Announcement

A relatively short guide to pregnancy for the completely clueless

A couple of my commentors were kind enough to say they learnt a lot about pregnancy from my humble posts, and some even followed up with more questions. I realised that we have access to very few sources about actual health experiences, pregnancy related or otherwise.

When I worked/trained at DMH and Castle Street, I used to spend a lot of time chatting with the mums-to-be and giving them advice on diet, exercise, what to expect in the labour room etc. Quite often though, I'd feel like a complete fool, because it was all "book-learnt" and never from actual experience. In fact, I had a 17 year old girl (let's ignore the underage bit for the moment) tell me off in the labour room after asking me how many kids I had. Her scathing comment went along the lines of "you haven't a clue about what you're talking about and what I'm going through, so be quiet and concentrate on getting this thing outta me!"

So this is one of the Bibles for our Ob/Gyn appointments.

Image from here

So as soon as the test came positive, I blew the dust off my copy and started thumbing through. My reaction was one of deep disgust, since (although it was obvious) everything was clinical and from the point of the doctor, not from the point of the mum. In addition, none of those much revered "Ten Teachers" were female... and the book was summarily discarded.

My cousin then lent me her copy of this.

Image from here

It's a bit wordy, but it became standard bedside reading and it includes chapters on pregnancy planning, week by week update about the baby, labour and best of all bits for the proud papa to read.

I'm not going to reproduce the book here, but just include a few highlights from my own experiences (wow, it feels so good to say that... am not a pregnancy-noob anymore!)

How do you know you're pregnant?

I've mentioned several times that I figured it out a couple of weeks before my period was due. One reason is that I'm frequently invited to do a lecture on the "physiological changes in pregnancy" to nursing students, paramedics etc., so I knew what to look out for!

It helps of course, if you're planning to get pregnant and have thrown your stash of pills/condoms out of the window. There are many ways to time doing "it", including counting dates off a calendar, checking your temperature daily for subtle changes. I personally recommend just getting rid of the... um... preventives and having a lot of relaxed fun with your significant other, but of course, to each his own.

The first thing I noticed that I was uncharacteristically hungry all the time and felt quite bloated. Then my boobs started to hurt (gah!!) and I actually went to work bra-less for a few days (no one notices under a saree anyway). Then came the need to pee all the time. By then, I just knew.

Of course the only way to be completely sure is to do a pregnancy test. The urine test (dipstick) costs between 40-50 rupees at the pharmacy and is simple to use... just stick it for a few seconds (5-15, it varies from brand to brand) and wait for the results. It's good to have a wide mouthed container (e.g. marmite jar) handy for moments like that. Note however, you need to be at least 5-6 weeks pregnant (i.e. about 2 weeks after your period is due) for this to be reliable, so any time before that, you may as well stir your urine with a hairpin.

Image from here

Unfortunately, when my test came positive (yay!) I noticed that the strip had expired (it was a remnant of my days working in the female casualty wards). So we went and got a blood test done the next day. The blood test is a bit more reliable and can read positive as early as 3 weeks after your last period. There are 2 methods, one tests just positive/negative, while the other gives the actual hormone levels, so that the doctor can estimate how far along you are... this is useful if your periods are irregular. The test can cost between Rs. 1500/- to Rs. 3500/-, and if you're doing it, I would recommend one of the more established/reliable labs.

To be 100% sure, an ultra sound scan is needed, and this gives additional information like where the pregnancy is (some conceive outside the womb), whether it's a singleton or multiples (eeek!) and a more reliable estimate of how many weeks the baby is. The test can cost between Rs. 1500/- to 3,000/- depending on the hospital and doctors charges. You'd also probably need a referral or at the very least a positive urine/blood test, before you saunter in and ask for a scan!

Planning for a pregnancy

Of course, it's always better if you can do this (cue flashbacks of all catastrophic-unwanted-unexpected pregnancy movies). If you like, you can have a pre-conception chat with a doctor/nurse/midwife/nutritionist and find out how you can optimise yourself for the baby. This is very important if you have a medical condition needing long term treatment.

This means having a chat with your significant other, checking your blood sugar, blood pressure and haemoglobin, avoiding smoking (even second hand) and alcohol, getting a dental check up etc. It's also good to start on the vits: vitamin B-complex, vitamin C and folic acid. In fact, I'd recommend them to any young female of reproductive age because, apart from being good for the teeny tiny baby, they give you nice healthy skin and shiny hair. You can also take iron and calcium if you like, but this can be saved for later in the pregnancy as long as you have a healthy diet.

