Remembering the moment when....

I presume everybody knows I am a busy busy busy person. Regardless of my condition of being terribly heavy at the end of my trimester, carrying this huge belly everywhere I go, I still have a lot of things to do that refrained me from relaxing on the sofa with a cup of tea in my hand and watch my favourite movie. Oh no, no, no. Can't do that. If I did, then I would easily trigger the WW3. Have I not told you that C is my middlename? C for Chaos?

Well, a day before I unexpectedly gave birth to my tiny baby Muhammad Aiman, I was still climbing the stairs a the Business faculty, chasing several people that have influence on my future, trying to get their consent on a couple of things that need to be settled immediately. Come evening when most of the items in my Things To Do Today list have been attended to  (alhamdulillah!), I headed back to my room, planning to perform the Asr prayer there before I go home. That was the time I discovered my panties was covered with blood.  Oh! Panic! Panic! Panic! Must inform hubby. No, go to the hospital first. Oi! What about the children? Gosh, I've not prepared the baby's bag yet. Hey! There's a chewing gum under my shoes! @#*&%!!!!.........

If I could run, I would. If I could fly, that would be even better! 

At 7pm my husband took me to the hospital. After registration we were instructed to wait at the lobby while the staff allocate a room for me. While waiting, one by one, more pregnant ladies registered and waited with us. One of them already broke her water bag,  her sarong was all wet. Another lady was shaking at a corner for whatever reason I did not know. The lady who came in last was given priority, nurses saw baby's head already emerging. The situation at the waiting room was horrible to me. I say it was horrible because amidst the tense in the air, there I was sitting gaily like there was nothing to worry about!    

Why?

Because I did not feel any pain. I have no contractions. Masya-Allah! And I still believe the bloody panties was normal when a pregnant lady counted the number of stairs many times in a day. What more when the due date is still a long way to come. With confidence I told my husband that I am not going to give birth in the next 24 hours. I even persuaded him to take me home immediately. The blood was just a false alarm.

"No, you can't go home!" The doctor scolded me.  I turned sulky.

So I spent the night at the ward. It felt exactly like going on a vacation somewhere and staying in a hotel.  I ate, watched TV, read magazines and played with the air-conditioner remote control till I got bored and fell asleep.

Next morning when I woke up and wanted to perform Suboh prayer, I discovered more blood on the bed sheet. Called the nurse. She inspected me, went out and came back ten minutes later with three other nurses and prepared me for the labour room.

"You must be kidding me! I am not ready yet!" I grabbed the nurse's hand in surprise.

"Ready or not, here you go!" She smiled. 

An hour later, Muhammad Aiman was born......Alhamdulillah.

Here are the pics that my husband took when the baby came to the world.

He spent two days in the incubator because his lungs have not fully developed yet, which means he can't breathe on his own without support. Another five days in the infant nursery because he had prolonged jaundice due to his premature condition. He went home when he was a week old, greeted and welcomed by all the family members and relatives. Oh, so grand...!


p/s: I discovered later that the hospital admin had to call the wireman to repair the air-conditioner in the room that I stayed. It had not been working properly since I left the room.  *scratch head*

I can't help it....

I know this

has gone too much

Owh! Guilty I feel

But I can't do anything about it

I am sorry...

Can't help it

.......Too

Sleepy........

To write

Anything...

Laziness

ATTACKing me

Please forgive me

I am taking some time off....

z z z z z z z z  Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z

hrmm.... &&%*$&#&

*^&*%&$#%

sweet dreams everyone...

......see you later....

*^*&%&*$#$@@

Wassalam.

He has the best solution...

My husband has been listening with interest when I told him about my annoying waffles-smelling office. At one time he looked up to the ceiling as if thinking about something, at other times he would simply gaze at the floor. I can't decide whether he's concerned with my condition or the yummy waffles. When I've finished talking he looked at me with sparkling eyes and said,

"You have three options to solve your problem"

I got excited. Can't wait to hear what he's going to say.

"First option, you change your place of study. I propose you go to the library and study there."

"No, I can't do that. The air-conditioning is too cold for me I'll be shivering to death. On top of that, the library is too far away from my office." That's my reply. For a few seconds there was silence everywhere. He looked at me as if he wanted to swallow me alive.

"Then go for the second option" he slowly smiled.

"What's the second option?"

"You go straight to the person-in-charge or business owner at the student lounge and tell that person to stop making waffles immediately."

"Noooo...! I can't do that either! They must have signed an agreement or contract with the faculty that allows them to run their business there. I can't simply interrupt the business just because I can't stand the smell"

By now my lips have pouted.

"Then you have no choice but to go for the third solution."

"You'd better be serious this time!"

"I am serious!"

"Okay, what's the solution?"

He paused for a while before saying this...

"Wear a gas mask to office. I'll help you find and buy one"

I can't imagine how I would look wearing  gas mask....

Like an elephant, perhaps?

