On a roll again!

I cringe to see the date of my last post pre-Hana. May! Well, it was just too busy a time at work and home to blog and I was getting to point where all I wanted to do was rest, rest and rest. But that was the last thing I was doing.

I remember having classes to teach at night on top of my regular classes and preparing for a big event in August. I was always home late and hardly spent time with my kids coz they'd be sleeping or about to sleep. I was also away a lot. I had to do my induction, finally, no more postponing (that took up 12 hectic days of my life) and then I attended the AsiaTefl conference (3 days) and then it was my hubby's turn to be away. Being single mom wasn't easy but thank God for my parents and in my condition, they didn't allow me to stay home alone. Imagine, at my age, still staying with my parents! Only went back to my own house when hubby was around. Hubby also tried to clear as much of his workload so that he'd be around when the baby was born.

Anyway, I began taking leave from work during the semester break so that my parents could go for a well-deserved holiday before my baby was born. After the break, I worked a few more days to make sure that everything was nice and tidy for the person taking over my responsibilities. Only by early-mid September, I finally was getting some rest. Since it was also time the baby was soon due, I really didn't fancy driving about 45 minutes to 1 hour to work and another 45 minutes to 1 hour back from work on my own. What if my water broke? What if I suffered from cramps? Haha maybe those were just excuses, but the fears were real. But basically, I just wanted to REST! Also it was fasting month and I was fasting despite being heavily pregnant, which wasn't that bad actually because as I have mentioned before, I didn't have much of an appetite.

Because hubby was only back weekends, I prayed and prayed that the baby would be a weekend baby. Alas, the baby was not cooperating. On 17th night, my husband, after waiting and waiting for a sign, any sign that the baby was coming out, left for KL. The next morning, I had a show. I have never had a show before so my mom said she had a show once in the morning, and by evening, she had already given birth. I called my hubby, the poor man, to break the news but told him that he shouldn't hurry back coz mom said there was no hurry. She'd waited a good 12 hours before she felt any contractions. So I waited my good 12 hours and nothing. Hubby came home and come morning, we made our way to the clinic and was told that the passage was still closed. What! Baby's not coming out yet?! We went home.

After two days, my hubby said, I have to go back but what happened, just when he was about to leave. Another show and again, no contractions. Now the poor soul was in two minds: Go back or stay back? The next day, I began having mild contractions, but few and far in between. Then they got closer and closer, every 5 minutes, then 3 minutes apart. I was scared but excited. Finally, my baby was coming out. NOT! It was another false alarm. So upon the advice of people around me, after iftar we made our to the hospital for the second time. Again, no passage. The nurse was disbelieving that I had contractions. Hello! I know what I was feeling. And sure enough the CTG proved that I was having contractions but alas, it just wasn't time yet. So home again we went.

My hubby was like, "Hmm, nak kena rotan nie baby nie...so nakal", which means this baby seems to be asking for a caning. Hahaha Anyway, no way was I going back to the hospital with another false alarm and because Inez was late due to the cord round her neck, my mom was worried that it's history repeating itself. So we went to my monthly gynae for a scan. His is a 3D scan, so you can see if there's a cord round the baby's neck. Thank God, no cord round neck.

Anyway, I continued to have mild contractions but strangely enough they began to get further and further apart. From 3 minutes, it went to 5 minutes then 7 minutes then 20 minutes apart. I went to sleep feeling contraction but when mom called to wake us up for Sahur my contractions were strong and I had difficulty even standing up. I started timing them. They were 1 minute apart. Sometimes the contractions were mild and sometimes they were strong. Then only I woke my hubby up. I told him we had to go to the hospital. We didn't even sahur or anything, just left the two at my mom's and went directly to the hospital. Ada hati lagi nak sembahyang subuh but I couldn't even stand straight. They called the doctor, took me into the labour room. Doctor came in at 5:30 and 5:49 my little Hana was born. Oops, actually it's 6:49. Sorry folks for the typo error. I swear this was my most painful birth. With Mika the wait was slightly longer, I was induced, and a little high on that gas that I didn't really feel the pain but oh I felt everything with this birth. With Inez I was unconscious the whole time that when I came round, the first question I asked was "Is the baby out yet?" :)

Well the rest is history.

Mika's Number

Over the weekend, everyone came back for the hols, minus one, my hubby. So since I lived nearby I didn't put up at my parents. My kids though, didn't want to go home with me as Mimi and Naqib were there. Two mornings ago (Saturday), I told my mom that I'd be bringing over some nuggets for the kids. So to get them all into the shower, she enticed them with the nuggets I was bringing. Naqib overheard and started to say that he wanted nuggets which of course, weren't there yet. Naqib then asked Mika to give me a call. Mika said, "I cannot. I don't have my mommy's phone number but I got my own number. It's 882!" Hahahahahahahahaha!

Meet Baby Hana!

This is Baby Hana Danialle (pronounced Daniyal). I know, it's a boy's name with a girly twist to its spelling; so that's why I guess I sort of feel compelled to mention how it's pronounced as there have been many variations in the pronunciation of Hana's name especially by nurses in the hospital and clinics we've been to.

Lemme see, we have had people calling her Hannah as in Hannah Montana. To be expected, of course. Some also pronounced Danialle like Danielle but the most unexpected was when I was paged by the payment counter for Ha-na Da-ni-yal-li! Haha serves us right!

Anyway, Hana was born 25 Sept 2007 very very early in the morning at 5:49 a.m. This is my heaviest baby yet at 3.29 kg (Inez was 2.53 and Mika 2.8) and the one with the most hair too. The weight and the hair sooooo totally surprised me as I had very poor appetite when carrying her (couldn't eat meat, or seafood but I loved salads and fruits and I developed a sweeth tooth) and I never had babies with a full top of hair before. I remember when we had 'potong jambul' for Inez, the ladies practically had to scratch my daughter's head for hair! That was really funny. :)

Mika and Inez are very happy with the baby, being near her and touching her and having her fingers grip on their finger and have even come up with an assortment of nicknames for her. It usually starts with, "Why don't we call her Cookie coz she's so sweet?" :) Or when she pukes, they'd want to call her Pukey and Pookey and since for the Malays, the latter is a taboo word (kinda like why the Americans don't pronounce 'can't' the way the British do), I say it's a no-no, don't ever call Hana that. And when she poops, they call her Poopy or Stinky or Stinkypoo.

Then one day, Inez started calling Hana 'Lulu'.

"Oh Hana, you're so cute, let's call you Lulu." I'm not too happy with that either coz if you watch those Hong Kong serials or movies, sometimes, you hear the characters say, "Hey, don't treat me like I'm a Lulu!" and that means don't treat me like a bimbo or idiot or simpleton, if I am not mistaken. Anyway, Lulu is now expanded to 'Hanalulu'. Working Mom says that's great since her daughter gets called Aloha (a combo of Nuha Alisha). Who would've thought the two girls' nicknames have a Hawaiian theme! :)

My hubby on the other hand loves to tease my older two, who'd say something like "Can we touch Baby Hana?" The answer would be, "No, but you can touch baby Danny." Then Mika would go, "No! Danny is a boy's name. Hana is a girl!" all exasperated with his daddy.

Sometimes I have to get away from them so that Hana can sleep in peace, if not those two would be hovering over her...but all her awake moments, I try to include them in. Inez brings new clean diapers while Mika disposes of the soiled ones. It's great that they love their new baby sister and is not jealous of her. Mika wanted his Atuk to get a soft toy the other day, for baby Hana. I think that's just sweet.