It was around 11pm at night that my 2 years old daughter Aisya suddenly vomited. As I was cleaning her up, I noticed that her tummy was abnormally bloated and hard. I asked Mr, "Is it usually like this? Or am I just being over-worried?" I then asked my mom's house helper. According to them, it should be ok by the next day.

So Aisya went to sleep like normal. She woke up an hour after that, complaining of stomach pain. I massaged her tummy a little and she went back to sleep. She woke up again the next hour, looking restless, asking for this and that. I told Mr, "Jom, bawak kereta, put her back to sleep,"

And so we were driving around Subang and she was still awake.. once in a while complaining "Sakit...".. Her tummy was still hard and bloated. And she kept on asking me to rub it. While Mr. was driving, I was googling and reading a lot on 'hard and bloated abdomens' and none really help much, only making me even more worried!

I remember saying to myself, contemplating, if I am being a little too dramatic by following my motherly instinct that this is serious, or should I just stay calm and see how things go the next morning. But what if it is serious and tomorrow morning things get worst and a little too late? All these thoughts went over and over in my head and then I said it out loud, "I think we should bring her to the hospital, this has never happened before,"

Doctor at the Emergency Ward examined Aisya and said "This is abnormal, I will have to admit her,"

Oh, ok.

She has never been admitted before so it was alarming for both of us. Of course, we stayed calm and actually felt glad that we brought her in.

However, at the same time, the particular doctor also came to us a couple of times after that, checking on her. At this time, Aisya was already crying "Sakit....Sakit...". I saw that the doctor had low confidence dealing with Aisya, or maybe with kids generally. He couldn't even hold her down and check her tummy like how other pediatricians would do. He looked timid and very un-confident.

After about 10minues or so, Aisya dozed off to sleep. This is a good sign for me, because I've read before that "If anything is wrong, it wouldn't be too serious if your child can manage to sleep," The next few minutes, a nurse came over to us, telling us its time to admit her. "We will have to put drip ya," and I got a little panicked. Putting a drip into those tiny fingers?!?

Looking at Aisya asleep and worried about the drip, I called the doctor again, "Can you check if she really needs to be admitted, doc? Maybe I can come again tomorrow? " He came and check and said something like "I'm not going to take the risk, lets just let the pediatrician run some xrays and ultrasound,"

And so they wrapped Aisya tightly in a blanket, so that she doesn't move and fight back. They inserted a needle into her right hand vein and Aisya was crying and screaming "Mummy....mummyy..." and looking at my eyes. Only God knows how I felt at that time, looking at my child in pain.  Moreover, blood tests had to be taken and so they had to squeeze for some blood through the needle and all the time Aisya was crying loudly. And I just hugged and said to her "It's okay Aisya, sakit kejap je ok..you're a strong girl,"

You know what got me even worried? The doctor saying things like "Are you sure the needle is in?" to the nurse.You're a freaking doctor! And that's my child there! How much more time do you need to complete this whole process??

That morning, at 6am, Aisya was already in the hospital room, finally managed to sleep. I took wudhu' and prayed Subuh and after that, I cried.. letting go of all the worried that I had from the night before, trying my best to appear calm and strong in front of my child. "Ya Allah, can you please heal whatever it is that she's going through?"

It has only been 30 minutes, and Aisya is back awake again, saying "Sakit...Sakit..". And when in the hospital, these nurses keep coming in and out, to check this and that, taking samples and what not.. it was very uncomfortable for all of us. Aisya kept saying "Bukak.. bukak... ," wanting us to take the drip off her hands.

At around 7am, another nurse came into the room. The minute Aisya saw her she said "No....no..." and then she hugged me tightly. Suddenly she was screaming out loud, really really loud, like she was abused or something, and then it turns out that she pooped. Like a really huge hard one. And then right after that, she passed gas (farted) continuously for a minute or so. And I checked on her tummy, it was all alright.

It turns out that it was just gas and constipation. Colic.

However, it was weird that she didn't even try to pass motion, like how she usually does. All she did was complain of pain in her tummy.

I can't help but wonder, did she really need to go through that pain of putting in the drip and the discomfort of being in the hospital? Crying and complaining.

Aisya feeling awesome after all was over.

I try to look at the situation positively, saying that maybe, the drip helped her to pass motion.

But did it really? What if I decide not to bring her? Would she be able to pass motion that morning? Or would it be another day of her crying and complaining? Can I even go through the rest of the night, thinking if everything is okay?

Was I being a little too paranoid? Or did I do the right thing?

Oh parenting.