By the way, she turned 8 months yesterday!
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| Hannah at 7 months |
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Weaning Hannah - the basics
After the last blog by Mr Knightrider-wannabe, this one is going to take a 180-degree turn and move into...
... our kitchen.
By popular demand, we are responding to a very common query by friends and strangers alike when they see Hannah: "What do you feed her?"
In this age where we are drummed with the concept of 'you are what you eat', most assume that Hannah's fair and rosy complexion must be due to a secret ingredient mixed into her daily feeds. Never mind that Hannah is half an English rose, and naturally looks different from the typical Malaysian baby.
So, you have been warned. If you have absolutely no interest in what goes into a baby's mouth, and think that this mother is slightly looney to post pictures of common kitchen appliances, then surf on to another website.
We have been careful to follow official recommendations in weaning our daughter. The reason is simple. Not only has Hannah inherited half of Daddy's looks, she has also inherited his family history of allergies - food allergies, hay fever, asthma, skin allergies etc. So if you wonder why we have been so fussy with her food choices, then wonder no more. We simply want Hannah to have the best start in life possible.
Making baby food is simple and easy. We've used this over and over again:
Baby food jars are notoriously expensive and contain high amounts of preservatives that can't be too good for a baby's young tummy. We've taken to preparing our own food , storing it in ice cubes (one cube = one ounce) and storing it in our freezer. When required, we take out one to two cubes of fruit/vegetable, mix it with two cubes of expressed milk, a small amount of cereal/rice/oats and ta daa, we have one healthy, tasty baby meal ready.
Doesn't that take up a lot of time?
Not really. Writing this blog is probably more time consuming. Weekends are the best time to prepare the food cubes. Or in my case, any day when I am post-call.
In fact, looking at the kaleidoscope of colours in the freezer is pretty rewarding. Let's see, we have: Sweet potato, carrots, green peas, mango, apples, pears, pumpkin, bannanas, plums and avocado in view.
... our kitchen.
By popular demand, we are responding to a very common query by friends and strangers alike when they see Hannah: "What do you feed her?"
In this age where we are drummed with the concept of 'you are what you eat', most assume that Hannah's fair and rosy complexion must be due to a secret ingredient mixed into her daily feeds. Never mind that Hannah is half an English rose, and naturally looks different from the typical Malaysian baby.
So, you have been warned. If you have absolutely no interest in what goes into a baby's mouth, and think that this mother is slightly looney to post pictures of common kitchen appliances, then surf on to another website.
We have been careful to follow official recommendations in weaning our daughter. The reason is simple. Not only has Hannah inherited half of Daddy's looks, she has also inherited his family history of allergies - food allergies, hay fever, asthma, skin allergies etc. So if you wonder why we have been so fussy with her food choices, then wonder no more. We simply want Hannah to have the best start in life possible.
Making baby food is simple and easy. We've used this over and over again:
Baby food jars are notoriously expensive and contain high amounts of preservatives that can't be too good for a baby's young tummy. We've taken to preparing our own food , storing it in ice cubes (one cube = one ounce) and storing it in our freezer. When required, we take out one to two cubes of fruit/vegetable, mix it with two cubes of expressed milk, a small amount of cereal/rice/oats and ta daa, we have one healthy, tasty baby meal ready.
Doesn't that take up a lot of time?
Not really. Writing this blog is probably more time consuming. Weekends are the best time to prepare the food cubes. Or in my case, any day when I am post-call.
In fact, looking at the kaleidoscope of colours in the freezer is pretty rewarding. Let's see, we have: Sweet potato, carrots, green peas, mango, apples, pears, pumpkin, bannanas, plums and avocado in view.
But, what if you travel?
These frozen food cubes travel surprisingly well. We've brought them to Port Dickson, and as far as Penang. I suppose if you're used to handling frozen / chilled expressed milk, this is no different.
If fact, since Hannah loves to eat with the family, we have made it a habit to bring her food along when we go out for simple meals. Never mind that she gets comments like "Yucks, what's that green stuff she's eating?". She laps it all up and even asks for more at times!
It is beyond the scope of this blog to talk about what and when to feed your baby. Here are some sites to check out if you'd like to know more about recommended feeding schedules and baby food recipes that are tried and tested:
http://askdrsears.com/html/3/T030100.asp
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
For a more local perspective, check this helpful book :
"When and What to Feed My Baby" by Mrs. Gill
Cooking for Hannah has been a joy. It has also been a way for us to reclaim some territory (the kitchen) that we've lost to Po Po since she moved in.
Our culinary skills must be of a decent standard. After all, the proof is in the pudding:
Have we answered your question?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The 
of the Proton SAGA
I am relieved to finally be able to write this blog. That's because I acually have a Proton SAGA to speak about, as opposed to one supposedly ordered but not materialised.
So what is a Proton SAGA?
It's a car. Chris decided 5 years of Malaysian public transport was enough, and we came to the conclusion we could spare enough money to get a second car (Cindy depends on her car to get to work in Klang every day - approximately a 25km journey one way). We chose Proton because, being a local company, their cars are cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. We chose the SAGA because it was the cheapest! It also has a 1.3 litre engine, so it isn't going to guzzle petrol.
So Proton make cheap cars... but are they any good?
Well, Proton (like other developing-country car manufacturers - think Daewoo, Korea) have cunningly made a living out of rebadging someone else's cars. Namely Mitsubishi. Now they DO make their own models. And did you know Proton actually owns that marvellous British automotive company 'Lotus'? Anyway, despite having a range of brand new models, they still get away with rebadging increasingly old Mitsubishis.
Ok, so what exactly is...or was... the Proton SAGA?
It is a 1983 Mitsubishi Lancer (yep, almost as old as me! Well, almost...). A fine car in it's day. And still fit for the roads today.
Nice. And why do you call this blog the "Saga" of the proton SAGA?
Well, that is what I'm getting to. You see, after some deliberation, Cindy and I decided to settle for the Proton SAGA. We found a dealer just round the corner from where we stay - very convenient, so we were feeling good. The salesman was helpful and seemed professional. All was looking good.
Then we wondered if these salesmen couldn't offer a bit of an incentive to buy their cars. So we asked around and managed to squeeze a meager discount out of a couple of salesmen. We reasoned that the car was already cheap, so we couldn't expect much discount anyway, yet it was still a bit disappointing. We went back to the first guy that we liked and asked him what he could do. He laughed (evil cackle?!) and assured us he could "do better than that." Thus, buoyed up with confidence we went to see him again.
This time, we went armed with credit card and cheque book. We felt we could just about pay for the car in cash and avoid any more bank loans (both of us really dislike loans except when absolutely necessary). Well, maybe it was a rush of euphoria at finally getting my own set of wheels, but we did a silly thing. We wrote a cheque for the full amount and went home, expecting a car in less than 2 weeks time.
