Ok I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but everyone who has taken the trouble to leave your congratulatory messages and well wishes be it via national radio, sms, my Multiply network, my main domain, emails, Facebook messages etc, on behalf of Aida, I would like to say a big “THANK YOU!!!” to all of you. You know who you are, each and everyone of you. Alhamdulillah, mother and child are doing fine, so fine that we wished that they both could be discharged today, but for the 3-day package that we had paid for and also since the little one needs to take the Hepatitis B jab and a few others.

Eshaan loves playing with the balloon…

We also received our first few visitors at the hospital yesterday, like our foster sister Noreen and her hubby Faizal. A pity I couldn’t meet them as I was at work. Then in the evening when I came after work, my favourite cousins Ezaad, Julie and Jid were there along with their mum and Eshaan. My parents, elder sister and my aunt (my mum’s elder sister) were also there so you can imagine it was quite a party in the room. A pity neither my parents-in-law nor Syadiyah’s other cousins Nurin Diyanah and Muhamad Dhiyoul Rahman nor Syahindah have met her yet as they have to look after the three children at home who are still recovering from the illness they contracted over the past week or so.

My aunt getting acquainted with her new grand-daughter…

Thank you to my aunts for the “Hong Baos“, my cousins for the lovely Baby Gap apparel for both Syadiyah and Syahindah, Jid for the lovely pink balloon and also to the good people at KRU Singapore (Jihan and Janna) for the lovely baby hamper. It was very unexpected cos I was anticipating you guys to visit us or something when Janna smsed to ask for the bed number and all. The Bistro segment on RIA 89.7FM today was also flooded with a lot of congratulatory messages for us but it was a pity that I was not concentrating on it fully. However I appreciate all of them and felt quite honoured by all the kind words from my fellow listeners…

He simply hated this!!!

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Even though we are thousands of kilometres apart, I would like to say a big thank you to Ric Flair for entertaining wrestling fans like me for as long as I’ve been a fan of sports entertainment. For the uninitiated, this guy is already in his 60s but still competes in the sport when many of those who are still very much younger than him are dying young due to drug overdose. Ok some of you might say wrestling is scripted but I don’t care, I love it and so do millions out there.

I’ve had the priviledge of seeing him three times when World Wrestling Entertainment came here for three shows between 2002-2007, and boy the crowd went wild when he came to the ring doing his trademark “WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!“. He might not be spectacular but he did not win 16 titles throughout the history of his career for nothing and held many other minor belts. He might also not be my favourite wrestler but I respected the way he went about doing things, whether it be a babyface (good guy) or heel (bad guy).

Flair was involved in a Career Ending stipulation match if he were to lose to Shawn Michaels at the recently-concluded Wrestlemania event last weekend. And he did lose signalling the end of a colourful career. At the recent RAW event two days ago, he was given the perfect sending off by all the wrestlers that everyone involved were seen tearing. When I watched the events unfolding from the comfort of YouTube yesterday, I can’t help but have tears welling in my eyes. It was very emotional and surreal to see these big, muscled guys with big egos going off from their on-screen characters crying and applauding the great man. For those who watch RAW on Super Sports Channel 22, you would be able to view it next week or the week after, if I’m not wrong. I tried to include the clips in here but somehow they are already made unavailable over at YouTube due to copyright infringement…

Yes folks, this is no April Fools’ Joke, you heard it right. I became a father for the second time this past afternoon, exactly 16 months after Syahindah Adawiyah was born. Anyway before I move on, I wanna sidetrack a bit. With regards to April Fools, please do not sensationalise nor glorify the day. If some of you were to know the history behind it, you might end up seething instead, but that’s for you to look up and do a little bit of research. I know this second daughter of mine might be getting some stick when she grows up but I’m sure the day is just another day…

Mother resting before the operation…

Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah Almighty for bestowing this precious gift upon us. She arrived exactly at 2:46pm (from what was stated on the clock inside the operating room), even though the official time that was recorded on her records was 2:45pm. Compared to Syahindah’s arrival, I think I was more relaxed this time. It also helped that I wasn’t stuck in the waiting room which from my experience, was an extremely cold room to be in (due to some antenatal class going on, of all places that they chose to do it).

Me goofing around whilst waiting to be called into the operating room…

When Syahindah was born, Aida had gone through a Caesarian Section delivery as the umbilical cord was wrapped round her neck and since her head was big from the prior scans that we did. Being seven months apart from the time of her delivery to the time Syadiyah was conceived, it didn’t make sense for us to go through a normal delivery as it might result in complications. The safest we could have opted for a normal delivery was if the baby was born two years after her sibling. Even though our gynaecologist had said that going for a normal delivery was still possible, both of us did not want to take the risk of running into unnecessary complications (which also translates to more cash being burnt!!!). So we played it safe and opted for the Caesarian Section delivery as it is classily known as. 

Seconds after birth…

Both Aida and I had initially planned for a full General Anaesthetic Caesarian Section Delivery (that’s quite a mouthful isn’t it???), just like our firstborn. Somehow the operating theatre’s nurse convinced us at the last moment to switch to Epidural instead, one hour before Aida was wheeled into the operating room. Previously we had our reservations about using Epidural because of all the stories surrounding it (spinal aches, back pains etc), but somehow the nurse did a good job at recommending it to us that we thought, ok let’s give it a try. Also, I would be able to join her in the operating room instead of pacing up and down over at the waiting lounge.

Mother taking a good look at baby…

It was an experience which was an eye-opener for me. Finally I got to see surgeons in action right before my very eyes. Even though I always wince whenever I watch movies with a lot of violence and gore, I was surprisingly fascinated when I saw them cutting Aida open and inserting the tube to suck out the water from the water bag. So fascinated I was till I forgot to record the whole process and only realised it till Syadiyah was already being cleaned by the nurse. The process of pulling her out from her mother’s tummy was like taking out a cookie from a cookie jar. It was that easy and I couldn’t say much except “Subhanallah” and marvel at the whole thing.

Syadiyah Asyura is beautiful, just like her sister, even though she doesn’t look as Japanese as Syahindah was when she was born. But the fairness is still there. Oh and she has a big, black birth mark on her head which looks like a patch of hair. Luckily it’s there and can be covered by the hair when she grows older. I kinda shuddered thinking what if it were to be on her face. But even if it does, I’ll still love her all the same. Right now, she kinda look like her cousin (my sister-in-law’s son). My direct family members are laughing at me now cos I always like to irritate this nephew of mine and make him cry even when I’m joking with him. Actually they had warned me not to irritate my nephew too much, lest the newborn would look like him. But it’s ok, my nephew is good-looking himself (the only grouse is he likes to cry for nothing) so my daughter would hopefully be good-looking herself.

One for the album…

Ok, I’ve had a long day. I need a much-needed rest. Thank you to all for the kind prayers rendered to us, not to mention all the congratulatory messages and well-wishes on national radio, via sms, via my Multiply network, even emails. Both of us are blessed with all the love from everyone. In case some of you are waiting for us to invite you to Syadiyah’s Tahniq ceremony, no we’re not organising one. But our home is still open for you guys to come and see us and our new addition. Just give us a buzz and we’ll welcome you with open arms, you know the drill…