Eidman

I conceived my sunny Sun during, or rather, despite Euro 2004. And for reasons unknown to me, I got SO taken by one player, Erik Edman. And so I told Yamtuan, that the baby I was carrying would be a boy and he would be named Edman. Don’t care one. And no sane person would argue with a big bellied lady because when we are big in size, we become uh, delicate and our heart gets ‘small’ easily.

I present to you, Erik Edman!

Later during ultrasounds, Dr Suhaimi exclaimed, ‘definitely a boy, tolobosa can see!’ and I was happy happy because it would otherwise be awkward to name a girl Edman.

Unlike the first pregnancy, carrying him was no easy task. They said I have ‘placenta praevia major’ and so had to be very careful and treated very delicately. The first made my life difficult, the latter made Yamtuan’s life difficult. I could run up and down the stairs all throughout my first pregnancy, I went swimming in PD even when I have reached full term. Fit as a fiddle, strong as a horse. Carrying Edman was an exact opposite. And o-my he was such a boisterous lad. His kicks were painful and his jabs were excruciating and he was heavy too.

At 28 weeks, I bled and so was rushed to hospital. Bed-rest was prescribed and so I ‘changed’ my address and became a ‘resident’ at the ward. I must have read millions of novels, at one point I even borrowed the MO’s text book on obstetrics and gynaecology. It was this really thick and heavy book full of horror ‘stories’. The book was soon ‘confiscated’ by an ObGyn specialist because she said it would only give me unnecessary anxieties. And worrying was not something good for my ‘condition’.

I wrote pages and pages for Edman and I did my ‘rounds’ in the ward, helping new moms in labor or even teaching some how to breastfeed properly. Of course, this was not approved by the doctors. But I was bored!

But everyday I would pray that Edman would stay in me for as long as possible and needed. Having read the textbook, I could name so many ways thing could go wrong, mortality, morbidity etc should he be a pre-term baby. And thanks to the text book, I ate a lot! Because I wanted to make sure the baby would be born big. Bigger baby has better chance, or so I concluded. So I ate dutifully and binged on cheese and anything fatty (excuses!).

Early in the pregnancy, my wish list was a long one. That my baby would be a boy, with straight hair, round brown eyes, fair skin, bright and sunny, etc etc… As days passed by, especially during my hospital-stay, my wish list got shorter and shorter. I didn’t care whether he would be an Edman or not, or anything at all, all I wanted was the child to be born safely and that I would be bersyukur if he just could recognize me as the mother. Come what may, I would love the child just the same. His colour? Shape? Gender? IQ? All did not matter anymore. No matter what his imperfections would be, he would be perfect just the same, and I would be just as blessed because God chose me to be the baby’s mom.

On the morning on 29th November, I bled for the third time and it was pretty heavy. I was 32 weeks or 8 months.

And they wheeled me into the OT. I was given the spinal shot I think but OMG, it wasn’t enough! I could feel every cut!

Edman was taken out soon after. And they showed him to me with all his gooey glory and I saw his tolobosa and I kissed him and said my proper hi. He was of a good size, 2.5kg. He was red and angry and he was perfect too. Incubator all was not needed, thank God thank God.

The pain got worse after that as they had to deal with the messy and sticking placenta. I couldn’t cry out though and so I writhed and trashed myself and it was quite a while before somebody realized that maybe the anaes dosage wasn’t enough. And so they gassed me. And when consciousness slowly came back, I hoped and prayed that I would wake up in the recovery room but alas, I was still in the OT and they have not even closed me up yet! All throughout the ordeal I heard them discussing which open house they would go to after they were done with me! Boohooohooo! I could go on and on describing the pain but that would bore me too.

Because it was hari Raya and after looking at his so melayu colour we sorta shy-shy to name him Edman, so we put Eidman insted. It also made it easier to explain to our mothers why his name so perasan like that. Nama hari raya kan?

Anyways, the gooey eidman baby had his harijadi yang ke-1 yesterday.

At 1 year old, the Sun has 4 teeth, is attempting to stand unsupported and his first words (to my disappointment) are 'kakak' and 'abah'. He is roundish like Bob Parr or Mr Incredible.

His hair is very fine, so fine that if you sniff his head the hair would be inhaled into your nostrils. And it is so curly wurly. Some say his hair is like that of Samy Vellu’s – heavy here, not much there. Some say like P.Ramlee’s.

His skin is very tanned (a nicer way to say it than just ‘gelap’).

His eyes are round and lashes long and very curled too.

And his two upper front teeth are REAL big. And he doesn’t smile, he grins.

I looked at him yesterday and I know now where I have gone wrong. He is no Edman of Hotspurs.

He is Ronaldinho of Barcelona.



Never mind.