About Mommy Center

About Mommy Center

Monday, August 31, 2009

BitterSweet thoughts

Its Still so fresh in my mind holding nainika rolled into a pink blanket when she was just born...pink cheeks, red lips, big eyes with long eyelashes and black smooth hair looking at everyone around her..wish she still looked the same.

Be it a day old or just few months old she used to be just right for my lap while putting her to sleep or while traveling..and those days i used to wait when will she start to rollback, to crawl, and start walking..Now that she's achieved all the milestones, I am waiting when will she start speaking..though she utters few words,i am waiting to hear more from her..the list is never ending i guess.I know as a mom, my expectations are always more from our babies.

I used to love dressing her up after bath, but initially i was so scared to give her a massage/bath alone and not to forget putting her to sleep-It was a terror for me( she was very poor sleeper then), But now I still want her to be a small innocent doll, whom i have bathe, feed, putting her to sleep and even play with her..As she grows older i am surely gonna miss all these things so badly
On one hand i want her to grow up and learn new things everyday, at the same time i don't want her to grow up so fast also having to go to school, then face exams and grades etc etc..and of course having to face the other hurdles in life..
I am happy seeing her not fitting into my lap anymore and growing up, but wish that she still remains a little innocent doll..coming up to me for everything.

I want to know have you ever felt like this? Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind? I hope it is a normal feeling every mom goes through at one point in her life..
Please share your experiences or rather thoughts....

Lifesaving Tips for Parents with Toddlers

Hey All,

Just came across this nice article to keep parents of toddlers "sane"
http://www.babycenter.com/0_parents-say-55-ways-to-save-time-and-make-life-with-a-toddle_1397855.bc

ENJOY!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hello all

Thanks Deepti for the lovely introduction and mentioning my name often here(:)), thanks Anitha for the warm welcome and a big sorry for writing/replying so late. Just like you all mommies out here, I was quite busy with my son and with stuff :). Just took a minor break from blogging while I was enjoying summers. I am also trying to learn German these days and I am enjoying every bit of it(atleast for now!). But I do visit Mommy center regularly and read all the posts here. I can so relate to all of you here.

Its just so relaxing to share our experiences, joys and irritations as a parent. I do that all the time( with Deepti mainly) as we try to meet daily!. We keep asking each other, what is Samvit eating nowadays? how much does he eat? how do you make him sleep? and what not and its so comforting to know that somebody else is sailing in the same boat as me(hehe) and to know that all this is so 'NORMAL'. Hey deepti, I did not know about your story...I can only imagine how it must have been like. I read it in the blink of an eye... seriously.
Hats off to you to start this interesting blog (I love the thoughts behind those footprints!).

Here is wishing a healthy and safe pregnancy to all Moms-to-be out here!

Cheers!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Mommies Day Out

For a very long time Neha(my neighbor) and me wanted to go out together. More for some time outdoors with kids than for anything else. And thankfully for us, we both seem to like similar cuisines and interests. So, finally this week we decided we ARE going. Because once winter shows up its going to be harder than ever to bundle up our little brats and take them out.

Today was our first outing together with the kids. We thought its a good idea to celebrate our two-year friendship. Tee hee....Anyway, that being said, the one thing that we were worried about was how the kids would deal with the whole idea. We gave it our best shot and hit the road. We'd decided to go to TGIF. Im glad we did because I do not remember how long it has been since I last went out for a solid three hours with a friend. And, the good part is both the brats had woken up late in the morning which left us with a good chunk of time to relish our meal, chat and simply hang out! We totally enjoyed ourselves and so did the kids (playing with menu cards, cutlery, cups and not to mention entertaining neighboring guests with their wild screams after their little tummies were full). While we enjoyed our delicious entrees the kids enjoyed themselves and later we (I did!!) gorged down an entire plate of heavenly, sinful dessert.

