Hashim’s Accident – A scary September 2013

On 29 September 2013, Hashim went through a scary accident. It has taken me a really long time to openly share my experience, complete with all the pictures, because honestly, it was traumatic for me too. However, God willing, miracles do happen and I knew I had to share this story one day. It was a regular Sunday morning when the accident happened. I had actually gone out with baby Abdullah that morning – I was going to attend my first Sunday religious class since I had given birth and was excited to meet old friends. I took the public transport and was about 4 bus stops away when I received the phonecall from my husband that Hashim had gotten into an accident. I was truly unaware of the situation and brushed it off as yet another fall or bump an almost then 3 year old would typically go through… up till the point when my husband frantically said, “Take a cab now and go to the hospital. His nose is broken.” I froze for a split second and quickly got off the bus at the next stop. When I saw Hashim, my heart broke. He was clearly exhausted from crying for far too long and certainly in extreme pain. The cuts, the bruising and the non stop bleeding, I was shattered. He was just beginning to walk at this point, and to find out a heavy glass table had fallen on his face was devastating. Fortunately, my sister in law had managed to catch on to the table to prevent it from completely toppling on  him, however, the impact was still terrible as the glass drawer had slid out and landed directly on his nose. He did an X-Ray, his nose wasn’t broken but the doctors said they couldn’t do anything for him just yet as his nose was too inflamed and blocked with all the bleeding. His case was referred to the ENT clinic and he was asked to go home and sent home with some topical cream for the  cuts and bruises and paracetamol for the pain. That was all. We went home, but my heart didn’t feel right. How could something that looked so bad just be left like that? I knew I had to begin oiling, often and effectively. On first instinct, I decided to use Lavender and Helichrysum, excellent oils in supporting conditions like these. I researched a little bit more and decided to add Valor as the ingredients helped to balance the system and improve circulation. The 3 oils were layered on the area around his eyes and on the cut at the nose bridge. We were doing this every 20min. The poor boy was still looking drained, so we decided to use Idaho Balsam Fir, Frankincense and Copaiba as well. He eventually started to ask for his crayons and I knew he was feeling slightly better then. Going to sleep that night was hard. He was so exhausted but kept getting up. The trauma must have been too much for him. We diffused peace and calming, there was some effect, but it was a long night.. The next day, was an even bigger shock for me. I thought that with all the oiling, the bruise and cut would lighten, but boy, was I wrong. The bruising and swelling had actually gotten worse and his eyes could barely open over the next 2 days. It took me a lot of strength to continue to be strong for Hashim. I texted Hashim’s therapist who assured me all was fine. It meant that all the bleeding has stopped and the skin is now in the healing process. I took a leap of faith and trust and followed my gut to continue oiling often. I knew it couldn’t be bad if the doctors had sent us home so quickly from the hospital and true enough, as quickly as the bruise got so terrible, as quickly did the swelling go down, the bruising began to lighten and Hashim was able to open his eyes. He was in good spirits and actually enjoying all the visits from grandparents, grandaunts and uncles, and friends who wanted to see how he was doing! He loved the many balloons and soft toys he got too! By the evening of day 4 (2 Oct 2013), Hashim was smiling broadly again. He didn’t seem to be in anymore physical pain, the swelling had gone down tremedously and only the remaining bit of the brusing remained. By this time, we were already going through our second bottle of helichrysum, and maybe our second or third bottle each of Lavender and Valor. It was worth every drop seeing the improvements Hashim had made. He had very bad congestion in his nose, though, due to the fact his nose had flattened a little but I noticed the constant oiling was causing his nose to leak a lot of mucus, something I saw as positive. He eventually started breathing less noisily too. We used a nasal spray to help him drain the mucuses out and also soaked him in a tub filled with epsom salts and idaho blue spruce which really further aided the thinning of the mucus so that trapped mucus could drain out easily. We brought him to the ENT specialist a few days after and was told that there wasn’t a need to perform any procedures on him. Thank God. He was still young and the structural damages, though they looked terrible, didn’t seem like they were causing any major harm to his respiratory issues. It was more of a wait and see approach and I was told to only monitor his mild sleep apnea, that it didn’t worsen due to the accident. We were given prescription antihistamines just in case 🙂 Coincidentally, I just learnt around this time as well that Helichrysum could also be used as an expectorant! Lavender also has similar properties, so we continued oiling with these 2 oils around the nose once the bruising had lightened greatly. Besides regular mainstream care, I also brought him for a session with Therapist Yonie Bonawi and I will be forever grateful for the bottle of Trauma Life she gifted Hashim. It was our first ever bottle of Trauma Life as I had never thought to buy this oil before this. After applying Trauma Life on his big toes, temples and letting him smell the oil from my hand, he finally managed to sleep through the night for the first time since the accident. The accident had caused him severe emotional trauma and Trauma Life really worked as the name says. Also, on her and another therapist, Cynthia’s, advice, we used Valor on his sacrum daily and held our hands over the area, as well as pressed Sacred Frankincense to the roof of his mouth whenever he allowed it. This really helped to sharpen and straighten Hashim’s nose! More than a year later, if one looks at Hashim now, there are absolutely no traces of the accident AT ALL. He has gained back his full confidence and his nose is sharp too! The oils worked miraculously and I am forever thankful to God for this. I shudder to think how differently things would be had it not been for the oils. Everyone should really own Young Living oils to add to their First Aid kit. You never know when you will need them, and you never know when you will be amazed by them.