Later we reflected on our situation. We paid a LARGE sum of money and went home with nothing! Not even a receipt, since their finance office was closed by the time we made the payment. What were we thinking?
The next day Chris got a faxed copy of the receipt. A few days later, feeling increasingly uneasy, we called our friendly salesman to find out when the car was coming. We were told the colour we wanted was not in stock. Could take two weeks more. Maybe three. Can't promise anything.
Gulp. Money paid. No car. What could we do?
When I got home that day, my Father-in-law thrust the newspaper in my face. There was a new ad from Proton. They were promoting the Proton SAGA in celebration of Malaysia's 50 years of independence...with a 25% discount. That was it. I suddenly felt completely cheated - although I really only had myself to blame for being so naive.
After much deliberation of our options (including going straight to Proton HQ to beg for mercy!!!), my Father-in-law agreed to see our salesman the next day. Well, he was also very unsure of how to approach this issue. So he prayed. Of course, he didn't want to get nasty and he hoped the salesman would be reasonable. He asked our Heavenly Father to make the way smooth for a decent resolution. He was an example to me since I was hardly able to sleep due to the issue, let alone commit it in prayer to God.
And what was the resolution?
My Father-in-law first asked for the original receipt (of which we only had a faxed copy prior to this) and then - Praise the LORD - the salesman himself said "oh, and by the way uncle Proton is now offering a discount on the SAGA, so we will be issuing you a refund for the difference once the car is registered." That's right - because he couldn't get his hands on a car earlier, he hadn't registered it so he still had the money. By the time he would get a car, the new price would be in effect!
I called him that evening to tell him we were willing to change our colour preference - if the offer was for a limited time, we might have missed it by the time he found our first choice. We went for black. Sporty, yes. Sleek, yes. But hot in a country like Malaysia. But I figured with the savings from the discount we could invest in a bit of window tinting to keep the heat down.
It took another week after that phone call to get this:
of the Proton SAGAI am relieved to finally be able to write this blog. That's because I acually have a Proton SAGA to speak about, as opposed to one supposedly ordered but not materialised.
So what is a Proton SAGA?
It's a car. Chris decided 5 years of Malaysian public transport was enough, and we came to the conclusion we could spare enough money to get a second car (Cindy depends on her car to get to work in Klang every day - approximately a 25km journey one way). We chose Proton because, being a local company, their cars are cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. We chose the SAGA because it was the cheapest! It also has a 1.3 litre engine, so it isn't going to guzzle petrol.
So Proton make cheap cars... but are they any good?
Well, Proton (like other developing-country car manufacturers - think Daewoo, Korea) have cunningly made a living out of rebadging someone else's cars. Namely Mitsubishi. Now they DO make their own models. And did you know Proton actually owns that marvellous British automotive company 'Lotus'? Anyway, despite having a range of brand new models, they still get away with rebadging increasingly old Mitsubishis.
Ok, so what exactly is...or was... the Proton SAGA?
It is a 1983 Mitsubishi Lancer (yep, almost as old as me! Well, almost...). A fine car in it's day. And still fit for the roads today.
Nice. And why do you call this blog the "Saga" of the proton SAGA?
Well, that is what I'm getting to. You see, after some deliberation, Cindy and I decided to settle for the Proton SAGA. We found a dealer just round the corner from where we stay - very convenient, so we were feeling good. The salesman was helpful and seemed professional. All was looking good.
Then we wondered if these salesmen couldn't offer a bit of an incentive to buy their cars. So we asked around and managed to squeeze a meager discount out of a couple of salesmen. We reasoned that the car was already cheap, so we couldn't expect much discount anyway, yet it was still a bit disappointing. We went back to the first guy that we liked and asked him what he could do. He laughed (evil cackle?!) and assured us he could "do better than that." Thus, buoyed up with confidence we went to see him again.
This time, we went armed with credit card and cheque book. We felt we could just about pay for the car in cash and avoid any more bank loans (both of us really dislike loans except when absolutely necessary). Well, maybe it was a rush of euphoria at finally getting my own set of wheels, but we did a silly thing. We wrote a cheque for the full amount and went home, expecting a car in less than 2 weeks time.
Later we reflected on our situation. We paid a LARGE sum of money and went home with nothing! Not even a receipt, since their finance office was closed by the time we made the payment. What were we thinking?
The next day Chris got a faxed copy of the receipt. A few days later, feeling increasingly uneasy, we called our friendly salesman to find out when the car was coming. We were told the colour we wanted was not in stock. Could take two weeks more. Maybe three. Can't promise anything.
Gulp. Money paid. No car. What could we do?
When I got home that day, my Father-in-law thrust the newspaper in my face. There was a new ad from Proton. They were promoting the Proton SAGA in celebration of Malaysia's 50 years of independence...with a 25% discount. That was it. I suddenly felt completely cheated - although I really only had myself to blame for being so naive.
After much deliberation of our options (including going straight to Proton HQ to beg for mercy!!!), my Father-in-law agreed to see our salesman the next day. Well, he was also very unsure of how to approach this issue. So he prayed. Of course, he didn't want to get nasty and he hoped the salesman would be reasonable. He asked our Heavenly Father to make the way smooth for a decent resolution. He was an example to me since I was hardly able to sleep due to the issue, let alone commit it in prayer to God.
And what was the resolution?
My Father-in-law first asked for the original receipt (of which we only had a faxed copy prior to this) and then - Praise the LORD - the salesman himself said "oh, and by the way uncle Proton is now offering a discount on the SAGA, so we will be issuing you a refund for the difference once the car is registered." That's right - because he couldn't get his hands on a car earlier, he hadn't registered it so he still had the money. By the time he would get a car, the new price would be in effect!
I called him that evening to tell him we were willing to change our colour preference - if the offer was for a limited time, we might have missed it by the time he found our first choice. We went for black. Sporty, yes. Sleek, yes. But hot in a country like Malaysia. But I figured with the savings from the discount we could invest in a bit of window tinting to keep the heat down.
It took another week after that phone call to get this:
Monday, March 12, 2007
The "A" List
Chinese New Year has come and gone, so why are we still so busy?
Each weekend seems packed - either being occupied with work-related activities or meeting up with relatives near and far. Our plans next weekend have been changed and changed again, and still remains uncertain.
Gone are the days when our ideal weekend consisted of a trip to the local supermarket, a leisurely home-cooked meal and a movie on DVD, all in the comfort of our apartment. Our social life? Practically non-existent, but it suited us fine.
Suddenly, as parents of Hannah, our status has catapulted. We now find ourselves well within the "Celebrities' A List", with invitations to functions pouring in.
