Grandmother - a wonderful mother with lots of practice. Judith Levy

I’m a terrible mommy-blogger, aren’t I?

It’s been ages since I’ve updated my blogs.
There’s just SO much to tell!

I’ve had four checkups with my obgyn since the last time I wrote and all of ‘em were memorable.
Wan & I invited our mothers to come with us for the checkups.
And we’re so glad we did.
They each went on different occasions though, to meet their grandson.

Mikhail meets Nana (Mediha’s Mama)
I had sms’ed my mom a few weeks before the appointment, asking whether she’d like to join us in our appointment to see little Mikhail.
Mom answered “Thought you’d never ask, I’d love to!”

So, all three of us went to the doctor’s office on the day of the appointment.

Mom was excited because this is the first time she gets to see her grandchild onscreen.
Wan was excited because he still refused to believe that his child is a BOY and wanted the doctor to reconfirm.
I was excited because...well, I always get excited when I’m about to see Mikhail again. (You see, I had no doubts about his gender...the boy already showed his stuff whatttt).

Our doctor is also mom’s gynae, so after the usual friendly chit-chat, I hopped onto the bed (okay la...‘Hop’ is not the word...‘Clambered’ is more like it) and in a few minutes, the little wan was on the screen.

“Oh my” said the doctor “Look at that”.
She pointed to this big thingy on the screen.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“He’s showing-off his...uhm...manhood”
And on the screen, little macho-man Mikhail spread his legs akimbo.

((( squeals from the ladies )))

“Besarrnyerrr...” (To spare the speaker from embarrassment, I won’t disclose who blurted that out)

“Hah, B... are you satisfied now?” I said to my husband.

Wan stood there with his camera-phone fixed on his son’s family-jewels and had this huge foolish grin plastered on his face.

“No question about it, dear. It’s a boy” I say, while the doctor nodded her assent.

After that little brouhaha, we then concentrated on the baby’s other organs. As if knowing that the show was over, Mikhail promptly crossed his legs again.

“He says enough is enough” smiled the doctor.

She conducted the ultrasound and took measurements like she usually does. She gave us the assuring news that the baby was doing splendidly and everything was going fine.

While she was doing that, the rest of us were enraptured by the sight of the growing baby in my tummy.
As if relishing in the attention, Mikhail raised his hands and positioned it behind his head.
So this was the pose he gave to his Nana – legs crossed, hands behind his head… As if saying, ‘Yes, serve me, dear lady, for I am His Royal Highness Sultan Wan Mikhail’.

My mom played the role of concerned-grandma perfectly.
“Is this ultrasound thing safe for the baby?”
“In the old days, we didn’t have this kind of thing... are you sure it’s not dangerous?”
“Ish... poor baby, we are invading his privacy in there.”

I just HAD to smile at mom’s anxious fretting.
She’s always had a kind-heart and is the quintessential Mother Bear who is very protective of her cubs.
Mikhail’s definitely going to be pampered by his Nana.
And I know he’s going to love her just as much as his Mommy does.

Mikhail meets Nani (Wan’s Mami)
When we asked Mami whether she would like to come for our next obgyn appointment, we were greeted with an enthusiastic “Boleh! Bila?”

Wan’s Mami is the archetypal Matron – she has been a dental matron for a very long time.
She’s a very firm, assertive woman and though she loves her children like all mothers do, she’s more of a Tigress than a Mother Bear.

As luck would have it, our regular obgyn was on Emergency Leave on the day of our appointment. In her place, was another lady-doctor. Not as friendly as Dr. Fauziah, but sufficiently courteous.
In fact, she reminded me a lot of Mami herself!

The visit was quite short, compared to our previous visits. But what made it memorable was little Mikhail’s pose when the ultrasound screen first lit up.
He had his little fists curled-up tight and his arms in a defensive pose in front of his face! He looked like a fetal version of Bruce Lee!

Wan’s Mami was taken aback at first, I guess she was expecting him to be in the normal fetal position...
Then a bemused smile spread over her face. She seemed very much pleased.
She told us ‘He’s probably sending me a message... Whatever you can dish out, grandma, I can handle’.
Heheheheh
Tough Nani meets tough, little grandson.

I’m glad we took our mothers to the ultrasound scans. Made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that our son will be showered (and smothered) with grandmotherly love...

Both the coddling and the tough kind.

It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace. Christopher Morley