It was still dark outside when my mother felt contractions. She knew that I was coming out soon with prior experience but she was still caught off-guard as it was still 3 weeks from the estimated date of delivery. She quickly woke my father up as the pain was getting unbearable.
My father was still in a daze but he managed to send my elder sister next door to my neighbour. Then he called my uncle who was a taxi driver to send us to the now defunct Toa Payoh Hospital.
As told by my mother, I was a rather big baby at almost 4kg and because of my sheer size, my mother had to undergo Caesarean section to deliver me. In the 70s, no one except the gynaecologist/nurses/mid-wives was allow in the operating theatre. Hence, my father waited anxiously outside the operating theatre while I took my time to come out.
It was about 10am when I was born and my mother told me that it was a sunny Monday. So I finally arrived on Earth in the late 1970s on a Monday at around 10am.
I was born into a low income family of four: father, mother, elder sister and I.
My father was the sole bread winner of the family and he was earning about S$180.00 monthly at that time. That was lower than median of S$286.00 at that time. With only Secondary 2 education under his belt, all he could do was menial administrative job. However, my father was a hardworking man. He would do laborious odd-jobs from time to time to supplement his income.
My mother was a simple and conscientious lady who only completed her primary school education. After she gave birth to my sister 5 years ago, she became a full time housewife to care for my sister. Prior to that, she was working at a factory as production worker, earning about S$150.00 a month. Before my mother was married to my father, she had to give her entire salary to my maternal grandmother who would then give her $50 monthly as allowance.
My sister was in kindergarten when I came to this world.
Next Chapter: My father
Tags: Story of a Singaporean son, Chapter 1, Birth
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