Sometimes, I guess all we stay-home moms need is some fresh air for ourselves and a little place for our energy-powerhouses to throw themselves around. So those of you who feel that frustration rising up ur brain making you think you will burst any minute, take some time, pull someone along and head outdoors.. even if its just for half an hour - it does miracles!

As of now, if there is anything I regret about this whole event its the number of hours I will have to exercise having pigged out at the restaurant!

Hospital Bag List for Mommies-to-be



Here's my hospital bag list, I did a ton of searching online before deciding what I would need. If this can save some of you the hunting, great!


I used everything, some during labor and many afterwards in the room over the week of the stay at hospital. Prepare to stay a week just in case you end up having a C-sec or if your baby needs special care for some reason and your stay gets extended.


Hospital Bag - essentials are in red :


  • Your medical reports file/scans etc. - will be needed if there is an emergency or if u have a c-sec + to help make decisions even for a normal birth

  • Watch with seconds hand to time contractions

  • Water sipper

  • Pack of orange juice or any juice small tetra pack-this was SUCH a lifesaver after all the labor just before i had to push. really helps energize.

  • Shawl and socks - u will feel extremely cold right after transition before the rest phase/pushing

  • Comfy nighties/pyjama suits

  • Bathrobes/dressing gowns(for when no visitors are there, this was super useful. esp after u come out of the bath and are tired n wanna just sit n change outside in the room)

  • Tons of undies, some which you dont mind chucking if u hafta

  • Disposable breast pads - carry enough for a week's stay just in case. I took a pack of 50.

  • Bathroom slippers to wear in the room/bathroom

  • Wet tissues and hand sanitizer for visitors for the baby to clean up before holding baby. Especially relevant now with swine flu.

  • Outfits for baby, baby powder-shampoo-soap-oil for nurse to bathe him/her

  • Cotton squares(buy a roll and chop squares, most economical for at home use) to wipe baby butt! But for hospital i found the disposable baby diaper wipes best. johnsons or himalaya both are fine. u may need 2 big packs at least for a 5 day stay cos u are not yet a pro diaper changer and will waste plenty(and baby will poop like crazy!)!!

  • Disposable diapers for the baby. we found pampers were the airiest. baby was happiest in them u see wht works fr u guys :) our mantra fr the hospital was 'everything disposable'. saves a lot of hassle.

  • Magazines, music, board games for pre delivery in case u have a long wait and are on epidural

  • Clip to hold your hair backsmall towels and tissues to wipe face if needed

  • Cellphone n charger, this was handy to let everyone know when baby arrived + to trace down daddy-to-be if he is away from the room :)

  • Laptop with datacard if u wanna stay connected after birth. rt after birth u will get this energy spurt next day and may wanna tell the whole world! dont overdo it on this day though...

  • Some cookies/light biscuits in case hospital doesnt allow a meal before delivery

  • Chewing gum, mints and deo/perfume if you have a long labor and don't wanna smell like something that cat dragged in!

  • 1 pack of super heavy sanit. pads for after birth(hospital may supply these, check)

  • Cosmetics - ur fave shampoo/soap/lip balm/moisturizer/compact/deo/perfume - u may feel like pampering urself after the birth, and may not like the hospital's selection!

  • Hairdryer so u look nice in pics!

  • Swaddle cloths for baby - 1mX1m made of super fine soft white cotton like u get in premium mundus/lungis. babies need this to feel secure fr at least 3-4 weeks after birth

  • Camera!

  • Toilet rolls - very useful for anything!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Birth Stories: Ding!

Should I say the oven was super efficient? Or is it the bun in the oven that could not wait to be out? And this is not Southwest Airlines slick deal either!

