關於 free photography course ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

82 WEBSITE GIÚP BẠN HỌC MỌI THỨ TRÊN ĐỜI

Join English Club HEC để học Tiếng Anh và IELTS free nhé quý dzị ;) & Like page Scholarship for Vietnamese students <3

I. HỌC VỀ KINH DOANH

1. edX - Học các khóa học online từ các trường đại học tốt nhất trên thế giới.

2. TED Talks - Tổng hợp các bài diễn thuyết chia sẻ những ý tưởng đột phá nhất về khoa học, giáo dục, thiết kế (nhiều video có sub tiếng Việt)

3. Khan Academy - Tổng hợp các khóa học Toán, Lý, Hóa, Kinh tế, Kinh doanh,... hoàn toàn miễn phí với giao diện và trải nghiệm tuyệt vời

4. ALISON - Học các khóa online miễn phí từ các trường đại học Anh, Mỹ và các chuyên gia từ Google, Microsoft,...

5. MIT Opencourseware - Các khóa học về mọi lĩnh vực được giảng dạy tại Học viện công nghệ Massachusetts (MIT), cung cấp sách, tài liệu bản mềm và video bài giảng

6. Open Yale Courses — Các khóa học về mọi lĩnh vực được giảng dạy tại Đại học Yale

7. Coursmos — Học khóa học vi mô (thời lượng ngắn) ở bất kỳ đâu, trên bất kỳ thiết bị nào

8. Coursera - Học các khóa online miễn phí từ các trường đại học hàng đầu thế giới với nhiều khóa có subtitle tiếng Việt. Bạn có thể chọn gói học miễn phí (vẫn được xem đầy đủ tài liệu, video học) hoặc trả phí (để lấy chứng nhận từ các trường đại học danh tiếng khi hoàn thành khóa học)

9. Highbrow — Nhận các khóa học được chia nhỏ gửi tới hòm mail của bạn hàng ngày (miễn phí)

10. Skillshare — Các khóa học và dự án online mở ra sự sáng tạo của bạn với mức giá chỉ $12/tháng để truy cập vào kho học liệu khổng lồ các kỹ năng hot nhất cho công việc hiện nay

11. Curious — Phát triển kỹ năng với các bài học video online trên giao diện (cả web và app) cực đẹp

12. [lynda.com]— Học công nghệ, kĩ năng sáng tạo và kinh doanh

13. CreativeLive — Học các khóa học sáng tạo miễn phí từ các chuyên gia hàng đầu thế giới

14. Udemy — Học mọi kỹ năng hot nhất cho công việc, từ thiết kế, phát triển web/app, marketing hay kinh doanh với hàng nghìn khóa học miễn phí và trả phí từ các chuyên gia trong ngành

15. Open Learn — Tổng hợp các khóa học miễn phí về mọi lĩnh vực cho mọi người

16. How to start a startup — Tổng hợp các bài học (qua video và tài liệu đọc) được truyền dạy trong vườn ươm khởi nghiệp hàng đầu thế giới Y Combinator

17. Guides.co — Các bài chỉ dẫn chi tiết về mọi thứ từ viết content marketing cho đến khởi nghiệp

18. Inc.edu- Website hữu ích cho những người khởi nghiệp.

19. Reddit Lectures - Bộ sưu tập những bài giảng hàng đầu đến từ các chuyên gia, học viện, chính phủ và các nhà lãnh đạo.

20. Fast Company's 30-Second MBA: Đây là nguồn dữ liệu các đoạn clip ngắn do các giám đốc điều hành thực hiện. Bạn sẽ học được nhiều từ những lời khuyên kinh doanh, bài học cuộc sống tuyệt vời và thực sự nhanh chóng.

21. HubSpot Academy - Cổng thông tin về marketing, SEO, bán hàng, quảng cáo... cho bất cứ ai quan tâm.

22. University of the People - Tổ chức phi lợi nhuận với các khóa học miễn phí về quản trị kinh doanh, khoa học máy tính và y tế.

23. Platzi — Học trực tuyến về thiết kế, marketing và code miễn phí từ các chuyên gia trong giới startup công nghệ tại Mỹ

24. FutureLearn - Các khóa học trực tuyến miễn phí đến từ hơn 40 trường đại học.

25. Investopedia: Đây là nguồn thông tin mà bạn muốn tìm hiểu về thế giới đầu tư, thị trường và tài chính cá nhân.

26. Learnvest - Các doanh nhân thành công nhất biết cách quản lý tiền bạc trong doanh nghiệp cũng như đời sống cá nhân của mình. Ngoài các lớp học về tài chính với mức giá cực kỳ phải chăng, LearnVest cũng cung cấp một số lớp học miễn phí, chẳng hạn như "Xây dựng thói quen tiêu tiền tốt hơn" hay "Làm thế nào để lập ngân sách."

