The new me.......

After those initial days of waking up every 3 hours to feed and constantly check on her nappies, I can now manage sleep for up to 4 or sometimes 4 and a half hours at a stretch! What a relief
My baby is now 2 and a half months old. I cant expect the typical 2 months’ old activities because she was born premature. Thinking of those days makes me shrug and wonder how we pulled it off. It was a real task at hand to look after a 1.1 kg baby…it was like making sure that your basket of jasmine doesn’t get crushed in the rain. Such was the task, so delicate, at hand. My mom and husband are my pillars of strength. They were there even when i was struggling with new situations forced at me each day at the hospital before delivery. The day our premature baby was born, we were, all three of us in the battle together. We were literally pushed into it! Life deals us such cards sometimes, that you don’t have time to think.

Today I am a different person, I have begun to learn my baby’s needs and demands. I can understand why she cries or why she is acting cranky. I know what to expect and how to tackle situations. Like everybody I too learned it the hard way, being a first time mom made the learnings harder. There is no denying that there is something to learn in every step and there is much more to come. So here I am all geared up to learn more and perform better as a MOM!

Baby Shower

My family arranged for a baby shower today. All our near and dear ones gathered to bless me. There was a small homa and some significant rituals. As it is believed that the baby in the womb is capable of listening to the outside world, the garbha samskara was done. This is one of the shodasha samskara according to the hindu rituals/ceremonies.
Hoping that everything goes well from here and I deliver a healthy baby!

Gestational Diabetes and me…..

When the glucose tolerant test results showed high blood sugar, I almost dismissed it giving some loose theory of my own. The family sang to my tune and supported me. The possibility of me being one in 4% women who get gestational diabetes was very rare, so I wasn’t worried. But it turned out to be different! I was in that rare group and the sugar levels were very high. All hell broke loose upon hearing this and I was wondering what now

This meant a very very strict diet and medications and not to forget the constant monitoring with a glucometer. It was very challenging to prick myself with insulin shots 3 – 4 times a day. The allergic I am to needles this came as a real test, acid test! Until then I had enjoyed every part of eating in pregnancy. Now the food range just shrunk I had to be extremely careful in what I chose to eat.
More than my dietary habits and medications I was worried about what damage will this condition do to my unborn child. I discussed all my questions with the doctor. The GDM (gestational diabetes mellitus) condition will not make the baby diabetic when it is born, nor would this mean that it will be one in its adolescence. The baby had to get the same range of nutrients to grow in this new diet. So the diet was chosen carefully to not hinder it’s growth.
I was warned with dire chances of getting diabetic early in life if I failed to control my weight postpartum. With a family history of diabetes (my dad) there were strong chances of me getting diabetic anyway. To delay it, was in my hands now.
Nobody pins down reasons for getting GDM, there are a few reasons, out of which one or two might be the reason in your case. Generally Asians are more prone than any other race. Family history of diabetes might be a reason, obesity also might be one. I was all worked up about “why me and how” for some time. But soon I realized that I could not see it coming, so there was no point in breaking my head and loosing heart over this.

It is always good to talk to the doc and clear your head before getting out of his office. Except a few adjustments in food and regular medications this is easy to tackle. I kept my will strong and was surrounded by a bunch of optimistic family members (thanks everyone). They sacrificed eating goodies like sweets and fried snacks all for me ……so nice of them!

All said and done, this is still a one man battle. The battle to keep strong, not feel guilty, and stress out on the baby’s growth. Since this is a rare condition, talking to your extended family and explaining to them about this (in an Indian society) might become difficult. I avoided contact with most of them and so never heard the nasty cynical comments! (good for me ). Yes, even today when it comes to pregnancy and child birth we are still centuries behind and so try to avoid talking about some touchy things…grrr !
So there I was wondering, what more has to come my way, in this new found road to child birth, family.

Unexpected........

Just when I was thinking that pregnancy was fun, I was struck by some news. In my 25th week scan, lack of liquor around the baby was detected and I was advised drips. Being the allergic to hospitals (I know, how ironical !) I took a few moments to just wrap my brain around the news.

The amino-fute drip is not a sure solution to increase the liquor but according to the doctor, its to prevent more loss in the coming weeks. A capsule was prescribed and also water therapy; i.e an intake of at least 3 litres of water per day.
Went thru the drips all 3 days, hope it helps generate some liquor and prevent further loss!

Walk in the Park

It is said to be good to be active right from the early months of pregnancy. So making the best use of my free time, (I can’t even make my job as an excuse now ) I have started a routine of evening walk in the nearby park.

As I start my rounds around the walking tracks, I notice from the corner of my eye that the benches along the track is filled with people. I see all kinds of people, mostly elderly couples or men/women groups ! Crowded onto one kalBench you can hear their conversations. The women are exchanging recipes, or talking about the progress their grandchildren are making at school or otherwise. The men are generally into their fav – politics ! Recently the city saw a hurried canvasing for the local body elections. Around this time, we saw a woman candidate from a prominent political party enter the park gates to meet the aam janta and knowing their problems. Once she had left, the usual topic became even more interesting to discuss!

Amidst all of their conversations, these elderly can still keep track of ‘who’ is walking the track for what reason. Their eyes slowing land on my protruding bump and they give a small unknowing smile. The smile is not wide and explicit, but I know that mentally they are just wishing well for the bump ! There are many ladies in different sizes of bumps, some of them slowly making their way, some a little more enthusiastic to be active ! Everyone just looks at each other and turns away, fearing if their thoughts would be read.

Amidst the loud screams and laughs from the children park, I rest on one of the kalBench listening to a spiritual song or a recital going on at the adjoining temple.

4th Doc visit

The funny ‘feeling’ really turned out to be a gas bubble…bbbuuuurrrr ! I got it clarified from the Doc, she said that is was too early to feel them tch tch…..

Listening to the heart beat of the baby made me believe that there was really a human within me. Sharing the same body, I felt great. These regular visits to the Doc only assures me that there is something going in there. A tiny little thing that will soon be out.

In my 15th week now.....

I felt a funny feeling in my lower abdomen…… is this the moment that I was wondering about ??? I always wondered how it would ‘feel’ when you feel the fetal movements. I checked on the net if the movements can be felt as early as 15th week……. I read that some sensitive women do feel it. I am not sure if it was the movements or just another gas bubble doing the rounds ! lol…….Got to ask the Doc next week………

It truly felt amazing when that funny feeling came….it literally shook me from my seat, where I was leisurely reading the newspaper. Did I read an article that shook it also???? never know……….