT worry about what to eat for today, or why my son wouldn’t want to eat his lunch, and not worry that my son would be : a. underdeveloped after all we did for him; b. spoiled him into unworthy person; c. basically just doing anything wrong after all our effort.

whew! talking about mom’s worry…

i have quit my pills, because : a. there would be ALWAYS days in a month where i would feel so depressed and would cry hysterically because of any small things, which was foreigned in my single days. suspect : the unbalanced hormones, caused by the pills; b. i have had unpredictable period, sometimes none in two months and sometimes twice in a month! c. the ‘dryness’ down there that give a very uncomfortable feeling.

so here’s to another worry : the possibility of pregnancy. i couldn’t risk the effect of another hormones pills, and i don’t want the iud, cause I still plan to have a baby before 5 yrs. but the pregnancy worry is understandable right now while i could only relied to the help of 1 unqualified housemaid, far away from the support of my own mom, but…a woman must choke it all and lived it all, right?

here’s to whatever comes, it comes.

my breastfeeding kebaya

breastfeeding kebaya

i am now starting this new blog from bali, where i recently moved. being a balinese who grew up in jakarta, there are lots of things that mesmerized me here. things that didn’t go quite just what i expected. for example, breastfeeding. in jakarta, it seems that breastfeeding is now the “it” thing. following the big campaign by ngos, government, artists , now a lot of new moms are aware the importance of bresatfeeding. breastfeeding in public is still a debate, but at least all the big malls have their own nursery room.

now, in bali, i have never thought that i would have to think through how to breastfed gus ata in our own cultural heritage outfit, i.e. the kebaya! being in bali for just three months, my social calendar were already full with events that has to go with kebaya. meaning, weddings, balinese birthdays (otonan), other religious ceremony, or just going to pura. here having just two pieces of kebaya (which i considered a lot during my jakarta life) is no good. a married woman must at least have 4 or 6 at least, to sustain her for at least 6 months (every 6 months new model will come out, so you need to purchase at least 1 just to go with the flow and not look like a terribly old old woman who wouldn’t change her look no matter what).

all right, for those of you who doesn’t understand my babbling about breastfeeding in kebaya, here’s the deal. kebaya is a long sleeve shirt, with buttons up front, wichh made according to your body contour. by this i mean a very tight shirt wrapping your body so no matter what your size is you will still look graceful. sounds good, right? but with a kebaya so tight the consequence is you must wear support underneath so your body would look uptight. by support we usually mean longtorso. of course we could always just wear our regular bras, but that wouldn’t be support enough for our body. not to mention the fabric. kebaya is usually made from brocades, chiffon, or cotton. for special occasions we usually use brocades cause it makes your skin look shinier, and there’s a richness about the fabric that would make you look fairer and elegant, no matter what your skin colour is.

that said, the funny thing is, i have never seen anyone breastfeed in kebaya, here in bali, where (i thought) things supposed to be more traditionally than jakarta, and breastfeeding is a tradional thing, our grandma and great great grandma have done it for hundreds of years. but no, honestly i feel discouraged to breastfeed my child during these occassion. once i did it, and an old woman asked me, doesn’t he drink bottled milk? i just assumed that the campaign for formula milk has been very succesful here that formula milk is still the ‘it’ thing here.

now, i have made myself an embroidery cotton kebaya with openings for breastfeeding, but it just not enough for a big occassions such as wedding of your brother in law where automatically you’re one of the wedding organizer. plus those breastfeeding openings made me look rather big in the chest, so what i did was making a dazzlingly- sheerthrough-tight kebaya complete with shining beads and all, and breastfeed gus ata in the room.

Mengatasi Demam

Sumber : Milis Sehat

Point-point utama yang harus diperhatikan selama merawat anak demam adalah :

1. Mencari penyebab demam dan memperhatikan pola perilaku anak.

Amati tingkah laku anak. Jika perilaku anak hampir sama seperti biasanya, maka kita tidak perlu khawatir. Karena pada dasarnya demam itu bukan hal yang membahayakan.

