Story of Ning #11

MARCH 30 :: Officially registered baby Ning's name, after much hurdles, discussions and deliberations. The initial round of selection and trimming between myself and the wife was pretty lengthy, taking into account the Chinese and English pronunciations, not to scar her for life due to our bad decision. We had our family members chipping their thoughts in as well. And then. it was time for the dreaded process of getting experts to "measure and calculate" based on charts, stars, elements and all that stuff. The initial plan to have my 'temple' do that, due to my parents persistence, backfired as they have ceased such services, getting too old they say. Then it was up to our resident master, "peh sifoo", who to our upmost horror, rejected all choices we've presented, due to non-compliance. Back to square one, all over again and thus, baby Ning was our final result.

APRIL 1 :: Performed the official move in ceremony, to 'buang suay' and to satiate the Chinese blood in me - the usual lights flicking, cooking (no gas, had to get an induction stove which is now collecting dust), water boiling, red clothes arching over the entrance, make some noise and all that. Should have been a joyous and exciting but with all that's been happening (and since I was doing it alone), so it was more like a bore chore.

APRIL 3 :: We learnt of DART's therapy (not from our PD), this is after repeated failed attempts to turn off baby Ning's oxygen supplement, which was at the lowest minimum level possible, as the percentage hovers around 90 at each attempt. But then, even with the oxygen supplement, it was uneasy watching her breathing pattern, as it was random and rapid, uncoordinated and seems challenging. We were reluctant to try this therapy, as it involve inducing small dosages of steroids into baby Ning to strengthen her lungs and with that, hopefully will stop her reliance on the oxygen supplement. The wife, though not recommended, had begun driving to the hospital to visit baby Ning on a daily basis. As much as I would prefer her to be 'confined' instead, I couldn't bring it to myself to stop her - given that I were in her shoes, I would've insisted on the same. Also learnt that baby Ning's butt is as sensitive as my feelings.

Happy, happy numbers

APRIL 6 :: We decided to bring baby Ning home to continue monitoring ourselves, and started making the necessary arrangements. There was not much that can be done for baby Ning in the hospital either, just monitoring and more attempts to turn off the supplement - which can still be tried during scheduled checkups with the PD. And so, with the PD's "blessings", we proceeded with equipment rental (oxygen concentrators and portable tanks) and hands on experience with its maintenance, all the dos and don'ts when monitoring baby Ning from the nurses, so on and so forth. With this decision, we have additional concerns of taking care of baby Ning (similarly raised by the nurses as well), the initial plan was to learn all the 'magic' from the center but with baby Ning not being 'checked' in at all, there was zero know hows between myself and the wife. With all these tubes, it adds on to our complication but we'll have to start somewhere eventually. At least baby Ning was growing steadily, gaining length (?) and weight (3.9 kgs few days later).

There were lots of prep work yet to be done, since we're moving in to our new home. Furniture, household appliances (more money spent), mother-in-law arrangements (all the way from Penang to help us out, thanks ma!) and the most important step, cleaning and purification. Neighbors' renovation should have been completed but I still heard light drilling and hammering, which added to our concern but too late to do anything about that. 

What do you do after binding your TV to WiFi? Watch YouTube videos lor

As the days draw closer where the three of us can finally live under one roof, after weeks of separation, the excitement, as well as concerns, grew stronger. But it's definitely a day that I, without a doubt, very much look forward to.