Lesson learnt: never stand at the end of the bed of a lady in labour!

Today, as I stood at the corner of the bed observing a senior doctor examining a patient, who was just about to deliver the head of the baby, he put pressure on her abdomen with his hand. Suddenly, a gush of clear amniotic fluid (nearly up to 1L) sprayed out of her vagina in high velocity over 1 metre onto two house officers standing at the end of the bed.

We gasped in response to gush of liquor and then laughed at the two soaked Indian girls covered in amniotic fluid, standing there with their arms wide apart looking stunned.

They were sent home to have a shower and wash the liquor out of their hair. haha..

So today's lesson is, to never stand at the end of the bed of a lady in labour.

Facial

The sisters took me to have a facial with them .. I never had one before and so was very excited.

I was laid in a dark air conditioned room that smelt like cosmetic products. The lady took one look at my face under the bright light and said "do you use facial care products?" I replied embarrassingly "Nope". She says "you got LOTS of blackheads!"

I spent the next 10 minutes struggling to breathe with steam blowing at my face "to soften the blackheads" and then spent the next 20 minutes in agony as she attacked my nose with an instrument I did not see (as my eyes were covered with wet cotton thingies), digging out the blackheads.. OUCH!

The session ended with a facial and neck massage.. aaaaahhhhh.. it was sooo good. I never had a professional massage before.. and this was really good. I fell alseep for 20 minutes with a facial mask.

I would highly recommend anyone who wants to have a facial. My face was as soft as a baby's bottom at the end.. and it only cost me less than NZD20! As soon as I left the facial place, I went to purchase a scrub, a foam cleanser and toner. haha.. never thought I had to really wash my face.

Fireworks - Team Italy!

On Saturday night, the host family and I went to see the internationl fireworks competition held in KL. During this festival, every night a nation displays 20 to 25 minutes of fireworks, and Saturday was Italy.

The crowd was huge, the traffic jam was gigantically long! We arrived 2 hours early (to get a park) and spent another 2 hours stuck in the traffic jam on our way home. But the fireworks was worth all that waiting.

First Assisted Delivery

I assisted in a delivery for the first time. The doctor delivered the head, and I caught the rest of the baby which was a healthy 3.77kg Chinese girl with "meee meee (little sleet) eyes - the eyes must be inherited from the father, cos the mother didnt look so meee meee. I then delivered the placenta myself, and sutured up the 1st degree tear! The doctor supervising me thought my suturing skills were pretty good and commented "She is going to have a lovely looking vagina because of you!" haha.. what a complement I must say!

Hopefully now that I have assisted, the senior doctors will let me do the main delivering next time.

I went out one night with the three sisters and their friend. We took photos in front of the prime ministers administrative builiding..
This fruit is called dragon fruit.. It is very purply. Tastes mildly sweet, has the same consistency as a hard jelly.

First week of elective

Oh babies...

Ah.. so many babies...

I spent most of my time in labour ward this week. Each room has two beds, about 14 rooms altogether. I can pop in and out of each curtained room as I fancy. I can simultaneously watch two births in process being carried out if I can walk fast in enough up and down the corridors. Most cases are non-assisted vaginal deliveries - which are rare in Chch Women's Hospital. I have not yet seen the assisting instruments being used here. If they can't get the baby out, they cut. Episiotomy is done in over half the patients I see.

The Malay I have learnt this week are "push", "more", and "pain" - as I hear them so often. It's quite funny. Whenever the woman is ready to push the baby out, all the doctors gather at her bed end. 10 of us at once will all start chanting "push, more more more" - it's like a fish market.

I can't believe Im working so hard in my elective.. I thought it would be a real holiday here.. but no.. Im in at the hospital from 8am-5:30pm each day. Either in clinics or labour ward. But Im learning heaps. And in the evening, Im usually exhausted and have real sore feet.

My host family is sooo nice, I go out with the daughters and their friends to the night market, to eat out (they call noodles "mee"), and to see fireworks (we got stuck in the traffic jam for 2 hours!). Last night, the night market was so fun. I bought quite few little things, and ate random food I just wanted to try e.g pigs ears. hehehe..

This is the long Penang Bridge that connects the Penang Island to the mainland.

I have never seen these fruits before till that day..

There are two different colours of Mango behind me. .. I ate BOTH!

I dont know what you call this either (I really did not bother learning the names properly) .. but they taste delicious... and it's sooo cute!

(Sitting down) Me, Ken's dad, Ken's mum, Auntie Ho, Uncle Yee.
(Standing up) Auntie Ho's youngest daughter, Limin, Ken, and the other two daughters.
Im staying with Auntie Ho, Uncle Yee, and their daughters in KL.

There are so many types of food from different countries in Malaysia. Including Japanese. I tried the sushi with eel eggs (the orange one).

It was so hot, I had shaved ice very day for the first 3 days.

Malaysians are compromised of Chinese, Malays and Indians. Together they live in harmony (why can't we do that in NZ?)


