It didn't feel as if CNY is just less than 2 weeks away! I've not started spring cleaning, yet to change those new crisp notes for the Ang Pow and there's no love letters, pineapple tarts, bar kua at my house, yet to buy new clothes for Justin Darren and myself?! and also had not found time to even go for a haircut. Guohao's gone for a week of reservist since 29 Jan and with one more week to go, I'm left to cope with 2 kids (thankfully with the help of my maid, Weng) till he's freed from national duty this Sat. By then, we'll be left with just 7 days to prepare for CNY.
We were supposed to start our "preparation"/shopping/spring cleaning 2 weeks ago but unexpectedly, Justin ended up in hospital. This is his second hospitalisation in his 2 years 4 months of life. When I was working on a paediatric study a few years back I always wondered why some of the kids on my study end up at hospital with bronchiolitis/febril fits etc.... Now that I'm a mother myself, I understand what it's all about. Jusin was still well when he retired for the day on Sat night, but at 2am in the morning, we were suddenly awaken by a shrieking cough (on the internet, they described it as "seal barking" noise). We thought it was Darren but it turned out to be Justin. He seems to have difficulty breathing as the skin under his rib cage sinks in with each breath. Guohao quickly sent him to Thomson Medical, and the doctor admitted him, though he was much better after being put on the nebulizer. His peadiatrician said he had an episode of croup. Thankfully, Justin recovered very quickly and basically was enjoying his time in the ward watching DVD and playing with his Ye Ye and Nai Nai and Daddy. He was discharged after one day.
Being a child is really the luckiest thing. only when I become a parent do I truly appreciate this. For the child, there's always the parent to solve their problems. As a parent, you'll always worry and think of how to solve your children's problems or give them the best. So when you start to grumble about how naggy your mom/dad is, remind yourself how lucky you are.
So CNY will be a funfilled time for Justin to collect his Ang Pows and eating his favourite goodies (Darren probably still dun know what's happening). And for me, it'll be a busy time to get ready!
3 comments:
poor justin.. also poor mummy for having to cope alone and poor daddy for in-camp.. dun worry uncle give all of you ang pao in new year ok?
When my little nephew was about 9mths old, he suffered a bout of croup as well. It happened, coincidentally, when both my sister and brother-in-law were on working trips overseas. We received a call from my panick-strickened mother-in-law an hour after we went to bed. Not knowing what was wrong (and it sounded really really bad over the phone), we dashed over and sent him to KK A&E. Surprisingly, it didn't feel like it was 1am in the morning at the hospital at all, given the crowd of parents, grandparents and crying babies. What followed was quite an ordeal for us (including both my in-laws who were too distraught to stay at home). After a lengthy wait, we got to consult the MO on duty... who as-a-matter-of-factly rattled off a string of possible complications, down to the most unthinkable scenarios. After 3 hours of observation, admission was recommended in order to make sure that he was really ok. It didn't take us long to agree. Thankfully, he recovered promptly and was discharged after a day. For me, that was a rude prelude to the reality of parenthood, and a realization of the impact of a newborn on the entire family's life. In this day, being a child is indeed the luckiest thing, no doubt.
PS: And i suspect bringing a child up could be the trickiest thing. I recently witnessed a scene at the bus interchange that got me thinking. A grandfather was in queue with his grandson. When the bus came, the grandson wriggled his way forward through the adults to try and get on the bus earlier. Grandpa shouted out to him in mandarin "Hey! Cannot cannot, wait auntie uncle scold you...!" to no avail. I thought the grandpa was right in raising the alarm, but the reason conveyed to the child was probably less then ideal. It's analogous to the "eh you better don't do bad things else the police will come and catch you" syndrome
Once in a while I still find myself marvelling at the miracle of life, especially when I see HC's tummy twitch from the baby's movements. It is always funny, and I'm almost always tickled by how a baby can reside within the mother's womb, alive and kicking. Despite pregnancy being something as natural as breathing, I'm constantly amazed by how experiencing something is vastly different from knowing something.
Take childbirth. Nobody doesn't know that it is a painful but enriching process. And we have all heard how it is the most wonderful experience of love, joy and anxiety all mixed into a progress package that all mothers need to receive. And yet, when it does happen, you are blown away and you are lost for words - for such emotions are beyond words, beyond knowledge, beyond anticipation.
Life is really amazing, and the fact that life should happen is even more unfathomable. Stephen Hawking has estimated that after the Big Bang, if the universe had expanded at a rate smaller by a proportion as little as 1 out of one hundred-thousand-million-million (17 zeroes), the universe would have re-collapsed into a fireball. In addition, a british physicist has also estimated that the likelihood of life happening in this universe is one in one followed by a thousand-billion-billion zeroes. In short, the likelihood of life happening at all is probably lower than the likelihood of throwing some loose metal and rubber into the air and having them fall back to the ground forming a brand new Honda Civic.
When you think of that, and then you look at how this little precious life is actually forming in your wife's tummy, you just can't help being overwhelmed by the astounding incongruity between the two facts - that life is so extremely unlikely, and yet this same life is really happening right in front of your face.
Wouldn't you be wondrously tickled?
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