Birthday and Such

3 years and 4 weeks old.....


The Birthday

(A very, very backdated post)

We celebrated Ethan's birthday with an early dinner on 16 May 2009 at Tony Roma's with my sister's family and mum. The birthday boy got a dessert f.o.c from Tony Roma's but we all shared it lar. It was also to celebrate Mother's Day. On the actual day (Friday, 22 May 2009) , we took leave and brought him to Genting to have a fun-filled day. This year, we simplified everything. Only one cake and one trip. No pressie for him...hehe. We arrived at around 10.00 a.m. and left on the same day after dinner at 7.30 p.m. I was dead tired and couldn't walk anymore. We went to both indoor and outdoor theme park and took almost all the kiddy rides. That's the good thing about going there on a weekday. The little one was so excited that he refused to nap. The moment we put him on the car seat, he dozed off.

His birthday cake-green tea with red bean

The birthday boy enjoying his cake

Birthday larva courtesy of the restaurant

His favourite ride! He went on it for at least 5 times.

At the Chocolate Wonderland

The 'caterpillar' ride. Our last ride at the outdoor theme park.

Tried his luck and....

he won a pillow all by himself!

The Trip

We went back to hubby's hometown on 11-15 June2009 to attend his brother's wedding on 12 June (Friday). The wedding went on well despite a few hiccups e.g. sister-in-law's MPV broke down the day before the wedding so we borrowed a neighbour's van and we didn't know that the air-cond. was not working until we started the engine. Everyone was drenched in sweat on the way to the church that morning. Once inside the church, I hurried myself to a seat nearest to the fan. Luckily, I didn't lost much of my make-up (which was barely there in the first place). Thank goodness, they got the MPV back that evening just in time to attend the dinner. I was very very relieved.

Saturday was a rest-and-relax day. Having nothing much to do on Sunday (14 June), we brought Ethan to the Matang Wildlife Centre to see Orang Utan. I haven't been there before so I did not know what to expect. I brought milk and clothes for Ethan (I brought these wherever we go) and also mosquito repellent. We headed to the visitor's centre and continued our walk to the animals' enclosures. I have never imagined that the place is practically a jungle. All the enclosures were built under the natural surrounding. It was like jungle trekking.

Half way through the walk, we had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach the sun bear enclosure. After the hike we were so exhausted and took a rest there. At that time, hubby suddenly saw a hairy caterpillar (ulat bulu) on his hand. He quickly shook it off and I saw the caterpillar crawling on the floor. It was only around 2cm long. I didn't take any pic of it coz worm/caterpillar is my biggest fear. I just look at it from distance.

We then continued our journey to look for the Orang Utan. Ethan was tired so hubby carried him. After a few minutes, he started scratching his body, hands first then his back. We suspected something was not right so my mother-in-law asked me to carry Ethan instead. I carried Ethan for a while and reached the Orang Utan's enclosure. Ethan started to scratch more frequently and we suspected it's the caterpillar that cause the itchiness. I appllied some mosquito repellent on him (that's the only cream I had with me that time) but he still scratched all over his body.

We hurried our way out and found a toilet so we stripped Ethan off his clothes and washed him with some water. Red spots started to develop on his hands and back. After washing him, I applied the mosquito repellent on his body and changed his clothes. He fell asleep in the car shortly after that and the itchiness seemed to have gone away.

Too bad, the worst had yet to start. After we arrived at SIL's house, we quickly took shower and applied antiseptic cream. The red spots then became swollen and spread to other body parts. Ethan got it worst - both hands, leg, back, tummy and some on his face. I got it on my hands, neck and tummy. Hubby was very lucky as he only got a few spots on his hands.

The attack happended around noon and by 6 pm that evening, the itchiness became very bad. The antiseptic cream did not help at all. I told hubby we need to get to the pharmacy and guess what? There was no pharmacist on duty at the Guardian. All I could get, with my limited knowledge on this kind of situation, was a bottle of calamine lotion. And.....it was useless.

We went for dinner with hubby's family after buying and applying the calamine lotion. After looking at our condition, they suggested we tried some traditional medicine and so we did. It helped but not for long. After two hours or so, the itchiness came back. Ethan had difficulties falling asleep but he did not fuss at all (I'm so glad). He just scratched all over non-stop. We had to help him rub his body to prevent him to scratch too hard. He fell asleep eventually. That was around 10 p.m., I think. I dozed off half-an hour later but was awake around 12 a.m. as the itchiness became unbearable. I turned and saw Ethan scratching badly also.

Before I fell asleep, I told hubby that maybe we should go to the hospital and see a doctor. As usual, he said not necessary and hinting to me no need to exaggerate. So, when I woke up at around midnight, I woke him up as well and ask him to look at Ethan and how bad he's scratching. He then quickly called his friend and asked where is the nearest hospital. Off we went to the emergency ward and got both myself and Ethan registered.

The doctor's advice: Everyone's reaction to allergy is different and that we should get treatment within the first 4 hours of attack. Even though hubby was ok but myself and Ethan had very bad allergy reaction to the attack. In bad cases, it can cause swollen tongue and breathing difficulties (that freaks me out). Luckily, the doctor said our lungs were clear and asked me to monitor Ethan's breathing. If I hear wheezing sound, we should send him to hospital immdiately. We got oursleves some medication and cream plus two shots on my arms for fast relief. We slept quite well after the medication but woke up twice to help Ethan apply the cream and stroking his body to prevent him from scratching.

The worst was not over yet. I woke up the next morning (Monday, 15 June) and saw the swollen spots on my hands and they were watery inside. We went to see another skin doctor and he prescribed another cream for us. I also tried to use dettol with warm water to wipe Ethan and myself. It helps a lot. I repeated the routine (wipe with dettol and apply cream) the whole day and happy to see the improvement very fast. The red spots subsided and were not as red before. Still, the itchiness was there the whole time but not as intense. We took a flight back to KL that night and as usual, there was a delay in AirAsia's flight by one hour. We reached home past midnight and after repeating another round of dettol and cream for both of us, I was dead exhausted.

Ethan and myself rested at home until yesterday (18 June) and went back to our normal life today. What a trip.

Hubby's and my hands. See the difference? Mine was all swollen.

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Don't scream, ya

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Ethan's body on the 2nd day. He's much much better now.
My heart ache like mad.