Alhamdulillah, Haniyya turned 2 today.
2 years since that long, long day I waited in the ante-natal ward in PPUM when it took hours for him to be ready to come out of Ibu's tummy.
I remembered being placed in front of a 1st timer mother-to-be who asked me "Akak tak sakit ke? Nampak akak relaks je" Hah, if only you knew! Maybe she came to that conclusion because I was not moaning aloud and still managed to read a magazine. The truth was, I was in pain, but I concentrated on reciting lots of zikr and sometimes I walked all around the ward to help lessen the pain. The pain did not really go away, this is not a fairy-tale world after all, but at least I got some distraction. The contractions were not that far apart all day long, my back was in deep pain but the opening was slow to grow. It was 1 cm at 9.30 in the morning, 2 cm at 2.30 p.m, 4 cm at 8.00 p.m.
By 9.45 p.m., the opening had grown to 8cm, so I was wheeled down to the labour room at around 10.00 p.m. A doctor helped broke my waterbag, but something didn't feel quite right. I was left alone in the labour room, "Lama lagi kot ni, bukaan tak berapa besar", the doctor said before leaving me. But as it had happened with both Haniyya's elder brother, once the waterbag was broken, it wasn't long before I was ready to give birth. I felt a sudden urge to push, and I knew it was time - but I was alone in the labour room. To make things worse, the bell ringer which was supposed to be placed next to me in case I need to call for assistance was nowhere to be found. I decided to call out in a loud voice.
"Doktor... Doktor..."
No answer.
"Doktor...DOKTORRRR"
I increased my tone by a few decibels
A nurse passing by heard me and walked into the room.
"Ya puan... Oh, puan dah nak bersalin ya? Kejap, saya panggil doktor ya"
A trainee doctor came in but when the two nurses who came with her prompted her to get ready since "hah, dah nampak dah kepala baby tu", she claimed that she had no experience with delivering a baby, so she went to get a 'real doctor' for me. The two nurses immediately started to get ready for a delivery. And it wasn't long before Dr Stephanie stepped in to help delivering the baby.
And then, another senior doctor stepped in. Reading the baby heartbeat monitor, she advised me, "Cepat sikit ye, anak puan dah distressed ni"
Yet at the same time, Dr Stephanie was asking me to "jangan push dulu, sekejap ya puan.. "
I was confused. I was fuddled. I wasn't sure which advice I should heed.
But Haniyya could not wait anymore.
It happened so fast that I overheard Dr Stephanie later described it as a "combustion expulsion" to her colleague.
One push and slussshhhh... he was out.
All 3.75kg of him.
*****
2 years later, Haniyya is still the baby in the family.
When Huzaifah turned 2, Humaidi was already 5 months old.
When Humaidi turned 2, Haniyya was almost 2 months old.
Panjang umur murah rezeki, Haniyya will get his younger sibling in July, insya Allah...
