Vow.. at last I managed to put my hands down to post some thoughts about my first (most probably the last too) pregnancy and child birth. I had been thinking about it for few months immediately after giving birth, now that my little boy is almost eight months old, guess it is not too late as my memories are still fresh.
Even with some small issues, I would like to say, my pregnancy was as easy as a breeze (I had severe leg cramps some nights ;)). But I was among the lucky few who did not go through the hassle of morning sickness, may be the wake up bananas kept me away from it. During the early days of pregnancy, I used to eat one banana immediately after waking up in the morning until my doctor found that I’ve gestational diabetes. That stopped the banana habit and I felt like I missed something in the mornings.
OK.. Coming to the D Day.. As my doctor suspected normal delivery may be difficult for me, after much debate with myself and other members of the family, checking auspicious time with nearby astrologer back home in Cochin, we had decided to go for C-Section on 29th Dec afternoon. The day before, 28th of Dec, I visited Singapore Science Centre with my hubby, mom and brother. You might be wondering what Science Centre has to do with C-Section? Nothing… we used to enjoy watching IMAX movies in the Omni theatre. This time my brother was a first timer to Singapore, as he came very close to my delivery date, didn’t get a chance to show him around, so thought of taking him to the IMAX movie which is a short drive from our place. At first I decided not to join them, not because I was tired but I had a big botheration in my mind!! I was working on my dissertation (for my masters degree) which was due on Jan 16. So I thought of sitting alone and do some writing, but as they were getting ready to go out, I couldn’t resist, I joined them. As none of us were interested to spend much time in the Science Centre, we went straight to Omni theatre to watch “The Alps”. It featured the true story of an adventurous, extraordinary courageous American climber who set off to climb the deadly Eiger. I told my mom to close her eyes if she feels uneasy due to the immersive experience. And this time, I also closed my eyes a few times when I experienced flying around the mountains, as I was afraid it might affect my baby. It was truly a memorable experience ‘being’ on top of The Alps especially when I was close to full-term pregnancy and ‘experience’ mountaineering, which I’m not sure, if I’ll dare to do in this life time.
Late in the evening, my friend Jayasree with her hubby, parents and their dotty Gauri visited us. I was happy seeing them and Jayasree commented that she wanted to see myself and the baby as a single person for the last time as I’m going for the C-section the very next day. Aparna and Ajith joined us later and I’m glad that I took a photo with my mom and Aparna, which was my last snap with big tummy at home. It was almost 10 PM when we finished our dinner; after checking my mails, I was about to go to bed, worried about unfinished dissertation and unpacked hospital bag, thinking of packing things the next day morning. On a second thought, I had to get admitted to the hospital by 10 AM and my hubby and mom were planning to visit nearby temple in the early morning, I changed my mind and we packed a couple of clothing for myself and the baby along with some other essential stuff into a small bag. It was 11.30 PM when we finished everything and finally went to bed.
I couldn’t sleep thinking about how my little one will look like…After some time I felt some wet feeling, but being so confident that nothing will happen and lazy to get up, I dint bother to check at first. After 10 minutes or so, as I was feeling some discharge and wetness, I got up and checked to find that my water bag started leaking. I was worried about what was happening, in a trembled voice called my hubby and told that we may need to go to the hospital soon. I could see the worry in his eyes and he asked me whether it is for sure and I replied that I’m pretty sure about it. I told him to get the doctor’s emergency number and give her a ring. After getting some details from me, doctor advised me to go immediately to the hospital. Hearing all these noise my mom and brother also woke up and I told them to get ready fast. My mom was worried and asked me several times if I’ve any pain, I consoled her by telling that there is nothing to worry and we have enough time to reach the hospital. By that time I got back my presence of mind and remembered that another friend also had the same water leakage for her first pregnancy and they spent several hours in the hospital waiting for normal delivery. I was confident that nothing will happen before we reach hospital. I was very relaxed as I had no pain and was giving courage to the rest while we drove to the hospital.