We find it pretty unnerving, but Hannah has taken it all in her stride. In fact, she seems to thrive on all the attention and adoration. The little social animal somehow manages to work her way through the crowd, laughing, squealing and charming everyone's socks off.
After a hard day's work, she can always look forward to a little R & R at home...
And if a nice warm bath doesn't do the trick, then Hannah can always depend on her parents to soothe any ruffled feathers (read: overstimulation resulting in excessive night time grumpiness).
That's what parents are for.
Each weekend seems packed - either being occupied with work-related activities or meeting up with relatives near and far. Our plans next weekend have been changed and changed again, and still remains uncertain.
Gone are the days when our ideal weekend consisted of a trip to the local supermarket, a leisurely home-cooked meal and a movie on DVD, all in the comfort of our apartment. Our social life? Practically non-existent, but it suited us fine.
Suddenly, as parents of Hannah, our status has catapulted. We now find ourselves well within the "Celebrities' A List", with invitations to functions pouring in.
We find it pretty unnerving, but Hannah has taken it all in her stride. In fact, she seems to thrive on all the attention and adoration. The little social animal somehow manages to work her way through the crowd, laughing, squealing and charming everyone's socks off.
After a hard day's work, she can always look forward to a little R & R at home...
And if a nice warm bath doesn't do the trick, then Hannah can always depend on her parents to soothe any ruffled feathers (read: overstimulation resulting in excessive night time grumpiness).
That's what parents are for.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The 15 Days of Chinese New Year
It has been a marathon of festivities (and sales) in this country. First it was the Muslim Hari Raya and Hindu Deepavali in October, then it was Christmas in December and now it is the Chinese New Year!
Surprisingly, I often get asked if I celebrate Chinese New Year, as though being a Christian (or married to a Caucasion) makes me any less Chinese. However, this confusion can be explained by the simple fact that most other major festivals in this country are closely linked to religion. We can probably draw a parallel to the celebration of Christmas in the UK - CNY is more of a traditional celebration of ethnic Chinese all over the world, with a cultural rather than religious significance.
In fact, so much of the superstitious and religious practices of the festivities have been omitted in our own family that substantial research had to go into this blog!
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year is based on the Lunar calendar. Celebrations start on the first day of the first month of the lunar year, and concludes on the 15th day, also called Lantern Festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Yet, perhaps the most important day of the celebrations actually falls on the eve of the Chinese New Year:
The eve of CNY, also known as Chu xi, is marked by the all important Reunion Dinner. The meal is usually held in the home of the patriach, or the most senior member of the extended family. Although I have fond memories of CNY past where families of all 8 uncles and aunties used to gather under the roof of my paternal grandfather's house, we had a far more relaxing time in our small KL apartment with close family members.
Surprisingly, I often get asked if I celebrate Chinese New Year, as though being a Christian (or married to a Caucasion) makes me any less Chinese. However, this confusion can be explained by the simple fact that most other major festivals in this country are closely linked to religion. We can probably draw a parallel to the celebration of Christmas in the UK - CNY is more of a traditional celebration of ethnic Chinese all over the world, with a cultural rather than religious significance.
In fact, so much of the superstitious and religious practices of the festivities have been omitted in our own family that substantial research had to go into this blog!
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year is based on the Lunar calendar. Celebrations start on the first day of the first month of the lunar year, and concludes on the 15th day, also called Lantern Festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Yet, perhaps the most important day of the celebrations actually falls on the eve of the Chinese New Year:
The eve of CNY, also known as Chu xi, is marked by the all important Reunion Dinner. The meal is usually held in the home of the patriach, or the most senior member of the extended family. Although I have fond memories of CNY past where families of all 8 uncles and aunties used to gather under the roof of my paternal grandfather's house, we had a far more relaxing time in our small KL apartment with close family members.
Day 1 Buddhists typically abstain from meat on the first day of CNY. Most households will also welcome deities at the stroke of midnight, particularly the God of Prosperity. For our family however, it was church as usual. All the children were decked out in their CNY finery, Chinese or not!
Red packets, or ang pows, are distributed by married adults throughout the 15 day celebrations to children and unmarried adults. Although the original intention was to "suppress or put down the evil spirits" (a homonym), red packets containing money of various denominations are now given, well, just to keep the children happy!
Not to be left behind, Hannah could barely wait to collect her first angpow and decided to descend on her sleepy grandparents first thing on CNY morning. Hannah was later spotted comparing angpows with the children in church...
Day Two Traditionally, married women had little opportunity to visit their birth families. On this day however, married couples return to their wife's family homes to visit her parents.
Day Three and Four are considered inappropriate days to visit relatives for different reasons (more homonyms). Yet for our family, we took advantage of the public holidays and did more visiting. We managed to visit all the families with babies and made endless comparisons!
Day Five is Po Woo, where families traditionally stay at home to welcome the god of wealth. Businessmen often start work in this day accompanied by a display of firecrackers to symbolise a good start to the new year for their businesses.
Day Seven is considered a birthday for everyone, or the 'common man's birthday'. People often gather together for meals including 'Yu Sheng', best described as a tossed salad with many commercial variants.
Day Eight is a day of special significance for the Hokkiens, who may have another family reunion dinner (we didn't) and pray to the Tian Gong, the Jade Emperor (at the stroke of midnight of Day Nine).
And let's just fast forward to
Day Fifteen, called Chap Goh Mei in the Hokkien dialect. While some countries may celebrate it as a Lantern Festival, we have a rather unique practice of throwing fruits in the sea. More specifically, singles are encouraged to throw mandarin oranges into the sea in an attempt to find their lifetime partners (hence the alternate name ' Chinese Valentine's Day).
However, in practical terms, all children consider this the final day to reap in financial gains for the year, i.e. ang pows.
Day Fifteen, called Chap Goh Mei in the Hokkien dialect. While some countries may celebrate it as a Lantern Festival, we have a rather unique practice of throwing fruits in the sea. More specifically, singles are encouraged to throw mandarin oranges into the sea in an attempt to find their lifetime partners (hence the alternate name ' Chinese Valentine's Day).
However, in practical terms, all children consider this the final day to reap in financial gains for the year, i.e. ang pows.
There are endless superstitions related to Chinese New Year - avoiding sharp objects and not sweeping the floor on the first day, eating various food with homonyms for all things good and prosperous, opening every door and window at the stroke of midnight to usher in the god of wealth and the new year, expelling the old, etc.
If your curiosity has been piqued, you can find more information on these sites:
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
More Milestones
We are now well into the 2nd half of the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations, so really, a CNY blog should be in order. For the uninitiated, CNY is a 15-day celebration but more about that another time.
Instead, while scanning through Hannah's library of pictures, we could not help but post these...
Well, we knew from previous pictures that Hannah has already mastered the art of sitting up unsupported.
