I was at Selayang Hospital today to visit an ex-colleague who had given birth to her first-born, a cute boy-bundle of joy.
This is the first time that I had visited Selayang Hospital, a government hospital. I must say I was pleasantly surprised.
The hospital came equipped with a large basement parking area and despite it being a Sunday and in spite of it being peak visiting hours, there was ample parking space and we had no difficulty at all finding a parking spot.
It was raining cats and dogs when we reached the hospital ground, and I was worried that we'd be stuck in the car, but when I saw the basement parking I was relieved. As I'm still recuperating from my chest infection, I didn't want to take any chances lest I caught the flu again.
Upon entering the hospital, we were greeted with wide open space which is a welcome relief and very welcoming.
The only snag was, unlike HUKM, their visiting hours on Sunday is rather inflexible and not hospital-friendly. At HUKM, on weekends, the visiting hours are from 12.30 to 7:00 p.m, whereas Selayang Hospital's evening visiting hours are from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
My husband and I had arrived a little early, around 4:20 p.m, so we decided to go for tea at their cafeteria which is a also widely spaced out. And once again, I was pleasantly surprised that when you asked for Nescafe tarik, less sugar, they really served you with less sugar, unlike 99.9% of other eateries or food outlet which are highly generous with their portion of sugar.
As we still had some time to kill, we sat along the corridor. And I was amused when I saw a little Chinese toddler. She was so cute and bubbly and extremely friendly. She approached a Malay lady who was seated near us, and offered her cake.
And later she came back for it, and "salam" the lady. I thought she'd walk away after that, but, she actually stopped and "salam" all the others who were seated along the same row, including the janitor who was busy emptying the rubbish. In my experience, only Malay kids were taught to "salam" but this Chinese toddler was really unique and a sight to behold.
Just before 5:00 p.m we headed for the maternity ward which was equally well spaced out. Kudos to the government for having a great infrastructure. It changed my perception somewhat of drabby, dinghy, eerie and ancient looking government hospitals.
Upon reaching my ex-colleague's bed, I was excited to see her baby next to her. He was swaddled in all pink so I thought I must have misheard her when she said she had given birth to a baby boy!!!
Indeed, Syida confirmed that it's a boy!!! New-born babies being babies, he sleeps through all the din and noise at the ward. He looks so peaceful and contented being swaddled in the blanket, I reckoned the feeling of still being in his mummy's womb.
We left after spending a couple of minutes with Syida and her baby, Haikal. Heartiest congrats Syida. Happy mothering and breastfeeding!!!
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