First of all, I would like to thank you for visiting my blog.
This entry is a compilation of 3 entries as published in cheguthamrin.multiply.com, where I would prefer to post my journals.

Syukur, syukur Alhamdulillah~

Here's our little precious one, safely delivered on 27th January 2007, @ 1816, NUH.
Weighing 3465g, he's much 'bigger' than Aaryan at birth; who was only 2525g.

I have yet to get spme rest here, but I know some have been patiently waiting for this update. Here's a brief write up; as much as I could still remember -

12:30am 27th January;
Aaryan had just slept on his own, tucked comfortably in her arms. She had wanted to watch the finale of the Survivor, to be shown later @ 1230am, but she had already joined Aaryan in his dreams. I was in the field with the boys earlier that evening, and needed much rest too; but since my worried mind kept me awake, I was soon playing Winning 11 on the Xbox. She had told me after her gynae appointment much earlier, that it would have been induced labour on Monday morning, since little one was still too comfy in the womb. Meanwhile, I was expecting a chaotic Monday, since we had some programmes for the kids across the levels. Honestly, the next thing in my mind was that the annual Soccer Tournaments will kick off this Monday too, and I wouldnt feel good leaving the kids, although I've had a super relaible colleague who's their coach. Too bad then, since nature came a-calling...

5:30am 27th January;
She woke me up, telling me that the pain came and went, at least once per hour. We monitored the situation for another hour, and true enough, it was more consistent, and more frequent. Asked her to wash up, and call her mom and sis, which live nearby. They were just as anxious, since they knew that she's due one day late.

8:30am 27th January;
Our last meal at the NUH canteen. Our favourite, half boiled eggs, slices of roti kaya and she had her MILO, while I had my coffee -  I know it wont be that easy, or that soon, and I need to be awake! Walked thru the A&E, then she was wheeled to Ward 22, the labour ward, but we didnt get to use the same suite, we had suite 9 this time. The normal procedures follows, the nurses, midwives came and go, doing their normal routine check ups. She was about 2 cm dilated. However, this time, her water bag is still intact. Its gonna be a wait-n-see situation.

2:30pm 27th January;
The tummy starts to growl - mine not hers. She's already strapped to the machine, so she can only afford to have plain water. We realised that ever since we arrved, the contractions wasnt frequent, wasnt consistent, but somehow more painful this time. The pentadine jab was given at 1:30pm, knowing which it can help reduce the pain. I thought that everything was normal for the moment, so I went off to get some titbits at 7 eleven. By the time I got back with my Snicker bars, my potato chips, my Nescafe and some slices of roti kaya, she told me that they had came in to burst the waterbag, right after I left.
Eish, what a miss! However, we were kept busy afterwards, between the incoming pain, and the Hindi movie shown on RTM TV2. At least that helps, to some extent, tone down the excitement. We even joked about, asking the little one to come out before the SG vs Malaysia match live later at 8pm!
And yes, I am still wondering, how come they can get RTM TV2 and TV3 so clear in here???

5:30pm 27th January;
The midwives came in and realised something amiss. They checked and announced that its almost 6-7 cm dilated. She had already asked for epidural; but they told her to hold on while its may just be another hour or two. Even I thought she can still make it w/o the epidural, but surprisingly, her tolerance level, was minimum compared to the previous birth. She mentioned about having pain in the lower left body, but it was not about the contractions. Meanwhile, the midwives realise that there's blood and blood clots oozing out, everytime she felt pain and had to change the sheet at least 4 times. They were worried, and Dr T M Chua was called in. She had advised us, that C-Sect would be the solution, for she couldnt tell where the bleeding came from - it might be a torn blood vessel, or about anything else worse.
For the sake of the baby, and herself, we agreed that its the best and safest option, since normal delivery looked almost impossible here.

I knew that we've made the right decision, for I couldnt bear to see her in pain, although I cant feel what she's going thru.

She was wheeled into the ops theatre by 1800 hrs.

7:30pm 27th January;
Alhamdulillah, I received the long awaited phone call from the labour ward, assuring me that both the little one and her are ok, but while she still in the ops room, the little one was already wheeled back to the labour ward. By now, her parents and sisters had arrived, along with Aaryan, and I was so excited to show Aaryan his little brother. He pointed to the little one, acknowledgingly, but I can feel that he's still reserved abt it. Thanks to the Malay midwife, I managed to azan the little one, carried his tiny frame of 3465g in my arms, almost in tears esp relieved to see a beautiful little baby in my arms. Speechless, words just cant describe the feelings for that moment.

