Mrs Tai was admitted into the hospital this morning. She was then given a medication to start the contractions (since this is an induced labour).

It has been eight hours and we’re still waiting. We’re also bored. The medication is not working as expected. No contractions yet. Everything still looks the same.

Anyway, I’m going back to the hospital shortly. Came back home just to ‘freshed up’ a bit…

Tomorrow is the day…

Last week, doctors have told us that the latest they will wait is till 29th May 2008 (tomorrow). If the contractions don’t ‘naturally’ happen, then on the 29th, Mrs Tai will need to check back into the hospital and get ready for induced labour.

Now I know why people dread working in Kuala Lumpur. I had first hand experience today…

It took me about two hours to get home from my office which is near Pavilion KL. I had rained earlier but I didn’t expect it to be so bad. After all, it usually takes me only like 40 minutes to get home. And to top it off, I spend like one and a half hour moving so slowly that had I walked from my office instead of drive, I would have reached that place in 15 minutes!

Cr4p…

Mrs Tai was admitted to the hospital this morning as planned. She is supposed to go in one day earlier so the doctors could monitor the situation and at the same time, get Mrs Tai ready for the Caesarian section. We arrived at the hospital around 0800hrs as planned and waited till the bed was ready. I wasn’t a really long wait though I did doze off at the reception area…

Once we got to the hospital bed, it was a matter of minutes before Mrs Tai found herself strapped to some gizmo and had her blood sample taken (that like X times in the past month, according to Mrs Tai). The gizmo is actually used to measure the baby’s heartbeat and the straps were actually used to keep the baby in place (so the baby don’t move around in the belly). The gizmo was set to record the heartbeat for 30minutes. It seems the baby is very active with lots of ‘spikes’ recorded… At times the heartbeat even went up to about 190 beats per second! I think it was supposed to be about 130 -150 beats or so… Even the nurse who strapped Mrs Tai commented about the baby being very active and moving a lot! I guess this is one feisty baby that is not easily tied down.

After that, I left the hospital. Both of us had agreed that I will not need to stay back for the first day as there’s much to do anyway. And having just joined the new company, I try to avoid taking too many days off (though I have to add that my current boss is very understanding of the whole situation and have been very supportive).

Some time around 1600hrs, Mrs Tai texted to inform me that the doctors have informed her that the Caesarian section will not proceed as planned (0800hrs the next day) as they could get hold of the ventilator for the baby… But the doctors said that they will check again on the availability tomorrow morning. If it is available then, the Caesarian section would be done in the afternoon.

*sigh*

Then at 1700hrs, Mrs Tai texted again… She said the doctors have informed her that a Professor at the hospital would like to handle our case. It is suggested that we go for a natural birth instead. Mrs Tai added that the hospital will ensure that a ventilator will be made available for us when the time comes.

So… What else? Mrs Tai quickly discharged herself from the hospital la…

But I did ask Mrs Tai why she decided to discharge herself (cause I had gotten a long ‘lecture’ from a concerned friend — yes, I think this good friend has got valid points which I didn’t think of… Like I told this friend… It’s not that I have a “Tidak apa” attitude, it’s more like I have “Tidak tahu” problem )? After all, it is always better to stay in the hospital where the doctors and nurses are available at the push of a button… Mrs Tai said she didn’t think of that. She just wanted to go home and see me… You believe that ar?!?

So… I guess our baby’s birthday will not be 21st May 2008… It will be whatever the baby decides…

As for my leave plans, it’s all screwed up now. Imagine having planned to take one day off and then deciding to take only half day and finally… Not knowing when to take. Luckily, like I said, my boss says he totally understands the situation I’m in. Hmmm… Everyone in my office thinks I’m going to be a father tomorrow…

One more day to go?!? Nar… But its more time to prepare for the baby’s arrival and more time for Mrs Tai to shop!!!

There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can’t go on
Pretneding day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God’s great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

When you’re down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There’s no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

In just the past few weeks, we have seen how fragile our lives can be. A cyclone and an earthquake in two separate incidences have taken approximately (or even more than) 100 000 lives.

News about the two disasters have been reported on television as well as the newspaper… But how many of us actually took some time to ‘absorb’ the magnitude of the two disasters? Or did we just flipped the channel or turned the page? After all, has there ever been a day where we had no disaster and war? Have we all become so numbed by the daily robberies and murders that disasters like this don’t sink in anymore?

I just want to say and to quote from the song above…
And it’s time to lend a hand…

Be it money. Be it food. Be it to fly in and help the survivors… Have you done your share?

I used to make fun of my engineer friends. I would tease them and crack jokes about the nerdy engineers. I used to also believe there’s no such thing as a handsome engineer and that they have no life — they would just work and work and work. And I used to joked that engineers are people who ‘fix’ something that is working until it is broken.