Abdullah Alsree – My Gentle Birth

Way too often, I am asked, how did you use your oils for pregnancy and labour? And for too long, my answer has been a little bit here and there and a promise that I will write as detailed an account possible soon. This blog post is of course overdue, but I am feeling just a tad bit emotional today, and I haven’t written anything in far too long, and remembering my gentle birth would be the perfect pick me up..

I remember when I found out I was pregnant. I was overcome with a mix of joy and fear. After all, my first birth wasn’t exactly the best of stories and post that birth, I had 3 miscarriages, in which the third one was particularly painful and least to say, depressing. That was when I started using Progessence Phyto Plus (PPP) as I knew low progesterone levels were a cause of recurrent miscarraiges. I used PPP twice a day, each time using 2 drops each on my forearms, over my carotid arteries and inner ankles. After testing positive, I continued using PPP till the 12th week of my pregnancy when my pregnancy stabilized. I had a scare at the 8th week when I had some spotting and decided to further increase my drops of PPP to 3 drops per area. Things stabilized soon after.

Alhamdulillah, I resolved to fully empower myself that pregnancy. I attended 2 gentle birthing classes by Doula Hanani Surani and Doula Fadillah Yusope and a Breastfeeding Workshop for Expectant Mothers by Blessed Beginnings Sg (even though that would have been the second time I breastfed lol). I also attended weekly yoga sessions with Yoga Teacher Ella from the time I was 14weeks right up till the week I was due, went for BCST sessions with Yonie Bonawi and even occasionally for traditional foot massage with the therapist who is familiar with women’s conditions and pregnancy. A few weeks before I birthed, I even got a chance to do a birth balance with Renate Wennekes, a Develepmental Kineseologist and Braingym Instructor. I was superbly blessed to be able to empower myself through so many avenues. On top of all that, I was even luckier I had my essential oils that I could use daily for self care to keep me calm and in check and helped me deal with the usual pregnancy aches and pains.

In my early pregnancy, I was really adversed to the smell of gentle baby essential oil, something which I understood that it meant I really needed the oil, so on the advice of Yonie, I used it over my abdomen daily. I grew to love Gentle Baby EO and craved it daily hehe. I would use it over my abdomen and seal over it with Rose Ointment. It was calming for me and even my baby whose kicks felt nice and comfortable instead of what felt like rib-jabbing in my previous pregnancy. The additional side effect was that I did not develop any new stretch marks!

As I grew bigger during my pregnancy, I had some sciatic pain and also some pain due to stretching of my abdomen. I used Valor and Aroma Siez to help with the fatigue and pain in those areas and it felt really nice and comfortable. I also ingested the pain bomb combination using 5drops of Frankincense, Idaho Balsam Fir and Copaiba each in a size 0 capsule. These were my saviours, no panadol or painkillers needed! Sometimes, my hormones and emotions would get the better of me and for those days, I truly enjoyed diffusing and applying on my shoulders White Angelica EO. It gives me an almost instant calming effect and puts me into a deep slumber even when I have too much on my mind. Other favourite oils I always kept handy with me in my handbag were Stress Away Roll-On and Deep Relief Roll-On. Roll-Ons are the most convenient way to bring oils out to use on the go! I also drank Ningxia Red daily for energy and to maintain good health.

About 6 weeks prior to my due date (9 July 2013), I religiously sprayed Claraderm on my perineum area. I wasn’t really keen on doing perennial massages hehe but the Claraderm Spray, containing Myrrh & Frankincense, among other ingredients, in a base of Coconut Oil, helped to ensure elasticity of the skin. After all, my doctor told me to be prepared for a big baby!