Yes! We had a baby girl, Maanya on May 1st, 18 days ahead of schedule! I know you are wondering how it all happened, all in the blink of an eye.
Well, Thursday evening was a fun day for me - spent an hour of so in our backyard watching hubby dearest pull out weeds and do other chores around the yard. I must admit that I trimmed some rose bushes as well - of course, no bending or squatting or anything remotely similar to that. A relaxing bath and a foot massage followed suit. As we hopped into bed trying to organize our weekend plans, I figured we had more tasks on our list than that could be accomplished in those 2 and 1/2 days! Plans were as follows:

Friday, May 1: Visit a close friend and her new born baby, and eat all different varieties of chaat possible.
Saturday, May 2: Swim in gym, buy the sweet lime plant from Home Depot, a final trip (before Baby's Day Out) to Babiesrus for some remaining shopping and Jesudas' concert in the evening. We even had the tickets for this.
Sunday, May 3: Lunch at a cousin's place.

So, it was around 11:15pm when I suddenly felt a pop. Yes, a POP. Must have been a powerful kick from the little one. That's what I told Sanju. But wait, I felt something flow out (water?). I woke up Sanju and told him that either the baby kicked real hard, or my water broke. We looked at each other for a second, and then jumped out of bed. Actually, I got out very gingerly...if my water indeed did break, the last thing I wanted to do was mess our mattress and the carpet. Headed down to the loo, and I couldn't believe what I experienced...my water had broken! I WAS GOING TO HAVE MY BABY in the next day or so! I was shivering from head to toe, even a warm hug couldn't stop the shiver. I prepared to head to the hospital while Sanju woke up my parents. I was grinning ear to ear, and shivering all at the same time. There was no point changing out of my PJs...I would leak anyways!

Hospital bag. Check.

Baby bag. Check.

Camera bag. Check.

Car seat. Check.

Ipod. Check.

Towels ( a bunch of them) to protect the car. Check.

We were on our way!

I called my doc and he sure was surprised to be woken by me -- in fact, the same morning he had mentioned that my baby would be on schedule, he or she would not be out for another two weeks!

11:45pm. At the hospital, checked in at Emergency and waited for some one from L & D to come get me. That was the first time I sat in a wheel-chair! I could have substituted for Niagara Falls - the water continued to gush out, thought I'd drown in my own amniotic fluid! Once in the triage, I changed into the hospital gown. The nurses got all the necessary paper work done to get me admitted. An IV was administered, monitors were setup to track my contractions, the foetal heart rate and my blood pressure. I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The plan was to check my progress again at 5am. The contractions had begun. I was smiling, sometimes grinning and even joing around. The nurses were convinced that I was not having any contractions. We were waiting for a L & D room to be cleaned up. Oh, another thing, only one person is allowed in the triage. So my parents had to "wait" in the waiting room.

12:30am. Finally, I walked down the aisle to the room where I would soon have my baby. My parents came in there as well. Once we were all settled in, the nurses turned down the lights so we could get some rest. Well, I was still shivering with excitement, running a temperature of 99.4 (could be a cause for concern if it went above 100). The contractions were getting stronger, but still bearable and were 5-7 minutes apart. Sanju sat by my side, holding my hand while trying to get a few winks.
5am. Status Quo - 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I had not progressed in 5 hours. Doc decided to get me started on Pitocin. They wanted the contractions to be stronger and closer. My plea for walk in the garden, well, at least the corridor was declined. Reason? My baby was dozing off a bit too much and needed to be active at this time. So I had to be on the monitor at all times. We bargained for a walk to the bathroom and a 5 minute walk inside my room before being strapped down again...No idea what happened then! My tummy started tightening like crazy...the contractions had gotten really strong now...I could barely stand, let alone walk! Hoped they would do away with Pitocin, but nope, the plan was still on.

6:15am. Once Pitocin got into my blood stream, it ensured that I moan and groan and bite my teeth every 2-3 minutes. That was not all, I was having back labor since the little one was sunny side up. No amount of counter pressure that Sanju applied seemed to help. We breathed in and breathed out, my hubby, my coach, constantly encouraging me. It was painful. I thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain, but I seemed to have crossed that threshold. I was preparing to ask for epidural.

6:30am. The doc came in to check on me. Another cervical exam revealed that I was 3-4cm dilated..yippee, some progress at last. However, I was told it would take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours for me to be completely dilated. The nurse was again going to check at 9:30. So the logical part of me decided to take epidural..it made sense to conserve my energy for the final push than to get pooped out only to have a C-section. A vaginal delivery was the goal.

