GEORGE TOWN: A business woman prolonged her labour in order to give birth to a Merdeka baby at the Penang Hospital.
Loh Mei Lin, 25, was already experiencing labour pains way before midnight on Wednesday.
However, her first child, a baby girl, only made her way into the world at 9.11am this morning.
“I told my daughter to wait for few more hours,” she said of her 3.4kg healthy baby, when met by reporters at the hospital.
“Coincidentally my parents were also born in 1957. This is their first grandchild. It is a special year for us,” she said.
Her husband, Leong Wai Cheak, 24, was worried as she had to endure intense labour pains the whole night and advised her to let go and give birth.
“But she insisted so I just gave her moral support and stayed with her until she gave birth,” he added.
Loh’s baby girl was amongst the six Merdeka babies born at the Penang Hospital today.
The six, two boys and four girls, arrived between 1.40am and 9.11am.
Another mother, 31-year-old Normawati Ibrahim, said she didn't expect to deliver her baby on Merdeka day, since doctors said she is only due the next day.
“I was not thinking about the date, I just wanted my girl to be well and healthy. Only later did I realise, when my husband told me, our girl is a Merdeka baby,” said the mother when met at the hospital today.
This is Normawati’s third child, and she came into the world at 5.42am, weighing a healthy 3.7kg.
Just like Normawati, Nur Shuhada Rais, 30, was also not expecting her child today as her due date is still a few more days away.
It was a wonderful surprise she said, when she gave birth to her third child, a baby boy at 8.25am.
According to her, this time round, compared to her previous children, it was much easier.
“My boy came out easily this time. I am happy he was born on Merdeka day,” she said.