The Home That Is Not A House

without a doubt, the second home for for eiseai (ie all 6 of us) is dsh. we're there so often, they should have a wing for us. we're there for check-ups, we're there for immunisation, we're there for fever, food poisioning, cough, flu, wheezing, we're there for almost everything. me alone, i've had over 70 visits over the past 5 years (they note the number of visits on the prescibred medicine - mrn number + no of visits). that's roughly 15 check ups for each pregnancy, 4 admissions for delivery, that unforgettable migraine and various minor incidents that took us to the a&e. hubby too had his fair share, especially those related to his epilepsy episodes. let's not get started on the boys. i think each of them need a separate entry of their love affair with dsh.

sometimes its funny how when i talk about the boys being admitted (usually via facebook) people gasp with horror and think 'oh no kesiannnn'. for us, its...yeay tido hospital. some people say, better get a second opinion, doctors usually admit even though its not necessary. while we go, doc...admit ni kan, baju dah siap dah.

its also funny when people ask, why was he admitted last month? and here i am thinking, which 'he' because, apart from ariff, all my boys have been admitted. which day of the month exactly, because in 1 month maybe more than 1 have been admitted, and 1 could be admitted more than once for different reasons. they make it sound like being admitted is a once off thing while we have stayed in practically all types of room in all floors in dsh.

while i'm not saying having a child admitted in a hospital is a small matter, especially if they're so young and sensitive to all kinds of diseases, but its not a big deal either. we've got nurses who checks up on the boys every 4 hours and we've got a wonderful pediatrician who layan our queries and sms-es and visits twice a day. we're calm and relaxed when the boys need to be admitted, we're ready, we're mentally prepared, we even have our hospital bags and hospital clothes.

all-in-all, the 3 boys have been admitted 15 times:
amir:

• jaundice (practically every baby is admitted for this nowadays)
• AGE together with asyraf in sept 2007
• AGE in march 2008
• treadmill incident in 2009 - this was scary because it involves the OT (unlike the other incidents) which then we used to our advantage and got the surgeon to circumcise amir
• AGE in may 2009

asyraf:

• jaundice
• ARI at 2 months old
• AGE with amir in sept 2007
• ARI in nov 2009 - i actually was scared when asyraf was admitted this time as his fever shot up to 40c and wouldnt go down. asyraf used to get sick a lot before he turned one, when he reached a year old its as if he became a new person and had a shield whenever his brothers fell sick. but if a bug hits him, it hits him hard.

akmal - another one who saw the pediatrics ward often before he turned one:

• jaundice
• ARI at 1 & half (even had to stay in the NICU overnight)
• AGE in july 2009
• AGE in oct 2009
• AGE in nov 2009
• ARI in may 2010

even though ariff's never been admitted (not even for jaundice *gasp*) he's not spared from these...