Another newborn…

Another baby was born to an HIV+ mother today. Liza’s op was supposed to be yesterday morning, but there were only 2 specialists available then and so they decided to give priority to 2 urgent cases. As such, Liza’s op was postponed to today. Liza herself sent me a text message yesterday to inform me of the postponement.

So today, after settling some things at the Buddies centre, I went to the hospital to visit Liza, using my special pass.

Without the special pass, I would have to wait until visiting hours to visit my clients. And visiting hours in Ipoh GH is very limited.

The grille door was closed when I got to the maternity ward at 4 pm. But the guard allowed me in the moment I showed her my pass. I wasn’t sure which room Liza was in so I decided to ask the nurse. The moment I mentioned Liza’s name, they immediately knew without even having to check their register.

“Ha, saya baru nak talipon. Ni kakak dia ke, makcik dia?” said the nurse.

Apparently Liza and her baby had just been wheeled in to the ward after the delivery which ended about 2 pm. Liza had sought the nurse’s favour to call her sister.

Well, I was neither the kakak nor the makcik, but I must say the nurses were rather helpful. Unlike the other mothers where their husbands were around with them, Liza had nobody and had to depend on the nurses. One of them went to the room where Liza was earlier warded to get her stuff, including some used baby clothes which Liza had brought along with her from home.

I forgot to ask Liza if she had thought of a name for her newborn, but even if Liza already has a name for him, I can’t use his real name here, can I? So yeah, let’s just call him So’od. :)

So’od looked well and fine. And the fact that they let him be with Liza at the ward, meant that he didn’t require special attention. Very different from Cek Mek’s case last year where the little girl was immediately sent to ward 6C while the mother was at the maternity ward.

Whatever it is, Liza needs a temporary place to stay (together with So’od and his older brother, 2 years old) until she is physically and financially stable enough to stay on her own. Although her sister is understanding and supportive enough, the sister isn’t working and stays with her husband at her mother-in-law’s home.

So I’m arranging for a shelter home for Liza in KL. Only problem now is, it will be Raya Haji next week, and depending on when Liza will be discharged from the hospital, I may have problems arranging for transport for Liza.

But I’ll take things one step at a time. For the moment, we can’t even be sure when Liza will be discharged, so I definitely can’t arrange for a specific date for Liza and her children to go to KL.

I will need to make a few calls tomorrow morning, probably during my clinic duty; and I intend to visit Liza again in the afternoon, immediately after my clinic duty ends.

Maybe tomorrow morning before going for clinic duty, I’d better go buy some diapers and infant formula as well. Liza had been depending on her savings to survive for the past few months, I doubt she has enough savings to buy milk for her baby since she can’t breastfeed the little boy.

More updates later…