II. HỌC LẬP TRÌNH

27. Codecademy — Học code miễn phí qua các bài học tương tác thú vị, được thực hành trực tiếp

28. Microsoft Virtual Academy — Học thiết kế web, game, app, phát triển nền tảng cloud, dữ liệu lớn,... miễn phí cùng các chuyên gia của Microsoft. Công ty thậm chí còn cho ra mắt một khóa lập trình cơ bản dành riêng cho người Việt, xem ở đây.

29. Udacity — Học code và data science từ A đến Z qua video trực quan tuyệt vời từ các chuyên gia của Google, Facebook. Tương tự như Coursera và edX, bạn có thể chọn gói miễn phí (không lấy bằng) hoặc trả phí (để lấy bằng nanodegree làm đòn bẩy cho sự nghiệp).

30. CodeCombat — Học lập trình qua game

31. Code School — Học code thực hành

32. Code4Startup — Học lập trình nhanh chóng cho startup qua hướng dẫn code lại các website, ứng dụng nổi tiếng như Airbnb, Product Hunt, Tinder,...

33. Thinkful — Nâng cao trình độ với chuyên gia kèm 1-1

34. Free Code Camp — Học code miễn phí để giúp đỡ cộng đồng

35. [Code.org]— Bắt đầu học từ hôm nay với các bài giảng cơ bản

36. BaseRails — Luyện Ruby on Rails và các kỹ năng công nghệ khác

37. Treehouse —Học HTML, CSS, ứng dụng iPhone và hơn thế nữa

38. One Month — Học code và xây dựng ứng dụng, website trong vòng 1 tháng

39. Dash — Học các kỹ thuật thiết kế web mới nhất

III. HỌC THIẾT KẾ - LĨNH VỰC ĐANG RẤT CÓ TIỀM NĂNG TRONG TƯƠNG LAI

40. Alison Online - Học các kỹ thuật thiết kế đa dạng và cấp chứng chỉ dựa trên thử nghiệm.

41. Udemy: Introduction to Graphic Design - Học thiết kế với lớp học mang tính cạnh tranh, các lớp được xếp hạng và chất lượng của lớp được chiếu theo xếp hạng giống như trên Yelp.

42. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Học trực tuyến như một cơ sở dữ liệu miễn phí của các khóa học thông qua giáo viên chuyên nghiệp và giáo viên khóa học.

43. A Brief History of Typography - Chìa khóa cho công việc của một nhà thiết kế đồ họa, dành cho bất kỳ nhà thiết kế đồ họa mới bắt đầu tham vọng nào.

44. Teach Yourself Graphic Design: A Self-Study Course Outline - Liẹt kê các nguồn lực bạn cần để tạo ra một khóa học tự học về thiết kế đồ họa

45. Veerle’s Graphic Design Blog - Học các hướng dẫn, mẹo và thủ thuật, thông tin chi tiết hữu ích về làm việc với khách hàng; phát triển danh mục đầu tư; cũng như các giải pháp đơn giản cho các vấn đề mà nhiều nhà thiết kế đồ họa có thể phải đối mặt

46. Canva Design School - Học thông tin cơ bản về phông chữ; màu sắc, hình ảnh, hình nền, bố cục và hình dạng

47. Envato Tuts+ Illustration and Design Courses - Học bất kỳ phần mềm và quy trình thiết kế nào.

48. Creative Pro - Học các kỹ năng sâu và khó, dành cho nhà thiết kế muốn mở rộng kỹ năng.

49. CreativeLive - Khóa học trực tuyến hướng tới các nhà thiết kế và nghệ sĩ

IV. HỌC DATA SCIENCE - LĨNH VỰC ĐANG CỰC HOT HIỆN NAY

50. DataCamp — Các bài giảng và khoa học dữ liệu

51. DataQuest — Học data science ngay trên trình duyệt

52. DataMonkey — Phát triển kĩ năng phân tích dữ liệu theo cách đơn giản nhưng thú vị

V. HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

53. Duolingo — Học nhiều ngoại ngữ miễn phí

54. Lingvist — Học ngoại ngữ trong 200 giờ

55. Busuu — Cộng đồng học ngoại ngữ miễn phí

56. Memrise — Sử dụng flashcards để học từ vựng

57. Freerice: Giúp bạn mở rộng vốn từ vựng nhanh chóng như việc bạn ăn khi đói. Đây là cách tốt nhất để bạn tự cảm nhận về bản thân và học những từ vựng bạn có thể sử dụng trong phần còn lại cuộc đời.

