"How do you manage to breastfeed ur twins, pls share...my nipple pun dah luka sikit coz babbies suck tak betul."
i fully understood how HARD it was to bf my twin. insyaAllah ill share bit n pieces of my experiences and summarizekan point ya. cam tak ingat semua sgt laa....
what happened at the hospital?
i started bf on day 2 sbb day 1 both of them in incubator. they were 1.8kg and 1.9kg. health wise alhamdulillah takde problem. its just underweight. so aimy was the 1st one i dpt bf. being quite small compared to other babies, their suction ni almost tak rasa pon. slalu kan baby bf kt sbelah kanan, nnt sbelah kiri akan rasa cam ada letdown kan? not in my twin case. yes it was hard to define their bf and bile dia stat bf, most of the time there were like baby bird yg mulut terbuka tu cari latching yg betul. i would say quite frustrating for both me n twin lah. day 2 baru alya stat bf. since the were in special care unit (SCU), thats mean i ddk hospital quite lama.... 1 week + camtu. and my room mmg depan SCU. so i cakap kat nurse i want to fully bfeed them regardless hours. so true enough, they came and knocked my door every hour!! yela twin kan.... sometimes they bf serentak, sometimes asing2. bile double feeding, nurse akan help me pegang sbelah. sampai cramp2 kaki nurse tu!! tq so much nurses~~i can say i kluar masuk SCU tu macam tak rasa penat. i yakin Allah mudahkan everything for me. cuba bayangkan.. day 1 baru lepas bersalin twin. day 2 stat bf and yet i dont feel any pain, tired, fatigue etc. even nurses yg dtg bilik i n kejutkan i every hour sampai cakap
"puan rehatla ye... sian saya tgk puan asyik kluar masuk."
"puan tak penat ke? puan nampak tak penat langsung"
honestly, saya pon tak tau ape yg menyebabkan saya sgt aktif, tak rasa penat, on the feet, altho i just gave birth to a twin! for me, its a miracle that Allah creates for women. i remember masa kat hospital i did emotionally breakdown.. becoz i pump susu kononnye nk store ebm lah... tapi stakat la 2-3 titik je. sedih sgt time tu.. thats why i push myself to bf regardless hours to increase my milk supply. i did experience engorgement 2x so my mom siap hangkot makcik urut to the hospital. bilik i mmg bau minyak urut daaa. heheee.
during first month ni, we go in & out of the hospital due to jaundice. mmg penat.... so bila my twin check in hospital, satu family pon check in same. but we have to pay sendiri. yes its not cheap kan... but my hubby said "ni kira vacay2012 la.. holiday" btulla jgkkan sbbnye 2012 mana ada pegi vacation! motivated ourselves that way~~ haha. since twin is small, my paed advice to top-up formula milk to boost their weight faster. i sangaaatttttt tak suka tau!! doc advice at least 1 serving after bf. tp i buat 1 serving per day!! haha... sbb tula jaundice tak surut2.... sorry ye twin.. so basically, this first month i dedicatedkan myself to bf regardless hours. its not easy and not too hard either. yg penting, bykkan doa to Allah coz i sgt yakin yg semua doa mommies masa pregnant, dlm confinement, raising babies was always dipermudahkan *amin*
what happened during confinement at home?