Unfortunately, she doesn't quite like being on her tummy and hasn't quite caught on to crawling.
What Hannah DOES like however, is sitting on her potty! Changing diapers is no longer an unpleasant affair.
Hannah has another sophisticated looking potty that resembles an adult toilet, but this one-ringgit (15 pence) potty bought from the local morning market has been an obvious favourite.
"So, she hasn't crawled yet?"
Thankfully, this proud Mummy can tell her friends that her 6-month-plus baby likes standing too much to spend time on her tummy. Here's the evidence!
Next up: All you wanted to know about CNY
Monday, February 19, 2007
Down Memory Lane
With the latest batch of mango puree safely tucked away in the freezer and little Hannah fast asleep, it's time for a little catching up on the blog front!
In response to a comment from a faithful reader, here's a quick blog of our weekend getaway many weeks ago in the "Pearl of the Orient", Penang.
For many reasons, Penang holds a special place in our hearts - Cindy completed her medical degree and picked up more Hokkien in those 2 years than in her entire life; Chris landed his first job in Malaysia teaching English in nearby Sungai Petani; we returned to the island to spend part of our honeymoon (with family in tow!) and who can ever forget the glorious food Penang is renowned for?
Earlier this month, Chris was sent to Penang for a teaching assignment. We felt this was an excellent opportunity to take a break from KL life, meet up with old friends and of course, recruit more members into Hannah's Fan Club.
Hannah quickly recruited most of our ex-caregroup members from church, including potential babysitters. Very handy indeed!
Much of the weekend was spent in the hotel room, since Chris was in the classroom most of the day. Anyone familiar with Penang will know how precarious driving can be with 'skilled' motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic effortlessly.
Thankfully, Hannah took to her hotel cot well and seemed happy to nap and play as usual, allowing Mummy precious time to watch movies on cable TV and simply laze in bed.
Kids grow at an amazing rate.
We last saw this lanky toddler over a year ago and she was a tiny bundle sleeping in her cradle. Either she has an amazing memory, or she just couldn't care less, this young lady instantly flopped on Chris and took the bottle in a ziffy, having just 'met' him minutes ago.
And yes, Chris wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with that right leg that kept popping up onto the table.
In short, we spent many hours in the car, many more in the hotel room, and several more meeting up with old friends and savouring Penang food. A lovely break nonetheless.
As for Hannah, we will never know what memories she has of this trip, but at least she seems to recognise where home is. Tired out after the long car rides, Hannah flops into a most unnatural position and falls into a deep sleep on her parents' bed.
Home Sweet Home
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Old Pics
We finally re-uploaded the photos for the previous blog. Scroll down if you have a moment or two, and reasure us that we haven't just wasted 20 minutes :-)
Oh, and Chris's most recent sermon has been added to the right-hand column. It is entitled "Getting Right with God." If you want to listen, click on the link to get options for either downloading or streaming online.
Oh, and Chris's most recent sermon has been added to the right-hand column. It is entitled "Getting Right with God." If you want to listen, click on the link to get options for either downloading or streaming online.
Monday, February 12, 2007
New Pics
Not sure what happened to the last set of photos...
But you can see a few snaps from our recent weekend in Penang. Click on Hannah below:
But you can see a few snaps from our recent weekend in Penang. Click on Hannah below:
Monday, January 29, 2007
Our weekend
On Monday morning, we often get asked about what we did over the weekend. A simple question, but a little embarrassing to answer since we hardly ever do anything more than grocery shopping. With little Hannah's arrival, we have more excuse to simply vegetate at home. After all, long outings pose a logistic difficulty and unlike certain countries, we do not have baby-friendly cinemas here!
Ah, but the last weekend saw us in an unusual flurry of activity.
Firstly, Hannah's Gong Gong and Po Po had gone home to Port Dickson, so we were left with a baby who had to be constantly carried and entertained. How the two old folks keep up with her, I don't know.
Next, our apartment had marked the weekend as a time for "gotong-royong" - Malay for a joint clean-up exercise by the community, that is, the residents of the apartment complex.
However, we weren't quite going to empty out store rooms or dig up weeds. Instead, we were going to paint the stairwells of the entire complex! All in the name of saving a few thousand Ringgits and, erm, spending some quality time together?
There were a few snags though - not everyone from the the various units volunteered, although you can be sure that Chris did his fair share of work.
Most who DID volunteer were unequalled in their enthusiasm, but unfortunately had just as much experience as Chris (none). The first stairwell took a whole day to paint, and cleaning up took almost as long as the painting (much to the chagrin of our caretaker)!
And of course, you have SOME residents who just look cute and well, LOOK.
Thankfully, the second day progressed much quicker - we doubled our results and created half the mess. By early Sunday evening, we had to dump our brushes early and prepare for our next engagement...
a Hindu wedding
Hindu weddings are often lavish affairs with hundreds if not thousands of guests. This was held in a community hall of sorts with an elaborate set-up on stage. The bride and groom were seated on ornate chairs (much like a throne) where they spent a good part of the first couple of hours performing prayers with a Hindu priest and musicians in attendance.
At the end of the ceremony, guests formed a steady procession, going up the stage to personally congratulate the new bride and groom. Otherwise, how would they ever know who came for the wedding? I reckon all they saw were a sea of faces in bright garments.
There they are, in all their wedding finery.
I suppose the groom can't help being bored. After all, half the guests were like us - his wife's friends who he had never met in his life. The other half were mostly his guests, including distant relatives he had never met in his life either! After going through a lengthy prayer ceremony, shaking a few hundred hands and desperately wanting dinner, he must have wished the camera man would quickly get on with it.
Well, congratulations Nesa & Ganesh!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Mum Mum?
"Next to structuring feeds and sleeptime, weaning is the most emotive subject in parenting"
Can't remember who said that, but that comment stuck and I wholeheartedly agree. Hannah is approaching 6 months and the time has come to expose her palate to a whole new delicious world. Just when we have finally sorted out her sleeping and feeding patterns, it's time to complicate things all over again.
For those unfamiliar with our local lingo, "mum mum" means "food" in baby language, and needs to be spoken with a sing-song intonation. I assume it's a mutated Chinese dialect, but even Malays and Indians understand it, so who knows how it originated.
Recalling our initial difficulty coming to a compromise with Hannah's "routine", we anticipate a similar struggle establishing her on solids. Hannah's carers (Gong Gong and Po Po) not only come from a different generation, but also a differing cultural background. While feeding babies rice porridge is unheard of in Daddy's home country, it is the norm here. Similarly, our suggestions to offer her mashed avocado (supposedly one of the best first foods for babies) was greeted with "What's that?", which then became "but it's not tasty", accompanied by suspicious looks.