VI. HỌC CÁC LĨNH VỰC KHÁC

58. Pianu — Cách mới để học chơi piano online

59. Yousician — Gia sư dạy ghita riêng cho thời đại công nghệ

60. Digital Photography School: Học chụp ảnh

61. Factsie: Tìm ra những sự thật thú vị, bất thường về lịch sử, khoa học, cùng với các nguồn liên kết khác.

62. Today I Found Out – Website tổng hợp các sự thật thú vị

63. Gibbon: Đây là nơi tổng hợp danh sách nguồn học tập. Người dùng thu thập các bài viết, video giúp ích cho việc học mọi thứ từ chương trình iOS cho đến những câu chuyện kể hiệu quả.

64. Instructables: Bạn có thể học làm bất cứ thứ gì, từ bệ phóng bóng tennis đến pháo đài ngay sân sau nhà.

65. Lumosity: Trang web này đào tạo bộ não của bạn với những trò chơi thiết kế thú vị, khoa học. Bạn có thể để cải thiện trí nhớ và khả năng tập trung của mình.

66. Powersearching with Google: Học cách tìm kiếm bất cứ thứ gì bạn muốn bằng việc cải thiện kỹ năng tìm kiếm Google của mình.

67. Quora: Bạn có thể học bất kỳ điều gì, từ thủ thuật tăng hiệu quả làm việc đến danh sách những thực phẩm tốt nhất mọi thời đại. Những câu hỏi dù ngớ ngẩn đến đâu cũng được những người thông minh và có tiếng tăm trả lời tử tế.

68. Recipe Puppy : Nhập tất cả những nguyên liệu bạn có trong bếp và công cụ tuyệt vời này sẽ đem đến cho bạn danh sách những món ăn mà bạn có thể tạo ra với chúng.

69. Spreeder: Phần mềm đọc trực tuyến miễn phí giúp cải thiện tốc độ đọc hiểu của bạn.

70. StackOverflow: Trang web hỏi đáp dành cho các lập trình viên, về cơ bản nó là người bạn tốt nhất đối với các coder.

71. Unplug The TV: Nội dung video tại đây khá phong phú, bao gồm các chủ đề như tìm hiểu về con đường tơ lụa, lịch sử chiến tranh, khoa học..

72. Internet Sacred Text Archive - Hàng loạt đầu sách miễn phí về tôn giáo, tín ngưỡng, văn học dân gian, thần thoại, thuật giả kim…

73. Vsauce: Đây là một kênh YouTube cung cấp các sự thật thú vị tốt nhất internet, nơi bạn sẽ nhận ra thế giới của chúng ta kỳ lạ đến thế nào.
Chuyện gì sẽ xảy ra nếu thế giới ngừng quay? Tại sao chúng ta lại cảm thấy buồn chán? Hãy theo dõi các video và tìm ra đáp án cho những thắc mắc của bạn.

74. Squareknot — Tương tự như Wikihow, Guides.co cung cấp các bài hướng dẫn sinh động và đẹp mắt về mọi thứ trong cuộc sống

75. Google World Wonders - Khám phá thế giới cổ đại và hiện đại với rất nhiều tài nguyên hữu ích.

76. Lifehacker - Trang web giúp bạn tìm hiểu mọi thứ dưới nhiều góc độ.

77. Library of Congress - Thư viện kiến thức trực tuyến.

78. Boundless - Thư viện sách trực tuyến, miễn phí.

79. MeetUp - Học hỏi kinh nghiệm, chia sẻ những gì bạn biến và xem xét vấn đề trên nhiều khía cạnh mới.

80. Trivium Education - Nơi bạn học tập để vận dụng các phép tu từ, ngữ pháp và phán đoán logic.

81. PBS Video - Các bộ phim tài liệu chuyên sâu, miễn phí.

82. Project Gutenberg - Website cung cấp hơn 50.000 tác phẩm văn học.

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ทริคการถ่ายภาพขายในไมโครสต็อกด้วยโทรศัพท์มือถ่าย

//Admin ทราย

สวัสดีวันอาทิตย์ค่ะทุกคน 😊 วันนี้เบียร์มีทริคเล็กๆ น้อยๆ สำหรับคนที่เป็นสายถ่ายภาพด้วยโทรศัพท์มือถือมาฝากกันค่ะ 📸


