Dear Harith n Athirah

Dear Harith n Athirah,

Perhaps by now you already have the idea that you actually have another sister. I'm sure both of you are curious what happen. Since you are now big enough to read....here's what happen:

Mommy gave birth to all three of you at only 26 weeks of pregnancy as opposed to the usual 38 - 40 weeks. Maybe it was too cramped for all 3 of u to be in mommy's womb so the 3 of you made majlis syura' and decided it's time to come out. Well, mommy felt the pain overnite but thought it wasn't anything major. And since papa was in Melbourne, mommy told pah bout the pain. It wasn't that bad, Mommy manage to tolerate the pain until subuh, then I told pah perhaps we should get a check at the hospital since the pain didn't go off.

Doctor checked mommy and said that i'm in labour. All 3 of you were ready to pop out. Mommy was a bit sad coz papa wasn't around to witness the moment. Al-hamdulillah, there wasn't any complication during labour. Mommy gave natural birth to all 3 of you. However, I had few doctors who came to me asking me to be strong for all 3 of you because you were premature.

Harith pop out at 9:05am, Alesya at 9:11am and Athirah at 9:17am, and u all weigh at 760gm, 600gm and 546gm respectively. And your length were, 33cm, 32.5cm and 31cm. I knew something amiss when pah said it's not necessary for me to see u all at the Special Care Nursery I should take a rest first. Pah said, doctors are handling all of you. That nite, doctor called me down to see the 3 of you. Oh dear, u were all so tiny. I wasn't even sure what should I do, should I touch you or should I just look at you. Doctors told me all 3 have 50% of survival but Alesya was more critical. Papa arrived shortly after that. He tried to comfort me, but later I saw he was also in tears. Both of us were afraid.

However on the 11th June, at 5:30am doctor called papa saying Alesya is in critical stage. Mommy was still in the hospital so i rushed down. Alesya was looking very pale. Papa and mommy stayed by her sight until 11:30am and went back to my room cause we were expecting visitors. But 20mins later doctor called us down again...it was time for us to say goodbye to Alesya. At 1:17pm Alesya gave her last breath and left us. It was during the azan Zuhur.

I'm not sure if both of you could feel the lost of your lil' sister but that night papa and mommy had a touching moment with both of you. When mommy touched Harith's head, we saw tears from your eyes. Then papa went over to Athirah and touched your head. The minute papa touched Athirah, you were also in tears. I guess both of you could feel the lost of you sister. Because of that, mommy make a promise to myself to be strong for the 2 of you, to comfort and ensure you things will be alright, insya-Allah.

You might be wondering what causes Alesya's death. Alesya was too small. Most of her body system has not fully matured yet. Her lung especially and also her blood vessel. She had bleeding in her brain. The day she left us, doctor detected bleeding in her lung and stomach. Looking at her pale body mommy was really sad fearing that she was in pain. Mommy knew I had to let her go. I guess her name reflects her destiny; Alesya which means protected by God. Allah decided to take her back to be with Him.At least mommy knows she need not suffer any longer to fight for her life. She's papa's little girl. She has long limbs, legs and fingers, sharp nose and even the shape of her face. She had my eyes though.

So Harith and Athirah, you should be grateful that Allah is giving you the opportunity to live. So don't be nottie yah!