On the morning of 7 July 2013, I had began my day very normally. I went for my Sunday noon religious class and was having fun learning while snacking with dear friends. I suddenly felt a small burst of water and quickly went to the loo. My pantyliner was soaked through. A little bit of my water had began to leak but I didn’t want to alarm anyone so I said nothing but texted my husband and doula. I went home when my class ended and decided to rest, that was when I felt more “bursts” and “leaks”. My doula arrived at about 4.30 pm that evening, she put on the doppler, checked my water levels through palpitations and decided that it wouldn’t be too soon – probably in 1-2days. We chatted for a bit and as she was about to leave, my waterbag burst for real. Boy, was I amazed by how much fluids a waterbag is filled with! We were in my son’s room at that time and I practically formed several icky ‘puddles’ around the room! At that point, we decided the birth was happening sooner, rather than later! We became certain I would birth that same day.

Everything went on as per normal after that. I prayed Maghrib and ate a delicious meal of meatball marinara Subway sandwich brought back by my parents from JB. At about 8pm, things were not quite as per normal any longer. Contractions became intense and soon, I lost all concept of time and was fully in ‘the zone’. I can’t remember everything in sequence but I knew nothing felt better than the husband rubbing Valor on my sacrum. I kept making him rub more and the feeling was truly nice – a sort of relief and comfort. I also mixed up a “Birth Blend” which he layered over the valor. “Birth Blend” consisted of 8 drops helichrysum, 6 drops copaiba, 4 drops fennel, 4 drops peppermint, 10 drops ylang ylang and 5 drops clary sage, diluted in equal parts of V6. I believe this helped accelerate my labour as well. My husband also diffused Stress Away to help calm me down. I clung on to him and did hip rotations to help each contraction pass. In between I drank water and ate dates to fuel my body with energy. By 10+ pm, I was screaming that I could not take it any longer. At that point, we decided to transfer to the hospital for the birth. It was an exciting taxi ride to the hospital. The driver was nervous but trying to mantain his cool while driving quickly but safely to the hospital. All praises to God, I was at 9cm by the time I arrived at the hospital. I was blessed to have a doctor who was quite willing to give me free space to birth as naturally as possible. I continued using Birth Blend during the last few moments of my contractions before I was ready to breathe the baby out. Following tips from the book “Hypnotbirthing: The Mongan Method” by Marie F. Mongan and breathing techniques learnt during prenatal yoga, I gently breathed baby out. My husband diffused White Angelica when we were at the hospital and put Joy on his palms and made me inhale deeply. Before I knew it, I heard the sounds of the sweet birth cry at 11.45pm on Sunday, 7 July 2013.

The baby was placed on my chest and the hospital did not even rush me to weigh him or get him checked. They gave me time for skin to skin bonding with my baby as I tried to birth my placenta. The birthing of the placenta was difficult and following the advise of my doula who noticed I had not peed for far too long, my doctor inserted a catheter to help me clear my bladder. I asked my doula to use “After-birth blend” to help me tone the uterus and expel placenta. The after birth blend was a mix of 10 drops Geranium, 10 drops Lavender and 10 drops Jasmine. The blend was applied topically over my lower abdomen. Soon after, I birthed my placenta and my baby began to breastfeed. It seemed so natural to him as he stared at me with his tiny eyes that could barely open for long at that point – and I understood what I had learnt all this while, truly a natural birth helps a baby survive so beautifully and easily in his early days of life. His latch wasn’t perfect but it was okay. I was empowered and felt like I could survive any challenge. The important point was that he was latching and my mature milk had come in just before day 3. We worked together, and within a matter of days, his latch was as perfect as could be. No sore nipples for me, alhamdulillah.

I anoited baby’s head with Sacred Frankincense a few hours after he was born and continued to do so for a few days. His skull was forming beautifully and the fontanels closing up. We also cleaned his cord stump with Diluted Myrrh and it fell off within a matter of a few days. I loved how he smelt, essential oils and a tinge of heaven.

This birth meant so much to me in so many ways. I began to learn that I could do anything with His blessings once I set my intention, prayed hard and often, and empower myself with knowledge. When I do not limit myself to conventional care, so much more is achieved. Abdullah is 16 months old today and is the light of our eyes, especially his older brother who has learnt to interact better with other children through interaction with his own sibling. When I get tired after Abdullah messes up my entire room, I realised at the back of it, I am super blessed to have an independent and fiesty baby who loves exploring. Abdullah has taught me that I can birth naturally and that I am stronger than I think I am. For that, I am forever grateful. My dream, for now, is to inspire other mothers, especially those with prior traumatic births, that you can get your dream birth as well. Believe, pray and let nature take it’s course.

Kids Love Oils!

