Hari Raya went on smoothly on Saturday 13th October with us visiting the seniors - parents & parents-in-law, 2 grandaunts (we had skipped another 2 grandaunts this year) & dear hub's grandmother - despite me having Braxton Hicks along the way. I was hoping that I won't be having any major contractions while visiting. We finally ended our visiting at 6pm. I hoped to visit my eldest aunt in Tampines on Sunday for her open house, after I knocked off work.
I didn't know why but I was in high spirits going to work on Sunday. I was early in fact. Maybe because I'm starting my leave on Wednesday 17th October. Despite having a few problems at work on Sunday (with a number of passengers losing their passport), I was somehow calm in handling the situation. I was not stressed. I believe it's the power of going on leave.
On Monday I was ready to hand over my pending work to my colleagues. Not that the pending job was my fault. I tried to get it done before I leave but somehow some people have to screw it up at the last minute. At 6pm, I left the office with a light heart. Tomorrow was my OFF day & then from Wednesday onwards I'm gonna rest, enjoy & prepare for my delivery, which could be anytime.
Wednesday - I prepared some dishes for dear hubby to bring to work. He & colleagues are going to lunch in. He brought Chicken Curry, Sambal Goreng & Sambal Goreng Pengantin. Woke up at 5.30am to heat up all the food before he left for work at 7am.
After taking a short rest, I cooked Mee Betawi as my sister-in-law would be visiting (Will post the recipe for Mee Betawi soon, though I don't have the pic to show how it looks like). By the time I was done, I was exhausted.
Dear hub & I waited for my sis-in-law to come, probably together with my parents-in-law & another sis-in-law as well. But... they never showed up. We waited until 10.30pm before hub gave his sis a call. Apparently they couldn't make it cos our dear niece was feeling cranky. Oh dear, all the food! It was too late to ask hub to send it over to our parents' place. Looks like I wouldn't be cooking tomorrow & Mee Betawi will be seen again in a few months' time.
On Thursday, I found that I couldn't get out of bed. My back was so hurt that I thought it would break in two. It hurt really bad that I cried. Thought I lay down for a while & waited for the pain to subside. I even called my mum in case I really couldn't get up the whole day. Mum volunteered to come but since she's in CCK I felt bad about troubling her. So I decided to call hub instead. Mum suspected it has to do with the baby. I thought I had overworked the day before cooking since morning.
I was fortunate to find the strength to at least get up & shower with the excruciating pain. I was in so much pain that I scolded 'Ufairah for insisiting that I sent her downstairs to wait for the school bus to come pick her up. She finally left for school crying.
Mum called again & asked me to go to the hospital. I decided to call my gynae first to check cos what if I'm not ready to give birth when I reached the hospital. My dear gynae asked me to come to the clinic first for him to assess. Hub rushed back, with the ready hospital bag in the vehicle. I was given priority to see my gynae, given the situation I was in.
My gynae informed me that I was already 3cm dilated! He said, "You are in labour my dear." And so we had to make our way to East Shore Hospital. Oh my, that was really fast. I couldn't believe that I was going to give birth on the 18th of October.
I kept praying that this would be smooth & fast one. I hope the baby would be delivered in 3 hours. (Yeah, fat chance!) Even at 4pm the baby was still not ready. By the time my gynae came over to the hospital (after he had closed the clinic), I was still not ready to give birth, that I decided to expedite the process. In my head I just wanted to get it done & over with, which means that after making this decision I would have to bear all the pain of pushing.
Ya Allah, I thought.. Just give me the strength. Alhamdulillah, my pushing & breathing was smooth & at 6.20pm Syed Ghazi was born. I was so relieved.
As I was not pretty sure if this was gonna be my last pregnancy, I have actually enjoyed the labour part. This time I was more prepared & calm des[ite having a fever during labour & excessive bleeding after giving birth. Ghazi apparently turned blue for a while & he had to be sent to the nursery first to clean & put in the warmer. I had to stay behind due to the bleeding. Half an hour later I was sent to the ward.
By the time hub had to leave the hospital, we (or I) still haven't held Ghazi yet. According to the ward nurse, he had to continue to stay in the warmer as he was still bluish. So I had to wait till tomorrow then.
At night I couldn't sleep well, kept waking up every hour. At 5am when the nurses came to check the blood pressure & temperature, they discovered that I had a high fever. My temperature was 38.9C. The nurses said it could be due to the bleeding. If my fever continued, I couldn't be discharged.
In the morning, hub came over with the kids. I had felt guilty about scolding 'Ufairah before she left for school the day before that I asked hub to let her skipped school today. She was delighted to see her new baby brother but Zinedine tried to stay away. Guessed this will take time.
My temperature finally came down on Saturday 20th October & both me & baby can be discharged together. Lucky for Ghazi that the jaundice hadn't shown yet.
On Wednesday when we brought Ghazi for a check-up, it was discovered that his jaundice level had shot up to 306, which meant that he had to be put under photo therapy. My heart sank that I had to leave him in the hospital. I had a choice to either put him back in East Shore or KKH. After much thought I decided to put him in East Shore for 2 days. At least it's nearer for us to visit him.
On Thursday the jaundice level came down to 188. We hoped it would go down even more tomorrow so he can be discharged. His skin was so dry from the photo therapy session but more importantly the jaundice came down.
On Friday I waited anxiously for the call. At 10.30am the hospital called & asked me to fetch Ghazi. His jaundice has gone down to 142 but we still have to continue to sun him. I made my way there with Mum & Zinedine. Dad will fetch us from the hospital later. Hub can only leave work in the afternoon, as he's got training in the morning. It was a relief to bring Ghazi back home & he slept through 6 hours straight from his last feeding time. Since the weather is not so permitting I can only sun him once a day - either in the morning or evening.
On Saturday, got a visit from dearest Effa & family. Although it was a short visit, I appreciate the time you spared. I felt like we haven't finished talking. Perhaps we'll meet & talk again on another occassion.
On Sunday, hub's ex-collegues from the airport & my colleagues came over. Since I'm not so much of a photo/picture person, I didn't take any pictures from their visit.
I truly appreciate all the people who came over to visit. Surprisingly when we are letting go of this house by end of this year, we are now being visited by many people. I hope when we move to the new house, friends will continue to come insya'allah.
Last but not least here are pics of the kids during Hari Raya & the new guy in the house.
Brother Zinedine & sister 'Ufairah
Ummi with baby Ghazi