We reached the hospital around 1AM and got admitted immediately. The nurses tied two devices around my tummy, one for monitoring baby’s heart beat and another one to check contractions. I was fine except the water leakage, still a bit worried about the pain I’ve to go through if it happens to be a normal delivery. My doctor talked with me on the phone and told that if everything is normal we will still wait for the planned C-section next day afternoon. As the doctor told it is ok to wait until afternoon, I told my mom and brother who were waiting outside the delivery suit to go home and take rest for a while and come back in the morning. They were reluctant to go and waited for another 2 hours, still I was not getting any contractions, so finally they decided to go home. I requested my hubby to drive them home as I was feeling fine. To my surprise, immediately after they left around 5 AM, I could feel my first contraction. It was bearable pain and started repeating every 15-20 mins. I was worried about giving birth even before my hubby comes back. By 7 AM, the contractions were regular, every 5 mins and the pain was getting worse and my hubby came back by that time. Doctor had instructed me to ask for epidural if the pain gets worse. I was lucky that the anesthetic could come and meet me before he went on to attend another case. He gave me a small dose first and gave me half dose later when I complained that it’s still painful. I was relaxing soon as my lower body had no sensation and I could see regular contractions on the graph. We spent time checking contractions and baby’s heart beat on the graph. Later the doctor came and checked and told us that we still can wait until afternoon for the planned time. My friend, Sreeja called for a usual chit chat in the morning to know whether I got everything ready to go hospital, I informed her that I’m already admitted. She straightaway came to the hospital instead of going to work, but the nurses did not allow her to the delivery suit irrespective of my repeated requests. In between, baby’s heart beat dropped and the nurses were worried, they informed the doctor. As his heartbeat was normal after some time, the doctor told we still can wait. Other friends Navia and Sudheer also came and joined Sreeja and I was happy to hear that all of them are around.
After 10.30 AM, baby’s heartbeat started dropping again and it went below 90. The doctor was worried and told me that she’s going to do an emergency C-section as it is risky to wait any more. She went on to make the arrangements, everything was so fast, nurses shifted me to another bed to push me to the OT. The anesthetic gave me remaining dose of epidural while on the way to the OT. My hubby was not allowed in the OT as it was emergency scissors, but the doctor assured him that they’ll call him before they take the baby out. They put a board on my upper stomach, so that I could not see what was happening.I could feel a small pain when the skin was cut, and I complained to the anesthetic who was standing behind my head. He was still injecting the remaining dose and was talking to me explaining what they are going to do. Within few minutes, two of them pushed the baby from my upper stomach and the doctor showed the baby to me for a second. What I saw was his lower body, stomach and genitals. I asked the anesthetic to check the exact time now and he told it is 11.25 AM. They took the baby to the side table where the pediatrician cleaned him up and cut the cord. He was crying loud and I could see his face from where I was lying. He was moving his lips as though he wants to suck something, I noticed that his nose resembles my hubby’s nose and the forehead appeared dark with lot of hair. The anesthetic was still talking to me continuously but I dint hear a word. I could not take my eyes off from the little one, even though the view was not so good as people were moving around. My hubby was busy taking photos of the baby, I couldn’t recognize him at first as he was also wearing the mask and OT costume. Everything was over in few minutes; they moved me to another corner to monitor for around half an hour. The nurses covered me with two blankets and advised me to rest for a while.
After about half an hour, I was moved to the room, I waited for some time alone as no one was around. Few minutes later I gave a ring to my hubby’s hand phone to check where they are. He was surprised to hear that I’m moved to the room and told that they are all with the baby. Everybody came in soon and I was so thrilled to see everyone around. May be because of pethidine drips given as a pain killer, I was so excited and was talking non-stop to my friends. My mom looked worried seeing me talking continuously right after the scissors. I was longing to see my baby and requested the nurses to bring him in from the nursery. I have no words to explain how happy I was to carry my little prince in my hands and I felt like I can sit like that for ages without taking my eyes off from his tiny face. I can say that it was the happiest moment of my life despite the sleepless night and tiredness of the C-section. He was sleeping always and I was trying to figure out who he looks like. It was about 9 PM when everybody left and I started typing a text message to my other friends and colleagues. I don’t know how many times I dozed off while typing and selecting names from the address book. Unbelievably, it took me around an hour to send the simple message “Just want to share a good news with you… we are blessed with a baby boy today morning 11.25 AM”.
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