7am. The anesthesiologist was there, and before I knew, I could no longer feel the contractions. I could not feel my legs even! They were dead. Somebody had to move them for me. The only thing that told me i was having contractions was the little tightness I would be at the top of my tummy/ uterus. I was back to smiling again. I got my ipod out and decided to listen to some Adobee music (we had nicknamed the baby Adobee, and Adobee music is the set of instrumental pieces that I used to listen to every night) and get some shut eye now. Parents and Sanju headed down to the cafe for some breakfast. My breakfast was all of some apple juice, that too before I was given epidural. It was going to be ice chips only here on.
The next hour went in me being turned from left to right and right to left every 10 minutes. They claimed to be losing the baby's heart beat every now and then. So much for trying to sleep, or barely drifting off into dreamland.

8am. The nurse decided to check my cervix 1.5 hours earlier than my doc's plans. She believed that the baby was decending very rapidly and that would be the only reason why the heat beat was being missed. The next thing I heard from her - "Guess what, you are ready to have your baby!" Wow..I had progressed to 10cm dilated and 100% effaced all in a matter of 1 hour! The baby was at 0-station. The doc was there in 5 minutes, smiling and soon started to get ready for the big moment. All the nurses were in position, the baby warmer all set. Only one missing was my husband! His phone was turned off, I didn't know where my cell phone was. Finally, one of the nurses went down to the cafe herself to get my hubby. I was not going to have my baby without him being in the room!

8:30am. My feet up in stirrups. Doctor all set to help the baby out. Sanju by my side. I was wearing my glasses again. The mirror was positioned for me to see the little one make it's grand entrance into the world. Soon I had the word I had been waiting for: PUSH! With all my might, I huffed and puffed, and pushed with every contraction, ever so obediently. Suddenly, I could see a head ful of hair...did I need more motivation? All along, I saw a calm face before me, my doctor. He sat there patiently, silently encouraging me. At last, he decided to use vacuum to help the baby out. He said I would have a tear anyways.

9:06am. It's a GIRL! Maanya came out in one slick motion with the help of vacuum and one final push from me. She was so pink, cherry red lips and oh so alert, taking in everything and everyone she saw. She weighed 5lb and 3oz .

The whole birthing experience now feels like a distant memory and very surreal, yet a most memorable experience! I wonder if I really brought this little girl into the world!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A Working Mother's Guilt

Hi Ladies, I'm finally here! I have been following each and every one of your stories and enjoyed reading all of them. What better way to start than sharing with you one of the experiences that has touched and taught me so much in this past one year of being a mother.

For all the working mothers reading this post...I think you will be able to relate to this. I work for two days from home and the rest of the time at the office. As a new mother, this breaks my heart. I still remember the first day when I went to work 3 months after Aayush was born, I was in tears. Aayush was in very good, capable and trustworthy hands - his grandma! Yet, I could not shake off the sad feeling I felt. It haunted me all throughout the day. It felt completely .... for the lack of a better word...wrong. Slowly as the weeks and months passed by, I started to get used to the feeling. I consoled myself by wondering what all the mothers who worked the entire week from the office felt like. However, the guilt got worse. The guilt of not being there to see your child grow and bloom, the guilt of not being there and wanting to do everything with and for your child, including changing poopy diapers! It's been a year now and it's getting better now knowing that no matter how much time I spend with my son, he and I both know that I am his mother and there is nothing else more important in this entire world!

As I wave goodbye to my son who, looks at me with a small smile on his sad face from the balcony above and step into the car, the guilt mysteriously appears out of nowhere and I ask myself ....is it worth it?

Social Misbehaviour - How much is too much?

How do you decide when to push the 'Stop' button when your little one goes outta whack in public areas? What do you do if there is nothing that you can do about it but simply act like you are bothered by interfering in your child's bad activity trying to stop him/her to show on-lookers that you are concerned? When your child hits the high pitch screeching because you are stopping him/her - then what?!?

