KLANG: Being blessed with a Merdeka Day baby was not an entirely joyous occasion for 37-year-old housewife Asmah Sarip.
It was a bitter sweet feeling as Asmah had just a week ago lost her 11-month-old daughter in a drowning incident at their home in Kampung Sijangkang, Kuala Langat.
Asmah had just woken from an afternoon nap when she called out for Aira Nursoleha repeatedly but there was no response.
She looked around the house and found her drowned in a pail of water in the toilet.
Still reeling from the loss of Aira Nursoleha, Asmah gave birth to her second daughter at 2.51am at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) here.
“I take Aira Nursoleha’s death as fate and I have fully accepted what happened to her. My husband Anddy Edris and I have summoned our courage to face it.
“We have cried our hearts out and now I am glad to have my second daughter. She is a gift from God that has eased my pain as well as Anddy’s. She has given us extraordinary strength,” said Asmah at HTAR today.
Asmah said she did not expect to deliver her baby, weighing 2.8kg, on Merdeka Day as her due date was Aug 28.
Meanwhile, housewife Paresmeswary Gunalan,34, was the first of 10 mothers to give birth at HTAR on Merdeka Day.
She said she did not make any preparations to welcome her first child at 1.20am as her due date was Sept 9.
“I went to sleep early last night and I woke up at the stroke of midnight when I heard the sounds of fireworks from the Merdeka Day celebrations at the Pandamaran Sports Complex.
“I went to the toilet and seconds later, my water broke. My husband rushed me to HTAR in 10 minutes and I had a smooth delivery not long after,” said Paresmeswary.
Ten babies comprising four boys and six girls were delivered at HTAR this morning.
Selangor Health Department director Datuk Dr Khalid Ibrahim said 56 babies, 21 boys and 35 girls, were born in the state from midnight until 8am today.