Motherhood: A Blessing - Chapter 12

..... I screamed "Hey Ganpati Bappa!!!"..... and soon after that i heard a tiny voice..... yes!!! that was ANUSHKA!!!!..... The doctor placed her on me...... and i forgot everything..... the pain, the stress....... there were tears in my eyes..... she was beautiful..... she was perfect...... she looked like her father..... she had big eyelashes.... she was pink..... she had lots of hair..... she was crying and when she was on my chest i hold her and said,"everything's gonna be fine.... u r with ur mom".... Ramanuj also started crying..... He was also a father now.... Doctors asked him to cut the umbilical cord.... when he was hesitating doctors said " when ur wife can give birth, you shud do atleast this".... so he cut the cord..... i didnt really knew what was happening all of a sudden.... before few hours i was just ME..... but now i was a MOTHER,.....

It was an amazing feeling.... they took Anushka and cleaned her..... they weighed her, measured her height and head circumference..... she was crying and my heart ached for her..... i kept on asking the doctors when will i feed her..... but the doctor said that its gonna take few minutes.... i still had to deliver the placenta..... so by that time i had no option..... Ramanuj was with her all the time..... He saw and recorded her first bath.... he didnt understand where he should be.... with me or Anushka.... but i told him that be with Anu so atleast one of us sees what was going on with her...... then they gave me MY BABY..... she was hungry and was licking my face..... i felt so weird..... it was a very good feeling..... then they nurses took me to my room..... where i fed Anushka for the first time..... they taught me different ways of feeding.... it was difficult at first but slowly and gradually it was all getting normal..... It was ok that night but the next day as i woke up i saw Anushka near me and I started crying..... I was thinking that now my life's gonna be upside down..... having a baby changes everything..... i thought now how will i take care of her.... she's going to be with me all the time.... how m i going to manage...... one of the doctors came for my checkup and asked me how was i feeling..... i hesitated and discussed with her that i was feeling this way..... she said that it was perfectly normal.... since the hormones in the body change rapidly this type of behaviour is pefectly normal.... then i was quiet relieved..... but i used to cry every now and then....

to be continued.....

Motherhood: A Blessing - Chapter 11

So the day had arrived.... it was 4 o'clock in the night..... now the contractions were really painful.... we were recording everything.... they'd alloted me a nurse who was recording various readings.... she was every now and then asking me how are my contractions..... how was i feeling.... and everything.... she was asking me whether i want epidural or not(its a kind of medication which is injected in the spinal cord so that the lower part of the body doesnt feel anything)..... i said i can still bear the pain..... the doctors used to visit me every now and then..... they all said i am still 4 cm dialated...... i was worried.... the pains were getting unbearable and i was getting tired but after doing so much work i wasnt getting the result..... i kept on bearing till 6.30 in the morning when one of the doctors said" you dont want your child to see unhappily..... why dont u take epidural"...... i was so hurt by that...... i thought what the doctor was saying was absolutely true..... i want to see my baby happily...... why was i just bearing the pain unnecessarily and not taking the medication..... actually there were some side-effects of epidural and so i was so adamant upon it.....but then i thought that i am already so tired and exhausted..... so its better that i take the epidural..... i told them that i was ready..... they made the arrangements and called the anesthesiologist...... she injected the medication in the spinal cord and then after few minutes i wasnt feeling anything...... i could see the contractions coming and going on the monitor but i wasnt feeling anything at all...... when the doctor came she checked me and said i was 6 cm dialated...... with epidural it was getting easier..... but still the bag of water didnt burst...... it was 8 o'clock in the morning...... Ramanuj didnt sleep at all.... i was resting for the time being..... slowly and gradually i again started feeling the contractions..... but not that badly...... it was 12 o'clock on 27th of December...... the doctor said now they'll have to break the bag of waters since i was completely dialated...... she broke the bag and now even with epidural could feel everything...... i was in the pushing phase now..... i pushed for about 2 hours and 30 mins......I had 3 doctors, 3 nurses and a pediatrician around me......i held Ramanuj's hand and screamed loudly in pain" Hey Ganpati Bappa!!!"......

to be continued.....