I was stunned to see him rolling on the bedroom floor, laughing hysterically. I didn't know what to say or how to react. I can't believe it!  Later my children came into the room and without knowing what happened, joined their father laughing and rolling on the floor! Owh! How could they do this to me? I turned sulky.

"Oh! No! Dad, now you're in big trouble!"  my son stared at me and kept updating my condition to his father.

"Don't worry, I know just how to reduce tonight's temperature"  the father patted his son (or partner in crime, I shall say) and instructed the children to go to their rooms.

My husband went out to a night market near our house and came back fifteen minutes later with a plastic bag full of yummy boiled sweet corn with butter. Oh well....*sigh*  He simply knows how to reduce hot temperature at night...

We finally made a deal. I'll go to office till end of this week only. Starting from next week, I'll work from home.

Yahoo!

In the mean time, I guess I'll have to keep covering my face with something (but definitely not a gas mask, please!) to avoid the smell.

Even the nicest thing could be annoying...

Just next to my office is the student lounge.

Previously, students came to this place to meet other fellow friends, or to do some revision, or to have short discussions on their on-going projects and assignments, or simply to kill time before the next class come.

But lately things have changed. I don't know when it happened, but now there's a counter set up to sell "bubble" drinks and something that smell like waffles (I have not checked it yet but I think it is waffles). So now and then there's this nice smell penetrating my room and got stuck in my nostrils. If I were not pregnant, the nice smell would have dragged me to the lounge to order one for myself (owh! Waffles with ice-cream toppings from A&W is soooooo yummy!!) But the issue here is, at this point of time, in this kind of situation, I can't stand the smell at all...It made me feel sick. I will puke! I can't go on and live like this!  Just suddenly this room is becoming too stuffy. It's torturing me slowly! I can't breathe! sob! sob! (Wow! look at me. What a drama queen I am!)

Picture from preventmorningsickness.com/

Maybe tonight I should tell my dearie hubby about my plan to work from home. I don't think he would agree, because from my previous pregnancy experience, work from home means sleeping in bed the first half of the day and fully attached to TV programmes in the second half. By the time he came back from work, I haven't even finished writing my name on a clean piece of paper. Lazy me!

But this time I am serious. I need to get out of this office and go somewhere else where the air is fresher. Like the smell of the nature. I could concentrate on my study better when I am away from this room (Yeah! Right!)

Really, I promise this time I will not neglect study.

As for now, all I can do is to keep telling myself that I am a strong person and I can face this tiny-miny smell-sickness issue and that it will be over soon, Insya-Allah.

Missing her dearly...

My husband received a phone call from a relative informing that an auntie of his was admitted to the hospital due to 'unexplained' complication in herself. When asked what sort of complication, he shrugged his shoulder and said, "She talked to herself non-stop".

So we hurriedly went to the hospital to visit her. That was at about 4.30pm and it was raining outside. When we reached the hospital, my husband dropped me off at the lobby and told me to wait for him inside while he find a parking space. There were many people who took shelter from the rain at the lobby. Voices of children crying can be heard amongst the conversations of adults. I proceeded to the elevator area and waited for my husband there.

I waited for about 15 minutes then. I understood it wasn't easy to find an empty space during visiting hours, especially on weekends. Three elevators busily transported commuters to their desired levels. As I watched the people nonchalantly, the elevator in the middle opened its door and people started flowing out. That was when I caught a glimpse of a person very familiar to me. When her eyes met mine, I was dumbfounded. Heat rushed to my face. I felt as if my heart stopped beating for some good few seconds before I struggled for air. She was still standing amongst other people in the elevator, looking at me, when the door closed again. The moment she completely disappeared, tears were falling down my cheek. I couldn't help myself from crying.

"What's wrong?" My husband touched my shoulder. He has just arrived from the parking lot.

"I saw my sister" I tried to hide my face from the public and also from my husband. I didn't want anyone to see me crying.

"Who?"

"Hafiza. I saw Hafiza just now. In the elevator." It was too strange for me to mention her name. As a matter of fact, it was also strange for my husband to hear her name coming out from my mouth. For a while he stood quietly in front of me, not knowing what to do. Later he took my hands and squeezed it gently.

"Let her go, dear. Allah loves her more than we do."

I wiped my redden face with a tissue he gave me, took a deep breath, looked up straight and tried to smile.

"Shall we go now?" I pulled my husband who was still staring at me. He nodded and led the way.

As I walked down the hallway, I didn't dare look at the faces of the people that passed in front of me. I was scared I would meet the familiar gaze again. Hafiza left us all four years ago in February. She was heavily 9 months pregnant when she passed away peacefully in my mother's arms. Until today, we never knew what was the cause of death. She went away with her unborn baby girl, never had the chance to say goodbye to all of us. She was an obedient daughter, my best sister, a faithful wife and a dedicated software engineer. I missed her so much that it hurts inside when I think of her.

May Allah bless her soul. Ameen.