I think I have been very cruel to engineers… I guess as we age mature, we begin to see that sometimes, we are wrong about our opinion. There are handsome engineers. There are engineers who have a healthy balance of work and fun…

By the way, I just got my business card (In case you didn’t know, I got a new job)…

Mrs Tai went for her routine checkup at UMMC on Thursday. I was able to follow Mrs Tai this time around. It was an ‘important’ one as we had to decide on the ‘planned delivery‘. We have decided to go with a Caesarian section. Baby will officially come into this world on the 21st of May but subject to terms and conditions… heh heh… But seriously, there are some conditions to be met first. One very crucial condition is that the ventilator (or was it the incubator) must be available otherwise the C-section will have to be postponed.

It seems we cannot ‘reserve’ the ventilators. Being practical, I guess I can understand. They should not have any ventilators lying idle in the hospital since it is a very useful and expensive machine that can save lives!

Other than that, the baby’s growing normally. I’m excited and panicking. Still seems like there’s so much to do… *sigh*

Oh ya… I’ve started my new job. So far so good. People at the new office seems nice and friendly. Only thing… It takes almost one bl00dy hour to get to work and to get home. How can people stand working in KL! *sigh*

Ya… That’s one reason why I have not been updating my blog. Still trying to adjust my timing, etc…

My new Proton Saga has hit 1000km and went for its first check-up and service. So far, I’m quite happy with the new Saga (also known as BLM). Noy that many complaints as compared to my old car — the Proton Waja. If you’re a very practical person and thinks a car is nothing more than an invention that helps you to get from one place to another, then this is a value-for-money car!

Will write a ‘review’ of this car in another week or so. I think I have had enough of time with it to be able to write something fair about it.

The second check-up was for myself. It has been more than 6 years since I had a full medical check-up done. The last time I did it, it was a pre-employment check. I also did a basic blood test about 2 years back before I got married — to ensure blood compatibility, etc…

I wanted to do a check of my physical well-being. So I went to this quite famous clinic and told them I wanted to do a medical examination. They looked at me puzzled. They asked what type of examination do I want to do… I explained that its been a while since I had a medical examination done and I just wanted to know that I’m ‘healthy’. They looked at me like I’m asking something that is out of this world… I guess not many people come in to do this. So I just told them its probably something people do when they get a new job. Then it looked like the light-bulb finally lit up. They exclaimed — pre-employment examination and asked which company I plan to join. *sigh* I told them that it’s for myself but somehow, I don’t think they believed me.

I had to go to different floors to have the different tests done. And without fail, each time I would get asked which company I plan to join… Hmmm…

All this got me thinking… These days, so many people are so concerned about their health. We worry about cholesterol. We worry about high-blood pressure. We worry about being diabetic. Besides that, isn’t there anything else that helps measure how healthy we are? I mean what about heartbeat (I mean is it beating too fast, too slow)? Or blood clots? The eyes? Ears? Nose? We keep hearing public service announcements that we should do cancer detection tests, etc… But what kind of tests are these? It seems that all these have to be ‘specific’. If you want to test for lung cancer, then you have to request for it. Else it is not done.

I just wish there was some kind of test like what is done with cars — first 1000km, they change the oil, etc… People know what tests and servicing needs to be done. But not with our body. It seems there’s no specific test. We’ve developed so much and perhaps have made things ever more confusing and complicated for ourselves. All I wanted to was for a professional to check my health and tell me I’m ok. But not that easy…

I was also told that a full battery of tests could cost like at least rm500!!!

There’s just so many things to do and so little time… I just wish there’s like 48 hours in a day…

The baby is due end of this month. We still have quite a number of things to do and prepare like (in no particular order):

1. Pack the bags – hospital admission, hospital stay and when baby is out of hospital

2. Paint the room Just completed at 1130hrs

3. Clean refrigerator (or maybe we should just get a new one since we’re going to move to our new house by end of the year anyway)

4. Baby’s car seat (need to do more research into this — seems like there are so many types that it’s gotten to a point where I got confused as to what is what — serious! there’s the stroller, stroller-and-car-seat-in-one, stroller that allows lying down and seated, etc)

5. Steriliser? Or just use tablets? Or use boiling water? Seems that plastic milk bottles may release Bisphenol A or BPA which can cause chronic toxicity. Over the weekend, we bought 2 glass milk bottles — ya, we managed to find them.

6. Wash baby clothes, napkins, etc… We are using some hand-me-downs from relatives and friends. So have to wash them first as some have been stored for months (or I was told, even years!).

7. Clean up room. Currently we have lots of books lying around in our room (have to read up on how to be good parents, etc) and there’s a bit of dust now. Will probably need to store them in plastic containers so it will be easier to clean.

8. Baby cot… Hmmm… What kind of mattress? Spring? Latex? I think we’re kind of decided on this — coconut fiber. I think its coconut anyway.

9. Diapers… Errr… Do we stock up now? What size? How much will we need? *sigh*

10. Baby grooming set – nail clippers, etc… I just found out that you can’t use the normal nail clippers for the baby!

…The list just goes on and on…