Big names like the American Association of Paediatrics and the La Leche League mean nothing to them, so quoting them as our source of reference (among others) was useless. It was only after a phonecall to a fellow grandparent that they became more receptive to our weaning programme. Thankfully, this particular grandmother is rather updated and does all that we plan to do - puree & freeze fruits and vegetables, grind up organic oats and brown rice, and yes, serve avocados.
So, in the coming months, we will be embarking on this journey together, all of us none the wiser. No doubt, once Hannah has been established on solids, Po Po will have the satisfaction of cooking up rice porridge with ikan bilis and hin choy, and whatever else we were fed as babies.
After all that fussing, Hannah probably wouldn't even care less what we offer her - she has taken after the Wylie and Teoh boys, all of whom never had a problem with their food!
Ah, the joys of having a cross-cultural baby -- whose culture do we follow?
Can't remember who said that, but that comment stuck and I wholeheartedly agree. Hannah is approaching 6 months and the time has come to expose her palate to a whole new delicious world. Just when we have finally sorted out her sleeping and feeding patterns, it's time to complicate things all over again.
For those unfamiliar with our local lingo, "mum mum" means "food" in baby language, and needs to be spoken with a sing-song intonation. I assume it's a mutated Chinese dialect, but even Malays and Indians understand it, so who knows how it originated.
Recalling our initial difficulty coming to a compromise with Hannah's "routine", we anticipate a similar struggle establishing her on solids. Hannah's carers (Gong Gong and Po Po) not only come from a different generation, but also a differing cultural background. While feeding babies rice porridge is unheard of in Daddy's home country, it is the norm here. Similarly, our suggestions to offer her mashed avocado (supposedly one of the best first foods for babies) was greeted with "What's that?", which then became "but it's not tasty", accompanied by suspicious looks.
Big names like the American Association of Paediatrics and the La Leche League mean nothing to them, so quoting them as our source of reference (among others) was useless. It was only after a phonecall to a fellow grandparent that they became more receptive to our weaning programme. Thankfully, this particular grandmother is rather updated and does all that we plan to do - puree & freeze fruits and vegetables, grind up organic oats and brown rice, and yes, serve avocados.
So, in the coming months, we will be embarking on this journey together, all of us none the wiser. No doubt, once Hannah has been established on solids, Po Po will have the satisfaction of cooking up rice porridge with ikan bilis and hin choy, and whatever else we were fed as babies.
After all that fussing, Hannah probably wouldn't even care less what we offer her - she has taken after the Wylie and Teoh boys, all of whom never had a problem with their food!
Ah, the joys of having a cross-cultural baby -- whose culture do we follow?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Identity Crisis
"You're so lucky!"
The oft repeated response whenever someone at work asks me about Hannah's childcare arrangements. Indeed I am fortunate to have such wonderful family support, knowing that Hannah is always being looked after by people who love her, almost unconditionally!
Oh, of course, this is the little monster we are talking about (happily chomping the unsuspecting Mr. Rabbit)...
Having compared notes with my colleagues, here are some of the common childcare arrangements of our local working mommies:
- Send the baby to a local babysitter
- Send the baby to grandparents / relatives staying nearby
- Send the baby, with a hired maid, to grandparents / relatives staying nearby
- Live with grandparents
- Send the baby to grandparents for the week, only collecting her back at the weekends!
The first three options involve early mornings and late evenings, given the state of traffic jams in this city, ferrying the little baby to and fro her carer's house each day. The 4th option is what we have naturally settled into, since our new apartment is not ready for occupation. To many, this seems the most favourable arrangement. However, having the extended family all under the roof of a crowded apartment is not without its drawbacks.
Surprisingly, not a few resort to option five. A significant number will travel home to the East Coast (erm... at least 6-8 hours away?) for their confinement / maternity leave, leaving the husband alone in the city to continue working. Afterwards, many leave their babies behind with the extended family, choosing to come back to KL to work, only visiting their babies occasionally! This continues till the baby is a little older - until he can be placed in the hands of a trusted babysitter.
Well, we have to remember that maternity leave is a mere two months, and there are no creche services in most places of work. So, I suppose leaving the baby behind is safer than taking a risk with an unknown babysitter. After all, we are familiar with stories of child abuse and neglect under the care of hired maids and supposedly trusted babysitters.
So, having considered all options, I should be happy I have the best of all worlds, but am I?
Many years ago, I remember attending a seminar on "Balancing work and family" as a medical student. The speaker was a Consultant Pathologist who had deliberately taken twice as long to complete her training, just so that she could spend time with her children. Obviously, at that time I could not have possibly understood the difficulties of juggling so many roles. The only take-home message I remember is this: you will have to compromise.
That translates to: you will not be the best mommy you strive to be, or be as aggressive as you wish to be in your career aspirations. Spending more time in one area will inevitably result in compromise in the other.
What roles are we talking about? Well, I am first a Christian, a wife, a mother, a doctor, a daughter, a student ... or have I already got it wrong?
It's a little like those chemistry equations with funny arrows pointing both ways - eventually everything settles and the components involved reach an equilibirum. I guess I just haven't found that equilibrium yet.
The truth is, I wish I could be more of a mommy.
It is so difficult to reconcile the fact that my baby spends more waking hours with her carers than with me. Who is her parent?
Parenting choices such as using the dummy(or not), structuring feeding and sleeping times, having supervised tummy time etc., are all out of my reach, simply because I am not there. Trying to force the little baby into "my" routine at the weekends seems cruel, since she already has another routine. Hannah now wakes up irregularly at night, searching for her dummy, simply because she can't do without it now. Trying to break the habit during the weekend seems pointless, since she gets her way during the week!
The utter heartbreak would be if Hannah says "Po Po" as her first words instead of "Ma Ma". I'll blog about it if that happens, and all the working Mommies can then try to console me.
Experts say that babies instinctively know who their mothers are. But I really wouldn't blame Hannah if she gets a little confused. Everybody wants to have a piece of her (remember the market lady?), and Mommy just can't seem to get enough of her!
Working Mommies out there, any words of advice for this anguished Mommy?
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Getting back online
Wow, it's been a while. Who would have thought an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan could have so disrupted our blogging? Actually, we don't have much to say, so we will let the picture speak instead. I have chosen this particular photo as my new desktop background - it's bound to raise a smile every time I turn my computer on! I hope it brightens your day too.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Christmas has been and gone, but the memories live on in photos... Hannah experienced a lot of "firsts" while she spent Christmas in Port Dickson (her maternal grandparent's home). She played with wrapping paper (infinitely more engrossing than the gift itself, much to her parents' embarrassment!), she saw roti canai being made on Christmas morning, she saw lots of cute chicks at the market, she went swimming for the first time...
