There's the luckiest baby on the planet!!! Everybody, this is Baby Faiq. He is Asmah and Zul's son and KAsyfi & Nawi's second cousin.
This is a very touching story. I still always tear up every time I remember the day Baby Faiq came into our lives.It was a normal day, as usual, wake up, take kids to school, head to work etc... Then something extraordinary happened. I received a call from a friend asking if my cousin was still hoping to adopt a baby boy....of course she's still interested! Nobody just looses interest when it comes to adoption!?!
Anyway, story goes on, I tell her.."yes, why?" at this point I had a feeling there was a baby up for adoption but I didn't want to jump the gun...
She tells me that there is a baby boy who was just born yesterday and is now in Ripas Hospital waiting to be adopted as soon as possible. When she told me that I literally could not breathe...but at the same time I didn't want to over react until I knew what I was hearing was real.
She told me that there are many people who want to adopt a baby boy but she specifically said that she wanted this baby to go to Asmah and Zul because she had a good feeling about them and would make excellent parents for him.
After speaking with my friend and confirming that they are still interested we both called up Asmah at the same time, I think!
I called Asmah and first thing I remember saying, "I think this is your lucky day..!" told her my friend will be calling her...and then we had to hang up because my friend was calling on the other line already. She spoke to Asmah briefly telling her to get straight to the hospital to see the baby. Then I called back... at this stage she was shaking ...complete mix of feelings as you can imagine... A BABY..?!?! Today..?!?!?! To ADOPT?!?!?! The news was just overwhelming even for me!
So Asmah dashes off to Ripas early in the morning while calling up Zul telling him about the news. She and Zul finally meet the newborn baby. At that point it was all a dream coming true. I call up for updates and Asmah tells me that they are just waiting around for the person they had to meet to confirm and proceed with the adoption. I think she waited and waited for nearly 4 hours, even Zul's parents hung around the hospital at that time. During this waiting time Zul and Asmah were already completely in love with this baby. I asked Asmah how he looks like, she told me that he's perfect and healthy, just perfect! We were over joyed and drenched in emotions we never even thought we had...!Then the people who they were waiting for finally turned up. So I got off the phone and had my lunch.
After I had lunch at home I called her back or was it, she called me back. The worst possible thing happened. The people she was waiting for for hours and hours told anxious Asmah that this baby had already been adopted by another different family. They sent her away so fast that she was speechless and instantly burst into tears. She couldn't even bear to turn back to the baby to take a last look. Her heart was literally broken in pieces. She got in her car and headed to drive home. It was gut wrenching to hear of what had happened.
We were so devastated. It was like being so close to the one thing you ever wanted in life only to have it snatched away as fast as you received it. Still on the phone, we were talking about the positive side of this experience which was Asmah, she always knew she wanted to have a child but the level of how much she wanted to be a mom was always fluctuating in the sense that she didn't want to over want something that wasn't certain to happen. So in a way, she never got emotional about the whole baby issue too much. But when this baby at the hospital did not go through as expected and she broke down in tears, that was the turning point of her battle of whether or not she really, really needed a baby or not. That emotional breakthrough was significant to her and only confirmed to her that it was a definite yes, she truly does, from the bottom of her heart, want to have a baby of her own.
So we ended our phone call with that on our minds. This time it was so close but perhaps not meant to be yet. The time was simply not yet to be. :(
I called up my friend after that, and I just told her what had happened and was just saying "ada orang lain sudah adopt baby atu rupanya... next time saja aaah?? thank you for remembering my cousin for this.... next baby available please call us again ok..." then my friend was not following what I was saying, very confused...she tells me that that baby is only assigned to be adopted by Asmah and nobody else. It turned out that the people who sent her away at the hospital did not realise that Asmah was the person they were supposed to meet to adopt the baby!! It was simply a complete mis-understanding. They actually thought Asmah was a random hospital personnel asking to adopt the baby. Funny how people can just assume things as important as that! Then I told my friend, Asmah thinks the baby has been adopted already. I was a wreck talking to my friend saying, "Are you sure about this?! You have to tell them that she is the one... y'knw Asmah is just like my sister...!" In this case I couldn't let it all go into false hopes again because it's just not what Asmah and Zul need at all. When it comes to babies it's not something you joke about at this scale.
My friend gets off the phone with me and makes all the calls clarifying everything. I call Asmah back after she had spoken to my friend.
Again over the phone with Asmah, were talking but this time in tears of disbelief joy all over again. It was like an exhaled relief moment..! She turned back for the hospital one more time to see her baby. She met up with the people again and they appologised for the mix up and this time were nicer to her. Probably felt guilty for making her leave earlier!
But at this point, we were only thinking of the baby and how perfect he is.
OMG..! Such a rollercoaster of an event..!!
That afternoon I met up with Zul and Asmah and we did what I do best, SHOP for baby stuff!!! We bought everything in less than 90 minutes what people take months to decide on buying. It was crazy. While buying we'd stop and tell ourselves...OMG your gona be parents!!! So exciting!! So now, after all the long paperwork, finalising the adoption... Baby Faiq is all settled in his family playing the role of first son and first grandchild effortlessly. Everyone fusses over him and adores him. He's only now 4 months old and yet he has a twinkle in his eye saying that he knows he is one lucky baby.
What I personally learnt from this whole experience is that, biological child, adopted child, there really is no difference when it comes to babies. A baby, no matter how he/she enters your life, is truly a gift. It's amazing how much you can love someone as tiny without knowing anything about them. Baby Faiq really showed me that all things happen in good time and that dreams really do come true. Asmah and Zul's prayers had been answered and it brought them to Faiq. What could be more of a miracle?? *sigh* dontcya just love happy endings.
Just look at that cutie.... aawwww....
