minor surgery postponed

my adorable sons imitaz and iyad were supposed to undergo their ritual circumcision yesterday under general anaesthesia in PPUKM, but it was postponed as the operation theatre was still closed for elective cases as they were undergoing maintenance...

so the next available date to our convenience and also the surgeon's tentatively will be in july..hopefully all will go smoothly and be done as planned...

baby iyad was also supposed to do an examination under anaesthesia (EUA) for his eyes, to look at his eyeball's pressure and refraction...that will be postponed as well as the ophthalmologist wanted it to be done in the same setting...

more information on ritual circumcision in islam here

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7 month old baby iyad

sorry for the long hiatus..iyad's mama was extremely busy to complete her thesis and write ups for her final masters exam..please pray for her success in her viva in mid may, hopefully she will make through it so that she can concentrate more on iyad's therapy and progress once she finishes her study...

so, baby iyad had been extremely busy too...busy enjoying his food, exploring new taste and textures... he loves it when people taking his photos with iphone, readily offers his charming smile when he sees the iphone...he gets very excited when we hold our ipads and iphones and computers, he would try his best to reach for it...he loves playing and jumping around in his jumperoo...

alhamdulillah, baby iyad is still on fully breastfeeding...since he started on complementary food, he has difficulty passing out motion...well, he passed motion everyday and sometimes 2-3 times per day, but his stool was hard...sometimes, he had to push hard and cried when passing out his motion...we gave him at least a full serving of fruit like banana or papaya for his lunch or dinner and other times would be his vegetables puree...he doesn't really like to drink water..just a few sips and that's it...so far it is still manageable and hopefully it won't worsen...in the meanwhile, we are trying out best to increase the fibre intake and also the water intake during mealtimes...

March 21st was World Down Syndrome Day..it fell on thursday, on baby iyad's therapy day...so there was no class on that day as they went celebrating it at Kidzania...baby iyad did not join the celebration this year as he was still small to participate in the fun, furthermore mama had a course that she had to attend...

so, baby iyad did not go to school for 3 sessions as the following weeks was school holidays...but he still get stimulated at home...we are trying to teach him how to sit unsupported and get himself balanced while sitting up...

jihan and imtiaz are being very helpful looking after baby iyad sometimes...although most of the times they chose to do their own stuffs...

videos on baby iyad's 1st gastronomic experience

a new benchmark of life..baby iyad starts eating

happy 6 month birthday, baby iyad! alhamdulillah, we had a wonderful journey for the past 6 months and baby iyad has been growing up healthily..his developmental milestones had been excellent for his age and he entertained us with his ability and capability (and his adorable, cheeky smile) day by day... i wish to capture every single moment of his life in my mind and i don't want to miss a single achievement that he made...

alhamdulillah, for the past 6 months, he had been growing well only on mama's precious milk... there were times my milk production was low due to many factors, but i would shed blood, sweat and tears to make sure he had enough milk supply when i'm at work and via direct feeding when i'm at home..

now that he is 6 month old, it's time for him to graduate to another milestone..we are starting him on food..we tried baby-led weaning on him, he grabbed the carrot stick and tried to put it into his mouth, sucked it and had a big bite and threw it out of his mouth...he made some funny gestures and expressions and we were so excited about his new milestone...after a while, i pureed some of the carrot and feed him via spoon and he was so eager waiting for the next spoon and the next and the next...

we tried giving him cauliflower, spinach, potato and banana as well and he loves them very much..he still continue feeding on breast milk in between his meals and at night...

we brought him for his 6 month check up and vaccination.. he weighed at 5.6kg and length at 63cm...

baby iyad was also making good progress at school...although he would still cry and scream towards the end of the session, he was very excited to play and did the exercises with all his heart and we are very proud of his achievement...

baby iyad 3rd hearing test

another early morning for baby iyad, luckily he's an early riser...so he woke up early for his ENT appointment with Prof A...this time round it was just mama and baby iyad as papa had class in KCKL..we waited at the clinic feeling sleepy and bored...baby iyad had a good nap before he started wiggling in the wrap and suddenly made a loud explosion just before his turn to see the doctor..we changed quickly just in time before we were called...

Prof A arranged for another BSER before deciding to put baby iyad on hearing aid, based on his previous BSER which showed profound hearing lost on his left ear and moderate hearing lost on his right ear...

baby iyad was put to sleep with syrup chloral hydrate and dozed off soon after...he was put on the probes on his head and ears and the test commenced...the audiologist informed me that his left ear showed some improvement the hearing as now his brain responded to 70db noise from 90db previously..his right ear also improved from 40db to 30db...but the test on the right ear did not complete as baby iyad was already awake, probably very much disturbed by the noise as he has better hearing now...i realized that too as he showed very positive response to noise before this...

alhamdulillah, we were very happy with baby iyad's positive improvement...as for now, we agreed upon repeating this test in another 2 month, hopefully to see more improvement, before deciding on the hearing aid...

thank you for your prayer and support, they are very much appreciated and may Allah bless all of you with good life now and in the hereafter...

Down Syndrome Blogs- we are listed!

thank you to Rick, Noah's dad for listing our blog on noahsdad.com as one of the Down syndrome blogs..this is totally awesome..! we are looking forward to share our journey in Malaysia with the rest of the world...

you can browse through all other amazing stories of wonderful families of children with Down syndrome here

baby iyad is 5 month old

alhamdulillah, baby iyad turned 5 month old recently..how time flies...baby iyad had been in a very good health so far...developmentally, he was catching up fast to be at par with typically developed babies at his age...now he can turn from supine to prone a few times, and can also change his direction and position while turning...he loves grabbing stuffs within his reach and very much love to talk and and giggle and wiggle with people around him...he is such an adorable baby in our eyes...

he weighed 5.4kg, and got his 3rd DPT-Hib-IPV vaccine...and on the same day, he got his OKU card the card for special needs children..yeay! with that card, he's entitled to some discount on public transport tickets and many more privilleges...not to forget a 50% discount on tutti fruitti frozen yogurt!

baby iyad is still exclusively breastfed and during the day he drinks 3-4 bottles of 4+oz of expressed breast milk...he is able to sit in the bumbo seat with his head strongly held up..he had started sitting on the seat since he was about 3 month old when he attended his class in kiwanis...

mama had been very busy these few weeks catching up the deadlines for the final exam..so baby iyad was left with papa during the weekends, and they had wonderful babywearing moment together...baby iyad behaved very well, and did not complain much..when mama came home, he couldn't let mama go and we had our intimate moment together, breastfeeding and babywearing...