Now, taking Hannah swimming required a little bit of preparation. First we needed a swimsuit. Not easy to find for a 5 month-old baby!!! But we took a chance with a swimsuit for 18 month-olds and, well, see the pictures to judge whether it fitted. All I can say is that Hannah is clearly getting a few spare tyres round her tummy, legs, arms, chin...
Next we needed some kind of float. Well, we had been given a rather cool inflatable baby boat (with leg holes) a few weeks earlier, so Cindy set about blowing it up.
And finally we needed a swimming pool. Now, one of the nicest places in PD (if you ever go there) is the Yacht Club, and rather conveniently Cindy's father is a life member. That means free access to their swimming pool. So we turned up on Boxing Day morning, nice and early to avoid the crowd. So early, in fact, that the pool wasn't really open! Never mind, no-one was going to stop a 5-month old in a fluorescent-orange swimsuit having a splash in the kiddies pool.
Did she like it? I would say she took to it like a duck to, well... water. It was a little cold to start with , but after a while she was happily reclining in her baby boat, waiting for Mummy or Daddy to tug her around. The next time we are in PD, we are definitely going to the Yacht Club again.
The picture below is a link to Hannah's Web Albums. You may have seen the link on the right-hand side that appeared a few weeks ago. You can go there anytime to get a Hannah-overdose. Every few weeks we will add to the collection of photos. They are of a decent resolution, so they should be good enough for downloading and printing, too.
So come and have a look at Hannah' First Christmas. Just click the picture below:
Now, taking Hannah swimming required a little bit of preparation. First we needed a swimsuit. Not easy to find for a 5 month-old baby!!! But we took a chance with a swimsuit for 18 month-olds and, well, see the pictures to judge whether it fitted. All I can say is that Hannah is clearly getting a few spare tyres round her tummy, legs, arms, chin...Next we needed some kind of float. Well, we had been given a rather cool inflatable baby boat (with leg holes) a few weeks earlier, so Cindy set about blowing it up.
And finally we needed a swimming pool. Now, one of the nicest places in PD (if you ever go there) is the Yacht Club, and rather conveniently Cindy's father is a life member. That means free access to their swimming pool. So we turned up on Boxing Day morning, nice and early to avoid the crowd. So early, in fact, that the pool wasn't really open! Never mind, no-one was going to stop a 5-month old in a fluorescent-orange swimsuit having a splash in the kiddies pool.
Did she like it? I would say she took to it like a duck to, well... water. It was a little cold to start with , but after a while she was happily reclining in her baby boat, waiting for Mummy or Daddy to tug her around. The next time we are in PD, we are definitely going to the Yacht Club again.
The picture below is a link to Hannah's Web Albums. You may have seen the link on the right-hand side that appeared a few weeks ago. You can go there anytime to get a Hannah-overdose. Every few weeks we will add to the collection of photos. They are of a decent resolution, so they should be good enough for downloading and printing, too.
So come and have a look at Hannah' First Christmas. Just click the picture below:
And how was YOUR Christmas? Do tell us your stories.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
MERRY CHRISTMAS 2006
Hannah has a message for everyone who reads this blog:
...and of course Happy New Year for 2007. In due course, we will post pictures of Hannah's first Christmas, which will be in Port Dickson.
Most importantly, we would like to give a little reminder of what we are celebrating. Please take the time to view this short flash slide-show that speaks clearly of the "Heart of Christmas" - Jesus Christ. He is truly wonderful to know, so as you celebrate his birthday once again this Christmas, please make him central to all you do.
Click Here for Flash Video - The Heart of Christmas
...and of course Happy New Year for 2007. In due course, we will post pictures of Hannah's first Christmas, which will be in Port Dickson.
Most importantly, we would like to give a little reminder of what we are celebrating. Please take the time to view this short flash slide-show that speaks clearly of the "Heart of Christmas" - Jesus Christ. He is truly wonderful to know, so as you celebrate his birthday once again this Christmas, please make him central to all you do.
Click Here for Flash Video - The Heart of Christmas
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Snatch Theft
It's amazing how much difference a day's leave makes.
Tomorrow marks my 7th(24-hour) call of the month. It doesn't take a genius to do the math and figure out the frequency of my calls up to now. Granted, I'm getting several days off at Christmas, but it is still exhausting to keep up this pace of work.
Having today off somehow boosted my energy levels. I decided to experience first-hand the reactions of Hannah's fans (i.e. market ladies) after hearing all about it from her grandparents. Little was I prepared for what was to happen later.
It all started off pretty tamely with curious looks and a few regulars saying hi and making faces at Hannah. When we approached the usual fruit seller, I noticed she had signs suggesting a previous heart sugery and instantly felt I should be nicer to her. Why? I won't do a psychoanalysis at this point; let's just say it was an involuntary emotion.
So, I coaxed Hannah into throwing a few smiles in her direction, which she did, winningly. But the fruit lady did two things which left me speechless, one more so than the other.
"She doesn't look like you at all."
Unfortunately, women have the habit of reading between the lines, often coming up with the most unflattering conclusions. To me, after praising Hannah and fussing over her, saying something like that to the person holding her was almost like saying:
"You're ugly, are you sure this beautiful baby belongs to you, or are you the maid?"
I don't know, perhaps after seeing Hannah morning after morning for the past few weeks, she was expecting a more angelic human specimen as her mother. So perhaps she was surprised to finally meet Hannah's mother - plain old me.
Trying not to take offense, since probably none was meant in the first place, I smiled and allowed my parents to make the appropriate responses. However, I was shocked by what she did next.
As we were about to leave, she stopped us, quickly put away a few things, stepped away from her counter and came up right next to me and stretched out her hands to Hannah. Now, I have never met this lady in my life, and I don't know how well my parents know her since I was convinced she had just overcharged us for the bananas. I kept Hannah close to me.
Sensing my reluctance to release the baby, she slid her hands under Hannah's arms, saying: "Let me carry her!" and literally snatched the baby from my arms.
My heartbeat must have doubled instantly, and I don't know how my parents could have continued smiling. Hannah must have read my body language and her face crumpled within seconds, although those seconds felt like forever. I quickly took her back, but the lady continued to stay by my side and started touching Hannah's hands, even rolling up Hannah's long sleeve to look at goodness-knows-what.
Although it has been several hours since the incidence, the scene keeps playing back as though I am suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). What if someone with less innocent intentions had done that? What was to stop this lady from running away, disappearing into the crowds of the busy market?
How can anyone claim such familiarity and forcefully remove a baby from her mother's arms?
It's just outrageous.
Even if I consider her actions rude and unacceptable, there will probably be more people like her. How do I say NO? Politely, of course. And what if some people won't take no for an answer, like this lady for instance? Should I have just forcefully taken my baby back, at the risk of having expensive bananas for the rest of my life?
