Stories from my Kitchen - 2 - "From Departure Hall to Labour Room"
I was deep in my dreams when I got a call from my wife Friday morning at 6 o’clock. She told me she was having labour pain. I didn’t know what to do. It would have been simple if I was lying next to her, but I was in a hotel some 1000 km away. Panic rushed through my head. What would I do? My scheduled flight home was 6 o’clock in the evening and all MAS flights were fully booked. I already told myself to be with my wife to receive the baby because this was going to be our last child. I felt that having four young mouths to feed was enough. I am grateful to be blessed with beautiful and healthy children and having four of them is a good point to call it a day.
I jumped out of the bed, turned my laptop on and got connected to the Internet. At RM26 per hour, the hotel Internet charge was a rip-off but it was not a time to think about money. I needed to be home for the baby. I typed AirAsia.com to book a ticket to KLIA because my original MAS ticket would be too late for me to see my wife deliver the baby. The Internet site did not respond. Maybe the server was down I thought. The address could not be wrong. It’d been etched on my memory. It’s written big and clear on the Airbus fuselage. I couldn’t get it wrong. I tried to call the hotline number but the response was confusing. May be I was so confused by then that I could not even understand a simple instruction. I called my wife again at about 7 o’clock and told her to ask my younger brother to take her to the hospital. I was still hoping that her pain would just go away and that the baby would not come out so soon. After all, she had false alarms a few times before and the due date was still 2 weeks away.
After failing with the website and the confusing hotline, I already gave up hope of getting home on time. From across the South China Sea, there is no other mode of transport to get home except by air. I was away on a project for a sister company, a subsidiary of an oil and gas giant. I had planned to be home for 2 weeks starting today so that I could be with my wife in the labour room. Although the due date was the end of the month, experience from the past three children told me that our baby would arrive early this time. Two weeks was enough windows for the arrival of the baby I thought. Now that my wife was already in labour pain, the only thing on my mind was to get home immediately.
There was one option. I could just go to the airport and try to get an earlier flight. I might just be lucky to get one from somebody who cancels their flight at the last minute. After breakfast I called the AirAsia number again. I was told that there was a flight to KLIA at 10.05 am, and that I needed to check in by 9.15 am at the latest. The other flight to KL was at 7.00 pm in the evening. That would be too long for me to wait. The clock was showing 8.40 am and I only had 35 minutes to check out from the hotel, take a cab to the airport, buy a ticket and check in for the flight. I prayed to Allah to help me beat the odds. I’ve not heard of anybody who does all this in 35 minutes. Whatever the odds I felt I should pursue this to the last possible option.
I quickly grabbed my stuff and dumped it into my travel bag. There was no time to fold things and put them nicely as I would normally do. I went straight to the hotel lobby, checked out and called a cab. There was already a taxi waiting and I needed to get to the airport by 9.15 am. I kept watching the car clock while the driver was telling me stories about his daily routine. Honestly, I was not paying attention to what he was saying. I pretended I was interested in his story by saying yes when I thought he expected me to agree with him. My only focus was to get through the gate by 9.15 am as I knew AirAsia was very strict with check-in time. I was refused entry once early this year and I had to buy a new ticket for the next flight even though I felt I was there on time.
I reached the airport at 9.10 am and rushed through to AirAsia ticket counter to ask for the 10.05 am flight. The man at the counter pulled out his walkie talkie and spoke to somebody to get confirmation whether they could still allow another passenger to buy a ticket and board the plane. I held up my breath as I listened to the confirmation from the voice coming through the device. I was given all clear. My worst fear was over. I would be flying home on the morning flight. Although AirAsia was well known as a low fare airliner, at that last moment, I was not hoping to get a RM9.99 ticket anymore. The fare was actually about the same as MAS flight and no in-flight meals were served. It was fine for me. I was not really hungry anyway.
Again I rushed to the check-in counter and saw there were still several passengers checking in. My spirits were up again. I was going to be allowed to fly. I went through the Immigration counter to get my Immigration chit stamped. Barely five minutes in the departure hall, we were called to board the Airbus bound for KL.
They say AirAsia is well known for delays. But my flight was right on time. The flight over the South China Sea took about 2 hours and 15 minutes and around 12.30 pm we touched down at LCCT. I usually have a slight fear of flying but this time I was so focused on the baby that I forgot everything else. I was prepared for any eventuality. Most likely I thought I would not be able to receive the baby in the labour room. In the past, it never took my wife more than 4 hours and she had been having the pain since 4 o’clock in the morning. It had been more than 6 hours. I did not know whether my wife could wait any longer.
