The 4th child cometh....

I woke up this morning knowing that I have several important things to do. Granny came by to pick up the children (Clarissa and Christa) to kindergarden early as I prepared to see Mommy at the hospital. I received a message that the doctor was going to rupture her membranes before 8 am. By the time I arrived, she was starting to feel the cramping pain within her abdomen coming every few minutes. I noticed that she was cringing as the uterus contracted wishing that the whole 'ordeal' would be over sooner the better.


I was reminded of the three previous episodes where she told me she felt like taking the epidural injection but did not manage to do so on time. This time she said she wanted to get on with the pain relief remedy. As I was seated besides her and doing whatever I could do to make her feel better (including the Glucose water, stroking her hair and lightly massaging her shoulder), I kept myself entertained by watching Jackie Chan Adventure cartoon followed by CNN Channel.

The staff nurse was pleasant enough to ask us whether Mommy needed anything else. Several nurses came in periodically to check on the her to ensure that her progress went on smoothly. The vaginal examinations were occassionally painful as their fingers swept and stretched the cervix when it was thinner.


Just slightly after 11 am, the Obstetrician was called in to rescue Mommy as the 'bearing-down' sensation and excruciating pain had become so unbearable. She wasn't going to stop pushing as she felt like defecating. She was carefully guided to push as the specialist observed the head protruding out of the perineum and finally slipping out completely within the next 20 seconds. The sight of blood and liquor did not trouble me as I have gotten used it during my internship days. Again she pushed harder as the baby's shoulder appeared followed by the trunk and the rest of the body. True enough, the baby is a girl! She was slightly blue as she had an umbulical cord around her neck and had passed a little bit of black coloured discharge (meconium). We heard a small whimper and within a few breathes, it changed into a light cry. I started reassuring her and she went on to sleep.


I thought this baby looks so much like Christa! She is different from Benedict who had his eyes wide open during birth. The baby kept her eyes closed for a few minutes. After the nurse cleared her airway with the suction device, she seemed quite comfortable in the incubator. She had her Hepatitis B and Vitamin K injection in her thighs making her uncomfortable for a minute.

Mommy was thanking the specialist profusely for the safe and problem-free birth of our 4th child. She definitely looked much better this time around and had enough energy to chat with me about the whole experience despite the Pethidine injection. All I could say was, the 3 important words which we do not say often enough even though we are very much in love with each other. It makes the difference to say it again a thousand times.

I stood admiring both daughter and mother as I passed the baby to Mommy for her first breastfeeding. Our 4th child cometh.....!!!

The 4th coming .....

It's been decided. Mommy will be getting herself admitted on the 19th November 2009 to prepare for "the 4th coming"! We do not know whether she would beat the Obstetrician to it as every delivery has been unique. Now, where is that book for baby names?

Showers in the alley

I had a pleasant return trip from Bangkok in an Airbus A320 flight last Tuesday. It was a surprise how I was again seated with the same team member when we came from Kuala Lumpur. After our lunch, we had in-flight entertainment by a little girl seated just in front. She was singing all the nursery rhymes while we were wondering how come not much has changed from our kiddy days.

Just as soon as the cabin crew swept by to collect the trays, there was a shower of clear liquid rushing in different directions. Just as I have suspected the girl's little brother was having his diapers changed. His mother was frantically trying to clean up the seats and the hair of adjacent passengers. Reminded me of Benedict when he was the same age. Funny, nobody thought about using a disinfectant?

The Celcom poser

Yesterday, I thought Grandma was kidding when she mentioned to me that she couldn't reach Grandpa while shopping at Midvalley Megamall. She was frantically searching for him as she had finished buying groceries from Carrefour and wanted to go home. At lunch time I tried calling Mom but she was not reacheable. I tried calling Grandma again and that couldn't work as well. I tried calling the customer service number of the telco network, Celcom and the 1-300 numbers and those didn't work as well. My clients called my office line to inform me that they have been trying to call me all morning and they couldn't get through. I missed the call Clarissa usually calls me in the evening.

I started wondering why I got the whole family to subscribe under one plan and one network. I don't take the lame excuse they gave on the the Star. You mean only this festive season everyone started using their cellular phones?

Looking forward to the Perodua 7 Seater

Mom and I have some difficulty getting Clarissa (6 yrs), Christa (4 yrs) and Benedict (2 yrs) into the car with our Domestic helper. It's more obvious when we have placed the toddler seat and 2 child booster seats. Come mid-November 2009, we will have another addition with the arrival of our new baby. This would mean we would have to get a 7-seater or travel in two cars.

I heard word from an friend that the Perodua MPV (currently called by its Perodua D46T codename) based on the Toyota Passo Sette will be launched in late October 2009. Maybe this would be a car we would look at!

Reasoning with children - possible or impossible?

I tried this new approach with Clarissa and Christa last night. We had a short discussion after dinner after which I had a 2 minute 'sharing'. Usually it would be quite difficult to get the elder girl (Clarissa) to get out of bed in the morning. She would also refuse to finish her milk as she 'hated' the taste of it after being exposed to 'adult' foods. After telling her the reasons why we wanted her to comply, she seemed to understand. Christa nodded her head in agreement just to rub salt into the wound.

It seemed to have worked as Clarissa was the first to get out of bed and the first to put on her shoes and head to the car. As usual, Christa would take the front seats and we had to move Clarissa back. She didn't throw up a fuss. Was it the reasoning which worked or the movie we had last night?

Malayan Tiger swimming for the kids!

There are days that you just feel lucky. We felt just that last weekend when the Malayan Tiger decided to take a dip into the pool as we were watching him. He was trying to attract our attention! Soon after he was satisfied with the cooling-off session that he came out totally drenched. Aren't you glad you behaved in the zoo, children?