eHomemakers Malaysia

17 July 2018 Each time I walked pass the room, the lady noticed me and smile. I responded the same. Today, the last day of my stay. I decided to go beyond a smile. This time, I walked into her room. Our eyes met, our smiles to each other. Her baby in an incubator. "Hi. I always hear your baby crying. Is she ok?" With sad eyes, she replied, "Likely because she is hungry. She is fasting." This was the  NEC  baby which I learned earlier from a nurse. Before I introduced myself to her, there were days I kept hearing this voice which appeared to sound these words  "there,there, there, there..." whenever the baby cried. It can be day. It can be night time, even during sleeping hours.  To me, this represented how loving was that mother to her NEC afflicted baby We shared our babies' health condition. I shared that whenever I hear her baby's cry, I can feel her baby's pain and suffering "As mothers, we feel...

17/7/2018 12.40pm His steady eyes curiously looked upon his dripping blood not the vial. Then his eyes turned to me and back to the doctor again.  The same steady eyes. This time with no traces of fear. Curiosity was the theme instead. Today, the day of discharge. One month has passed. Together as mother and son, we have experienced so much. Earlier before the blood test, I was praying and singing to God. To heal Patrick. To reduce his jaundice. To strengthen his liver and so forth. I often so do during my hospital stay.  This time I added one more request - to heal his body from fears of blood extraction, insertion of tube. I would focus on each body parts I could think of during the moment, to request God to heal him so that he would no longer be traumatised. Then, it was time for his blood test. Patrick reacted when he realised that he was in that dreaded room. I tried to calm him, explained that the doctors we...

Baby Ibrahim. He was one of the reasons why I am writing these series of articles on my journey with Patrick. I cannot remember when I met him. I was in the pantry with Patrick when a lady approached me to have a small friendly conversation. She noticed my son's jaundiced skin. She inquired. With a sudden sparkle in her eyes, she asked me whether I could talk to one lady from Indonesia. She said that her sister-in-law stayed in a two bedded ward. On the next bed was an Indonesian lady with her baby boy. She understood that the lady's baby boy has a liver disease. He might be having the same condition as my son. This lady stared at my face for a short while. She asked me whether I could visit that mother to give her some advice? That the Indonesian mother appeared so lost and confused. Nightly, she heard her crying. She also heard that the doctor strongly advised her to get her baby a liver transplant. I felt troubled by her sharing. So, I agreed t...

It's 4am, 13 July 2018. I woke up earlier due to my son's discomfort. With my rocking, he finally melted in my arms with bliss. In the silence of the early morning, I overheard the next room's baby cries. The baby had always been crying; I wondered why out of concern. It sounded to be in much discomfort and pain. The nurse came in to check on the bag that was attached to my son's tube. He had been on this ten to twelve hours milk marathon nightly. The nurse will come in to top up the milk whenever the milk finished in the bag. "I noticed the baby in the next room always crying. Is the baby having some kind of condition?" The constant baby crying I heard next door during my hospital stay Nurse replied, "the baby is fasting for seven days. How do I explain this? The baby has a condition medical condition called NEC." "NEC? Let me Google." My eyes were shocked as I read the words from Wikipedia. 'Ne...

12 July 2018 5.10pm Experienced drama earlier that caused me to have a panic attack. Patrick was sleeping next to me until he cried. I woke up, noticed a bit of blood stain on his clothing.  I checked both his ears. Sometimes he scratched his ears until it bled. His jaundice can cause him to have itchiness on his skin. Sometimes the itchiness can be unbearable until his scratches drew blood from his forehead, cheeks, ears. However, thankfully that it was not often that he scratched to this level.  Yet both his ears were cleaned. Part of his cheeks had slight blood stains. I was puzzled by the source of the blood until I noticed his nose was bleeding. Bleeding was at his nostril where the tube had been inserted. This was the first time that I saw blood coming from his nostril. Automatically, I jumped up from my bed and pressed the Emergency button. After the nurse came in and checked his nostril, she went to get a doctor. I de...

11 July 2018 11.40am Earlier I was in the pantry, preparing milk for my son. While my son was wailing and crying which I interpreted as "hurry up, mummy! Hungry!" In came a mother with her new-born. I called her Mummy A. She smiled to us while I returned her smile. I continued my attention to the milk preparation. "You should join Malaysian Idol." A dramatic pose of someone performing during a singing competition Startled, I turned to her. "You have a good voice. I always hear you sing." With slight embarrassment, I explained that it was for my son. That he was traumatised by the hospital experience. I wished for him to feel joyful and positive in spite of his environment. "Who likes to stay in the hospital? Even I find it's affecting me. There are also no radio and TV here. When I hear your voice, I feel good!" She inquired the time frame that I had my baby since marriage. I shared that I got married ...

7 July 2018 Patrick jaundice level was the same as last week which was at 229. However, his weight dropped from 5.4kg (Monday, 2/7/2018) to 5.3kg ( Thursday, 5/7/2018). The colours of his stools, on occasion was under "good" as in accordance to the stool chart and the doctor's assessment.  Baby Stool Colours Chart On a good note, his appetite during the day has increased. He appeared to be growing more active. His activeness went much higher than usual. So much so until I had to ask Dr. Ng on my son's hyperactivity. Dr Ng assessed that it was because his nutrition level had improved. This reflected in his activeness, which was a good sign. It was my mission impossible in trying to stop him from experiencing his trauma of re-insertion of his tube. It lasted for almost a week. My reflexes needed to be a lot faster than usual. Even when I am in a dazed mood especially after waking up from my sleep, I have to be fast in my reflexes. Despite the fa...