The day Athirah was born: after the birth

Athirah was born on the 5th of January 2008 (26 Zulhijjah 4028) at Royal Brisbane Woman Hospital, Herston, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 1.30am Brisbane time. She weighted 2.94kg, length
49 cm. Labour was painful, but short. I recovered fast after the delivery. The hospital service was superb, nurses are kind, helpful, I learn a lot from them. One valuable thing that I learnt from them is, not to panic and be relax. You see, Yaya did not breastfeed because I didnt have much milk. So I was determined to fully breastfeed Athirah at least for a couple of months. So when the midwife laid Athirah on my tummy, I immediately bring her to my chest for latching. But she was not interested. She continued to sleep the whole day. Worried I kept on latching her, every 2 to 3 hours. Seeing the difficulty, I asked the nurses, they said it is normal for a newborn to not interested with the feeding because she thinks she is still in the womb, plus the baby tummy was so small, like the size of your thumb. So that is why the baby was not interested.

Ooooo I see.... See how the nurses explained and educate you. I remember when I had Yaya, the nurses were a bit aggresive when I said that I couldnt feed Yaya, instead of word of encouragement, they pumped my breasts until they were bruised. Oooooo... such a bad experience eh... But not here in Brisbane. So to those mother-to-be out there, don't expect that your baby will straight away know how to suckle and dont be worried if the baby is not interested in the first day because it is normal. Baby will show the sign of hunger and the need to be fed on day 2 onwards.

One more thing that shows how relax the nurses are, was when Athirah shown the sign of jaundice. After discharge, an appointed midwife will pay a visit for both mother and baby. So the third day, Athirah had a slight jaundice on her face. The midwife said this is nothing to worry, and it is normal for Asian baby to get jaundice because our skin is yellow. Plus jaundice is a way of getting rid of the bilirubin. So primary remedy is to keep on breastfeeding (Athirah is fully breastfed) and put her under the light (no direct sun, sun in Brisbane is too stinging).

Following the first visit, another midwife came to again check on the baby (I requested it, because worried the jaundice would got severe) two days after the first visit. The yellow on Athirah face was so obvious, even her white eyes have turned into light yellow (Yaya also had jaundice, and have to put under photo-treatment), so Athirah condition match Yaya's when she had to be admitted to the hospital. But the midwife said this is not serious, just keep on feeding and put her under the light. She then shared her experienced with her two boys who had jaundice, so severe that they turned green. She just kept on feeding her boys and gradually the jaundice subsided (giler kan minah salih nie.... cam tak percaya). But she said if I am worry, I could bring Athirah to the hospital for blood test. But she recommended that I wait for the baby first checkup (happened on the 10th day) for the blood test.

So when Mak came, she too was worried with Athirah condition. But I had to stay strong to not be panic easily. So why did not I take Athirah to the hospital? It was because, I am convinced that what those midwives told me is true. This was strongly supported with an explanation from Dr Norzie.

Dr Norzie is doing her sub specialist at Mater Hospital. She is from HUKM. She came and visit us, tagged along Zaini and Naim. Dr Norzie explained that the jaundice will plateau after 10 days. So looking at Athirah, she said nothing to worry, and after 10 day, everything will be OK. As long as she is feeding well, stay alert when she awakes, the jaundice will soon subsided. I asked her why did medical staff here were not as aggresive as nurses back home. She said because the local people here are well informed and are well prepared with any emergency. I agreed. I received lots of fliers from the hospital pre and post natal. I infact experienced a superb treatment from these medical staff. The nurses are willing to share you and help whatever they can. There were no gaps, even you asked silly questions, they would answered them without grunting. I was lucky to gain this experience.

And according to Dr Norzie, Malaysian medical staff were aggresive because the public make them to. For example, in Malaysia the patient request to have a C-section because couldnt she stand the pain. So doctor has no choice but to perform it, because the patient has shown a sign of distress. But here, the mother wants to deliver normal, no matter what it takes, as long as both mother and baby are fine. So dont blame solely on the medical staff ya.... sometime it is you who force the doctor to make that extreme decision. But I couldnt deny the fact that some doctors and hospital take advantage on this situation, in order to charge more (ooopppssss, my opinion, not fact).

So I should say, I had a good experience giving birth in Australia. Makes me much confidence with the whole ordeal. Hope some information in this entry will shade some fear for mother-to-be, especially for the first time mother.