Reminiscing Part III

Year 4 2007

This year was challenging indeed. I had a few problems with breastfeeding at the beginning but things turned out OK. I had 2 months off before I had to go into the hospital lab to finish my project. Even then, I went on the weekends so that hubby could accompany me and look after Layth at my office while I was in the lab. Very difficult coz I had to stop every 2 hours during the experiment to breastfeed Layth.

My dear Datuk died this year because of COPD. I couldn't go back to Malaysia at the time, was still in pantang. But I managed to see his last moments because my aunt switched on the webcam in his room at the time. I still miss him a lot.

I was very fortunate to be able to stay at home most of the time for Layth's first 6 months. It was easy to exclusively breastfeed him. It was lovely to watch him grow and smile and develop that bond too. I never left him with anyone for more than a few hours. I'd be anxious and teary and miss him a lot even for two hours! Hehehe

Fortunately for us, our monthly allowance had increased and we received a backdated cheque of a lot of money. That meant we could afford to go back to Malaysia for winter! Alhamdulillah. So Layth had his passport done in Canberra and in June we went back to Malaysia to meet the family. Mak & Ayah even installed air-cond just for him! First cucu la katakan.

When we got back to Melbourne after that, things got a bit more difficult. I was starting my clinical years at the hospital and that required me to go to hospital all day long. During the first few days we left him with some sisters (Kak Ulfah, who now happens to be related to me coz she married hubby's cousin). He didn't drink the expressed milk so he was really hungry when I picked him up again.

The next 3 weeks we got a spot at family daycare where a mother looks after kids in her own house. She was Muslim and she did a good job. Layth was low-maintenance at the time anyway. But it cost us nearly $900 for 3 weeks. Habis duit mara bagi tuh. Then hubby's cousin came and stayed with us and that made things much easier for us. There was more flexibility for me.. I could go late or come back early or come back later than usual (depending on my timetable).

I didn't attend the hospital that much coz I wanted to be at home with Layth. Didn't like hubby's cousin that much even though she helped me a lot. Felt annoyed at someone taking over the house.

Hospital life was quite demanding. I expressed milk in between classes in the toilet. Being hormonal, I was extremely sensitive to mean people and there are a lot of mean staff at my hospital.

The sem 8 exam was formative (no assessment) so I didn't study that much hee hee. No motivation anyway. I didn't want to leave the house in the morning. Didn't have good sleep because Layth feeds 3-4 times during the night. Was seriously thinking of quitting medicine at this point of time. Felt a bit depressed too.

Staying at home was more exciting. Layan Layth main, crawling, standing then walking!

We enrolled in playgroup by the end of this year and made new friends. Layth was healthy, growing up well and happy.


Layth turned one at the end of this year commemorating the start of extremely hot summers in Melbourne!