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December 30, 2018
December 21, 2018
Family and work. 🧕🏼🤰🏻🤱🏻👩🏻⚕️ . #2018bestnine #jaigulove #resAidency2018
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December 17, 2018
My darling #AmreenNurlailah turns TWO years old today. Alhamdulillah ✨♥️
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December 13, 2018
The Kakas can’t get enough of our youngest member. 👧🏻🧒🏻👶🏻 #AminaMariam #AmreenNurlailah #AmalSaliha #jaigulove
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December 9, 2018
The Little Ones Went On A Field Trip
The DFA-Daycare Center Kids went to the newly renovated National Museum of Natural History last week and guess who's excited?
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| FIRST BUS RIDE SHE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT IT |
NOPE. Not the kids. It was MEEE even though I can't be with them! Hahaha! I've been meaning to visit the National Museum since two years ago, but I don't know, it's not on our must-visit list. Maybe because its very near that we don't put it on our priority list? Because that's life, we often take for granted the things that is already laid in front of us. Naks! Back to the kids, so when Teacher Faye informed us that the kids are going on a field trip to the museum, I got excited for them! :)
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| HAPPY TO BE IN A DIFFERENT KIND OF VEHICLE. I'M PRETTY SURE SHE HAS NO IDEA WHERE SHE'S HEADING. LOL. |
Buti pa mga anak ko, nakapunta na ng National Museum. Haha!
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| DFA-DCC KIDS |
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| LOLONG. He was labeled as the biggest crocodile, I wonder why he's not in the CONGRESS. Ooooppsss... |
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| "INA, NAKITA KO ANG EAGLE!!" |
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| Miss Carry-Me-Ama |
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| Add caption |
We'll visit more museums when you grow up, my loves. In shaa Allah..
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| "INA, MAY ELEPHANT DIN. LAKI!!" |
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| Fatherhood. |
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| Grateful to this man for everything he is doing for me and the kids. He accompanied them to the museum even though he can opt not to since we have a helper to look after the kids. Alhamdulillah. |
Oh how I love collecting beautiful memories of my little ones, I know they will appreciate it when they grow up. In shaa Allah. Though I rarely post their faces on social media, I have private albums in my Facebook account that is dedicated to their growing up years which I love to reminisce about even though it was only 2-3 years ago. Haha! My daughters will never be this small again so I smooch them with kisses and hug them as often as I can before they start to need me less than they do these days. Aaaaww...
December 4, 2018
December 2, 2018
That Thing Called GDM
The individual uniqueness of every child, starts with a unique pregnancy. I must say that all my 3 pregnancies went smooth. I never had morning sickness or episodes of severe vomiting. Yes, I'm blessed that way. The only thing I was battling was increased daytime sleepiness which is a major struggle for a resident doctor (and a mom, too) like me who is expected to be awake and active 24/7. But, there's a peculiarity in every pregnancy. My 1st one was totally unremarkable while I had UTI and fetal malpresentation with my 2nd pregnancy that I ended up undergoing elective cesarean section. This time, guess what I do have? At 24 weeks, I was diagnosed to have Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) which imposes a lot of risks for me and the baby! What is GDM and how did I unexpectedly acquired it?
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that is developed during pregnancy. It is usually diagnosed at 24-28 weeks AOG after a 2-hour 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. You can read more about it here, but the gist is, GDM occurs because "the placenta, which connects your baby to your blood supply, produces high levels of various other hormones. Almost all of them impair the action of insulin in your cells, raising your blood sugar."
Meaning, there is insulin resistance so a little intake of sweets from all forms raise the blood sugar immediately in multiple folds. Prolonged exposure to high sugar level poses risks for both mother and child. The mother will have a 7x risk of developing overt diabetes after pregnancy and a chance to develop GDM in the succeeding pregnancies. The child on the other hand will be macrosomic (large for gestational age) which is a risk for preterm birth, difficult vaginal delivery and cesarean section. Upon delivery of the baby, he will also have hypoglycemia which may have detrimental effects. It's scary to have GDM, right????
