Friday 31 July 2020

Prenatal Checkup: Klinik Kesihatan Ibu dan Anak

After much (much) consideration, we decided to go to the government clinic to get the infamous 'red book', although we're planning to deliver at a private hospital. Reason being;
  • Government clinic offered (very) comprehensive antenatal care 
  • Private hospital tends to transfer the patient to government hospital in case of complications. At least, if that happens I will have my full pregnancy medical record with me.
So I googled the website for the state health department to look for the nearest 'Klinik Kesihatan' which offers prenatal care. In my case, it's Klinik Kesihatan Muhibbah. So the procedure is to get an appointment for your first visit. Different government clinic operates differently. Some accept telephone booking but KKIA Muhibbah requires your physical presence in order to book an appointment. 😅

Parking here is a breeze, though the clinic itself is very small. So I came to book a slot and was given a date 3 weeks away, at 11am. During registration (I was already 14 weeks pregnant), I was asked to bring original IC and copies for both me and N, copy of marriage certificate and original utility bill (to ensure the KKIA is actually responsible for your area as they will visit you at home after delivery).

The nurse interviewed me for basic details; age, education level, employment status, husband's health and medical history to complete the registration of the ''Buku Merah''. FYI, it will take a while because there are 2 copies of the book; one for the mother and one for the clinic. So the nurses/doctors will have to painstakingly re-write everything on both copies of books.

So during the routine checkup, you'll only meet with the same nurse who's responsible for your case. She will also be the one who does house visits later after you deliver. Appointment with the doctor will only be made on the 14th, 20th, 28th and 36th weeks of pregnancy where they'll do the ultrasound as well. Btw, I'm so satisfied with the doctor's explanation here. Much better than my experience at Columbia Asia 😁

The routine checkup includes haemoglobin test, glucose test, urine test, blood pressure monitoring, weight monitoring, blood test (if needed) and consultation with the nurse (based on the pre-determined syllabus). This ensures the mothers are getting continuous knowledge throughout the pregnancy.

All in all, throughout my pregnancy, I've been to the KKIA a total of 15 times. I stopped going after my 33rd week as I have to do the bi-weekly checkup at Andorra and the nurses said I could continue at Andorra for good. But I still have to inform the clinic when I give birth, so they can do the house-visit later to monitor me and the baby. 

I had no issue with the services provided at the KKIA as the nurses are efficient and rarely do I have to wait for a very long time. Sometimes, I had to wait longer at the private hospital/clinic 😂


Modified Glucose Tolerance Test and Gestitational Diebetes Melitus (GDM)
I had to do the Modified Glucose Tolerance Test (MGGT) on my 14th week of pregnancy. For the test, you'll need to fast from 10pm the night before. The nurse then took a blood sample early in the morning - 8am. Then I had to drink a cup of warm orange glucose for the test. Two hours later, I came back for another blood test. While still fasting, ya. After the second blood draw, you are free to eat and drink. Honestly, the test was not as bad as I thought. For me, the fact that the glucose was warm completely threw me off. But no worries, you have 10 minutes to finish off the ''syrup''. I chowed everything in 4 minutes haha. The results will only be available after 2 weeks (understandable for a public clinic).

So the result.

Ideally, the glucose reading while fasting (for a pregnant lady) should be a maximum of 5.3 and 7.8 for the second blood test. 

Mine was 5.5 and 6 accordingly which exceeded (barely) the threshold for fasting glucose level. These numbers are considered normal for non-pregnancy cases but the government clinic is very strict when you're pregnant. 

The thing with Gestitational Diebetes Melitus (GDM) is, you may be perfectly healthy before pregnancy and still, you can have GDM. During pregnancy, glucose will build up in the blood instead of being absorbed by cells due to the hormone produced by the placenta. As a result, your glucose reading may go up (Even with a strict diet and all). Most of the time, GDM will disappear once you gave birth.

As a result of the MGGT, I had to do the HVA1C blood test to determine the average level of glucose for the past 3 months. And my result was A-okay which meant my glucose level pre-pregnancy was healthy.

For my whole visit to KKIA, I've only paid RM5 and that's for my session with the specialist during my 29th week of pregnancy. That's it. Talk about value for money. Oh, I've also met with a dietitian in one of the sessions and had my tetanus injection here. 