It's awful. Now I'm left wondering what happens every morning (when I am away at work) when my parents do their usual market rounds. Although we have all agreed that no stranger should ever be allowed to carry Hannah, the situation this morning was a little tricky, since the fruit lady was not exactly a total stranger.
Call me stuck up if you like, (since I know of parents who would happily let anyone carry their babies, at any time) but letting almost complete strangers hold a small helpless baby IS courting trouble.
I've completely changed my mind about my cousin's baby who cries whenever someone other than the immediate family carries her. It's not fussy behaviour, but smart behaviour. It's the only protection against these 'snatch thieves'.
Tomorrow marks my 7th(24-hour) call of the month. It doesn't take a genius to do the math and figure out the frequency of my calls up to now. Granted, I'm getting several days off at Christmas, but it is still exhausting to keep up this pace of work.
Having today off somehow boosted my energy levels. I decided to experience first-hand the reactions of Hannah's fans (i.e. market ladies) after hearing all about it from her grandparents. Little was I prepared for what was to happen later.
It all started off pretty tamely with curious looks and a few regulars saying hi and making faces at Hannah. When we approached the usual fruit seller, I noticed she had signs suggesting a previous heart sugery and instantly felt I should be nicer to her. Why? I won't do a psychoanalysis at this point; let's just say it was an involuntary emotion.
So, I coaxed Hannah into throwing a few smiles in her direction, which she did, winningly. But the fruit lady did two things which left me speechless, one more so than the other.
"She doesn't look like you at all."
Unfortunately, women have the habit of reading between the lines, often coming up with the most unflattering conclusions. To me, after praising Hannah and fussing over her, saying something like that to the person holding her was almost like saying:
"You're ugly, are you sure this beautiful baby belongs to you, or are you the maid?"
I don't know, perhaps after seeing Hannah morning after morning for the past few weeks, she was expecting a more angelic human specimen as her mother. So perhaps she was surprised to finally meet Hannah's mother - plain old me.
Trying not to take offense, since probably none was meant in the first place, I smiled and allowed my parents to make the appropriate responses. However, I was shocked by what she did next.
As we were about to leave, she stopped us, quickly put away a few things, stepped away from her counter and came up right next to me and stretched out her hands to Hannah. Now, I have never met this lady in my life, and I don't know how well my parents know her since I was convinced she had just overcharged us for the bananas. I kept Hannah close to me.
Sensing my reluctance to release the baby, she slid her hands under Hannah's arms, saying: "Let me carry her!" and literally snatched the baby from my arms.
My heartbeat must have doubled instantly, and I don't know how my parents could have continued smiling. Hannah must have read my body language and her face crumpled within seconds, although those seconds felt like forever. I quickly took her back, but the lady continued to stay by my side and started touching Hannah's hands, even rolling up Hannah's long sleeve to look at goodness-knows-what.
Although it has been several hours since the incidence, the scene keeps playing back as though I am suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). What if someone with less innocent intentions had done that? What was to stop this lady from running away, disappearing into the crowds of the busy market?
How can anyone claim such familiarity and forcefully remove a baby from her mother's arms?
It's just outrageous.
Even if I consider her actions rude and unacceptable, there will probably be more people like her. How do I say NO? Politely, of course. And what if some people won't take no for an answer, like this lady for instance? Should I have just forcefully taken my baby back, at the risk of having expensive bananas for the rest of my life?
It's awful. Now I'm left wondering what happens every morning (when I am away at work) when my parents do their usual market rounds. Although we have all agreed that no stranger should ever be allowed to carry Hannah, the situation this morning was a little tricky, since the fruit lady was not exactly a total stranger.
Call me stuck up if you like, (since I know of parents who would happily let anyone carry their babies, at any time) but letting almost complete strangers hold a small helpless baby IS courting trouble.
I've completely changed my mind about my cousin's baby who cries whenever someone other than the immediate family carries her. It's not fussy behaviour, but smart behaviour. It's the only protection against these 'snatch thieves'.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
All I Want For Christmas
... is my two front teeth
So sings the little girl on the Christmas CD.
It has become Hannah’s theme song of the moment as she spends hours every day indiscriminately chomping on anything and everything that wanders near her mouth or hands. Her little hands are perpetually covered with a coat of slime and her chin glistens with happy muck.
The year-end not only brings to mind the joyous Christmas season, but also a time of reflection and thanksgiving.
Not too long ago in the month of September, Hannah made several promises to Daddy. We decided to see if she had done well keeping them. To save you the trouble of rummaging through our blog archives, here they are again:
1. I will wake up only once every night and sleep through the night within a month’s time.
2. Whenever you change my nappy I will not aim or shoot unmentionables in your direction.
3. I will not fall asleep within 5 minutes of starting my feeds.
4. I will stop fussing and fall asleep within minutes of your cuddling or rocking.
5. I will look pretty each time you take a picture of me, so we can land an advertisement deal and earn a lifetime supply of diapers.
Hannah has done well on most of them, except number 5. Despite having a loyal (and growing) fan club at the local wet market, she has still not attracted the ‘right’ type of attention. Many comments have been made about baby contests, but up till now it has been all talk and no action.
Finally, Gong Gong and Po Po decided they were buying too many diapers and dropped a copy of a local parenting magazine in our laps. They declared their grand-daughter could easily outdo the current “baby of the month” and bring home the promised hamper of goodies.
We scoured through our collection of photographs and decided this might impress the judges. What do you think?
Perhaps this Christmas Hannah will have more than just her two front teeth.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Food, Glorious Food!
Hannah has been showing interest in food for a few weeks now. When she sits on someone's lap at the table, she looks longingly at the food laid out. She salivates a LOT, she sucks and chews anything within reach, and she will even 'bite' your finger if you offer it, leaving you with a sore, red mark! So, last weekend, we decided to give Hannah her first taste of baby rice. Here is the result:
And when the parents took a break, Hannah took matters into her own hands:
A week has passed, and we haven't fed her solids since last weekend. So today we gave it another try. Any fear she would have lost interest were allayed when Hannah lurched forward for the first mouthful. You can see the intense concentration in Hannah's eyes (eye?):
So feeding Hannah looks like smooth sailing. Cool. Not what we expected after horror-stories from other parents.And one last thing. Have you ever observed someone else feeding a baby? Ever noticed how instinctively the adult's mouth opens just as they want the baby to take a mouthful? Even if the baby can't see them?! Here is the photographic evidence:
I am sure there will be more interesting or funnier food stories in the months ahead, so sorry for such an enthusiastic blog. But it is just another of those milestones that feels like it is worth celebrating. So what are YOUR baby feeding stories??? Click on comments below!