I faced a situation like this with my growing toddler. He's not much of a walker yet but that has not limited his activities. Just the other day we had been to see a doctor. My husband was ill and I drove him (and my boy, of course!) to the doctor's clinic. Sonny boy and me and to sit outside in the waiting room while my hubby went inside to get checked up. Thankfully there was only one lady in the waiting room apart from us. There was this huge heap of magazines that lay on the tables beside the chairs that we sat on. For the first few minutes my lil brat sat quietly. Once he seemed satiated with all that he saw he simply had to get down and do his 'thing'.

His first target was the magazines - the only thing he could reach easily. At first he was simply pointing images on it and I kept telling him what it was. Car, sky, baby... this went on for a few minutes - and then it came. And it came like a storm.... One loud rrrrrrrrrrrip sound!!! And all I could do was try to yank my boy away from that table. But another louder sound overpowered the one that just took place... a LOUD scream. I did not know what in the blue blazes I was to do. I picked him up as he fidgeted around with his limbs flying all over the place... and I tried to distract him.. but NO! He fought his way back down and went straight back to that stack... If there was anything I wanted, it was for my hubby to get out fast!! But just as everything else, even this wish of mine took a little longer to get fulfilled. By the end of the whole visit, one mag was totally crushed and torn. I had a good mind of taking it away *hush hush*. But, what if they had some sorta detectors or something- I mean, you never know!?!?! So I 'flattened' the mag as much as I could and placed it at the bottom of the pile and walked out like nothing happened.

Has something like this happened with you? What did you do?

Monday, August 17, 2009

Welcome Anjana Parthasarathy

Its that time again...New members!

Ladies, welcome Anjana Parathasarathy! She is Vijayalakshmi's friend and has a baby girl named Maanya who I'm guessing (from Anjana's blog)is in her fourth month now,right Anjana? Do write in more about yourself, your little angel and everything that you want to share with us - Because that is what we are all here for!!

Happy Blogging Anjana...and we cannot wait to see more of you out here.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Reminder for Subscription

Hey ladies,

Here is a little reminder for all those of you who did not subscribe to Mommy Center yet. Follow these instructions to do so and get email notifications of every new post on our blog!

Cheers,
Deepti

Birth Stories - Hope never dies

Had we started this blog about 3-4 years ago, I would have had nothing to say in this domain. Probably, the only thing I would have shared back then were my woes and sorrows of being weighed down by a diagnosis that seemed to have no cure and only led us to believe we, rather I, suffered from "Unexplainable Infertility". So brace yourself, because this birth story is going to either bore the hell outta you (yup its LONG!) or make you thank your stars that this was not your story!!


My birth story (or should I say journey to motherhood?) really began way back in 2003 when we discovered that things were'nt as rosy as they seemed. My cycles got irregular (They were so even when I was a teen. In college, they came into control because I lost weight.) and our trips to gyneacs began. If there was one thing that all of them mentioned was that I had Polycystic Ovaries and that if I lost weight I could get pregnant. So I tried. We bought a treadmill, I joined a gym, drank protein shakes etc. But, little did I know it was only the beginning.

We tried everything - birth control pills to regulate my cycles, HcG shots, clomid .... you name it. We knew these were the priliminary rounds of doctor visits because the biggies like Artificial Insemination (IUI), In-Vitro Fertilization etc. were silently knocking at our doors. Then we got to the US and I met this fabulous gyneac. Not that she has some magic wand to help people conceive but its her ways and methods of treatment and analysis that left us (who had seenso many docs) in awe!! She too tried all that she could. Finally, she said she had observed me very well and that our best bet was to visit an Infertility Specialist. So we listened to her and did the same. Sadly, our health insurance plan covered only a few of the procedures partly. And, you need to be a millionaire of sorts to be able to get it done without insurance out here! So, we met the infertility specialist who explained us various financial options. He also gave us "natural" options, like me losing (more) weight, which the N number of gyneacs I met had also told me. I knew weight had a major role to play in this. Those of you who know me well, also know I stash on pounds at the drop of a hat and that it directly influences my hormone levels and in turn my cycles and further reduces my chance of ovulating and hence - procreating!!! Talk about a vicious cycle. So everytime I let go and ate to my hearts content (the foodie that I am!!) I would end up having late cycles. Sometimes no cycle at all, leaving my gyneac wondering if I was pregnant. And each time that happened, she would perform tests after tests and finally - "Negative""Negative""Negative"!! This went on for a year (We came to the US in 2006. So this went on till 2007).


