the clock strikes midnight... as the dream slips through your head... this is no dress rehearsal... there is no second chance...

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Special baby

When i was posted at TTSH last semester, my uniform and me myself smell of urine and shit after i finised my shift. But now, i got the newborn baby's smell and the mummy's smell...mostly i smell of blood all over, around me.. everything and everywhere i go.. i can smell blood.

1 week at KKH was hell... from day 1, though i was excited to go to this new place and after so long never wear nurse uniform which i had it alter 1-inch less on both sides, I was not really that excited or anxious to care for the woman, babies or children there.. not that i don't like them.. it's just that i don't know how to handle babies, they were like soft beancurd.. knowing me.. very rough, kang-kor and careless.. i am so afraid i would hurt them. Even the midwives can see that i am not natural in holding the babies to bottle-feeding them.. Whatmore bathing them.. i perspire bathing them.. the baby cried from the begining till the end. I am really not into baby stuff... and about the mummies... ah.. some are difficult to please. Mood swing i guess.. they don't look happy or excited at all before and after giving birth.. i wonder why..

I was at class "C" ward and i got to find out a lot of interesting cases. All I hope for is that these new mummies are able to give good meaningful life to their newborns, if u know what i mean. Not many relatives came to visit them, only their close friends.. They are so very young.. and the social workers need to intervene to see to their needs, if needed. So sad..

In the nursery, a lot of baby boys then girls, its like 10 boys : 1 girl.

There's this one baby boy whom i would love to bring home.. because he has big eyes, hairy from head to toe! and cries only when he's hungry.. This particular baby is so special to me and to some of us there.. "strict handwashing" required for this special baby.. and so he is parked away from the rest of the newborns. Felt comfortable handling him and his eyes tells me that he knows what he's doing. It's like as if we connect! He's almost 1 week old and his mum is not around to see him. Baby will only be discharged when he is cured with the "sex-related" infection and be deported to his mum's origin country. Each time i fed him, i kept telling him him to drink as much as he can while he's in here.. and he is indeed the champion drinker in the nursery.. he finishes the whole bottle -90mls. Yesterday was the last day i see him. I will be going to a different ward next week. I miss him already.. he is my idol.. so sad..

2 comments:

krunner said...

Great story! I enjoyed reading it. It's quite sad that some of the babies face uncertai future from the day they are born.

Anonymous said...

yes ct, it's an eye opener, when you see/hear this surreal stories of young mothers/babies.

I got a shocked myself when I was at KK, and still shock when I go for my monthly checkup.

That remind me to be thankful, for we still have close family members to rely on..