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A 'turning point' in Hannah's development
Here is a sequence of Hannah taken yesterday, playing in her "Playful Puppy Gym." She has made a fair few attempts to turn herself over - even as far back as October when Chris's family were here. But all without success. Well, now we have photographic evidence that she CAN do it! At first, she got her arm trapped under her body and she would just cry, but in this sequence you can see she managed to completely turn over without any help.
So what's next for Hannah? Ah, weaning. Now THAT's another story for another blog...
"Did you get that on camera, Mummy?"
Monday, December 04, 2006
Matters of Life and Death
It was past 10 O’clock at night.
My senior colleague and I had been on our feet since 8am that particular Sunday. We had to ignore hints of fatigue and muster all our energy and concentration in an attempt to preserve the life of a critically ill patient in the Intensive Care Unit.
Consultant surgeons were at hand to perform a rare feat – a major surgical procedure in the relatively unsterile conditions of ICU with minimal anaesthesia. This was our last attempt to bring the patient back from the brink of death. The ICU was buzzing with activity, in preparation and anticipation of a real life drama gradually unfolding.
“Er, excuse me doctor, there’s a film crew outside asking for permission to film a scene.”
My senior colleague and I looked at each other in utter disbelief.
“They are filming the drama ‘ABC’ starred by that famous actor YYY!”
The nurse was clearly excited that her idol was standing just beyond the door. I hadn’t a clue what TV programme she was talking about or who the actor was. Needless to say, we were too busy to entertain such a request and proceeded to focus on our task instead.
Hours later, our patient was stabilized and adrenaline levels had returned to normal. As I sat down to review other patients, a man popped through the ICU doors. I noted his dyed hair, funky spectacles and multiple ear studs and immediately assumed he was part of the film crew. He smilingly returned a few things borrowed from ICU, thanked me, and left quickly.
How frivolous it seemed. On one hand we were struggling to keep not just one, but several patients alive. Ours was an ongoing drama with real consequences. Beyond the doors a team of artistes were creating an artificial world of suspense and romance, promising their viewers an hour of non-stop entertainment on prime time television, week after week.
Hospital dramas have long been a popular genre – just think of ER and Chicago Hope. These productions have been so influential in forming public conception of hospitals and the medical profession that I was a little disappointed to discover, early in my career, the REAL world of medicine – long hard hours, often routine and mundane work injected with unexpected moments of exciting action.
My hospital is located at the heart of “cowboy town”, a place rife with gangster activities, with drivers who manouever their little Kancils through town as though it was an F1 circuit. We see many cases of trauma – bullet wounds, parang slashes, amputated limbs, severe road traffic injuries, severe industrial accidents and burns/explosive injuries. Death, in many cases, is inevitable and real.
I remember a teenage boy whose mother seemed unnaturally calm seeing him hooked up to a ventilator and multiple drips. It was his third road traffic accident and he had recovered from the last two accidents sufficiently to get involved in a third. His mother must have expected the medical staff to perform yet another miracle. Unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries.
At the other end of the spectrum are medical situations where death is inevitable, but through no man-made cause. Not too long ago I was attending an emergency Caesarian birth where I assisted the neonatal team in resuscitating the little infant. Feeling happy that I had done a significant ‘good’ for the baby and her mother, I was crushed to find out later in the day that the little child had passed away in ICU due to a fatal congenital birth defect.
It is humbling to know the limitations of Medicine, but it leaves me feeling a little helpless. Each time a Caesar baby emerges, I think of Hannah and the miracle of life she is. I remember the time when we feared she would have to fight for her life if born prematurely, and thank God over and over again. Although Hannah is growing robustly, I am all too conscious of the fact that as parents, Chris and I are mere stewards of this precious gift of God.
Only God has the key to life and death.
My senior colleague and I had been on our feet since 8am that particular Sunday. We had to ignore hints of fatigue and muster all our energy and concentration in an attempt to preserve the life of a critically ill patient in the Intensive Care Unit.
Consultant surgeons were at hand to perform a rare feat – a major surgical procedure in the relatively unsterile conditions of ICU with minimal anaesthesia. This was our last attempt to bring the patient back from the brink of death. The ICU was buzzing with activity, in preparation and anticipation of a real life drama gradually unfolding.
“Er, excuse me doctor, there’s a film crew outside asking for permission to film a scene.”
My senior colleague and I looked at each other in utter disbelief.
“They are filming the drama ‘ABC’ starred by that famous actor YYY!”
The nurse was clearly excited that her idol was standing just beyond the door. I hadn’t a clue what TV programme she was talking about or who the actor was. Needless to say, we were too busy to entertain such a request and proceeded to focus on our task instead.
Hours later, our patient was stabilized and adrenaline levels had returned to normal. As I sat down to review other patients, a man popped through the ICU doors. I noted his dyed hair, funky spectacles and multiple ear studs and immediately assumed he was part of the film crew. He smilingly returned a few things borrowed from ICU, thanked me, and left quickly.
How frivolous it seemed. On one hand we were struggling to keep not just one, but several patients alive. Ours was an ongoing drama with real consequences. Beyond the doors a team of artistes were creating an artificial world of suspense and romance, promising their viewers an hour of non-stop entertainment on prime time television, week after week.
Hospital dramas have long been a popular genre – just think of ER and Chicago Hope. These productions have been so influential in forming public conception of hospitals and the medical profession that I was a little disappointed to discover, early in my career, the REAL world of medicine – long hard hours, often routine and mundane work injected with unexpected moments of exciting action.
My hospital is located at the heart of “cowboy town”, a place rife with gangster activities, with drivers who manouever their little Kancils through town as though it was an F1 circuit. We see many cases of trauma – bullet wounds, parang slashes, amputated limbs, severe road traffic injuries, severe industrial accidents and burns/explosive injuries. Death, in many cases, is inevitable and real.
I remember a teenage boy whose mother seemed unnaturally calm seeing him hooked up to a ventilator and multiple drips. It was his third road traffic accident and he had recovered from the last two accidents sufficiently to get involved in a third. His mother must have expected the medical staff to perform yet another miracle. Unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries.
At the other end of the spectrum are medical situations where death is inevitable, but through no man-made cause. Not too long ago I was attending an emergency Caesarian birth where I assisted the neonatal team in resuscitating the little infant. Feeling happy that I had done a significant ‘good’ for the baby and her mother, I was crushed to find out later in the day that the little child had passed away in ICU due to a fatal congenital birth defect.
It is humbling to know the limitations of Medicine, but it leaves me feeling a little helpless. Each time a Caesar baby emerges, I think of Hannah and the miracle of life she is. I remember the time when we feared she would have to fight for her life if born prematurely, and thank God over and over again. Although Hannah is growing robustly, I am all too conscious of the fact that as parents, Chris and I are mere stewards of this precious gift of God.
Only God has the key to life and death.
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