ลองมาดูภาพตัวอย่างกันเลยนะคะ ด้านล่างนี้เป็นภาพที่ถ่ายจากโทรศัพท์มือถือเครื่องเดียวกัน เบียร์ถ่ายด้วย iPhone 7 นะคะ ถ่ายในสถานที่เดียวกัน(อาจจะคนละวันแต่อากาศ 2 วันนั้นเหมือนกันนะ) และ 2 ภาพนี้เบียร์ไม่ได้มีการปรับแต่งอะไรเพิ่มเลย แต่จะเห็นว่ามีความแตกต่างกันในเรื่องของความคมชัดและความสดของสี


ภาพบนนั้นถ่ายด้วยแอพ Camera หรือแอพกล้องธรรมดาที่มากับเครื่อง และภาพล่างถ่ายด้วยแอพ Lightroom Mobile ซึ่งข้อดีของแอพนี้ก็คือเราจะได้ไฟล์ภาพเป็นไฟล์ RAW (ในแอพจะใช้ว่า DNG) ความคมชัดมากกว่า สีที่ได้ออกมาจะมีความสดกว่าการใช้แอพกล้องธรรมดาถ่าย และเวลาถ่ายภาพในแอพ Lightroom Mobile นั้นเราสามารถปรับค่า Manual ต่างๆ ได้ใกล้เคียงกับกล้อง DSLR ไม่ว่าจะเป็น Exp, Shutter speed, ISO, WB และ Focus point


แน่นอนว่าใครที่ทำงานส่ง Microstock นั้น ในแอพก็ยังสามารถฝัง Metadata หรือ Title & Keyword ลงในภาพเราได้ และยังสามารถปรับแต่งภาพหรือแม้แต่รีทัชภาพได้อีกด้วย


สำหรับใครที่อยากได้ภาพถ่ายคุณภาพดีด้วยโทรศัพท์มือถือเครื่องเดียว สามารถลองโหลดแอพ Lightroom Mobile มาใช้ดูกันได้นะคะ ที่สำคัญแอพนี้โหลดใช้กันได้ฟรีๆ เลย แต่ฟังก์ชั่นถ่ายภาพแบบ Raw หรือ DNG จะซัพพอร์ต Smartphone รุ่นที่รองรับเท่านั้นเนอะ ถ้าใครไม่มีตั้งค่า DNG ก็อาจจะหมายถึงเครื่องเราไม่ซัพพอร์ตค่ะ 😊


เบียร์ก็เคยทำคลิปสอนแต่งภาพและรีทัชภาพด้วย Lightroom บน iPad มาก่อนหน้านี้นานล่ะ แล้วฟังก์ชั่นการทำงานก็คล้ายๆ กันสามารถได้ดูเป็นตัวอย่างกันได้นะคะ ตามลิ้งค์นี้เลย https://youtu.be/dk8LpXf75S4
Hello Sunday everyone. 😊 Today, I have a little trick of beer for those who are in mobile phone photographers. 📸


Let's try to see a sample photo. Below is a photo taken from the same mobile phone. Beer taken with iPhone 7. It's taken in the same location. (It's probably a day, but the 2 days weather is the same) and 2 photos of beer. Not any more customization but will see that there is a difference in the matter of contrast and color shape.


The top photo is taken with Camera app or the normal camera app that comes with the machine and the bottom photo is taken with the Lightroom Mobile app. The advantage of this app is that we can get the photo as a RAW file. (In the app, it's DNG. ) More contrast than the colors. It's far better than using the normal camera app and shooting time in the Lightroom Mobile app. We can adjust the Manual value closest to the DSLR camera. Exp, Shutter speed, ISO, WB and Focus. point.


Of course, anyone who works to send that Microstock in the app can also embed Metadata or Title & Keyword into our image and can also customize or even retouch images.


For those who want good quality photos with one mobile phone, you can download the Lightroom Mobile app to use. Importantly, this app can be downloaded for free. Raw or DNG photography function will be used. The only supported Smartphone portfolio. If you don't have DNG settings, it may mean that our machine won't be able to provide a service. 😊


Beer has been made. Photo editing and retouching clip with Lightroom on iPad. It's been a while. It's been a long time. The functionality is similar. You can see it as an example. Follow this link https://youtu.be/dk8LpXf75S4Translated

My sister, Michelle-Ann Iking's 3% chance of conceiving naturally was a success! Here's her story:

(My apologies as I've been overwhelmed with personal matters. I've only managed to get to my desk. So finally got around posting this).

This is the story behind my sister's pregnancy struggle and how she shared her journey over her Facebook page.

Because some may have not caught her LIVE session chat with me (https://www.facebook.com/daphneiking/videos/687743128744960/) , or read her lengthy post (as it's a private page);
she's allowed me to copy and paste it over my wall, in case you need to know more about her thought process on how AND why she focused on the 3% success probability. Read on.

