However, he was determined to come early, 5 weeks earlier than EDD to be exact. Yup, our little angel, born a late preterm at 35 weeks. My baby, Erfan :)
On the night of before his arrival, I went out shopping for groceries with hubby and the girls. Back home afterwards, I felt some contractions but seriously thought it was Braxton Hix and tried to ignore it by focusing on sewing the binding of the baby quilt I was making...
Then, after midnight the contractions were stronger and by 3am I could no longer bear it as it was 3 minutes apart! I remember thinking - It cannot be...it's too early! And with the girls it was totally different - I would either have a bloody show or my water broke long before any contractions! So we rushed to the hospital. Around 10 minutes after, my water broke and I immediately feel the urge to push.
I remember the havoc it was as they rushed me to the labor room and just another two pushes my little warrior arrived, gliding out and seconds later came his loud cry...both hubby and me were shocked...never crossed our mind that our precious little boy would be premature...but then again this pregnancy had been extra strenuous for me as I dealt with the stress of my job & extremely bad edema..I was swollen all over and ballooned so big! I also was diagnosed with polyhydramnious just a week before...
Nonetheless, he's just beautiful...he weighs a tiny 2.4kg but his apgar score was 9/10..he was given oxygen to help him breathe better initially and after that cleared to nurse. His latching & feeding was great too so we were not very worried.
That was until the next day when the doctor said he looks jaundiced. On day 3, Erfan was admitted to NICU at Putrajaya Hospital for Severe Jaundice. His bilirubin level reached the exchange blood phase as the doctors stuggled to bring it down. Nothing could describe my worry at that time..but finally received the good news that he responded to ivig treatment on day 4. Erfan ended up in the hospital for 5 days and when we were discharged we were told that we need to bring Erfan for motor & developmental follow up by the specialists every 3 months until he reaches 2 years old. This is because his jaundiced was severe and they fear it might have affected the brain...I am praying hard now that my little warrior would be okay...
Erfan is now 33 days old..I am exclusively breastfeeding him..he seems to gain weight and active but we could see that the jaundice is still there, maybe just less severe. We are waiting for his 1st month appointment to see what the doctor says.
Other than this, Erfan is a happy baby who cries for milk almost every hour! He loves to play at night and mostly naps in the morning & afternoon...his looks changes almost everyday as we cherish this very short newborn stage..I am so very much in love and we are so grateful for him Alhamdulillah...
The big sisters are also over the moon of their baby brother...and its heartwarming to see how in love hubby is with his son. Grandma & grandpa was smitten too! :)
Today, my lil love bug is 33 days out in the real world. We have only the best dreams and wishes for him and pray endlessly that he would grow up healthy and happy...looking at his chubby cheeks now..well I am grateful for Allah's blessings and I could just kiss him all day long!
