Great reminder for Muslim mums

Working from home

As a mother of two young children and expecting my third one quite soon insha-Allah, working from home is a good way of using my time more productively as well as spending quality time with my children, alhamdulillah. I guess it also helps me avoiding feeling guilty of not giving enough time to my children and my partner. Before marriage I was working full time as a primary and secondary teacher. Work was quite hectic. My morning used to start at 6:30 and I used to go to bed around 11:30 at night. Even weekends I was busy doing lesson plans and anything needed to be done for the week ahead. Though life as a teacher was quite a challenging one, I really enjoyed my job especially being with the children made me feel very satisfied and happy with my life. The joy I felt seeing how much children were learning and enjoying my lesson made me feel inspired to carry on alhamdulillah. However, after marriage my priorities changed. I was eagerly waiting to get pregnant. I was still working as a teacher but the stress was too much to bear.

The more I read about pregnancy and fertility, I came to realize I needed to chill out and have tawakkul ( reliance) on Allah (SWT). That’s when I decided to quit my work as a teacher. Alhamdulillah got pregnant straight away. For me it was a big sign to make myself feel that I was definitely doing the right thing alhamdulillah. Life just kept surprising me. Now after four years I am a happy mother of two children and expecting our third one next month Insha-Allah.

I always wanted to do a lot with my life. While at university I tried my best to get active as much as possible and I loved every moment of it, alhamdulillah. I never wanted to just be a stay-at-home mum who is totally occupied with household chores and looking after her husband and children and not really even having time for herself. I can understand how difficult and sometimes exhausting motherhood can become but I think for me I really want to live my life with lots of activities insha-Allah. I am hoping to create a life where I can say in eight to ten years time that alhamdulillah I have tried my best to achieve success and satisfaction from my life, insha-Allah. One day my children will leave one by one and will be busy with their life insha-Allah. At that moment I really don’t want to feel like ‘Okay now what!!! What do I do now with my time???’ I know that my life is to some extent centered around my husband and children but there are other things which are very important to me. My personal relationship with my Creator Allah (SWT), socialising with families and friends, writing and my job as a editor are very important for me. These different aspects of my life define who I am and what I want to become in future insha-Allah.

Given my goals and family situation, working from home has helped me a lot to get active and fulfill my dreams. Alhamdulillah thanks to Internet and social networks, lots of things can be done just from home. And many people find that working from home is a good balance and allows them to cope with things like all the appointments and being in to receive all that Internet shopping!

However, a common misconception among lots of people is that mums who work from home are sitting in a sunny garden teleworking on a laptop while their children play contentedly on a rug under the apple tree! Unfortunately that’s not really what we mothers who work from home experience all the time, I must confess. Sometimes it is very difficult to get them occupied. They do demand my total attention and want me to join in and play with them. When you work from home, you are more likely to work through out the day. With a 9 to 5 job, you can at least think about a proper break after work. But for me, I am most of the time in front of my laptop and find myself headhunting, contacting or replying all the emails.

I think if you work from home, you really need to be quite disciplined. You really need to be focused and get on with your work first. Ideally you need a proper space to work. It is quite easy to get distracted while working. That’s why it's a good idea to timetable your work - schedule breaks so you feel justified taking them. Breaking your day into chunks of work can also help. For example, tell yourself you'll work only for 20 minutes at a time, which is very manageable. Then you can take a break and start again after 20/30 minutes. I try to write down in my work diary all the things need to be done and keep ticking whatever is done. That way you can feel quite good at the end of day thinking you have manged to get your work done and alhamdulillah had a good, productive day. May Allah swt help us in getting more active and use our time more effectively, ameen. May He swt grant us baraka in our life, ameen.

Alhamdulillah I'm pregnant :-)

I am so glad to let you know that Alhamdulillah I am pregnant with my third baby and hope to meet my newborn in April Insha-Allah. I am hoping to share my experience as a pregnant mother of two on a regular basis up to my due date insha-Allah. I hope my posts will help all the sisters out there who are interested to know more about this great journey Insha-Allah. Please share your views through the comments section insha-Allah.

Alhamdulillah Allah (SWT) has blessed us with two children. Our son is 3 years old and our daughter is 20 months old. I am in my 20th weeks of pregnancy. Alhamdulillah up until now I haven’t really suffered many problems. I did go through usual morning sickness during first trimester a little though. Morning sickness is definitely a misleading name for this unpleasant side-effect of pregnancy. Around 80% of pregnant women suffer from nausea and not just in the mornings! Many women feel waves of nausea throughout the day and some feel sick all the time. Research shows it seems to hit a peak at around 9 to 10 weeks and generally starts to improve after the 14 week mark. Nobody really knows what causes it but experts believe high levels of circulating hormones are to blame.

As I am in my second trimester, I am not feeling that sick anymore alhamdulillah. To avoid feeling sick, it is very important to eat on a regular basis but not eating too much as that will definitely make you feel sick. It is better to eat a little amount of food and wait till the food is digested properly. Make sure you are not starving yourself as that will trigger more sickness. Snacking on healthy starchy carbohydrates such as wholemeal toast and sandwiches, bananas etc keeps blood sugar topped up and ensures your stomach is never completely empty. Sipping water or any other juice throughout the day can prevent dehydration. You need to get used to frequent trips to the loo as this is very common at this stage of pregnancy. This is caused by uterus expanding and pressing down on bladder. But don’t cut back on liquids as this only makes the problem worse and can also put you at risk of dehydration. It is recommended to drink eight glasses of water a day and practise pulling up pelvic floor muscles to control bladder. During my first trimester I also had frequent headaches which are quite normal and are thought to be caused by fluctuating hormones. I did try to avoid taking paracetamol but when it was quite unbearable I took two paracetamols to get rid of the headache.

With my first two pregnancies, I did not really experience cramp during the first and second trimesters but with this one I get frequent cramps. These shooting pains in the calves tend to get more frequent and painful as pregnancy progresses. When it happens, straighten your leg and foot and pull your toes towards your body to ease cramp or try walking about in bare feet on a cold floor. For me massaging the affected area helps a lot.

I have been having my vitamin supplements from the very beginning as I was also breastfeeding my daughter. It is highly recommended to take folic acid which is an essential B vitamin that can reduce the risk of baby developing a neural tube defect such as spina bifida (where a gap develops in the spine and damage to the central nervous system occurs) by up to 75 per cent. Ideally we are advised to take a supplement in the first three months before conception and then during the first three months of pregnancy. You can also get folic acid by eating foods such as leafy green vegetables, yeast extract, fruits and wholemeal bread and cereals. I love eating lots of broccoli and feel good thinking I am having quite a lot of folic acid insha-Allah. However, it is hard to get enough from diet so it is recommended that pregnant mothers should take a 400mcg supplement everyday. I have been having Pregnacare tablets.

During the first trimester sometimes I did feel quite exhausted as I also need to look after my two babies :-) but alhamdulillah having a quick nap can really help in feeling better. I try to have nap when my chlidren are having their one. Otherwise it is not really possible to sleep as they are most of the time with me :-) . Anyways, I am looking forward to meet my baby insha-Allah ! Sometimes I do feel a bit scared thinking about the labour pains! But I have decided not to think too much and stress myself . I am always asking Allah (SWT) to make it easy and quick for me and bless us with a healthy and good Muslim baby. Please do keep me in your duas. Jazakallah khairan!