I really thought I will NEVER have the diseases since NONE of my family members on both sides of my family has it. Yes, my family is a bunch of hypertensives but gladly, non-diabetics. So how did I get it? I'll enumerate the risk factors for you, which means, if you have any of the following, you have a chance to acquire gestational diabetes too! Here goes:
- Prior GDM
- Glucosuria (you'll know when you have your urine checked, aka urinalysis)
- Family history or first-degree relative with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
- Age >25 (this is one of the culprits!)
- Overweight or obesity (and this one, too!)
- Macrosomia in previous or current pregnancy (defined as baby born >8 lbs.)
- Polyhydramnios in current pregnancy (your OB will suspect if you have extraordinarily huge preggy belly and confirmed through an ultrasound scan)
From the list above, I only have two risk factors, one is modifiable and the other is non-modifiable. I cannot do anything with my age, I just turned 33 last month and I am nothing but grateful to have reached this age. The downside of ageing is that everything in the body goes downhill once you do not practice a healthy lifestyle---hence, I am overweight by more than 10kg. I eat a lot. As in, a lot. I do not exercise (excuse: residency!) and I am in a department where there is a daily feeding program. Lol! I know what we do is a major contradiction to what we tell our patients but we're all ranging from overweight to being obese here. Pharma companies love feeding us so as our consultants. We do not run out of food, all sort of sinful food, on the table. My biggest sin is indulging. I indulged. A lot. And now I am facing the consequence.
When I saw the result of my OGTT, dang! It hit me. All the milk teas I drank and all the chocolates I ate came back to me in a flash. They're the sweet villains to my growing bump! They lured me into the depth of destruction! Ugh.
My OB advised me to see an endocrinologist but that would take me time. Thanks to my Endo Fellow friend, Racquel Bruno (Iligan peeps, abangan niyo siya once she starts her practice there, she'll be the BEST Endo in town!) who's just a private message away. She put me under a tight diet---no white rice, no white breads, strictly NO cakes, ice creams, milk tea, biscuits and ALL sort of sweets. Huhu. How do you think I will live without RICE and BREAD? They're my LIFE!
The most painful part is monitoring my capillary blood glucose (CBG) twice a day (pre-meal must be <94 mg/dl and 1-hour post-meal must be <140 mg/dl). Physically and financially painful. Glucometer is quite costly and so are the glucose strips!
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| Glucometer. |
How do I cope up with this? My motivation to force myself into following a low carbs, low sugar diet is my plan of undergoing a normal delivery and of course, for my baby. Aaaand I DO NOT WANT TO INJECT INSULIN ON MY BODY! (Insulin is the only medication for GDM, according to guidelines) So I shifted to eating brown rice and cutting my rice intake to 1/2 half cup a day. Yes, a day. No more breads too. I researched on the different kinds of food with low glycemic index which brought me to this meal plan:
- Breakfast: 1-2 pcs of boiled saba banana and 1 cup of milk (boiled banana is being sold outside the hospital), sometimes I opt to eat yellow corn for a change.
- Lunch: 1/2 cup brown rice and any viand available (I'm on brown rice for two months now and I'm loving it!). Fruits for dessert, usually banana or apple.
- Dinner: salad or a piece of fruit and lots of water.
- Snacks: peanuts or any nuts, and/or fruits
To be honest, I am inclined to eating healthy naman talaga, it's not as if eating more veggies and fruits are new to me. It's just that I got swayed to eating more of the non-healthy side and I indulged for quite some time (culprit: Family Medicine Department). Alhamdulillah I got back on track. I lost 3 kg on my first 3 weeks of dieting which, according to my OB, is okay since my baseline weight is overweight. Ouch. Lol! Also, I really feel much better now that I am eating healthy again.