Upon reaching LCCT, I told the cab driver to take me straight to maternity ward at Kajang Hospital. It was Friday prayer time and the road was packed. I think it took about an hour to get from the airport to the labour room. When I reached the hospital my wife was already lying in pain in the labour room. The nurses said that she had asked them to delay the birth because she wanted to wait for me. I was asked to wait outside the ward and they would call me when the baby was about to come out. It is not a normal practice in government hospitals to allow husbands to be in the labour room during delivery but I think they made an exception for me. My wife is a nurse at the hospital and among those in the labour room were her own colleagues . I was asked whether I would be fine seeing a lot of blood. After getting my assurances they agreed to allow me to be beside my wife during the delivery. My prayer was answered. At exactly 2.26 pm a baby boy was born weighing 2.8 kg. My life is now complete. I have 2 pairs of children – 2 sons and 2 daughters. I could not ask for anything better from God.
When I look back at the whole episode, I remember it again. As my bag slid into the X-ray machine and I went under the metal detector gate at the airport, I was overcome with emotions. I was so thankful to AirAsia for carrying me home. The face of its founder Anthony Fernandes, better known as Tony Fernandes came to my mind. Had it not been for his visions, many people would not be able to fly today. If there were no AirAsia alternative flights, I would not be flying home on time to be with my wife when the baby arrived. Thank you very much Tony! If you had a muslim name I would have named my baby after you. The closest muslim name to yours that I can think of is Ahmad Firdaus. It’s Arabic for “Heaven”, a name that has very good meaning indeed. It rhymes well with Anthony Fernandes too! I have come across many Firdauses in my life, and as far as I can remember, they are all generous and well mannered people. Maybe it was just a coincidence. A week earlier I was sailing to an offshore oil platform on a superfast crew boat named “Firdaus II”. I am not superstitious and I don’t believe in any signs. But I think it’s a nice name and I will not run the risk of not having enough spaces when I fill up the forms at the National Registration Department.
Not many stories these days end with a happy ending. I am glad mine did. Alhamdulillah, it all went well and God safely took me home from a departure hall some 1000 km away to the labour room at Kajang Hospital to welcome my baby. Welcome to the world my son. Welcome to the world Ahmad Firdaus!
At home in Kajang,
Currently on paternity leaves.
17-7-2007
I jumped out of the bed, turned my laptop on and got connected to the Internet. At RM26 per hour, the hotel Internet charge was a rip-off but it was not a time to think about money. I needed to be home for the baby. I typed AirAsia.com to book a ticket to KLIA because my original MAS ticket would be too late for me to see my wife deliver the baby. The Internet site did not respond. Maybe the server was down I thought. The address could not be wrong. It’d been etched on my memory. It’s written big and clear on the Airbus fuselage. I couldn’t get it wrong. I tried to call the hotline number but the response was confusing. May be I was so confused by then that I could not even understand a simple instruction. I called my wife again at about 7 o’clock and told her to ask my younger brother to take her to the hospital. I was still hoping that her pain would just go away and that the baby would not come out so soon. After all, she had false alarms a few times before and the due date was still 2 weeks away.
After failing with the website and the confusing hotline, I already gave up hope of getting home on time. From across the South China Sea, there is no other mode of transport to get home except by air. I was away on a project for a sister company, a subsidiary of an oil and gas giant. I had planned to be home for 2 weeks starting today so that I could be with my wife in the labour room. Although the due date was the end of the month, experience from the past three children told me that our baby would arrive early this time. Two weeks was enough windows for the arrival of the baby I thought. Now that my wife was already in labour pain, the only thing on my mind was to get home immediately.
There was one option. I could just go to the airport and try to get an earlier flight. I might just be lucky to get one from somebody who cancels their flight at the last minute. After breakfast I called the AirAsia number again. I was told that there was a flight to KLIA at 10.05 am, and that I needed to check in by 9.15 am at the latest. The other flight to KL was at 7.00 pm in the evening. That would be too long for me to wait. The clock was showing 8.40 am and I only had 35 minutes to check out from the hotel, take a cab to the airport, buy a ticket and check in for the flight. I prayed to Allah to help me beat the odds. I’ve not heard of anybody who does all this in 35 minutes. Whatever the odds I felt I should pursue this to the last possible option.