These are my boys. Pic was taken some time last year – probably in August when Abdullah was just a teeny tiny 1++ month old and Hashim wasn’t even 3 (I miss his wispy Beatles hair!).

This pic was taken just earlier this evening (it inspired this post!). The boys had gotten hold of the unattended bag of oils and were playing with it while I was trying to prepare Hashim’s supplements. Kids are often drawn to the oils because they know it is good for them! Often, when they ‘randomly’ pick an oil, you’d be surprised that they picked an oil that they actually need! The essential oils have a high frequency and often, when picked without biasness, we will be drawn to what works best for us. Tonight, Abdullah picked Thieves essential oil – befitting for that last bit of nasty phlegm that just doesn’t want to leave his body, and Hashim picked Rose – which he wanted to “snell” (smell). Hashim fell asleep soon after that :).

Often I am asked if my kids are oiled daily….and the answer is Yes! Here is what the kids usually get:

Abdullah gets a rub with Diluted Lemongrass oil every morning after his bath and before sleep. This has replaced the standard “Minyak Telon” that most people use. Much more natural and smells lovely! Lemongrass is also good for his ligaments. Sometimes, if we have time, the rub turns into a full body massage and Abdullah enjoys it. He suddenly keeps still instead of trying to turn around and crawl away! He also gets Valor on his feet daily (we do the Valor hold for him) and on his spine sometimes (if he doesn’t try to crawl off when we turn him on his tummy!). When he is slightly colicky, we massage his tummy clockwise with Digize oil and he farts soon after hehe. Due to the fact that we sleep in an air conditioned room, the cold sometimes leaves Abdullah a little chesty, and for that, we have RC! We rub it on his chest and back and he breathes better. If the congestion is bad, we give him a chest rub of a mix of Coconut Oil, Peppermint, Lemon & Eucalyptus Radiata. This mix smells lovelyyyy like the Malay kueh koleh-koleh hehe. Clears the congestion up too! If Abdullah has had a super active day, I would apply Peace and Calming on his shoulders and neck for him to sleep a little better. There are days when applying Peace and Calming for Abdullah makes Mummy more sleepy than baby 😉

Hashim has a slightly different routine. Every morning after bath, he will get Valor on his spine along with a back massage. Some days, we add Juvaflex to help mantain a healthy liver as he has G6PDD and is more at risk for liver related conditions. He will always ask for RC on his chest and Digize on his tummy without fail – these oils are nice and warm. If he is a little cranky and out of sorts, we will apply Release over his liver and hold our hand over the area for a few minutes. He also gets a drop or two of Transformation and Brain Power to support his condition. Before bed, we repeat the same Valor routine along with RC and Digize. We also add RutaVala roll-on, which has been helpful for his sleep, and either Cedarwood or Vetiver on his brain stem – we let him choose. If he has had an overly eventful day, we take out the special Rose oil and apply to his big toe using Vitaflex technique – this helps to drive the oil further in (Mummy will then proceed to inhale whatever is left of the Rose oil on hand to relax as well). On top of the oils, Hashim also gets his daily dose of supplements! Ningxia Red twice a day, Sulfurzyme twice or thrice a day, and half an ImmuPro Chewable Tablet (NFR product from USA) as and when we feel necessary or upon his request! The supplements have been working great for Hashim and the effectiveness of the oils seem to have amplified since he started his supplements!

Both kids also get Thieves on their feet if we are going out, and if there is a particularly nasty virus in the air we add ImmuPower as well. On top of that, we also use Lavender oil whenever the kids have a booboo and Purification oil whenever they are bitten by mosquitoes.

So there you have it, these are some of the oils we use on a daily basis for the kiddos. No hard and fast rule on what to use. Some days, the kids get more oils, and some days, less but most importantly, we enjoy our oiling sessions and I hope many more parents get to experience the same joy as us! Happy oiling!

My Firstborn, Hashim

WARNING! WORDY POST AHEAD! Heh. Writing about something very dear to me. Filled with beneficial oily tips that has worked for us, of course hee.

My firstborn, Hashim, is now 3years 6months old. He is the reason I began my oily journey and the reason why I believe so much in what I do. Hashim’s latest diagnosis from the doctors is Dystonic Cerebral Palsy (the diagnosis keep changing. hmm..). To summarize his birth history, Hashim was not breathing at time of birth and suffered brain injuries to his mid brain as a result. There was a new medical therapy at his time of birth called Hypothermia therapy, which involved Hashim’s body temperature to be lowered to 33degrees. This improved his survival chances and reduced the severity of his brain injury. However, that was the only positive take back from his stay at the neonatal ICU. Hashim was given several different seizure medications at birth and had left the hospital in a tube. Doctors had also said that he would “definitely be cerebral palsied” and “probably cannot do normal functions”. And that was the beginning of our special journey.