Having GDM reminds me that, one, I AM NOT EFFING INVINCIBLE! I may be a doctor and I know how to prevent the diseases and treat them, but temptations are always lurking around. We are human beings too and we are not exempted from any kind of diseases. Ironically, we, doctors, are among the most unhealthiest of people. We do not exercise, we do not eat healthy and we do not rest/sleep well. Second, having no family member who has diabetes does not mean I will not have it too. Diabetes Mellitus is not mainly hereditary, it can be acquired too, same with the rest of non-communicable diseases we are seeing such as hypertension and the metabolic syndrome. These diseases are siblings and they're born to an unhealthy lifestyle. #lamonpamore Third, I need to seriously think of my health now if I want to live longer for my kids. I don't want to be under maintenance medications in the future so I need to keep my body in top shape.
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| Grabbed from the internet |
Now if you're pregnant and reading this, THINK A MILLION TIMES before you get that slice of cupcake into your mouth. Wait for a few months before you indulge in milk tea and your favorite donuts. Those chocolate bars and chocolate cakes? They can wait in the fridge!
I'll be giving birth in few weeks, in shaa Allah, and I have already talked to the husband to have a box of J. Co donuts and Gong Cha Milk Tea Cream Cheese with pearls right when I get wheeled out of the delivery room. Don't I deserve such sweet treats after months of deprivation? But I promise to cut down on sweets after delivery for my own sake.
How's my sugar doing so far? Well, I got used to the routine of CBG monitoring showing that my sugar level is controlled. Alhamdulillah. I had my third trimester scan yesterday and the baby is appropriate for her gestational age and I have an adequate amniotic fluid. In other words, the baby is healthy, in shaa Allah. Please pray for me, guys, as I am determined to push myself for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section)! We can do this, baby! Bismillahir rahmaanir raheem.
November 30, 2018
And this little girl is turning two in two weeks. MashaaAllahi Alhamdulillah ✨♥️ . #AmreenNurlailah #2yearsago
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November 23, 2018
OMMC Family Medicine residents and consultants ♥️ #resAidency2018
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November 9, 2018
November 7, 2018
November 6, 2018
November 4, 2018
It’s my first time at Cafe by the Ruins. I loved their authentic Cordilleran cuisine freshly sourced from the mountains of Benguet. Most of their food are cooked in coconut milk and there are lots of fresh shiitake mushrooms and ferns, reminds me of my mom’s cooking. 🤤 Their ensaymada is a must-try too! #jaigutravels2018 #jagbaguio2018
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Treated the kids to a boat ride that they absolutely loved. . #jaigutravels2018 #jagbaguio2018
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October 28, 2018
October 23, 2018
Some of the most beautiful things in life are free yet go unnoticed, like this sunset along Manila Bay. 🌅
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October 18, 2018
My girls representing China during yesterday’s UN Day. 🇨🇳 #AminaMariam #AmreenNurlailah
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October 4, 2018
September 24, 2018
Islamic Medical Association of the Philippines' (IMAN) 3rd National Conference
IMAN Philippines invites everyone to the upcoming 11th Founding Anniversary and 3rd National Conference at UP Manila on November 3, 2018. This year's theme includes timely Islamic Medicine topic updates with invited International Speakers.
Register Now! See you all in shaa Allah in this once in a lifetime get-together!
For booth and student sponsorships, you may send us a message for inquiries.
September 19, 2018
Seasons of Life
We were heading to our respective workplaces yesterday morning when my husband Jabar informed me that he didn't make it to the promotion list in his office. He was sort of expecting it already but was hopeful that his performance in his hardship post assignment in Nigeria will get him promoted. One major criteria for promotion in his line of work is a continuing education (equivalent to continuing medical education among doctors) which means having enrolled in a masters class or, at least, a language class provided by the Foreign Service Institute. I have been pestering him to enroll in a language class since last year but his excuse was that he didn't want to lessen his time with his kids. I understand but his career has to progress.
