Mothering Mothers 2009 at UM Hospital - update

Some bloggers and friends have msn me to ask why my blog has been so quiet the last few months.

Not by choice, really. Lots of stuff which makes time scarce and things hectic. Kids sick, me sick, kids sick again, me sick again, its a vicious cycle. Then my sister was admitted to the hospital, then it was Ashley. And that is coupled with extra workload, datelines, trials and hearings, and being maidless.

Phew, it is exhausting just running through these. Haha.

Now that things are somewhat settled, I have to schedule some time to coach the kid her revision for her coming exams and get the guest room cleaned up for my brother who is coming back from Miami for holiday with his wife. So, for the moment, bento posts may still take a back seat.

That aside, the main reason for today's post is more important.

Many of us love our kids from the bottomless pit of our hearts. They are virtually our whole universe, our sunshine, our everything.

Just imagine, "if" one's own kid is terminally ill. And the kid may never ever live long enough to celebrate Mothers' Day with his or her mother on this coming 10th May, or the many many 10th May to come. How does it feel.

However, Mothers Day is probably the least issue on a mother's mind when their child is labouring to breath, or when their child is growing weaker and weaker by the day with tubes stuck all over its tiny little frame.

Lilian of My Mom's Best ("MMB") , a breastfeeding forum, has on many occassion initiated the Mother's Day do, Mothering Mother, at the UM Hospital for those courageous mothers of the terminally ill children.

I, along with other MMB forum members, had the pleasure of helping out 2 years ago with purchase of gifts, wrapping and collection of gifts from pledgors. When Ros asked me again this year, I am more than willing to assist, since I couldn't gather as much funds as Lilian or the other MMB members and this is the only way I could assist. We have some volunteers but we may need more. This year, it is not restricted to MMB members. We welcome all volunteers.

But more importantly, we need more contributors for the presents for the mothers.

I will cut and paste the details from Ros' Blog


"Mothering Mother 2007"

How you can contribute?

1. Gifts
As much as we love to have each contributor to put their own personal choice/touch to the gifts, we are aware of certain matters regarding sensitivities related to religion, belief or taboos. Breakable items and perishable food are also not suitable. So we have come up with the following list of gifts:


"Mothering Mother 2005"

Non-perishable food/beverage
Toiletries
Journal / Diary (better the one without rigid dates daily)
Photo album
Framed painting /pictures of landscapes, beautiful moments, etc
Mini cushions (for hugs)
Mini fancy containers / boxes
Small elec. appliances
Comfy slippers or socks
As for others: mini card + dry fragrant flower, scarves, aromatherapy candles, magnetic decorative item and sarong can be put as side gifts if contributors like.

We tried not to have cash last time, but we receive it on the basis that some volunteers did the buying and packaging.


For those who interested to contribute in cash, you can make your number of pledges in numerical order in the comment box below and pay the money to the account the a.c. number as follows:

RHB Bank a.c. number : 2140-71000-98939
(and please leave a comment to let us know how much each of you have banked in on which day and we will email you with an email address for the printscreen, if any).



Packaging

Normal shoe-box size, but not so rigid - size should not be too big or small as we don't want people to think we do double standard. Not necessarily in shoe boxes, some mothers came with nice paper bags etc depends on their creativity. Make sure they are properly wrapped or tied for easy transportation. We agreed that the price per gift should be under RM20.



2. Be in the hospital
Due to some reasons, the event will be held on Saturday a day before Mother's Day 2009. More info as follows:

Venue: Menara Timur, UMMC

Date: May 9th, 2009

Time: 9.30 am to 12 pm

3. Picking up or dropping off

Volunteers to do picking up or offer a place for dropping off. Keep the pledges coming in and pass the words. Feel free to ask any question.


Please take note each gift will be RM20, so it is up to you how many gifts you want to contribute.

Current Number of pledges:
1. Mama23beas: 5
2. Moo Mommy: 10
3. Lavender: 3
4. Geok Hong: 2
5. sofhib: 5
6. Eydd: 10
7. Charine: 5
8. Christene : 5
9. Chanel :5
10. Lyza: 5 (at least)
11. Eida: 5
12. hui-wearn: 5
*updated*
13. Misha Paris's Mum - 5
14. Jacss - 5
15. Amy - 5
16. Jessytai - 2
17. Eve - 2
18. Anggie - 3
19. Michele Soo - 3
20. Elaine - 5
21. Hijackqueen - 2
updates :
22. Pek Imm - 3
23. WCP - 2
24. NST - 2.5
25. Sqkiki - 2
26. Javapot - 6
*update*
27. Lilian - 5
28. Annieq - 3
29. Adrine -5
30. Wai Han - 1
31. Redbabe - 1
32. Eva Razali, Delliah, Liza Masrina and Ninuk – 10
Update*
33. Sheryl Hen – 3
34. JO-N : 5
35. Vedis – 2
36. Pohling – 2
*update*
37. Shamira - 5
38. Zainab - 4
39. Inbha - 3
40. Salmiah - 1
41. Suzana - 1
42. Nalini - 1
43. Alina Grace - 3
44. Suzette - 2
*update*
45. chinnee - 3
46. Arthur chu - 5
47. GiddyTigerS - 5
48. 5xmom - 5 pledges
49. Elaine Lai - 3 pledges
50. Janice Loke - 2.5 pledges
51. Karen Yiaw - 5
52. motherly journal - 2
53. Kerry - 3
54. LJW - 5

total : 208 (and Big Pumpkin - contribution for petrol)

Thanks to Lildanzell and MyLovelyA for contributing 60 foldable recycled bags (Linda Linda Envirosave Eva bags) as carriers of gifts. We have decided that instead of using it as carriers for gifts, we will add them to some of the gifts to make it more substantial and the balance will be split between volunteers to be dished out for particularly deserving mothers as an extra item during visits.

Keep the pledges coming in.

note : As you pledge your gifts, write down in the comment box below in numerical order and we will update accordingly time and again)

Drop-off points
Thanks to Lily of UmmikuSayang and Vivian of Fabulous Mom :

1. AlimKids Bookstore, 6-1 USJ 9/5Q, Subang Business Centre, 47600 UEP Subang Jaya.

2.Fabulous Mom Sdn Bhd, 2A, Jalan TK2/1C, Taman Kinrara, Seksyen 2
47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia (First floor, corner unit, above Shanghai Coffee Shop) Tel: 03-80765262,Fax: 03-80765562
Email: info@fabulousmom.com

3. Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam - email Elaine at dragonmummy@gmail.com for instructions



Ros is waiting for confirmation from 2 more drop-off points, and will update it here.

Volunteers at UMMC (limited to 12)
1. Mama23beas
2. Sofhib
3. Geok Hong
4. Shamira
5. Eydd
6. Christene
*updated*
7. Elaine (Montessorimum)
7. Wai Han
8. Redbabe
9. Yan nie

Please confirm your participation with Ros. Due to the hospital regulation, there is a limit of 12 participants in the visit. Those who are coming can bring their gifts on D-Day, but we need the number of pledges so that we can plan better. For example which wards to go if we have extra or what to do if we have less, number of trolleys that we need etc.




Please also check Chanel's blog for any additional updates.

Each pledge is for a gift of RM20. To quote Ros, "Keep those pledges coming in".

Each additional pleadge will brighten up an otherwise dreary day of one more preoccupied harried exhausted mother of a terminally ill child.

So, in the name of mothering mothers, LET US TAKE OFF FROM HERE !!!