In the meanwhile, I decided to do something good for myself. Considering I had all the time in the world (being on a dependant visa does have its benefits for people like me), I decided to dedicate my mornings to workouts and noons to do things that I loved (art/music/writing etc.). This decision paid off. And it paid off like nothing else. I even decided to stop worrying about conceiving and start enjoying life. I got more active and dropped about 5lb in a few weeks. That itself was a huge task with my wayward hormones. But just continuing it and remaining active helped me get my cycles on my own. Of course every now and then things would go hay-wire and I would run to my doc.


It was one such time she had asked us to see the Infertility Specialist and yet she continued her treatment on me for irregular cycles. She said she will have to do a pregnancy test first. I was like - "Ya, as always!!". Here the normal modus operandi is that after a patient goes through a clinical/lab test the results reach the doctor and not the patient. Then someone from the doctors office would phone you with the results. So, the day my phone rang with my doctors number on it, I casually picked up and like I expected the bubbly Punjabi lady on the other side said "Deepti, aapka result aya hain. Negative hain". I said, "Achcha... thank you" and we both hung up. But my gyneac never stops at one test. Which is why I love her!! Hehe.. read on and you will know why... She repeates tests after 10 days and tells couples to stay "away" from each other until that test is done. So, after the 10 day trial and test I again awaited results. I almost was certain it would be negative. Had the first one not been so?!?! So I did my rigorous workout of a good 2.5 hours that morning and had my breakfast and settled down with ironing my hubby's shirts when the phone rang.

The Punjabi lady again - "Deepti, aapka result aaya hain".
I said, " Okay".
She said - "Positive hain". _________________________
Me (pulling out the plug of the iron) - "Kya! Are you kidding??!".
Punjaabni - "Nahi. Its positive. Your HcG count is 53. Abhi toh shaayad ek hafta hua hain so keep it to yourself. Dont tell anyone, not even your parents. Let it be confirmed aur fir batao". Me - "Can I tell my husband?" (For certain I was insane in that very moment, which made me ask this DUMB question!!)
She - "Haan haan of course!! Congratulations."

HOOOOOOOOOOOOLYYYYY COWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I was pregnant (I was working my butt out!!) and then I was jumping up and down and then stopping myself trying to believe the reality that was....I cried and screamed and howled as if I had won a million dollars. I probably would not be as happy had I won it too! And then I called my husband and I repeated the dialog:


Me - "I got the result" (He was so dumb. He should've known that if I'd CALLED to tell him then it was not gonna be negative. Because in our history of babymaking (haha) I never called him to give results cuz they were always negative!)
Hubby - "Hmm" (Serious tone at work!)
Me - "Its positive"
Hubby - "_____________________________________ Call the doc and check if they are reading your results and not someone elses"
Me - "Okay"


And we actually did that!! We both drove down to see the results. As if we would know how to read it. But I saw HcG>53 and I saw Deepti Pawar and it was both in one sheet of paper and I smiled.... and I still AM!!!


Phew... If you have read this far, then dont stop now because.... here is the actual Birth Story - The story of the miracle baby - Samvit! (Ya, this one is short...the real thing is over)

So, the nine month penance began. I was due on the 16th Of Jan, 2008. Peak winter in this Northern Hemisphere. Its horrible to face it when you're not pregnant, let alone carrying an extra 40 odd pounds. But, I could not be happier.


