My first born, Ubaid has been in pre-school and the best thing ever for me lately is sending him to school. A few months back, it was struggle. He would be crying and it broke my heart to leave him at school like that. However, it's now July and he seems pretty fond of going to school. 

Well, at home, preparing him for school is still a daily struggle. There are good days where he would cooperate and things just go smoothly. However, most of the time, he's difficult. 

Though, as soon as we reach the school gate, he suddenly pops up his charming smile. No more hugging and not letting go. No more running back towards me as I reach the gate. He's now all smile while walking to class. 

I guess he finally made some friends. 

Even when I fetch him from school, he would still be smiling. He often waves at all his friends. Bye bye! Bye bye! 

I'm telling you, seeing my son so happy always makes my day. 

Woke up at 3.00 a.m to the sound of my firstborn, Ubaid, telling me he had difficulty breathing. He had been ill for a few days. "Bapak, abang tak boleh bernafas", he said with a frail husky voice. So, I immediately woke my wife and I took Ubaid to Hospital Port Dickson. 

After waiting for 30 minutes, we managed to see the doctor. He said that it was not serious. It was just that his tonsil was a bit swollen and that has been causing the constant fever and a bit of difficulty in breathing. The doctor gave us antibiotics, advised Ubaid to drink a lot of water and sent us home. 

By the time we got home, it was 5.00 am. 

I had to go to the office at 5.30 am. There was a group of Indonesians staying at the Politeknik Port Dickson's lodge and they had a morning flight back home. I was supposed to send them to the airport. However, seeing how Ubaid is sick, I had to leave it to the drivers. I had already booked Politeknik transports to send the Indonesians to the airport. 

I went to the lodge to make sure the drivers were there on time, told the drivers I could not go with them and bid the Indonesians goodbye. 

6.00 am. and I just got home. I got myself ready to do more stuff. After showering, I went back to the office at 8.00 to return the keys of the rooms that I used for a debate championship on the 11th, 12th and 13th of February. Besides that, I also returned the keys of the Avanza that I rented for the sake of the debate championship. Before going home, I bought breakfast and went home. 

9.00 am. My second child, Uwais, just woke up and wanted to the pee. So he went to the toilet alone like he always does. I followed him but only to the toilet door. There was a spill of soap on the toilet floor and as soon as he stepped on it, down he went. 

The back of his head hit the floor hard. 

He cried for quite some time. Then, I proceeded to give him a bath and put some clothes on him. At the table while having his breakfast, my wife and I noticed that he seemed rather sleepy. At first, we thought that it was normal because it was still early morning but I did have a bit of a bad feeling when he kept staring into nothing. It was like he was lost in thoughts.

A moment later, he vomited his breakfast. That was when I started to panic. I remember a few doctors say that if a baby vomits after a fall, it can be serious. So, I immediately took his to Hospital Port Dickson.

When I was looking for a parking spot at the hospital, my baby vomited for the second time. As soon as I found a spot, I rushed him to the Emergency Unit.

After I described Uwais' fall and how he vomited, the medical assistant immediately rushed us to the yellow zone. I described what happened again to the doctors and they ordered a X-ray.


During that time, Uwais was pale and he seemed super tired and sleepy which the doctors found worrying.

After we did the X-Ray, Uwais vomited for the third time.

The head X-Ray revealed no fractures or anything abnormal to the skull but the fact that Uwais was rather inactive made us worry. I told the doctors that usually he is very active even when he's sleepy so his condition at that time was rather unusual for him.

That's when the doctors called in the surgery specialist. The specialist examined him and expressed that he was worried that there was a clot in the brain causing the change in behavior. Therefore, he ordered a CT scan.

The CT scanner was at Hospital Tuanku Jaafar at Seremban. We rode an ambulance there and was accompanied by a medical assistant and a medical student. The ambulance ride was a thrill for Uwais. Suddenly, he was no longer tired and kept making ambulance sounds.


When we got to HTJ, we went straight to the CT scan. Uwais was still excited for the ambulance ride so he cooperated during the head scan. He lay down and stayed still long enough for the scan. Such a good kid. Champ.

The wait for the results took forever however I was delighted to see how friendly the doctors at HTJ were. The doctors at HPD were awesome too. People usually describe public hospital doctors to be rude and unhelpful but during this experience, the doctors, the hospital staff, the nurses were all awesomely nice and hardworking.

CT scan showed no bleeding in the brain which was a huge relief. It was 4.30 pm when we were released from HTJ and rode the ambulance back to HPD. It had been a long day and I was hoping that we could go home since all tests and scans showed that Uwais was fine. Besides that, he was back to being active.

Unfortunately, the hospital has a policy of 24 hour observation so Uwais was warded for 24 hours.


I was beyond tired. Luckily, that evening, my wife switched places with me so I could go home and rest. My father in law was also kind enough to come and help take care of Ubaid and visit Uwais.

The nurses and doctors at HPD were awesomely helpful. They were constantly smiling and talking with a friendly tone. I loved them.


The next day, after it was confirmed that Uwais suffered from no trauma, we were discharged at 4.00 pm. Yeay.


All in all, a little lesson that you can learn from my experience is, if you hit your head hard and then vomited, go straight to the hospital because it might be a sign of a concussion or brain injury.

I would also like to thank the staff, nurses and doctors of Hospital Port Dickson and Hospital Tuanku Jaafar for being awesome and nice. 

The above picture was taken a few weeks ago during a weekend. I was sitting on the kitchen floor, feeling rather exhausted after finished cooking lunch when my first born, Ubaid suddenly came and sat on my lap and hugged me tight. 

And he just did that. He didn't utter any words. He just hugged me tight for about 3 - 4 minutes. And just like that, all my exhaustion went away. 

You have to know that this is rather rare. Often, I would be the one who would call for him for hugs and he would be rather reluctant to do it. But that morning... I think that is one of the most memorable thing that he did. 

My child is growing up. In a blink of an eye, he's now 5. Next year, he would be in kindergarten. Next two years, he would in primary school. Gosh. It feels lightning fast that I can't help but freak out a bit. 

Well, it's good that he's growing healthily. A few more years and I might have a bit of peace of mind. A few more years I might no longer have to tolerate the constant asking for attention. I've been longing for some freedom. 

But, that also mean that he might not come to me to show me stuff anymore. That also mean that he might not want to talk to me anymore. That also mean that he might not want to hug me anymore. 

Hahhh. It's such an emotional roller coaster. A mix of pure emotion. That's how raising a child feels like. 

Whatever it is, after that meaningful hug, I promised myself to always find a chance to hug my children. My second child, Uwais, is only two and it's easy to hug him. I just call him and say "Nak peluk?" and he would gladly hug me. But with Ubaid, like I said, he's rather reluctant to give hugs. However, I won't stop asking for it. I would always ask him for hugs. I would always ask both of them for big bear hugs. I hope I will always remember my promise. Even if they've grown to be bigger, taller than me, I just hope that I would always have the chance to hug them.