Mothering Mothers 2009 - The visit

I can't believe how awfully late I'm in updating about the visit. Told Lil it was the most relaxing MM to me (thanks to all the support) but I was just konk-out after the visit, and well yesterday Mother's Day or not was like a normal big-laundry Sunday to me. And I had to compensate that a few hours away from home the day before.

I was surprised when I reached there on Saturday, to see we were welcome by quite a number of staffs and a lot more trolleys compared to the previous visits.

The last count was 218 parcels. We also received 118 and 52 nicely packed cupcakes and cookies, respectively from Lyza and Raja Azam. We gave each of these together with the gift to each mom at the hospital.

I was busy clicking the camera just before we moved on with the visit that I didn't noticed someone joined us for the photography session. I handed my camera to one of the staff and joined the group, and when it finished a nurse pulled my hand and pointed that someone to me. "Ros, that's the Pengarah...". I was so surprised, and was almost speechless when introduced to Professor Dr. Ikram Shah Ismail (see the guy in the red cap, he is also the Dean of faculty of Medicine). Told him, that was the 4th Mothering Mothers and we never had such a welcome. He said he was happened to be there for some function and came by. I briefed him about the project in conjunction with Mother's Day and he said "But Mother's Day is tomorrow!". I explained due to many visitations they have during weekends now, the PR dept. asked us to do it on Saturday.

Just after he left, someone asked me over and over "Is he a big shot?" and someone else said "He is the biggest shot in the hospital, ok?". It was hilarious to me.

Well, as much as I always want to make Mothering Mothers low-profile, having the biggest shot thanked us personally makes a little difference. I have to admit that.

We then moved in two groups. Well, I guess each mom has their own story to tell regarding their experience. Due to lack of sleep and a little exhaustion I just chose to visit the wards with less critically sick children.

We managed to contribute the gifts to all 6 pead. wards. The rest went to geriatic, maternity, O&G and also Special Care Unit (for premature babies). We also have some to distribute to the nurses who were involved with the visits that day and all in the PICU ward. Nurse's Day falls on 12th May, if you don't know that yet.


We were not allowed in the ICU and SCU, so gifts were handed to the nurse in-charge. However, we were allowed to have a peek outside SCU. One staff mentioned that now, babies as young as 26 weeks and at 500g has a chance of survival. They were taken care there till they reach the weigh of 1.7 kg. That normally takes up to 3 months. I only saw one father with his baby that day, it was Saturday so it is just common that moms are not there, as they may have to attend to their other kids or still in pantang. However gifts will be distributed to them when they are there.

The staff from PR dept. said since we always have overwhelming responce (that leads to extra gifts) she suggested that for next visits, we just applied for approval from other wards to (not limited to pead wards). We will see how it goes, ok.

Firstly, thanks again and again to Lil. After 5 years (since 2004) I still think it is such an awesome idea to celebrate Mother's Day this way.

Thanks to Christene (who handled more than 90 parcels in a very organised manner, I could not do this without her), Shamira, Elaine, Wai Han, Wai Leng, Pauline, Sofhib, Suzette, Geok Hong, Salwa, Redbabe and Alina for being in the hospital.

And thanks to all the contributors and those who passed the words around for making this happen. I could not believe that we manage to collect a total of 218 in about only 10 days after the announcement. I was really sceptical when I started this and kept thinking "I'll be a dead meat if I don't reach the target". But that's just me, I love doing things last minute. Besides, I believe if we do good things, Allah would make it easier for us.

Shamira, Pauline, Sofhib, Redbabe and Alina...I wish could chat more with you ladies!

And I apologise if I missed any of the contributors name. I picked some parcels from Lily's place in Subang together with the name list but it got lost somewhere during the shifting and counting. Plus all the last minute contributions, so close to the D-Day that I had not have the time to update in my blog.

Christene has updated about the visit earlier here and suzette here plus maybe other moms too.

And before I finish, I would like to share with you what I read from sloone. We must also remember and reflect on how these children feel on Mother's Day too.