During the early days of my residency training, our helper decided that she didn't want to work for us anymore so Jabar and I were left with no one but ourselves. I didn't want to quit residency so I had to work extra hard balancing motherhood and my training. To say that the daycare center in Jabar's office is a major help is an understatement. The daycare saved my career. For 3 months that we've been helper-less, our daily routine consisted of bathing the kids at night so we only scoop them out of bed as early as 6am to hit the road while the kids are still sleeping. I go with them to his office, drop the kids at the daycare to change them into their new clothes and feed them breakfast. Then at 7am, off I go to my workplace which is only around 10-minutes away from my husband's office. That was the time that I was able to decipher Allah's plans for me when I got rejected in my application for Internal Medicine residency. Had I pursued IM, I know it won't take long before I quit considering that situation. Gladly, the workload in Family Medicine is not that heavy so I can go still go home as soon as the clock ticks 5pm. At home, Jabar and I divided the work. It's either I cook and he cleans the house and bathes the kids, or vice versa. During weekends, I do the laundry and ironing of clothes. I squeeze in whatever time left studying for my monthly exams and writing reports. It was a crazy 3 months!!!
Although FM residency is lighter than the other major fields, I am still a freshman who has to strictly comply with many department rules. I attend lectures during weekends or after office during weekdays. Jabar did adjusting the most, especially when I am on duty and he's left alone with two toddlers. He gives them a bath, feed them, put them to sleep and clean the house. He had to skip office whenever one of the kids get sick. During those time, he never told me to quit residency to focus on our family instead. Never. He continued to support me and we lived one day at a time.
Presently, we don't have a helper for the next two weeks as Ate Belle, our helper for almost 4 months, went home for a quick vacation. So the daily routine we had during our helper-less days is back. But it is not without a twist. It feels more difficult now that I am 26 weeks pregnant and the kids are heavier than several months ago! I can no longer carry either of the kids with my belly protruding and carrying another bag, even a light one. With pregnancy discomfort sets in, it is more difficult to move around doing household chores, but I had no choice but to stand strong and do what I have to do without acting like a damsel in distress to an already-stressed husband.
That, my friends, is the very reason why Jabar is not yet eager to enroll in any further studies in order to get promoted. He cannot do it while I am on residency training, not the season for it, he told me, smiling. Life has its different seasons. During the winter season of your life, do not wish for spring as it will eventually come. All we can do is appreciate the beauty of the season of life where we are presently in. Jabar is enjoying every single moment he is spending with our daughters, while he lets me proceed with my residency training. Our situation right now will not go on forever, he assured me. I will eventually finish residency and the kids will grow up and will need us less as they explore the world, then in shaa Allah that's the perfect time he can also proceed with his postgrad studies. Who knows, he might even have an opportunity to enroll in a prestigious uni abroad while he's at Post?
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| Jabar and our eldest, Yamyam. |
One thing I admire most about my husband is his positive outlook in life and his resilience in whatever storm that come his way. I think I said this before but I never heard him complain while he faces each day with a strong demeanor. I pray for him everyday, may Allah give him all the best things in this world and in the hereafter because he is one of the genuinely good-hearted people I know. I love him so dearly, isn't it obvious? Haha!
September 11, 2018
G3P2
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Assalamu'alaikom! I know I blocked the lighting in this photo (husband didn' tell me so! tsk tsk, poor photog skills) but Baby #3 says hi!
September 6, 2018
Miss you already Kaka Zaim and Ammarah (na wala sa picture sa kalilikot) 😆 #Ronsiblings
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“Ina, picture ako...” Am I raising a future fashyown blogger?? 🙈🙊 #AminaMariam
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September 5, 2018
The #Ronsiblings did have a blast during their few days of bonding! I’m having sepanx already so expect more posts about these four!! Barakallahu feek, mga watakulay 💕 #AminaMariam #AmreenNurlailah P.S. Pls disregard Yamyam’s naughty face. More naughtiness coming your way! 🤪
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