AVOID the vitamin A supplements and foods that have loads of it like liver and cod liver oil because it can cause birth defects. Some acne medications contain retinol related compounds and should be avoided as well. The usual amounts of vitamin A obtained from yellow fruits and veggies are perfectly adequate and necessary for mum and the baby.

If you HAVEN'T planned and still find you are pregnant, no need to get all worked up and panicky about bygones... just decide to take it from there... :D

_________________________________________________________

Hmmmm... I just realised that the "relatively short" in the title is totally misleading. I'm not even sure if anyone wants to read all these details. Anywez, await part 2 soon (unless the Baby arrives, in which case, await part 2 later!)

Comic of the day

Image stolen from here

Just a few more days...

Counting, hoping, praying...

:)

Chuti-Baba

This post is dedicated to my 2 year old nephew, A.

I spent a very relaxing day at his (or rather, his parents') place, being waited on hand and foot. It's amazing how everyone is so kind and accommodating when you are pregnant... it almost makes up for looking like a beached whale!

Towards the end of the day, A finally cottoned on to what everyone meant when they kept pointing to my belly and saying "See A, there's a Chuti Baba in there for you to play with". He started laughing and stroking the tummy, while cooing "Chuti-Baba" over and over again. He then ran to his toys, and comes back with a pile of lego stuck under his shirt, pointing to it and saying "Chuti-Baba" much to our amusement.

When his mother said, no, that's something different, he ran over to me, pulled up my preggy top (ooops!) and discovered my belly button, that recently started popping out (that deserves a post of its own!). Laughing delightedly, A started pressing my belly button, obviously trying to get the incumbent playmate to hurry on out!

Kids, I tell you!

Bop Bop Baby!

Just the 2 of us

I don't want my pregnancy to end! In spite of all the worry and the complications and the fear and uncertainty... I swear, this has been the best experience of my life.

Pregnancy symptoms

Baby has truly been the sweetest and most considerate foetus anyone could wish for. When I first figured out I was pregnant (and this was a good 2 weeks before I missed my period), I just hugged the secret to myself. Just me and Baby - the two of us in our own private universe. Darling was let in on the secret... and then there were three.

Awesome threesome!

I hardly had any morning sickness... I may have thrown up a grand total of 4 times during the past 9 months, and on 2 of those occasions it was food poisoning rather than the preggy hormones. Sure, I felt queasy sometimes, stopped being able to taste certain flavours, and was completely put off by others... but on the whole, Baby and I managed to eat healthily and heartily.

Things are a little different now... I get excruciating cramps in my legs at night, that make me wake up literally screaming in pain. Getting off bed involves complicated wriggly movements and a lot of effort. Whenever I walk more than a few steps or climb stairs I feel absurdly breathless. And I need to pee... all. the. time. This is complicated by the fact that I keep dreaming that something terrible has happened. I've always had vivid dreams, in full colour, and with smells, sounds, the works. I've woken up distraught more times than I can count, sobbing because Baby had "disappeared" or "never existed" or had been "taken".

Specially after the most recent scare, I've started to welcome the symptoms... even the cramps. It's "proof" that I'm still pregnant and Baby is still there with us. I think they're not even bitter-sweet anymore. Just pure sweetness.

The kicks

These, I think are the sweetest of all. The textbooks call it "quickening", the sensation of feeling the baby move. At first, I wasn't even sure if that was what I felt... it was so small and so gentle... as if a flower petal had bumped against my belly. And then a few days later, it was as if someone was blowing bubbles inside me, that gently floated around, bumped against the walls of my womb and then went "bop".

That's what Darling and I call it... bopping. I tell Darling that I pity him, because he will never know how wonderful it feels to have this wonderful, living bundle of joy wriggling inside. And day by day Baby keeps bopping more and more, making my tummy bounce and wobble... and it's so difficult to suppress a delighted smile or laugh when that happens.

Baby somehow seems most responsive to Darling. Baby is Daddy's little love bug... and the bops are the strongest when D reads aloud to both of us, or spends time talking to Baby about his day at work and what not. Baby also bops in time to pirith and classical music. Excuse a mother's natural pride when I say that Baby has impeccable taste.

_______________________________

So here I am, counting my days and enjoying every bump and wriggle inside me...

Part of me never wants to let go of this warm wonderful feeling...

Friends for Baby

This is Eeyore.

Eeyore was the first birthday present I got from Darling, and I remember how (7 years ago) he sheepishly walked into Faculty, carrying this large shapeless bundle wrapped in red wrapping paper. Eeyore has since graced my bed... being cuddled and talked to, especially when D is away on trips or holidays.

