“Congratulations! You are pregnant!” A simple 4-word sentence usually seals the deal – you are now a mother! And with it comes a plethora of emotions and physical changes that a new mom now needs to deal with; it truly feels like going into a battle. That said, I am thankful to have gone through 3 times pregnancies and live to tell the tale today.
Hello! My name is Leishia, and this is the story of my pregnancies.
The First Champion Swimmer
When the double lines showed up on the test kit for the first time, I was ecstatic; after all it took us three years to fall pregnant. Pregnancy was a breeze, well, save for the morning sickness, which was bad and I lost a lot of weight due to it, but I wasn’t complaining.
Then came that fateful morning in May 2010, I was home alone, movie binging; I had to pause Big from finishing his love confession to Carrie for a toilet break, and on my way up the stairs, a slimy chunk slipped out and stopped me dead in my tracks. Trying my best to stay calm, I gingerly walked to the toilet and was greeted by a sight of horror – a big chunk of slimy flesh, what looked like a cut of liver, sat amidst a pool of fresh blood.
Thankfully, my husband was just 5 minutes from reaching home and when he did, we “tapao-ed” the chunk of flesh in a plastic bag, and rushed to the hospital. At the hospital, I had no choice but to agree to an emergency C-section because what happened was, part of the placenta had broke off and slipped right out, and when that happened, my baby was put directly at risk of lack of oxygen, so I had to deliver her immediately. I was 37 weeks along.
How She Met Her Mother
I found out I was pregnant again a year later when I was KonMari-ing my room and found an unused pregnancy test kit. I had wanted to bin it because it sparked no joy at that time (I mean, between a new baby and a good night sleep at this point, it is no surprise what was my priority.) Now, the most sensible thing to do before you throw out anything is to squeeze one last use out of it. And that, my friends, was how I found out I became a second time mother.
Anyway, having learned our lesson, we went ahead and bought insurance the minute the test kit turned out positive, because being unprepared and clueless, both financial and knowledge-wise, was a scary thing for expecting parents. After shopping around, we finally settled with one of Prudential’s latest product then, it covered both the mother and the unborn child, which was great because that would ease our financial burden should anything happened again. Thankfully, the pregnancy went through without much mishaps; instead of arriving prematurely, my second princess decided commoners (like her parents) can wait, no amount of coaxing could get her moving even after I was induced to labor and the water bag broke. Her Royal Highness was rudely vacuumed out at week 42. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about it.
Life was great living with two babies, the house was messy, the mom was a little crazier, but joyful, no less. Having went through an emergency C-section and an uneventful VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), nothing could faze me anymore. Or so I thought.
Third Time’s A Charm
I was expecting a baby boy in January 2015. During my second doctor’s appointment, I was probably already 9 or 10 weeks along; my doctor pointed out a couple of markers that pointed towards a Down syndrome baby. And just like that, our world was turned upside down; we went through the most excruciating week waiting for the results of the blood test. When the report came back – now on top of Down’s, the baby was also at risk of Patau Syndrome (Trisomy 13 – a chromosomal abnormality that contains extra genetic material disrupts the normal development of a baby). During this trying period, it was the prayer support from my inner circles and church that carried me and my family through and I am forever grateful.
Abortion was definitely out of the question neither was it legal, so we decided to brave through this challenge by trusting God. Our lives slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy – getting busy with my two elder girls and learning to stay as positive as possible. Well, this “normal” state maintained for few good months, until when I was about 7/8 months along. I started getting severe morning sickness-like symptoms, I pretty much spent my days (and nights!) hugging the toilet bowl, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, but I was constantly thirsty, I would drink a liter of water in one seating and this would go on the entire day, I noticed I was palpitating too and was feeling rather breathless. I also stopped gaining weight, but my doctor couldn’t figure out what could possibly be the reasons and in the end just put it down to possible food poisoning, and sent me home with some Actal.
One night when my parents visited and saw that my lips were 50 shades of purple and red, they knew something was amiss and insisted that I get admitted right away; turned out my blood pressure was skyrocketing high – the reason to my flushed and purple lips and cheeks. After a day in the ER I was told, once again, that my baby needed to be delivered via emergency C-sec before further tests to determine my condition could be done. Thankfully, my baby was ready for birth at 37 weeks.
The baby was sent to NICU while I, to ICU for a host of invasive tests. What seemed like a dazed eternity later, the doctor reported back that I’ve contracted Leptospirosis, or commonly known as rat urine disease. It remains a mystery how I was infected with this disease, since I hadn’t gone on a picnic by the river or a swim in the pool, our next best guess could be from the contaminated surfaces such as can drinks and plates and utensils from eateries.
I was heavily drugged and was pretty much knocked out the whole time; a week in and I still hadn’t met my new baby. Finally on the seventh day, I was allowed out to meet him in the NICU. The moment I saw him, I could only thank God for His amazing grace, my baby boy was a healthy, beautiful baby with none of the syndromes he was said to be at risk of! And to think I could have aborted a perfectly fine pregnancy gives me the shudders right till this day!
On the day before my panel of doctors were ready to sign my discharge papers, I had to go in for another ultrasound scan on my vital organs. The technician was amazed at how fast I recovered, he said that on the day I was admitted, my heart, kidney, and liver was spiraling downward, my chances to survive was near nil; but that day, my vital organs were as good as new.
To Each Her Own
For many, the whole process of pregnancy is a walk in the park, but for some, pregnancies are literally toying with heartbreaks and deaths. Everyone has their own stories, this just happened to be mine. My take-away from these experiences, is to load up on pregnancy-related knowledge, and get them from the right sources i.e. your doctors and licensed midwives; trust your guts and keep asking questions if that’s what going to give you peace of mind; maintain your health before you get pregnant (both physically and mentally); and get yourself and your baby covered with the right insurance, it is important to save up for rainy days, but it is even more important to have a financial planner by our side to guide our ringgits and sens through every milestones of our lives.
Now, with an insurance solution designed for expecting mothers and children called PRUMy Child Plus, expecting parents can rest with ease even before your child arrives in your arms. PRUMy Child Plus is provided by Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad (Prudential).
Protecting Your Baby As Early As 14-Weeks
PRUMy Child Plus is a comprehensive insurance solution offered by Prudential, it is equipped with prenatal care & newborn care, critical illnesses, medical, accidental and payor riders. PRUMy Child Plus protects your baby as early as 14 weeks into pregnancy and speaking as a mother, this is a crucial layer of protection as anything can happen in those 9 long months while the baby is still in the womb.
- Pre-Natal & Newborn Coverage
PRUMy Child Plus not only offers pregnancy care benefits, but it also covers newborn conditions including neonatal jaundice as well as other congenital conditions up to age 5 years old. Upon diagnosis of neonatal jaundice that requires phototherapy treatment, a lump sum of RM500 or RM1000 (depending on the plan) will be paid out.
- Coverage For IVF Pregnancies
Here’s the exciting bit! PRUMy Child Plus is the first and only pre-natal policy available in the market to accept pregnancies from IVF treatment (subject to underwriting requirements), and that is great news seeing how IVF pregnancies are becoming very common, yet not without its own set of risks.
- Easy & Simple Enrolment (EASE)
Mothers who have already had a fully underwritten PRUMy Child Plus policy can now easily cover their next pregnancy under the EASE process (T&C applies), and that means a huge time and money saver, not to mention peace of mind too.
At this point in time, looks like “pregnancy” is a closed chapter in my life. I count it a privilege to have experienced 3 vastly different pregnancies yet still live to watch my babies grow and be able to hold their hands at night and make plans for tomorrow.
For more information about PRUMy Child Plus, you can refer HERE.