Matthew went for his CT scan today. Because he is a baby, he had to be sedated to keep him very still for the procedure. Maybe he knew that something was on, he woke up at 6am. I breastfed him and gave him his cereal by 7am. He needed to fast for at least two hours. The scan was scheduled for 10:10am.

By the time we left for NUH, Matthew was already taking his nap and woke up when we reached there at 8:30am. He was cheerful, observing everything that was going on around him. After he was admitted into Day Surgery Ward, we waited for his bed to be ready.

We were all settled down by 9am, with Matthew all changed, waiting. Waiting for what, you must be wondering. We were waiting for somebody to give us his sedation syrup. Well, nobody said anything, I did not ask. Matthew was getting bored and irritated and making a lot of noise, so one of the nurses brought his some toys to keep him occupied.

At 9:30am, one nurse came to me and asked, "How come he is not sleeping yet? The doctor is here." I was totally puzzled, wondering what the h*** she was saying. Then I realized that they had forgotten to give Matthew the sedation syrup. Instead of taking my time to give Matthew the syrup, I had to force it down his throat. My poor baby, I used a syringe and coaxed him to open his mouth, blew at his face and shot the syrup down his throat. He cried and cried and cried.

Then after giving him the syrup, Mike and I managed to calm him down. But we had to leave him with the nurses in the treatment room, so that the doctor could insert a needle into his vein for emergency purposes. The moment I put him down on the treatment bed, he cried non-stop. Tears dropped. My heart broke. Those stupid nurses, they should have let me give him the syrup earlier and allow him to sleep first.

Finally at 10am, they let me carry him to the Imaging Department in the Main Building. It was a long walk. We reached there at 10:10am, but had to wait till 10:30am. The scan was fast, it was over in 10minutes, I think. I did not bother to check. I just wanted to hold my little boy.

Then another long walk back to the Kent Ridge Wing (where the Day Surgery Ward is located). We had to wait for Matthew to wake up from the sedation before we could leave. Mike tried to wake him up several times. Finally at 12noon, he woke up HUNGRY! Immediately, I breastfed him and he was ok. After his milk, we walked around and he "played" with the nurses. At least he was back to his normal self.

We love you Matthew. Mummy's sorry that you got to go through all these procedures. Next up - 8/9/05 for the auditory test.