-------------------------------------------

Posted 10th May 2020.
FB Credit: Michelle-Ann Iking

A week ago today I celebrated becoming a mother to our second, long awaited child.

Please forgive this mother's LONG (self-indulgent) post, journalling what this significant milestone has meant for her personally, for her own fallible memory's sake as well as maybe to share one day with her son.

If all you were wondering was whether I had delivered and if mum and bub are OK, please be assured the whole KkLM family are thriving tremendously, and continue scrolling right along your Newsfeed 😁.

OUR 3% MIRACLE

All babies are miracles... and none more so than our precious Kiaen Aaryan (pronounced KEY-n AR-yen), whose name derives from Sanskrit origins meaning:

Grace of God
Spiritual
Kind
Benevolent

...words espousing the gratitude Kishore and I feel for Kiaen's arrival as our "3% miracle".

He was conceived, naturally, after 3 years of Kishore and I hoping, praying and 'endeavoring'... and only couples for whom the objective switches from pure recreation to (elusive) procreation will understand how this is less fun than it sounds ...

3 years during which time we had consensus from 3 different doctors that we, particularly I (with my advancing age etc etc) had only a 3% chance of natural conception and that our best hope for a sibling for our firstborn, Lara Anoushka, was via IVF.

Lara herself was an 'intervention baby', being one of the 20% of babies successfully conceived through the less intrusive IUI process, after a year and a half of trying naturally and already being told then my age was a debilitating factor.

We had tried another round of IUI for her sibling in 2017 when Lara was a year old. And that time we fell into the ranks of the 80% of would-be parents for whom it would be an exercise in futility... who would go home, comfort each other as best they could, while individually masking their own personal disappointment... hoping for the best, 'the next time around'...

So the improbability ratio of 97% against natural conception of our second baby, as concurred by the combined opinion of 3 medical professionals, was a very real, very daunting figure for us to have to mentally deal with.

Deep, DEEP, down in my heart however, though I had many a day of doubt... I kept a core kernel of faith that somehow, I would again experience the privilege of pregnancy, and again, have a chance at childbirth.

And so, the optimist in me would tell myself, "Well, there have to be people who fall in the 3% bucket... why shouldn't WE be part of the 3%?"

Those who know me well, understand my belief in the Law of Attraction, the philosophy of focusing your mind only on what you want to attract, not on what you don't want, and so even as Kishore and I prepared to go into significant personal debt to attempt IVF in the 2nd half of 2019, I marshalled a last ditch effort to hone in on that 3% chance of natural conception... through research coming across fertility supplements that I ordered from the US and sent to a friend in Singapore to redirect to me because the supplier would not deliver to Malaysia.

I made us as a couple take the supplements in the 3 month 'priming period' in the lead up to the IVF procedure - preconditioning our bodies for optimum results, if you will.

At the same time, I had invested in a sophisticated fertility monitor, with probes and digital sensors for daily tracking of saliva and other unmentionable fluid samples, designed to pinpoint with chemical accuracy my state of fertility on any given day.

(UPDATE: For those interested - I obtained the supplements and Ovacue Fertility Monitor from https://www.fairhavenhealth.com/. Though I had my supplies delivered to a friend in Singapore, and redirected to me here since the US site does not deliver to Malaysia, there are local distributors for these products, you will just have to research the trustworthiness of the vendors yourself...)

I had set an intention - in the 3 months of pre-IVF priming, I would consume what seemed like a pharmacy's worth of supplements, and track fertility religiously... in hopes that somehow, within the 3 month priming period, we would conceive naturally and potentially save ourselves a down payment on a new property... and this was just a projection on financial costs of IVF, not even considering the physical, emotional and mental toll it involves, with no guarantee of a baby at the end of it all...

It was a continuation of an intention embedded even with my first pregnancy, where all the big ticket baby items were consciously purchased for use by a future sibling, in gender neutral colours, in hopes that sibling would be a brother "for a balanced pair", though of course any healthy child would be a welcome blessing.

It was a very conscious determination to always skew my thoughts in service of what the end objective was. For example, when 3+year old Lara would innocently express impatience at not yet having a sibling, at one point suggesting that since we were "taking too long to give her a baby brother/sister", perhaps we should just "go buy a baby from a shop", instead of getting defensive or berating the baby that she herself was, we enlisted Lara's help to pray for her sibling... so in any place of worship, or sacred ground of any kind that we passed thereon, Lara would stop, close her eyes, bow her small head and place her tiny hands together in prayer, reciting earnestly, "Please God, please give me a baby brother or baby sister."

