“It’s Priceless After All That Happened”: Simonboy, 37, On Doing The Smallest Things With Newborn Son, Like Changing Diapers And Swaddling

On April 9, local TikTok star Simon Khung aka Simonboy, 37, took to Instagram to announce that he and wife Chloe Eong. 33, have welcomed their first child, a son named Sunny.

Simon shared that Chloe, who is also known as Simongirl, had gone through 45 hours of labour.

Turns out, the delivery was a lot more arduous than Simon let on in his caption.

Speaking to 8days.sg a day after Sunny’s birth, Simon says: “There was a moment where Chloe’s contractions were way too frequent, the baby was stressed out [in her womb] and lost his heartbeat for a moment.”

Simon recalls “four to five” medical personnel rushing into the ward to “try to get back the baby’s heartbeat”. Both him and Chloe knew something was wrong, but Simon did not dare say anything at the moment.

“My heart was breaking but I had to look ‘normal’ so I wouldn’t scare my wife, but she knew something bad was happening. That moment lasted for about 10 minutes, and my heart was torn into a million pieces. I kept praying, and when [the baby’s] heartbeat was back to normal, I cried out and said a prayer with my wife,” he says.

Chloe was in labour from the wee hours of April 7 to “near 6am” of April 9, and Simon still remembers the emergency happened “around 7.20pm on April 8”.

Simon tells 8days.sg that Sunny is “a very good boy” and very healthy, excitedly adding that he has a lot of hair.

He also says Chloe is doing a lot better now. Her energy has returned and she was even looking to clear some work earlier in the day.

“But she got nagged by me,” he laughs.

“I want to thank her for giving me the best thing in life. I’m grateful to her for being strong, and I’m proud of her because I know she’s going to be the best mother ever,” he adds.

As for why he chose the name Sunny, Simon says: “We picked the name Sunny, because [we want him to be] happy and cheerful. Most importantly, he will be a light to the people around him shining God’s glory. I’m Simonboy, so he is Sunnyboy.”

Simon has had little sleep the past 24 hours, spending most of his time worrying about Chloe and Sunny.

“When she needs to feed [the baby], even though I can’t help, I want to get up and check on them. I try to feed Chloe water so she can stay hydrated. We are both very tired but we smile whenever we look at our son,” he says.

When we ask Simon what he’s most looking forward to now that the baby is finally here, he says: “I don’t have anything special I’m looking forward to, but I appreciate the smallest things like being able to feed our baby, patting him when he cries, changing his diaper, and swaddling him. To me, it’s priceless after all that happened. If there’s one thing I’m [excited about] it’s when he learns to call Chloe mama, and me, papa.”

It hasn’t been long since Sunny arrived, but does Simon already feel any different?

“Of course I feel different. I feel very sleep deprived,” he jests.

He continues: “Jokes aside, I don’t feel different. I think it’s the same for Chloe. We were very prepared to welcome Sunny into our lives, and everything has been set.”

Simon is more than ready to shower his little one with love.

“We would like him to be someone righteous, and of good character rather than anything [success or money] related. As long as he’s healthy and happy, and treats the people around him right, we will be happy and proud of him,” says Simon.

Simon has been married thrice, and has a son from his first marriage.

He had a daughter, Megan, from his second marriage. Megan died tragically in 2020 at the age of four, after a year of abuse from Simon’s ex-wife Foo Li Ping and Foo's then-boyfriend, Wong Shi Xiang. On April 3, Foo was sentenced to 19 years' jail, and Wong, 30 years' jail and 17 strokes of the cane.