The night of 15th Jan, I began getting pains. Those were probably the false labor pains. Or just the initial ones. But they were very mild, but a slow signal of what was to come. Then, by 16th morning the pain increased. I began timing it. It came like every hour. Sometimes every 45 min. So I thought I must call my doc. She said, "Do not call me until its every 5 min apart". So I waited... and by lunch time It was almost every half an hour and the intensity was on the rise. We decided to have an early dinner and then call the doctor again. I began getting pains every 10 minutes apart but it was not something I could not bear. I was still able to walk around, talk and crack a joke or two!! Still we headed to the hospital and even the registration nurse said I looked pretty good for a woman in labor. I was happy I heard that.. but not for long.


By 10:30pm I was on the bed of the delivery room and if there was one thing I wanted to do it was pee. Thanks to the pressure in my tummy and the cold I wanted to sit in the toilet. But I was tied down with all sorts of machines that monitored me and my baby. I lay there and the pain increased in leaps and bounds. I heard a lady in the neighboring dlivery ward screech her lungs out and knew it was my turn next. The pain (which I think those of you who went thru normal labor know quite well, so I wont try to explain it since no words can explain it anyway!) went on increasing and I was ready to slap anyone who came to console me.


Right then, as they were checking my dilation ( I was about 5-6 cm) my water broke. I was still willing to try to go through and have a normal birth (I still wish I had one), but thankfully since the water broke they could see that my baby had pooped inside of me. He was trying so hard to come out that his heart rate began fluctuating and his head got turned to one side. At 7:10 am on the 17th of Jan, my doctor said it was going to be dangerous if I decided not to go in for a C-section because the poop could prove fatal for my baby. And how could I say no??

The anaesthesia came as a BIG relief. And I do not know if they put an epidural. It was 7:45am and I was inside the Operation Theatre. God knows what happened after those 3 pricks that stabbed my back (where they asked me to stay still etc. Is that epidural?? God knows!) I was in a state of coma I think and I collapsed on the operation table. My mom was allowed inside. Although I would have loved to have my husband too, only one person was allowed in the OT. But sadly, he stepped out of the delivery room to inform my Dad (who was waiting in the guest room) about the emergency c-section and hence was not allowed back in. I could do anything to rewind time and go back to that moment and have my husband with me to see my baby. But, atleast mom was there. She was my strength and my everything (and still is) when I lay there like a half dead human. I knew nothing that was going on. I was unconcious, not due to the anaeasthesia but due to being in labor for so long. The only next thing I heard was screams in the room "8:10" "8:10"!! All I could barely do was smile in my coma-like-state at my mom a a few minutes later they got my baby to me all wrapped up and I kissed his tender, soft cheek and went back to la-la land.


On 17th Jan, 2008 at 8:10am Samvit Pawar was born. And from that moment he has been living proof that when everything else fails, hope never dies....

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Childhood is Calling - Yet Again!

Its been a while since I blogged. Sorry if I did not answer any mails/messages because I was way too busy enjoying life and re-living my childhood through my little brat.

Like I mentioned Samvit plays often with Neha's son, Darsh. Not too long ago we mommies and the kids were at the park. They usually play on the swing... but one day we decided to sit on the see-saw! After, we got onto it, it suddenly occurred to me that I did not remember the last time I had sat on one. And to make things seem "weirder" I was actually enjoying myself. I felt like a kid all over again.

Just the other day I handed Samvit a couple of crayons and paper and he gaped at me with this look that meant, "Now what?". Then as if to teach him some art, I drew out a cat, house, etc. And he still looked as blank as he did the minute before. Then I tightened my grip on the crayon and scribbled my heart out and smiled. The next thing I know my baby was chuckling away and joined in to scribble with me. Well I guess the easiest way to teach them is to get down to their level... and boy, did we have a hearty laugh together. Life is so good!!!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Birth Stories: Predictable yet Unpredictable!