Limin and I in Pragin Mall at Penang. There were lots of good bargins. Too bad I only finished 3 floors.

Limin's brother's pet.. I need to look up what it is called.

Dim Sum for breakfast.. Ken and Limin wanted to feed me well before we start shopping!

It was so hot, that they have these big big fans with water vapour hanging over the outdoor food courts.

I tried so many new fruits, and still can't pronouce the names of half of them.

I saw this restaurant called Taiwan Bull.. so thought I better take a photo and be proud of my origins.

And then, I spotted NZ Natural a few metres away!
Look at how beautiful Limin looked with a professional make-over. We spent 5 hours looking and choosing her wedding photos - she was truly photogenic.

First week in Malaysia

I have been in Malaysia for a week. It is not entirely what I have imagined it would be like. I will try to be brief, but you know me.. Cindy cannot talk in sentences, she talks in essays. (I feel rather sorry for my friends who read this).

Flight - I was impressed with the Singapore airline service.. I love the air stewardess.. I still think "when i grow up, I just want to be just like them... AH! TOO LATE!"

Arrived in Penang in the evening - Hardly recognised Limin who came to pick me up in her wedding photo-shoot make-up and fake eye-lashes.. She looked just like one of the air stewardess (see photo).

First night in Penang - I was fed (the 5th meal of the day!) lots of HOT curry - 3 different types. Ken's parents, Ken and Limin were overly enthusiatic about me eating. They planned the 3 days I have in Penang around food - I AM SERIOUS!

Temperature - Did I mention it was hot? I probably dont need to... but I would like to scream it out loud.. It is hot!!!.. For once, I get to wear all my pretty singlets I do not get to wear without a jacket in NZ.

Shopping - in between eating, Ken and Limin took me shopping.. apparently they would have done MORE shopping if I wasnt there. They said I should be ashamed to call myself a shopoholic or bargain hunter. I certainly was not up to their standards. But oh man, their malls are at least 5 times as big as Riccarton Westfield. I gave up after 2 hours each time.. so we never finish the malls since my legs gave up and I loose attention in what I was looking at.

Traffic - people here do not understand the meaning of lanes.. 2 lanes becomes 3, and sometimes 4. MERGING!!! - this is a city of complicated merging.. people just push and shuff from lane to lane.

Drove to KL - Ken's parents were worried to send me to KL on a 6 hour bus from Penang by myself, so they drove me down with Ken and Limin (they are so good to me!). We arrived at the residential college I have contacted to stay in - not only is it on a hill, but my room is on the 4th floor of the male's block. There was a "no woman allowed" sign at the front. I can see all the Malay dark boys peeking out to look as I walked up to my room. Not only that, I had a man living in my 2 bedroom apartment as I walked in - who I assumed had a key to my apartment. He grabbed his belongings and quickly walked out as discretly as he can. We talked to the "principle" of the residential college (who apparently has a PhD in biomedical something). He was rather angry that I refuse to stay and pay for that apartment. I explained to him I feel unsafe and it was wrong for him to put me there.

Doom - Ken's parents were as worried as me.. where am I going to stay!? All the residential colleges I had contacts before I left NZ were full. Fortunately, Ken's mum had a good friend in KL, 15 minute drive from the hospital that I have my elective in. She, her husband and her family of 3 daughters so kindly offered to homestay me. I nearly cried with joy!

First day of elective - University of Campus was HUGE! Not only that, all the signs were in Malay which I dont read! I spent 3 hours walking in 28degrees+ and getting lost asking for directions. I had to walk to 5 different buildings spread out on campus to sort out paper work, get signatures, pay money, and get student ID. All the elective students had to do it, and they all had as much trouble. I end up going to over 10 buildings as I didnt know which was which, and the campus map was over simplied. Not only that, in the middle of the day, it suddenly poured down with rain. My umbrella was useless. The rain was so heavy I was soaked, and water poured over my shoes. I walked back to the hospital 3 hours later with "squishy" shoes. The day ended on a good note (despite wet feet in wet shoes). My supervisor Dr Sofia Sulaiman was extremely nice. I observed her in ultrasound antenatal clinic.. saw some interesting cases.

Second day of elective - Not bad. Spent my day waiting for one woman to give birth.. she did before 5pm.. so I was pleased. I hope I will get to deliver a baby one day.. That would be my dream.. If I did, it will make this trip all worthwhile..

Homesick - I miss NZ.. I will never live in Malaysia.. It's a fun place to holiday.. but I already learnt the day to day difficulties I will have to face. Language barriers (everyone assumes Im Malaysians and talk to me in Malay.. I need to wear a tag that says "ENGLISH ONLY"), transportation barrier (walking is nearly impossible when it's so hot, buses are packed and never on time, taxi drivers cheat and not use meters and beat people up when you demand for the meter to be used - a Canadian 17 year old big guy was beaten up by 4 taxi drivers when he refused to catch the cab without them using the meter over the weekend!).

I miss my friends.. I miss u guys so much I can shed a tear (or two).