I quickly grabbed my stuff and dumped it into my travel bag. There was no time to fold things and put them nicely as I would normally do. I went straight to the hotel lobby, checked out and called a cab. There was already a taxi waiting and I needed to get to the airport by 9.15 am. I kept watching the car clock while the driver was telling me stories about his daily routine. Honestly, I was not paying attention to what he was saying. I pretended I was interested in his story by saying yes when I thought he expected me to agree with him. My only focus was to get through the gate by 9.15 am as I knew AirAsia was very strict with check-in time. I was refused entry once early this year and I had to buy a new ticket for the next flight even though I felt I was there on time.
I reached the airport at 9.10 am and rushed through to AirAsia ticket counter to ask for the 10.05 am flight. The man at the counter pulled out his walkie talkie and spoke to somebody to get confirmation whether they could still allow another passenger to buy a ticket and board the plane. I held up my breath as I listened to the confirmation from the voice coming through the device. I was given all clear. My worst fear was over. I would be flying home on the morning flight. Although AirAsia was well known as a low fare airliner, at that last moment, I was not hoping to get a RM9.99 ticket anymore. The fare was actually about the same as MAS flight and no in-flight meals were served. It was fine for me. I was not really hungry anyway.
Again I rushed to the check-in counter and saw there were still several passengers checking in. My spirits were up again. I was going to be allowed to fly. I went through the Immigration counter to get my Immigration chit stamped. Barely five minutes in the departure hall, we were called to board the Airbus bound for KL.
They say AirAsia is well known for delays. But my flight was right on time. The flight over the South China Sea took about 2 hours and 15 minutes and around 12.30 pm we touched down at LCCT. I usually have a slight fear of flying but this time I was so focused on the baby that I forgot everything else. I was prepared for any eventuality. Most likely I thought I would not be able to receive the baby in the labour room. In the past, it never took my wife more than 4 hours and she had been having the pain since 4 o’clock in the morning. It had been more than 6 hours. I did not know whether my wife could wait any longer.
Upon reaching LCCT, I told the cab driver to take me straight to maternity ward at Kajang Hospital. It was Friday prayer time and the road was packed. I think it took about an hour to get from the airport to the labour room. When I reached the hospital my wife was already lying in pain in the labour room. The nurses said that she had asked them to delay the birth because she wanted to wait for me. I was asked to wait outside the ward and they would call me when the baby was about to come out. It is not a normal practice in government hospitals to allow husbands to be in the labour room during delivery but I think they made an exception for me. My wife is a nurse at the hospital and among those in the labour room were her own colleagues . I was asked whether I would be fine seeing a lot of blood. After getting my assurances they agreed to allow me to be beside my wife during the delivery. My prayer was answered. At exactly 2.26 pm a baby boy was born weighing 2.8 kg. My life is now complete. I have 2 pairs of children – 2 sons and 2 daughters. I could not ask for anything better from God.
When I look back at the whole episode, I remember it again. As my bag slid into the X-ray machine and I went under the metal detector gate at the airport, I was overcome with emotions. I was so thankful to AirAsia for carrying me home. The face of its founder Anthony Fernandes, better known as Tony Fernandes came to my mind. Had it not been for his visions, many people would not be able to fly today. If there were no AirAsia alternative flights, I would not be flying home on time to be with my wife when the baby arrived. Thank you very much Tony! If you had a muslim name I would have named my baby after you. The closest muslim name to yours that I can think of is Ahmad Firdaus. It’s Arabic for “Heaven”, a name that has very good meaning indeed. It rhymes well with Anthony Fernandes too! I have come across many Firdauses in my life, and as far as I can remember, they are all generous and well mannered people. Maybe it was just a coincidence. A week earlier I was sailing to an offshore oil platform on a superfast crew boat named “Firdaus II”. I am not superstitious and I don’t believe in any signs. But I think it’s a nice name and I will not run the risk of not having enough spaces when I fill up the forms at the National Registration Department.
Not many stories these days end with a happy ending. I am glad mine did. Alhamdulillah, it all went well and God safely took me home from a departure hall some 1000 km away to the labour room at Kajang Hospital to welcome my baby. Welcome to the world my son. Welcome to the world Ahmad Firdaus!
At home in Kajang,
Currently on paternity leaves.
17-7-2007
2 comments:
Aku baca cerita mu nih dgn penuh perasaang! Wpon aku ambik kat tengah cerita and sambung sampai abis, tp rasa cam tengok Drama kat Panggung Wayang... hehe
Tahniah Jem, belated :))
And, selamat datang ke Dunia to Ahmad Firdaus.
98/82
Post a Comment