Motherhood: A Blessing - Chapter 10

The next day was my appointment at the hospital..... the doctor checked me and said that I have already completed 30% of the work.... I was so happy because I didnt feel any pain at all.... I whispered to Ramanuj," huh, if this is the thing they say is scary, then it isnt scary at all!!!".... I didnt even realized the pain...... not at all..... But the doctor said that one cannot be sure about when the baby will be born.... If I dont feel the pains they might have to operate..... i was not ready for this..... i came home with a shock but Ramanuj said whatever happens dont forget u r gonna have a baby..... and then i was normal again.....

As i wasnt doing any household, one of our friends here invited us for dinner...... we went there and i suddenly started to feel contractions..... i had to note the timing how long they lasts and the gap between the contractions.... the doctor had told me not to eat more during this time as the whole body has to concentrate on the birthing.....so i ate light and drank a lot..... then by 2 o'clock in the night they were really getting intense..... i was happy and called the hospital.... they told me to take shower and bring the labor bag alongwith..... the labor bag had all the things that would be required at the hospital..... generally it has an outfit each for mother and the baby, a blanket for baby, brush, toothpaste, 2 diapers for the baby, a comb, a hairclip, some cash, medical card..... one may also want back massage at the time of labor, for that tennis balls are good..... a pair of slippers, and other things that you consider to be important.... my bag was ready during my seventh month of pregnancy..... anyways, i took the bath quickly and Ramanuj and our friends took me to the hospital.... i was all excited cause though i could clearly make out the contractions by then..... but i was like this is not that bad.... anybody can do it..... they simply say its painful and all..... but when the doctor checked she said i was just 4cms dialated..... i was still enjoying that moment.... Ramanuj had brought a camcoder to record everything..... we wanted this to be recorded so that when Anushka is 18, we could give her as a gift..... so everything was being recorded..... i was happy but Ramanuj was a bit scared..... He doesnt like hospitals at all.... though hospitals in US are very clean and it doesnt feel at all like its a hospital.... but he has this phobia since a long time..... and he was worried about what will happen..... I kept on encouraging him..... and when i was worried he kept on making jokes..... so we were helping each other.....

to be continued.....

Motherhood: A Blessing - Chapter 9

Five days before the due date was my b'day and I thought that today might be the day..... I wished that Anushka might be my b'day gift..... whole day i was waiting for the contractions to start(hehehe).... but it didnt happen......

From my b'day onwards I didnt do any of the household..... I took complete rest since I was told that labor was a Very Big Job..... So no work till then..... I slept, watched videos and read articles on birthing..... By doing this I was actually getting prepared mentally, physically for the Labor..... Since me and Ramanuj were alone I wanted myself to be all prepared so that I could be strong enough to handle the thing..... In my opinion one should definitely watch videos because it helps to program your mind accordingly..... one of my friends feared so didnt watch them...... but i believe when you are about to face the thing(that too alone) u should atleast know whats gonna happen..... Because when we are about to approach the time we feel that we are going to do a very great thing in life..... and we are only the ones to do it..... i felt the same way..... but it isnt like that...... i mean it surely is a BIG THING..... but many women have done it before..... i too felt that it is a big deal..... but when i watched videos i saw that women happily give birth to multiple kids at a time..... and i had just one..... that encouraged me a lot......so better to be prepared......

And then the Christmas arrived.... here it was a long weekend..... 4 days holiday..... my due date was just 2 days from then...... and i felt something going inside..... a little pain but I really wasnt sure it was the pain..... it was so mild that i could hardly feel it..... so i thought maybe i should call the hospital..... they told me to come...... I got there with Ramanuj...... I saw a woman coming out with a tiny baby in her hand and her husband was taking her to the car...... i was so happy to see that sight that tears came out..... Ramanuj hold my hand and said "very soon you too would be having a baby in your hand"..... then he took me inside the hospital where the doctor checked me and said that its still gonna take some more time..... how much time she didnt say anything..... and she gave me a leaflet with information about when should I call the hospital.... and told me to leave and take rest...... :(...... i was like if not now then when......

to be continued.....