Aunty Zaila came over on Friday night and brought along Miesya and her brother- Imran. Of course Inez was there too. To cut a long story short, Miesya and her brother decided to sleep over, which was fine and all. We were surprised that Imran wanted to stay over, as we thought that he was too old and not bothered with playing with little kiddies. However, it turned out that he was just a year older that Shahira. Must be his height.

Kids being kids, Mama and Papa were expecting some tom foolery to go on. Things weren’t hectic at all, in fact. Certainly the ruckus they made (5 kids) couldn’t compare to the noise that my 3 makes when they’re with Shafiq. Mama commented as much that night.

Nevertheless, nothing could prepare us for what happened late Saturday morning. All parents be warned!

While Mama was busy in the kitchen with Bibik and Opah, the kids were keeping themselves occupied in their bedroom. Papa was at a meeting so the story is based on recollections by Mama and the kids. Haris came out and told Mama that Imran was jumping down from the double decker bed. Opah told the kids to stop and paly in the living room; and switched off the fan.

A while later, Haris ran to Mama and told her the news- Imran had jumped down again from the bed and had hit his head on the fan! According to Mama, the blood was gushing out. However, Imran was not crying but just moaning. I think it’s more out of fear of being scolded than not feeling pain that held his cries. He was rushed to a nearby clinic and then to Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s A&E, after getting stitched. The cut was about an inch and a half on his right temple an inch away from the right eye.

To HKL’s credit, he was attended to quite quickly. After being X-rayed, the Doctor decided to ward him for observation. Thank God that the initial X-ray didn’t show any major damage- just the outer skull was nicked a bit. They placed him in the kids ward in the Neuro wing.

On Sunday, when we brought the kids for a visit, he looks as if nothing had happened. He was eating again, after the Doctors gave the go ahead. Again, thank God. His charts looked normal, but according to the parents, the doctors want him to spend at least another day to make sure. We pray that he makes a speedy and complete recovery, Insya Allah. He was being given antibiotics through his drip line.

Imran was restless being couped up in bed, and couldn’t wait for the drips to be taken off so he can walk about. The kiddies and Miesya were running up and down the hallway. He was checking out the antibiotic vial avery minute or so, willing it empty. Soon, the nurse came and unplugged his the drip. He was literally jumping off the bed to play outside, despite our cautions for him to take it easy. The nurse also seemed to think that he was ok, and not to worry. Watching him, he was steady on his feet, and soon joined the other kids playing games and searching for hidden words.

Alhamdulillah, we hope that he can be discharged by today.

On a side story, Shahira now has a phobia of going inside her room. When Papa saw her on Saturday night, after dropping off Opah with Mama, she was crying when we talked about Imran. She did not want to enter, let alone sleep in the room. So we allowed her to sleep in our room. The next day, too, she didn’t want to bathe in her bathroom- sobbing to use ours. Shahira is very sensitive that way- even when Alisha got admitted last year, she cried. Last night, while Mama and Papa were at a wedding dinner, she called Papa to come home earlier. She wanted to sleep but not in her room.

“Papa baliklah cepat… Kakak tidur kat depan dulu, ok?”"Papa, come back soon… I’ll sleep on the sofa first, okay?”

So, the moral of the story is… no matter how well you prepare for things, accidents will happen. The kids know not to jump off the top bunk, but obviously others may not be aware of the dangers. The fan is far enough not to endanger them climbing up and down the ladder; but not far away enough to avoid potential accidents like the above. The fan will now be decommissioned, until we buy new beds to replace the double decker.

It could have easily been so much worse, but by the grace of God, everyone was spared a worse tragedy. Luckily also these new modern fans (3-speeds) don’t spin as fast as the old ones with 5-speeds. Whatever the case, Alhamdulillah he’s okay. Parents, better be safe than sorry.