Life as a Ward C Citizen
Today is my 12th day being warded in KK Hospital. Seeing that Tim has done a very good job summarizing my plight, I wasn’t very motivated to write, especially since it is quite impossible to find a good position in bed which allows me to type properly and at the same time not put too much pressure on my lower belly. Still, I think the overseas folks (namely Evelyne, Jean, Huijun and Ziyun) would like an update, even if just to know I haven’t popped yet~!
My current home in Ward 34 bed 2 is a 6-bedder, non-air-conditioned, class C ward, with maximum noise and minimum personal space – it also happens to be the very cheapest with 80% subsidy from the government. It makes the most financial sense to be warded here since infant charges is pegged to class of mummy and NICU is extremely expensive ($120 per day per baby is the subsidized C Class rate!) and would be a high cost to bear if the babies make an early appearance. “Bare minimum” is the best descriptor for this little corner of mine but with Tim consistently bringing me stuff from home for my daily needs, this corner is quite self sufficient. I am surrounded by a host of personal items that signify to all nurses, cleaners and other patients that I’m a long-term resident here. I have my own pillows and bolster, 3 pots of flowers, a fruit basket, snacks (currently it’s pineapple tarts and cashew nuts), a big bag of toileteries, several books, my laptop, Tim’s Cowon and 3 chargers.
To be honest, the stay here is quite a break from the usual hustle and bustle of working life, and probably better for the development of the babies both phyically (since I’m lying down all the time) and psychologically (since I’m not all stressed up with work). I can bear with the lousy food, the boredom, the stale-smelling washroom, the constant chatter of my ward-mates, the disturbed sleep when babies cry and nurses wake you up at 2am and 5.30am. It is only the heat and humidity that gets to me. To be covered with a sheen of perspiration down the back and between every fold of the skin is a sensation I didn’t have to put up with since student days where classrooms are not equipped with air-conditioner. I have developed heat rash on my neck. Air conditioning has become part of the basic creature comfort for me. Besides that, I miss the comfort of home and my three cats. The growing belly makes me breatheless in certain positions and the stronger baby kicks near my cervix area make me squirm in pain, and is enough to wake me up at night.
Patients staying in Class C are very different from the people I generally come into contact with. There is an Indian girl aged 32 who just gave birth to her 7th child. She doesn’t work and her husband takes home around $1500 a month… all that to feed a family of 9?! There was a pretty 19-year-old Chinese girl who gave birth just 3 days ago. I noticed that her parents did not visit her and that her visitors are mainly young, angry-looking teenage girls with mini skirts and tons of makeup. She later told me that her father did not visit often cos her stepmother did not like her… and her own mother died when she was 12. She has finished her O-levels and hopes to go back to school one day but now with the baby it may take a few more years. A Malay woman who was warded at 35 weeks and is still here now was telling me that her pregnancies are usually problematic and result in hospital stays so she has phobia of getting pregnant again. Since this is her third pregnancy, I asked her why doesn’t she consider tying the tubes. Her only reason? In case she gets divorced, she wants to be able to give birth for her next husband.
These are perhaps the people who have fallen through the cracks of the affluent Singaporean society – the financially poor, the broken family and the lowly edcuated. What kind of children will they bring up? Is it going to be a vicious cycle? It seems that it is those who have the financial means and intellectual ability to raise kids who are unwilling to give birth while those who can ill afford it choose have more kids than they can afford. Perhaps that’s the way the human race ensures that society will always have a broad base of people at the bottom of the hierarchy.
On my own front, my parents visit me very often, at least once in 2 days, bringing wih them a healthy meal, fruits, snacks and fresh water. As they stay quite far away and there is no direct bus from their home to here, I really appreciate their efforts. Such is parenthood, I suppose. It is continuously giving. A wise Chinese teacher once told us: there is no way children can ever return their parents the same amount of love, the only thing one can do is to be to be loving parents themselves and so pass it forward.
Tim has been a very supportive husband, coming to visit me during lunch and after work. These are usually the highlights of my day cos he’s around to make me laugh and give me a comforting back rub. I have come to realise the value of laughter to a person’s overall wellbeing – it is so important to be in good humour and a few hearty laughs feels really good. I guess that’s where I got it good – I have married a funny man, the angmoh version of Stephan Chow. I have also married a kind man, one who gives back rubs even when he is dead tired at the end of a workday. At the risk of sounding really mushy, this stay in hospital has its own silver-lining, the greatest of which is the realisation that I am truly lucky to have married a man like Tim.