After months and months of watching Lara do this, in the constancy of her childlike chant, Kishore started feeling the pressure of possibly disappointing Lara if her prayer was not answered. Whereas for me, Lara's recitation of her simple wish became like a strengthening mantra, our collective intention imbued with greater power with each repetition, and the goal of a sibling kept very much in the forefront of our minds (hence our calling Lara our 'project manager' in this endeavour).

And somehow in the 2nd month of that 3 month period, a positive + sign appeared on one of the home pregnancy tests I had grown accustomed to taking - my version of the lottery tickets others keep buying in hopes of hitting the jackpot, with all the cyclical anticipation and more often than not, disappointment, that entails...

This time however I was not disappointed.

With God's Grace, (hence 'Kiaen', a variation of 'Kiaan' which means 'Grace of God'), my focus on our joining the ranks of the 3% had materialised.

It seems poetic then, that Kiaen chose to make his appearance on the 3rd May, ironically the same date that his paternal great-grandfather departed this world for the next... such that in the combined words of Kishore and his father Kai Vello Suppiah,

"The 1st generation Suppiah left on 3rd May and the 4th generation Suppiah arrived on 3rd May after 41yrs...
One leaves, another comes, the legacy lives on..."

***

KIAEN AARYAN SUPPIAH'S BIRTH STORY

On Sunday 3rd May, I was 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

The baby was, in my mind, very UN-fashionably late past his due date of 29th April, so as much as I had willed and 'manifested' the privilege of pregnancy, to say I was keen to be done with it all was an understatement.

In the weeks leading to up to my full term, I had experienced increasingly intense Braxton-Hicks 'practice contractions' - annoying for me for the discomfort involved, stressful for Kishore who was on tenterhooks with the false alarms, on constant alert for when we would actually need to leave home for the hospital.

Having become a Hypnobirthing student and advocate from my first pregnancy with Lara, and thus being equipped with
(1) a lack of fear about childbirth in general and
(2) a basic understanding of how all the sensations I would experience fit into the big picture of my body bringing our baby closer to us,
I was less stressed - content to wait for the baby to be "fully cooked" and come out whenever he was ready... though I wouldn't have minded at all if the cooking time ended sooner, rather than later.

With Lara, I had been somewhat 'forced' into an induced labour, even though she was not yet due, and that had resulted in a 5 DAY LABOUR, a Birth Story for another post, so I was not inclined to chemically induce labour, even though I was assured that for second time mothers, it would be 'much faster and easier'...

That morning, I had a hunch *maybe* that day was the day, because in contrast to previous weeks' sensations of tightening, pressure and even spasms that were concentrated in the front of my abdomen and occasionally shot through my sides and legs, I felt period - like cramping in my lower back which I had not felt before throughout the pregnancy.

It was about 8am in the morning then, and my 'surges' were still relatively mild ('surges' being Hypnobirthing - speak for 'contractions', designed to frame them with the more positive connotations needed to counteract common language in which childbirth is presented as something that is unequivocally painful and traumatic, instead of the miraculous, powerful and natural phenomenon it actually is).

I recall (masochistically?) entertaining the thought of opting NOT to have an epidural JUST TO SEE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE...

I figured this would be the last time I would be pregnant and so it would be my 'last chance' to experience 'drug free labour' which, apart from the health benefits for baby and mother, might be *interesting* in a way that people who are curious about what getting a tattoo and skydiving and bungee jumping are like, might find these *interesting*...even knowing there will be pain and risk involved...

Since I have tried tattoos and skydiving (unfortunately not being able to squeeze in bungee-jumping while my life was purely my own to risk at no dependents' possible detriment) a similar curiousity about a no-epidural labour was on my mind...

In the absence of other signs of the onset of labour (like 'bloody show' or my waters breaking), I wanted to wait until the surges were coming every few minutes before we actually left the house for the hospital, not wanting to be one of those couples who rushed in too early and had interminable waits for the next stage in unfamiliar, clinical surroundings and/or were made to go home in an anti-climatic manner.

I was even calm enough through my surges to have the presence of mind to wash and blowdry my hair, knowing if I did deliver soon I would not be allowed this luxury for a while.

Around 9am I asked Kishore to prep for Lara and himself to be dressed and breakfasted so we could head to hospital soon, while I sent messages to family members on both sides informing them 'today might be the day.'

My mother, who had briefly served as a midwife before going back into general nursing and then becoming a nursing tutor, prophetically stated that if what I was experiencing was true labour, "the baby would be out by noon".

The pace in which my surges grew closer together was surprisingly quicker than I expected; and while I asked Lara to "Hurry up with breakfast" with only a tad more urgency than we normally tell her to do, little Missy being prone to dilly-dallying at meals, I probably freaked Kishore out when about 930am onwards, I had to instinctively get on my hands and knees a couple of times, eyes closed, trying to practice the Hypnobirthing breathing techniques I had revised to help along the process of my body birthing our child into the world.

