Adam is 8!

I remember he was overdued. My gynae asked me to come back in 2 days time to have an induced birth. It was a gruelling 7 hours of labor pain, especially after she broke my waterbag. To make matters worse, my cervix was only opening up to 4 cm. The heartbeat monitor showed that Adam's heartbeat was weakening, so my gynae decided that it had to be a Caesarean section afterall.

I was already tired and restless, enduring the continous pain, pulling my internal muscles. It felt like my tummy was being sliced and pulled, and I endured it without epidural, it was just the gas. My lips were constantly reciting prayers, wishing that would alleviate the agony. When I was handed the pen to sign the consent letter for the C-Section, I just scribbled away without reading the fineprints. My first baby was too contented inside me, not wanting to come out and see the world. And I just couldn't stand it anymore. My husband had been standing besides me for hours, and I was sure that he couldn't stand to see me in pain anymore.

All I could remember after that was the anesthetician calling my name and reciting "Bismillahirahmanirahim.." and after that I passed out. I woke up to the excruciating pain at my lower abdomen, again saying my Creator's name, Allah, Allah..and calling out to my husband that I needed painkillers. I remembered him kissing me softly in my forehead, I guess thanking me for delivering him a son.

Later, still in the daze, I recalled my husband and the peaditrician discussing something, and moments later, Adam was brought to me. I distinctly connected to the two big eyes, looking at me, and my heart expanded, proud to be a mom finally. "Assalamualaikum.." I whispered to his ears. My joy subsided when the gynae announced to me that my firstborn might have some problems. I shook my head in disbelief, and checked all his fingers and ran through his little, soft figure. "No, nothing's wrong," I said to myself. I looked at my husband in the eyes, and I see sadness there. "What is wrong?"

The paeditrician said that our son showed some features of Cornelia de Lange syndrome in his physicals. The moment i heard the word "syndrome", I burst into tears. After that I did not hear what she was saying anymore...my husband was comforting me. My baby had to go through some tests to make sure that he was alright. But after scrutinizing my son's features, I realized that his legs are rather small, and his feet are tiny too. The paeditrician told us to be prepared to put my baby for physio-theraphy as he might have problems balancing his weight, and perhaps could not even walk.

As a mother, I refused to accept that diagnosis. Throughout his two-year babyhood, we worked hard with the physiotherapist to ensure he could correct his walking posture. My heart sank everytime we underwent theraphy, as he will scream my name and refused to continue as it was very uncomfortable for him, perhaps painful as well. Nevertheless, we braved through that, and he finally could move his two feet unassisted and formed steps when he was about 25 months.

Now, Adam looks like any other child in Primary Two. He even has admirers from the big sisters in Primary Five and Six, maybe because of his chubby face. Once in a while, he will complain about the pain in his right leg, as he still cannot endure long walks and intensive exercises in school. He may be slow in class, but I guess he will take his time. He may need special classes, but as long as he knows he has his parents supporting him, he will always be the dreamy boy with cheeky imaginations with two big round eyes..