2. Cegah dehidrasi.

Demam akan meningkatkan penguapan cairan tubuh. Karenanya bayi dan anak beresiko mengalami dehidrasi. Berikan cairan lebih banyak. Berikan air, air sup, jus buah segar yang dicampur air, es batu, es krim.

Bila muntah atau diare, berikan minuman elektrolit : pedialyte, oralit.

3. Ruangan dijaga agar tidak panas, pasang kipas angin. Anak memakai baju yang tipis.

4. Kompres air hangat atau berendam di ari hangat.

5. Biarkan anak memakan apa yang diinginkan. Jangan dipaksa. Hindarkan makanan berlemak, karena sulit dicerna oleh tubuh.

6. Meskipun anak dianjurkan untuk tidak masuk sekolah, bukan berarti ia harus berada di tempat tidur seharian.

7. Pemberian obat penurun panas mengikuti aturan berikut :

• <102F (<38.3C) : Tidak perlu obat penurun panas, ekstra cairan (minum banyak)

• >102F (38.3C), uncomfortable : Beri obat penurun panas, kompres hangat

• >104 (>40C) : Beri obat penurun panas, kompres hangat, hubungi dokter.

Ingat: DO NOT TREAT LOW GRADE FEVER (< 38.3C)

BATUK

Sumber : Milis Sehat

Jika kita membaca literaratur kedokteran, sering diungkapkan bahwa batuk merupakan suatu mekanisme tubuh untuk mengeluarkan sesuatu yang mengganggu saluran nafas kita, seperti dahak, riak, benda asing (kacang, dsb). Batuk sebagai anugerah terindah dari Tuhan sering disikapi dengan tidak bijak oleh mereka yang tidak memahaminya.

Andaikan kita perhatikan sejenak para pada penderita stroke misalnya. Karena adanya gangguan dalam otak, refleks batuknya terganggu. Akibatnya dahak menumpuk di paru2 dan ybs umumnya mengalami pneumonia. Hingga berefek fatal kematian pada penderita tsb.

Batuk bukanlah momok. Melalui batuk, kita tetap dapat bernafas, karena lendir yang mengganggu saluran nafas akan dikeluarkan saat batuk. Dengan batuk, kita terhindari dari bahaya tersedak benda asing yang masuk ke saluran nafas kita.

Yang terpenting yang harus kita lakukan adalah mencari tahu apa penyebab batuk. Infeksi kah atau bukan infeksi.

Pada anak, batuk umumnya disebabkan oleh infeksi virus atau oleh alergi.

Batuk akibat infeksi virus flu misalnya bisa berlangsung sd 2 minggu. Bahkan lebih lama lagi bila anak kita sensitif atau alergi, atau bila di rumah ada anak lain yang lebih besar yang juga sedang sakit. Batuk karena alergi juga bisa berlangsung lama atau hilang timbul selama pencetus alerginya tidak diatasi. Alergi yang dimaksud bisa dalam bentuk alergi hidung (Allergic rhinitis), asma, alergi suatu zat dari lingkungan. Penyebab lainnya adalah sinusitis, reflux, pneumonia.

Tatalaksana :

Cari PENYEBAB batuk.

Jika batuk disebabkan oleh produksi dahak yang berlebihan, maka upaya yang perlu dilakukan adalah mengurangi produksi lendir. Melalui cara :

v Minum banyak yang hangat misalnya lemon

v Jangan ada asap rokok

v Rangan jangan kering (Moist air – kamar mandi – buka keran air panas biarkan beberapa lama sehingga ruangan, atau taruh satu ember air panas mendidih, atau pasang humidifier)

v Agar anak lebih nyaman, tidurkan dengan bantal agak tinggi

v NO – ANTIBIOTICS. Ingat ! Kebanyakan batuk tidak memerlukan antibiotik

v NO cough suppressant. Jangan mengkonsumsi obat penekan refleks batuk (seperti DMP). Anehnya, anak kita sering mendapatkan obat racikan / puyer yang salah satu kandungannya codein (sejenis narkotika) yang tidak diketahui manfaatnya.

Pada dasarnya, TIDAK ADA yang namanya obat batuk itu.

Juga tidak ada obat pencair dahak. Cari pencetusnya !