i mmg tak mkn any jamu coz i always believe in natural supplement and vitamins. not against it but just not my choice. so i took pure honey, habbatus sauda oil, jelly gamat, susu, kurma, oats, horlicks, vitamins, protein supplement, minum air 3L min without fail. i tell you.... kat rumah even more challenging sbbnye kite kene handle twin sendiri.. no nurses anymore!! uuwaaaa.... so my hubby has been a very patient male nurse ever!! he help a lot in changing diapers, bath them, pakai baju, basuh baju, diala alarm clock... senang citer semualah~~ he will make sure i will have my drinks on time. my mom help out to prepare our food *thanx ma* having twin is not the same to having 2 small toddler on the same time. i remember satu mlm tu my hubby and i tak tido langsung sbbnye... twin asyik bf and poopoo~!! my goddddd.... gile ah diingatkan balik *ops* twin ni bile kecik dorang takleh open to quick temperature change. their skin just cannot stands it yet. so bile nk tukar diaper kan, kene off aircond, warmkan the rubber mat, warm water and kene quickly change. thats for my hubby lah. i pulak kene bf them dari baring sampai duduk, duduk kat kerusi and of course, after each feeding, i will eat 3 kurma n susu. haa... cube bayangkan bape byk susu kene minum daaaa... dah rasa cam kilang produce susu kat rumah i. haha. besides that, since i bersalin during ramadhan, malam after maghrib i will be alone with twin n big sister. so time2 camni i slalu nangis sbbnye rasa susah sgt nk handle.... 1 hour my hubby g solat tu rsa cam lama gile!!! i keep zikir and doa and doa for Allah mudahkan. mmg berat hati nk kasi my hubby g surau *yg sekangkang kera je jauhnye* tp berat lagi hati nk suruh dia stay and skip solat terawaih kat surau. so everytime dia g surau, i will doa to Allah utk permudahkan semua and i will ask him to doakan kami. most of the time masa my hubby g surau tu i was feeding the twin. kadang2 dia balik tgk "eh tak abis lagi?" huhuhuuu.. bukan tak habis tapi tak habis2 selang seli~~
what happened when they reach 3mths?
masa ni Allah je yg memahami perasaan i kot.. sbb bile nk masuk bulan ke-4, twin dh stat slowdown for double feeding and sleep longer a bit. so instead of my sleeping time masa 1st month only 15mins per session (max pon 30min), it slowly increase to 30min (max 1 hour). owh btw, i took unpaid leave continued after my maternity. so my total leave was 6mths~ when i started working, they was already 6mths and started solid. bile habis confinement, my hubby started working back. so i stayed 2weks at my parents home every month bile dia xde. haa.. dah mcm nomad kot!! this was when everything was different. yelaa... staying with mom n hubby is different. well.. at least for me. since my supermom not young anymore, handling babies is way too tiring for her. so kadang2 nk kejutkan dia bgn mlm tolong tukar diapers or help me is wayy too kesian. she slept with me u know with all princessess tu. so i tried my very best to "stay up" every night. kekadang tu kalau my twin nangis terkuat mmg my mom bgn terus lah.. my twin alya suara mmg high peak! what i did was i make note using my i-phone where i record kan their feeding time. so basically i bleh tgk pattern dorang bf. so i will set my alarm clock so that i will standby at least 15mins before dorang cried for bf. honestly, starting after confinement, my sleep was majority tido duduk. yes... tido duduk~~kadang2 bf sampai tertido.. sedar2 je "eh nape my twin tido kat kaki i ni" hahah.. mmg tak bleh nk tolong la kann.... during this time i byk baca blog and website mommies on twin. i tried to understood how hard to raise them, their experiences, tips, dos & donts etc. for me, by reading these i surely can get my mental ready for any shortcoming or challenges ahead. but again... im just human, not super one. so at times mmg i akan breakdown gile2. i did cried like crazy sometimes, jerit cam org gile etc.. hishhhh.... so thanx to my hubby, my parents, my bros, my siss for being there to help me go through this difficult phase!! *gosh... sedih plak tetibe*
camtulah... during these phases, i came to fully understood what it means "bile kite jauh dari Allah, Allah akan dtgkan ujian yg kita boleh handle so that kita kembali dekat dgn Allah" and for me, all the way from my pregnancy to birth, confinement, raising them, i highly realise this!! syukur alhamdulillah coz i was chosen to be a mommy to a twin akak MommyKembar. so to mommyTwin Hazlina, you are the selected one and you will go through this phase succeccfully. usaha usaha usaha. yg paling penting, yakin dgn Allah, slalu doa & mintak from Allah. apa yg baik kita usahakan, insyaAllah semua dimudahkan.
XOXO