We waited for her to be wheeled into Ward 42 Bed 1.
She was pale, tired but cheerful, running a slight fever. When we thought Aaryan was too little to understand whats going on; he was actually crying when I left him on the hospital bed; some emotion!

Here's our little one!

Its a candid capture, a one-in-a-hundred-shot of him smiling for the camera, but I got it!
We got home at about 1pm yesterday, and the whole house was excited abt it. Both our parents came, and accompanied us till late. Everyone was as eager to see the little one as to see for themselves Aaryan's reaction as a big brother now. Everything went well so far, the little one was peacefully sleeping, oblivious to everyone around him, and will only wake up for his milk. My wife has started to breast feed, and hopefully, this time it will be more than 2 weeks that she had with Aaryan.

Yes, everything was well, Aaryan was occasionally peeking at his brother, pointing, acknowledging that there's a baby in the house, and that its his little brother; and he would carry on playing with his cousins, and getting atok and nenek attention; until...

...the moment I picked up the little one in my arms.
There he goes, hands up in the air, asking me to carry him up instead, tugging on my pants and finally, he started rolling on the floor. While everyone was consoling him, pacifying him with his bantak busyuk and puting, he would throw everything within his grab. Finally, only after the little one was put back in the crib, then he would be back to 'normal'.

Its gonna be a while, its gonna take some time; and we're sure, he'll get over this soon.

So, what its like to be a father of two now?
Nothing much has changed, at least for now. Its still too early lah for now. The same routine will begin soon, and it will just be more hectic than usual, and in fact, this entry was up early after the 3rd time we woke up to feed him; and that he's kinda 'punctual', at 2 hours interval. Its going to be another few mths before things get back to normal. Ummm, not really, cos everything now has to be twice the effort, twice the spending, and more than twice the thought of getting something for myself - ourselves.

Okay, you've been asking for his name.
I had thought of naming him after the Lion's victory over Malaysia last Saturday, but I dont think I wouldn want to name him 'Lionel' or 'Hamzah' (which means lion in Arab). Haha, we wont want another lion in the house - Aaryan's enough.
We've yet to decide, for my mom might need to consult the ustadz for a name.
Meanwhile, we've been thinking of something simpler, and since we had hoped that Aaryan will have a friend now, his little brother will be named as; for now;
Adam Safiy Bin Mohammed Thamrin.

Awwwww~

We believe we'll be seeing more of these.
Again, this was taken at the spur of the moment; Aaryan was excited that Adam was out of the crib, cos we had his diapers changed, and under close supervision of my mohter in law, Aaryan was allowed to get up close and personal with his brother.

We always have this fear of him "pok" his adik, obviously cos he's been very unpredictable, esp with his temper and jealousy, but he was pointing out to Adam, giggling away, acknowledging his presence, as he smiled back at us. He was pointing at Adam's facial features, hair, nose, eyes, ears, as he pointed on himself. His nenek then asked him to sayang sayang... and this was what we saw. He even gave him 2 pecks on the forehead, so gently and delicately, which melts our hearts.

Still, there's traces of jealousy, for he was up in arms again the moment I got Adam in my arms, putting him back into his crib. Okay okay okay... so as usual. I've got to pacify him, assure him time and again, prepared his warm bottle of milk, and as the Singapore team scored the first goal against Thailand, he was already up on my shoulder, sleeping.

Its been a long day after a long night.
We've been up every 2 hr at night for Adam's milk, and since then I've been on zombie mode. I've had some nap in the afternoon, yet still dazed now, and there's things yet to settle for work tomorrow. Urgh... the thought of it, I wished there'll be longer paternity leaves for us guys. Its not that I'm getting away from work, but the wife needs me, and yes I do help around practically with everything else except of course, breastfeeding lah!

My wife has been telling me that she needs all the strength with the new responsibility now, Esp after the C-sect, she still feels weak, even as the massage sessions has just begun. There's no need to rush to recover, but at the same time, the road to recovery can be challenging. I'm not sure if we can entertain guests for now, but all are still welcome to visit.
Just SMS us to confirm ok?

We're lucky that her mom is staying with us for the week at least, and then we'll be on our own, sooner or later. Wont be easy, wont be impossible either. With the tight schedules at work and God-knows-what, these will keep me busy and constantly be reminded of my responsibility as a parent. Its another learning phase, and yes I will continue to learn.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates.
Ummm, I'll stay up too for another Man Utd match!
Hehehhehe...