I have, since then, been on a quest to do everything I could for my son. I starting learning about natural child development and complementary therapies. Hashim was sent for both mainstream (Occupational & Speech) and alternative therapies including Braingym, Craniosacral Therapy and Traditional Massage. I did programs for him from home and I set out to change our lifestyle – from the food we eat to the household products we use because Hashim, more than the rest of us, was extremely sensitive to harmful chemicals. With Hashim being G6PD Deficient as well, he was also not able to take a lot of medication. His immunity was also compromised due to his condition and Allopathic medication was not really an option for Hashim. We needed him to stay as healthy as possible, prevention is better than cure.

Then one day, I was introduced to essential oils. I purchased the Everyday Oil Kit & RC and we (my entire family) have not looked back since. Everything we needed, we could find by using our oils. Slowly, I began to learn about using the Young Living essential oils & supplements to support Hashim’s condition and I realised that these products were the missing piece to our puzzle. All the therapies done on him, the effects seemed to amplify positively with the use of essential oils & natural supplements. There are still difficult days with Hashim, but his development is a far cry from what was ever expected of him. My child can now walk, talk and he loves to sing! He is gaining confidence, is cheeky but is soft hearted all at once.

Here is some of the top oily things that have worked for us:

1) Frankincense essential oil and Ningxia Red.

This was huge for us. Every morning, we added 2 drops of Frankincense (vitality) into 20ml of Ningxia Red. We were warned in advanced that things may get slightly worse before they got better (a.k.a. Healing Crisis) so we used a lot of Release over his liver to calm him down during this period. True enough, what seemed to be tough times the first 2 weeks or so, we began to see a lot of improvements suddenly. Before we started this protocol, Hashim was already speaking. However, we noticed that Hashim began to speak whole sentences and was able to think more logically as well. We could finally have interesting two way conversations with him complete with his toddler logic hehe.

2) Sulfurzyme supplement and Juvacleanse essential oil.

With the addition of the miracle supplement Sulfurzyme and Juvacleanse essential oil into Hashim’s daily routine, we noticed that Hashim’s behaviour improved. These products support liver cleansing and heavy metal detox and they definitely assisted to put his system back to balance.

3) Transformation and Valor essential oil.

We had been doing Valor on his back along his spine for a long time now, and his balance was improving with it. However, when we added Transformation essential oil on his crown to the protocol, I witnessed with my own eyes Hashim becoming more confident. He began to walk a lot more and with less hesitance. He grew confidence to climb the stairs and cross over small drains along the way. All with a smile.

4) Cedarwood and vetiver essential oil.

These oils are oxygenating to the brain and has definitely helped Hashim. They help him sleep better and think more clearly. He is able to stay on one task longer since we started these oils on him. Previously, he barely even played a single toy for longer than 5 minutes!

5) Peace & Calming essential oil and RutaVala roll on.

These oils are key to helping Hashim sleep better. Everyone knows how important sleep is for growing children, but for a child like Hashim, it is even more important. Our brains grows and restores when we sleep, and the oils did help him sleep through most of the night instead of the hourly cries.

Currently, we are starting him more consistently on Brain Power (we have been doing it on and off) and we are waiting to see more magic happen, insyaallah. Along with all the oily routine done on him, we still send him for therapy, we try our best to keep up a program at home and we feed Hashim as clean a diet as possible. We are surrounded by family that support us and pray for us. Most importantly, we always remind ourselves to count our blessings and remember the Almighty for all his blessings showered upon us by gifting us with our special child. Ever grateful to find my Young Living oils.

Till next time.

Oily Baby – Abdullah Alsree

This is my second born – Abdullah! Abdullah is a true blue oily baby. When a friend did this meme for me, I thought it was hilarious, but apt. Hehe. After all, Abdullah has been exposed to oils since utero. I used Progessence Phyto Plus to provide support to my hormones before and during pregnancy (please check with your healthcare professional if you are using oils for the first time). Gentle Baby & Rose Ointment to prevent new stretch marks (it lightened my old stretch marks too!), Valor & Stress Away (among others) to make my pregnancy much more comfortable and even oils during labour (this deserves an entire post in itself, lol). After Abdullah was born, he was anointed with Sacred Frankincense. Abdullah is now 8months 3weeks, happy & healthy! Since birth, all his baby woes have been fixed with essential oils, breast milk, coconut oil & prayer!

Look out for my oily birth story soon! Adious!