I recall him saying a bit frantically as I knelt at our front door, doubled over as he waited for Lara to complete something or other, "Lara hurry up! Can't you see Mama is in so much pain and you are taking your own sweet time??!!"

SIDETRACK: Just the night before, Lara and I had watched a TV show in which a woman gave birth with the usual histrionics accompanying pop culture depictions of labour.

Lara watched the scene, transfixed.

I told her, simply and matter-of-factly, "That's what Mama has to do to get baby brother out Lara, and that's what I had to do for you also."

In most of interactions with my daughter, I have sought to equip her to face life's situations with calmness, truthful common sense, and ideally a minimum of drama.

Those who know the dramatic diva that Lara can be will know that this is a work-in-progress, but her response to me that night showed me some of my 'teachings' were sinking in:

She looked at me unfazed, "But Mama," she said. "You won't cry and scream like that lady, right? You will be BRAVE and stay calm, right?"
#nopressure.

So as we prepped to leave for the hospital I did indeed attempt to be that role model of calm for her, asking her only for her help in keeping very quiet,
"Because Mama needs to focus on bringing baby brother out and she needs quiet to concentrate...".

As we left the house at 10.11am, I texted Kishore's sister Geetha to please prep to pick up Lara from the hospital, and was grateful Kishore had the foresight to ask our gynae to prepare a letter for Geetha to show any police roadblocks between my in-laws' home in Subang Jaya and the hospital in Bangsar, this all happening under the Movement Control Order (MCO).

To Lara's credit, in the journey over to the hospital, she - probably sensing the gravity of the situation, sat very quietly in her seat at the back, and the silence was punctuated only by my occasional deep intakes of breath and some variation of my Ohmmm-like moans when the sensations were at their height.

By the time we got to Pantai Hospital at around 10.30am, my surges were strong enough I requested a wheelchair to assist me in getting to the labour ward, as I did not trust my own legs to support me... and Kishore would have to wait until Geetha had arrived to take Lara back to my in-laws' house before he himself could go up.

I slumped in the wheelchair and was wheeled up to the labour room with my eyes closed the whole time, trying to handle my surges.

I didn't even look up to see the attendant who pushed me... but did make the effort to thank him sincerely when he handed me over, with what seemed like a palpable sense of relief on his part, to the labour ward nurses.

The nurse attending me at Pantai was calm, steady and efficient. I answered some questions and changed into my labour gown while waiting for Kishore to come up, all the while managing the increasingly intense surges with my rusty Hypnobirthing breathing techniques.

By the time Kishore joined me at around 11am (I know these timings based on the timestamps of the 'WhatsApp live feed' of messages Kishore sent to his family), I was asking the nurse on duty, "How soon can I get an epidural??" thinking what crazy woman thought she could do this without drugs???!!!

The nurse checked my cervix dilation, I saw her bloodied glove indicating my mucous plug had dislodged, and she told me, "Well you are already at 7cm (which, for the uninitiated, is 70% of the way to the 10cm dilation needed for birthing), you are really doing well, if you made it this far without any drugs, if can you try and manage without it... I suspect within 2 hours or less you will deliver your baby and since it will take about that time for the anaesthesiologist to be called, epidural to be administered and kick in... it might all be for nothing... but of course the decision is completely up to you... "

So there I was, super torn, should I risk the sensations becoming worse... or risk the epidural becoming a waste?? And of course I was trying to decide this as my labour surges were coming at me stronger and stronger...

I was in such a dilemma...because as a 'recovering approval junkie' there was also a silly element of approval-seeking involved, ("The nurse thinks I can do this without drugs... maybe I CAN do this without drugs... Yay me!") mixed with that element of curiosity I mentioned earlier ("What if I actually CAN do this without drugs... plenty of other women have done it all over the world since time immemorial.. no big deal, how bad can it be...??") so then I thought I would use the financial aspect to be the 'tiebreaker' in my decision making...

I asked the nurse how much an epidural would cost and when she replied "Around MYR1.5k", I still remember Kishore's incredulous face as I asked the question, i.e."Seriously babe, you are gonna think about money right now? If you need the epidural TAKE IT, don't worry about the money!!!"... and while we are not rich by any stretch of the imagination, thankfully RM1.5k is not a quantum that made me swing towards a decision to "better save the money"...

So in the end, I guess my curiosity won out, and I turned down the epidural "just to see what it would be like and if I had it in me" (in addition of course to avoiding the side effects of any drugs introduced into my and the baby's body).

