Nature's Wonder

When my little baby has cough and runny nose it turns nasty due to his narrow airways. It is clogged with phlegm that makes him difficult to breathe. When I took him to the clinic, the doctor said there’s nothing much that could be done since my baby is born premature and still underweight. Since choices of medication are very limited Rameen has to take nebulizer for at least three days in a row and see how the progress goes. If the cough is getting worse then he has to be admitted for suction. He would suffer this every time he has cough and flu. I am so grateful that I’m blessed with kind people around me. My elder son's teacher has suggested that I use traditional Indian remedies to reduce the cough and lessen the phlegm. It’s the cedar leaves – I don’t know what it is called in Malay. It’s very useful and I think it’s good if I can share it. The trick is to apply some ‘vicks’ on the surface of the leaf and heat it on flame for a minute or two then carefully placed the leaf on the baby’s back and chest especially near the lungs. It is believed that the leaves absorb the phlegm and make the baby feel better. She also intoduces me to a very good baby sitter. She helps me a lot in taking care of the baby and continue to do the chores of applying the leaves– well I guess this is a bonus when you send the child to a baby sitter compared to a day care center. I've tried this for a couple of days and miraculously when I took Rameen for check up the doctor aborted the idea of getting him warded.

Now my baby is suffering from the same problem again and with the aggressive outbreak of h1n1 in these days it really worries me.The fact that he’s not yet completed the vaccination is really terrifying because there’s a high risk of him getting h1n1.Frankly speaking the idea of going near the hospital is not really appealing because I know that my son could be exposed to all sorts of illnesses especially the influenza A. Again it's the baby sitter who reminds me about cedar leaves which I almost forgotten about it. So during these few days apart from daily visit to the clinic for nebulizer I applied the leaves twice. Hopefully my son will get better soon. It tearing my heart every time I hear him coughing.

The Road Not Taken

Finally I managed to have a break but no rest after quite a tiring day. Though I’m supposed to be at my husband’s kampung right now, but here I am checking on Ammar’s temperature every 10 minutes. He was feverish this morning and my husband and I took turn sponging him from 5.30 – 7.00 a.m. That has prompted me to take EL today after spending tormenting hours of choosing between work and a day off.I don’t know which one is worse, feeling guilty of taking leave or guilty of thinking about work over you sick child. Though I’m feeling bad to have to stain the name of my department once again, and I bet my Kp was having a rough day today due the addition of the gundalan, I’m glad that I chose to take care of my son. This evening his temperature has soared to 39˚C and we had to take him to the doctor once again by motorbike since the car will only be out of workshop next week. When I look at Ammar’s sick face, the more guilty I feel about having the thought of leaving him and going to work especially when he had a bad cough and threw out. He refused to eat and he’s not as active which is so unlikely of Ammar. It show’s that he’s really, really sick sebab kalau demam sikit-sikit tu selera makan dan tahap keaktifan tetap sama. It’s really terrible of me to think of other’s over my son’s health. When I told this to my husband he only gave a short reply…mana lebih penting, anak atau apa orang cakap? Kalau jadi apa-apa dengan anak, orang boleh tolong ke? He’s right…now that my son is very ill, and I’m all alone figuring out what to do. There’s no one to turn to, not even family.