the first scare

Last Sunday, I woke up in the middle of the night a few times to pee (which is a norm, nowadays) and noticed that the baby isn't moving.

Usually he likes to move and kick especially when it's late at night, and when I'm having a meal, and when I lie on my side. Those are the times I could feel he moves - and like my gynae said,

"Your baby's kicks are so powerful!"

during one of the visits, and it's true - if you've seen the video I posted on Instagram, you'd know.

Figured that maybe he's sleeping (which is weird because I usually would still feel something), I tried to brush it off and went back to sleep. Woke up for Subuh and still he hasn't moved - when I usually would feel he moves every Subuh prayer.

Told Shahrul. He was sleepy, but shocked.



Read somewhere that lying on the side is the best position to feel the baby moves. So I tried everything - lying on my side, massaging my belly skin, even got up to the kitchen to get some water because Google says drinking water and lying down on the side would do the trick. The baby would move, somehow.

Still, after over an hour, I couldn't feel anything.

Shahrul was already frantic; he called his sister (who's a doctor) and determined that we should see the doctor. I, on the other hand was worried, too but I have a feeling that the baby's okay - maybe he's just fallen in a deeper sleep in my uterus, this time.

But seeing the husband, I decided to follow his suggestion for his peace of mind. So off we went to a clinic near our house. Did the ultrasound scan, the doctor showed us his heart beating as usual - but she said it's no guarantee that he's okay because we still need to do the CTG scan, and advised us to go to the hospital.

"Because you're already 38 weeks, all cases like this must be referred to the hospital immediately"

So we went home, showered and dressed, ready to go to the hospital. I was already thinking if this is it - maybe we're going to the have the baby soon if the doctor decides to induce. And started hyperventilating when I realized we're nowhere near ready, except for the hospital bag T.T

Arrived at the hospital and checked in. The nurses were friendly as usual despite Sunday which helped my nerves a lot. After checking my blood pressure, we were ushered to the labor room to do the CTG scan.

Our first time in the labor room! Which is great, because now we know what to expect - quite relieved to see the rooms are individual which means we will have a lot of privacy during the occasion (I heard that some hospitals have shared labor rooms, with beds just next to each other T.T). I was asked by the nurse to lie down for her to set up the CTG scan on my belly.

Then, she showed us the heartbeat.

Notice how the peaks on the left and right are different? Apparently during the first 10-15 minutes, the baby was sleeping - and started moving after he's woken up (the higher peaks on the right indicates his movement). By this time, I could feel the baby moves - but very faintly compared to his previous kicks. The nurse told me everything on the CTG monitor looks okay, but we need to monitor for another half an hour.

After half an hour, the nurse came and checked the monitor. She consulted our gynae on the phone and told us that everything is okay but we need to come back the next day to see our gynae for more checkup.

I was already relieved the moment I could feel the baby moves, much to the husband's relief, too. Then we went to IOI City Mall because the husband insisted I need to walk more.

T.T

Nevertheless, everything is okay now Alhamdulillah - just need to do the baby movement counts every day in case there's a reduce in fetal movement. And the doctor even gave me MC starting from today until the due date for me to rest. So now I'm officially off work until the baby comes!

Not having to work means more time to think about labor. Sobs.