My labour occuring in the time of coronavirus, it was protocol for me to have a COVID19 test done, so the medical staff could apply the necessary precautions. I had heard from a friend Sharon Ruba that the test procedure was uncomfortable, so when the nurse came with the test kit as I was starting another surge, I asked, "Please can I just finish this surge before I do the test?" as I really didn't think I could multitask tackling multiple uncomfortable sensations in one go.

The COVID19 test involved what felt like a looong, skinny cotton bud being inserted into one nostril... I definitely felt more than a tickle as it went in and up, being told to take deep breaths by the nurse. Then she asked me to "Try to swallow" and I felt it go into my nasal cavities where I didn't think anything could go any further, but was proven wrong when she asked me to swallow again and the swab was probed even deeper. Then she warned me there would be some slight discomfort as she prepared to collect a sample... but at that point all I could think about was:

(i) I really don't have much of a choice
(ii) please let this be over before my next surge kicks in
(iii) if all the people breaking the MCO rules knew what it feels like to do this test maybe they won't put themselves at risk of the need to perform one...

In full disclosure as I was transferred into the actual delivery room at some point after 11am, another nurse offered me 'laughing gas' to ostensibly take some of the edge off... I took the self-operated breathing nozzle passed to me but don't recall it making any difference to my sensations..so didn't use it much as it seemed pretty pointless.

I recall some measure of relief when I heard my gynae Dr. Paul entering the room, greeting Kishore and me, and telling us it was going well and it wouldn't be long now and he would see us again shortly.

From my previous labour with Lara I knew the midwives pretty much take you 90% of the way through the labour and when the Dr is called in you are really at the home stretch, so was very relieved to hear his voice though knowing he would leave and come back later meant it wasn't quite over yet.

I do remember realising when I had crossed the Thinning and Opening Phase of labour to the Birthing Phase, by the change in sensations... it is still amazing to me that as the Hypnobirthing book mentioned, having this knowledge I was instinctively able to switch breathing techniques for the next stage of labour .

Was my opting against epidural the right choice for me?

Overall? Yes.

Don't get me wrong.

I *almost* regretted the decision several times during active labour... especially when I felt my body being taken over by an overwhelming compulsion to push that did not seem conscious and was accompanied by involuntary gutteral moans where I literally just thought to myself, "I surrender, God do with me what you will..." (super dramatic I know but VERY real at the time...).

I think I experienced 3-4 such natural explusive reflexes (?), rhythmically pushing the baby down the birth path, one of which was accompanied by what felt like a swoosh of water coming out of a hose with a diameter the size of a golf ball... this was when I realised my water had finally broken...

The nurses kept instructing me to do different things, to keep breathing, to move to my side, then to move to the middle, to raise my feet... and when I didn't comply, Kishore (who was with me throughout both my labours) tried to help them by repeating the instructions prefaced with "Sayang..." but I basically ignored all the intructions because I felt I had no capacity to direct any part of my body to do anything and someone else would have to physically manoeuvre that body part themselves.

When I heard Dr. Paul's voice again and the flurry of commotion surrounding his presence, I knew the time was close... and when I heard the nurse say to Kishore, "Sir, these are your gloves, for when you cut the baby's cord", it was music to my ears...

I'm very, VERY grateful Kiaen slid out after maybe the 4th of those involuntary pushes... the wave of RELIEF when he came out so quickly... it still boggles my mind that my mother was essentially right and as his birth time was 12.02pm, it was *only* about 1.5 hours between our arrival at the hospital and his arrival into the world.

Kiaen was placed on my chest for skin to skin bonding and remained there for a considerable time.

For our short stay in the hospital he would be with us in my maternity ward number C327... another trivially serendipitous sign for me because he was born on the 3rd (May) and our wedding anniversary is 27th (July).

I was discharged the following day 4th May at about 5.30pm, after I got an all clear on COVID19 and a paediatric surgeon did a small procedure on Kiaen to address a tongue-tie that would affect his breastfeeding latch... making the entire duration of our stay about 31 hours.

I have taken the time and effort to record all this down so that whenever life's challenges threaten to get me down I can remind myself, "Ignore the 97% failure probability, focus on the 3% success probability".

Also that the human condition is miraculous and it is such a privilege to experience it.

To our son Kiaen Aaryan, thank you for coming into our lives and choosing us as your parents.

Even though Papa and I are both zombies trying to settle into a night time feeding routine with you, I look forward to spending not only all future Mother's Days, but every day, with you and your Akka...

And last but not least, to my husband Kishore...without whom none of this would be possible - we did it sayang, I love you ❤️

Photo credit: Stayhome session with Samantha Yong Photography (http://samanthayong.com/)

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