I usually take my Obimin supply here since it's free 😂

So, I highly recommend KKIA's service especially for first-time mothers!
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Friday 17 July 2020

MBA UiTM : 4th Semester Review

My final semester was also the most interesting thus far due to the COVID outbreak. The assessments and classes has been changed to suit the situation. 


GBI795: Global Business Issues
  • Lecturer : Associate Professor Dr Hashima Hashim
  • We were able to be in the physical class for the first half of the module. Typically, GBI module involved organizing a seminar but it was changed to the publication of an article. 
  • So the students were required to be in a group of 3, and submit an article worthy to publish by the end of the module. The topic must be related to the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. 
  • At first, we chose to write about SDG15 : Life on Land which focuses on deforestation, poaching and trafficking. 

  • When we presented our outline, however we found that the scope was too huge for an article. Hence, we opted to focus only on poaching.

  • Once the outline was approved, we started writing the article. Ours was only 2,400 words long but to get it to be up to the standard for an article was the challenge. 
  • Other than the article, we also had to do a review for a TED Talk as well as a write-up about COVID-19. 

MGT780 : Managerial Decision Analysis
  • Lecturer : Dr Rosilawati Amiruddin
  • At first, I disliked the fact that the module was taught via Telegram's voice note as it heavily involved calculation but as time goes by, I grew fond of the idea. Students were able to replay the voice note in order to catch up with the class. 
  • We had 3 individual assignments and 2 tests, all were done in the comfort of our own home and submitted online.

MGT790 : Strategic Management
  • Lecturer : Dr Alisa Ibrahim
  • This module has the most comprehensive assessments, I felt like. Despite the online lecture (Microsoft Teams), we were still required to do an individual presentation, group presentation, group report, case study, mid-term test and final exam all in the span of 8 classes over 4 weekends 😅
  • For individual presentation, we had to conduct a fairly simple internal and external environment analysis for any small / unlisted company so naturally, I gravitated towards Prokhas. 
  • For group presentation and report, we were to conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis on a listed company, and again our group went with Sime Darby Plantation. No surprise there. We did the PESTEL analysis, Porter's Five Forces analysis, financial ratio analysis, SWOT analysis, internal factor evaluation matrix, external factor evaluation matrix, weighted competitive strength assessment and evaluate the company's expansion strategy. 
  • The best thing for me was that we had to do peer evaluation at the end of the module. I felt it should be made mandatory for each of the modules, to weed out the freeloader ya know?

ABR796 : Applied Business Research Presentation
  • Lecturer : Associate Professor Dr Nooraini Sheriff
  • Amazing news, due to COVID outbreak my batch was exempted from the Viva-Voce session! 😅 We only had to submit the final report and wait for the comments from examiners if there were to be any correction.
  • On the other hand, since there was no Viva, some of the team members may not give their all to understand the dissertation thoroughly 😒
  • So after the dissertation was submitted, students have to wait for comments from examiners and supervisors if there were any minor or major corrections.
  • Alhamdulillah, praise to Allah ours only needed the addition of 1 sentence to fully emphasize a point.  
  • Shall I assume we're getting an 'A' for our dissertation? InsyaAllah. 

All in all, it has been an amazing 2 years experience. The result will be out in mid-September. InsyaAllah the convocation will be in 2021. 

I would highly recommend the MBA program at UiTM. If you have any question about the program, I would be more than happy to assist you. 
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Thursday 9 July 2020

#Pregnancy : 2nd Trimester Experience

Second Trimester: 27 March 2020 - 9 July 2020

The first month of my second trimester was spent at home due to MCO while for the remaining, I went to the office on a rotational basis, only 2 or 3 times a week.

Summary of my second trimester was as follows;
  • Numbness especially when I woke up in the morning (all in the weird places; fingers, knees 😂)
  • Mood swing (only once in a while, felt like I have to put in the caveat)
  • Minor shortness of breath 
  • Pigmentation on the body
  • The fatigue I felt in the first trimester was gone, Alhamdulillah. 
And still, I did not have any nausea and vomiting. No trouble sleeping as well. 

At the end of the second trimester, I've gained a mere 3.5kg. But the doctor assured me that the baby was healthy, so no worries. Though I guess my face swell a bit, to a point some people can tell right away I'm pregnant when we're having virtual meetings 😅

Supplement for the second trimester: Obimin, Obical, Glyprin and Neurogain (in the 6th months of pregnancy).

Excited for the final stretch of the pregnancy!
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