Happy Birthday to me! - drama

On this day, exactly 22 years ago, I formed into existence. It was a momentous time of being alive, real physical flesh and blood. No more an imaginary anticipated soul in the swell of my mother’s womb but a nestling of little hands, little feet, and tiny petal like fingers being guided into mummy’s embrace, suckling on her breast with my thirsty little lips.

Actually, I was not supposed to be born by this date, but on July 9^th. In fact, everything had been in place; the water bag had burst a long time before, the nurses had rubbed the ointment on mum’s abdomen hours ahead, all standby procedures had been taken care off. Dad, who is a medical lab technologist at the same hospital, had been waiting anxiously by her bedside after having driven her all the way from the house. I am their first child, it was their first time going through all this unfamiliar experience, and they had been waiting for my arrival ever since the bright sunny afternoons, or had it been the morning earlier?

But you know, the sentimental me wanted to wait awhile longer in the dark cozy womb. What’s the hurry? It’s so warm and comfy whereas outside is cold. Give me five more minutes (like the way we use to keep our parents from waking us up in the mornings during the holidays), and let me treasure this moment. I can be a born again Christian but I can never go back to my mother’s womb and be physically reborn again right?

Still, I was only a baby and obviously I had no conscious measurement of time then. Five minutes?

So I controlled my foetal adrenal gland in a way that it will not produce sufficient Cortisol hormone yet and thus no prostaglandin induction in mum’s endometrium. Not enough uterine contractions to give birth and to cut the whole process short, I kept them waiting till about 3am on the 10^th of July.

I wonder whether they had finally given mom one of those labour inducing uterine stimulants, oxytocin – to force me out of my lovely rabbit hole… darn it!

And to make matters even cooler, I was a bit bluish in colour after birth. It was probably due to the lack of oxygen developed while basking myself in the last glorious moments as a ‘womb ling’ before becoming an earthling – making the poor nurse run her hearts out to the other pediatric intensive care room at the end of the hall to douse me with a supply of O2, lest my brain becomes damage or something of that sort.

That was the tensed hospital drama exactly 22 years ago. A worthy beginning fit for a kingly dramatist like me... haha.

Wow it's really 22 years already? I can’t believe I’m already that old… haha. In my younger days I used to look at my elder cousins and people and wonder to myself, wow... I’ll be that age next time… hmm… and now I’m that age but still very kanak-kanak…

Oh well... Happy birthday to me!