Presenting Our Latest Addition

*from my other blog at Dilla Speaks Out

Here she is. Fresh out of the oven. The latest addition to the Zaghlol clan — grandchild Number 8 :Heleyna Zahra Mohd Nazrin. Well, I think it is coz the name isn’t registered with the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara as yet. She was born on December 1st, 2006 at about 2:42pm. I didn’t really look at the clock in the delivery suite as I was busy manning the videocam. Mom, Nazz, me and Illa were there to witness the birth of baby Heleyna.

ZZ has been in the ward since the wee hours in the morning, I think she was admitted at 1.30am. Imagine the wait and pain until God knows what time… Hmmm… Historically, ZZ had the epidural with the first boy and went without it for the second girl. Epidural or no epidural? - that is the question. I guess, we all go into the delivery suite wanting to do it au naturel — without the help and magic of pain relievers. Baru ada feel sikit, kan? Imagine our moms and grandmamas who delivered us and our moms — they could do it without all this epidural, pethidene, laughing gas business, right? Well, that’s all well and good, for them.. With the advancement of technology and the availability of numerous pain relievers, going into labour is not as easy as it used to be. There is so many decisions and you don’t know whether it is the right one or the wrong one. The truth of the matter is,there’s no one right or wrong way of doing it. It’s just the right one at the time, and it’ll be a different case for every delivery. I guess, the turn of events will finally decide on which pain reliever you’ll opt for or the lack of it. Just remember that it doesn’t make you a bad mom for wanting to feel less pain.

Anyways, sometime midday, ZZ opted for the epidural. Might as well get some sleep, I’d say. I remember during Khadra’s delivery I was soo glad when I finally took the epidural. Azrul would recall this exact moment when I actually said, "Yeay! Boleh tidur" and slept I did until it was finally time. The only immediate downside to this epidural thing is the side effect that both me and ZZ get from taking it. My hands would shake noticeably up to a point that I was afraid to hold my newborn child for long. ZZ was shaking near the end and even more so when the dosage was stopped. Anyways, I think epidural is still well worth it though if you can’t stand the pain anymore. Just bring in an extra cardigan and a loving body who’d rub your hands into the delivey suite. You’d do fine.

-dillz blogging out-