Well, Al-Wyn too, shouldn't be due till third week of January and I was hoping to get him induced to be born on 14th January .... my birthday!!.........
A routine check-up ended up with me being hospitalised there and then at The Specialist Centre .... bleeding ... the cause!! I was administered with the epidural to induce the labour.
I was in the labour room with another lady. We were wondering who would be the first to deliver and it was she. "Congratulations! You've a baby girl!" said Dr Loh. "You may hold your little one." I heard the lady's sigh of relief! The ordeal was over. Both mother and child were then wheeled out of the room.
There was complete silence ..... then .... music filled the air ...."Joy to the world, the lord has come, let all receive his King ....." The X'mas carollers were rendering the Christmas hymns just outside the labour room!! All at once, tears were streaming down my cheeks! I felt miserable. I had been there since morning and dreaded the long hours! The carollers left ...... and it was not until 12.45am, 23rd December, that Al-Wyn arrived weighing 2.98kg! Considering being a month preterm, he was pretty heavy!
"Hey, why ain't I allowed to hold my baby?" I asked weakly, oblivious of the condition of my little one! After all, the other lady was allowed to hold hers! Dr Loh hesitated, then, gestured the nurse to bring my baby to me, so brief, I could register nothing but a monkey-like creature while he said "See ... it's a ku ku cheow (meaning penis)!" The nurses darted out of the room along with my poor boy ....
Outside the labour room, to my 15 yr old brother, my hubby explained, "See ... with the nurses scurrying like this, it must be a case of emergency ......" Little did he realize that it was his BABY he was commenting on!!
A visit to the nursery room, saw my pathetic newborn in the incubator with tubing stuffed into his nostrils! and a black patch over his eyes!! Unlike other mothers, I could not hold and breastfeed my boy!
I was discharged 2 days later, but my little darling remained at the hospital for a week! Relatives visited us and I became over sensitive when I caught them whispering. Call it the post-natal blues, I was indeed dejected. My hubby ain't bad looking and I, ahem! ahem! was pretty attractive, but how come our baby was so ....??! I soon discovered that being preterm, his yet to shed long coated hair contributed to the monkey-like look!!
Whatever, my precious one has flourished into a handsome HULK!!!
Happy Birthday, Son! I love you!!