I simply love the story of how Jaiden was born into this world. To begin with, Binoy and I never imagined that we would be parents by our first wedding aniversary! Yes guys.. we had a perfect plan in our heads.. marriage, I find a job and then hopefully buy a house and in 2 years after our marriage we would think of a baby. but HEY! God had other plans for us!!

I used to pray that I should get a job before we start a family because then we could settle down better and then provide better for our little one. God definitely answered my prayer about finding a job and having the baby.. offcourse the settling part couldn't happen. While I was going through interviews and job hunting, I was offered a position in a company and a day later I accepted the offer, we found out that we were expecting.

My pregnancy had only one major problem.. well two.. a terrible back pain and adjusting to a new job. I started having terrible back pains even before we knew we were expecting and had it till the last minute. I had sciatica which made it painful to walk more than 15 minutes, to sleep at night or even stand under the shower for more than 10 minutes. and as the baby grew , it just kept getting worse as the uterus kept pinching my nerve at the back. As far as my new job.. just sucked!

In the midst of all this, we decided to move to Maryland because Binoy got another job offer and a month before Jaiden was born , we made our major move.

In my 3rd trimester, we found out that the baby was breach and the doctor told us that there could be a chance of c-section. But she also told us that the baby is likely to turn around as it gets closer. Well our little fella just didn't want to sit upside down. He was breach through the end and the doctor told us that we could decide on a date to schedule the c-section.

We were given couple of days to choose our date to schedule the c-section and finally came up with July 18th. My due date was 22nd and so we decided to have it a couple of days before so that Binoy's parents (who live in ny) could come and be there with us when we went in for the procedure.I was kind of upset for the fact that we had to decide on a birthday for our little one.. but hey.. couldn't do much about it because he was breach. And I also thought to myself.. would never know how it would feel to have actual labor pains.

D-day: My parents had come down from India 2 weeks before for the big event and Binoy's parents had come down from NY the evening before. The c-section was schedule on 18th at 12:00 noon. We were happy that our little one had all the grandparents around when he/she arrived. So after dinner was all done , and chit chatting with everyone, decided to get a good night's rest and be prepared for the surgery next day. We slept late that night, after receiving calls from friends and family wishing us all the best.

So we get to bed around 12 , saying a prayer that everything should be fine and go well. As usual I woke up around 2 to go to the bathroom (how many times we have to go to the bathroom in a day!!!) and I noticed something red in my urine and realized that the mucus plug was expelled. So I went back to bed and told Binoy what I saw and we were told that it could take hours or even days for actual delivery to happen once the mucus plug is out. So we didn't take it much seriously and we thought..ok lets get back to sleep and call the doctor in the morning. A couple of seconds later I suddenly feel POP!! I was like ..whatz going on??!!! and suddenly felt this huge gush of water coming out and realized my water broke! Then I started getting a little nervous. Binoy woke up everyone and by the time he came to the room.. I started to bleed and I started going into labor. ooooooooooooooooo the paaaaaiiiiiinnnn.... (yeah just when i thought ..how labor pains would feel..there i go into labor!).

My contractions were pretty hard and we called the doctor and she told us to get to the hospital as fast as we can. The hospital is only 10 minutes from our home and with it being 2 am in the morning , you could reach even faster!! But I tell you ladies... those 10 minutes were the longest 10 minutes in the car. I just had such bad pains that I couldn't wait anymore!!

Got to the hospital and the nurse checked and found out that I was dilated already 5 cm and I was dilating fast. 10 minutes later , the doctor came and I was already 8cm. She said the baby's feet was sticking out and that we should go in for an emergency c-section.So they took me in for c-section and Jaiden was born at 4:04 am. Although I couldn't hold him then, it was the most beautiful moment ever. We were parents with a beautiful child.

And why I love this story is because, we were scheduled to have the c-section on that day , only 8 hours later.. but he decided to come in his own time on the same day that we decided to have him come into this world. We predicted his birth , but happened with unpredictable events!!
 
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