Now a Mummy!

I’m not sure if I have set my standards too high or I am feeling a bit hormonal or the changing room was just plain disgusting!

AH needed a change as soon as we arrived at Hua Ho Tanjung Bunut Mall and as I wasn’t sure where the toilets were, let alone if they had a changing room, I told the husband that AH has just to wait till we get home. When we stepped out of the elevator on Level 1, we saw a changing room sign! Elated, the husband said he would get the diaper bag and when he did, we found out that the changing room was locked!! Asked one of the booth operators and she said to ask the security guard. When we found him, he said ‘oh yang tingkat satu ani berkunci, kita pakai yang di ground floor’.

I remember using the changing room at Hua Ho Manggis Mall (there’s a post complete with photos somewhere here) and I was impressed. It had a small plastic mattress to change your babies, it has posters, a chair if you want to breastfeed your baby and a sink. Although it smelled like those industrial cleaning thing, which I always thought to smell a little bit like vomit, it was clean!! Oh, there were soap too! It was good enough for our standard and I was truly impressed.

Hua Ho Tanjung Bunut was something else! At the door, a man and a women were casually chatting, or more like flirting, blocking my way to the the changing room. I thought it was occupied but it wasn’t, I guess they just like to chat dipisuk-pisuk. Har har har. When I went in, I was shocked and disgusted!! They only had a sink (with a reasonable amount of tabletop to go with) and an open dustbin!! There were NOTHING ELSE in the changing room! Nothing! No changing mat, no posters, no chairs, no soaps. Nothing! Nada. Zilch! I automatically blocked my sense of smell, so I don’t really remember how the changing room smelled.

As I was already with AH in there, I thought- ‘Sod it! I’ll just change him.’ I’ve changed him in a small toilet with wet floors that I had to ’silat’ my way through all the changing process. After washing him off, I noticed that the sink was clogged!! ARGH!! Plus, the room had a LOT of ants! Galiiii! If I had my phone or camera, I would gladly take photos of the room and post it up! God, I don’t even want to imagine how their toilets are! When putting on his diapers (I use pull-up diapers when we go out) I held him with one hand and try to put the diapers on with the other hand- yes, I, too, am amazed of the things I can do simultaneously with limited resources now! I refused to let his little feet touch the tabletop. Put on his pants and quickly put back his shoes. I told him to behave whilst I furiously wash my hands.

Ewww! Ewww! Ewww! If I had a choice, I wouldn’t use it but I didn’t. Sigh.  I do hope, one day, the authorities realise the importance of having buildings which are breastfeeding-friendly, babies/ kids- friendly and of course, disabled-friendly too.  Imagine if they claim that they have a breastfeeding/ changing room and to find a room of such! Argh! You would not want to eat in that room, so why would you want to feed your kids in that room!

If they are pushing for ‘green-buildings’, maybe about time they try to introduce more breastfeeding-friendly and babies-friendly buildings. Do you guys realise that if you go to the Mall and you’re at Basement 1 (supermarket level), the only right way for a parent with a stroller to get to the Ground Floor (concourse/ entrance to Rizqun) is to go back out the parking lot and get an elevator up? Do tell me if there is an elevator inside the supermarket,  we couldn’t find it. We always end up just pushing the stroller up the escalator, despite the warning sign. Shrugs. Jauh kali ah kan ke parking lot lagi :p