This is Little Eeyore. When in Hong Kong 2 weeks ago, this is what Darling bought first... Baby's first soft toy! Apparently he couldn't resist getting the little cute cuddly thing... doesn't he have the most winsome expression?

So there they are... Big Eeyore for Ammi and Little Eeyore for Bubbee. But Darling had been worried that Little Eeyore would be all lonely until Baby came along. So he decided to bring along his friends as well...

The more playmates for Baby, the merrier we'll all be!

Bottom's up!

These days, when I look down at my tummy, it no longer appears uniformly round, but strangely lopsided... like a bullet.

The view from the top

Sometimes it looks like the badly drawn picture A (above) and sometimes like picture B. My last scan confirmed that Baby had flipped over, and is now in the recommended "head down" position.

So that large bump is the nice little rounded bottom, which Baby keeps moving from side to side in a sort of slow but enthusiastic rumba... :)

Darling says what ever Baby's other features may be, Baby has certainly inherited my posterior! Lol!

Pregnant with song...

Hello everybody...! Well, you can see the sad outcome of my resolution to blog more. Darling - of course - took off with the laptop... and the desktop crashed shortly afterwards. Maybe it was lonely too. I managed to keep up with my bloglists at work, but felt guilty about blogging during work hours... and many posts just remained unwritten.

So even though JP and Chavie had some great ideas with links and the TV series, I did end up doing far more housework than was strictly necessary, including cooking a meal for my cousin (who is also pregnant) and her family. Am utterly exhausted today, but happy because I took the noon dane to the temple near my house and also found some time to meditate.

The good news is that Darling is back!! Yay! (Does happy dance)... And now I have laptop and interwebs while he sleeps off the jet lag. We watched the latest episodes of a couple of TV series, so I am very happy! The goodies brought home deserve a post of their own, and I shall get to it the moment I snaffle the camera and the cable from Darling's stuff.

I've been listening to a lot of great music these days, both for my benefit (keep down 'em raging hormones) and for Baby's benefit too. There's a lot of classical music on my play lists, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and music from Swan lake and the Nutcracker Suite.

The Moonlight sonata, my favourite!

Also Yanni (esp. the Acropolis tracks... love them, totally love them!) and the more contemporary cute songs like Firefly

Getting a thousand hugs, from ten thousand lightning bugs... so cute!

I've also developed (not surprisingly paerhaps) an affinity for preggy movies/songs. Obviously, classics (ahem) like Juno and the Waitress top the list.

This is definitely going to be a "sing Baby to sleep" song

Great expectations indeed...

Ignore the slightly disturbing pregnant teen back-up singers in this!

So, yeah, that's what I've been up to last week. No internets, no skype with Darling (thank goodness for Dialog-my 10), lots of music and a reasonably clean house!

How has your week been?

Lonely

So here I am, sitting all alone in my room, hoping the days will pass quickly. Darling has flown out of SL on a work related trip, and I can't describe how much I miss him. Of course there are advantages in travelling on company moolah, like getting to fly business class, and being put up at a swanky hotel. Thanks to Halik, however, I have been having visions of svelte Cathay Pacific stewardesses cooing "oh hello, Mr. Darling, would you like unlimited refills of assorted nuts?", not the most restful, you would have to agree.

Darling has been trying very hard to lessen the impact on me... taking me on a delightful mini-break to Bentota just before he left, and calling me three times a day since he got there. He has also left instructions to Brother to maintain regular supply of chocolate eclairs and apple juice, and admonitions all over facebook, email and elsewhere not to be a pundit and do any cleaning or heavy lifting. This is quite justified because generally being jobless and lonely tends to trigger my OCD, which results in me cleaning the bathroom tiles or the floor skirting with a toothbrush.

Meanwhile, I've set myself a long "to-do" list, which includes blogging more. But gentle readers, do forgive the over abundance of preggy-posts. Nothing fills my universe more than the minute human being inside me... and nothing gives me more joy.

Have a great Monday!

I'm pregnant... what's your excuse?

Last week saw me waddle into one of the better known 5 star hotels in Colombo. I hadn't been to one of those for some time, and even better, my sense of taste was getting back to normal... so I was obviously looking forward to enjoying the fun, music and the food at the wedding.

We were late, but not late enough to dive into the buffet right away. After about 15 minutes of smiling serenely at the rest of the crowd and swaying gently to the strains of classical music, the hunger pangs hit. It is incredible how quick and intense the sensation of hypoglycaemia is these days... I get irritable, my head hurts, tummy rumbles and Baby does the cha-cha on my internal organs. There was no sign of wedding cake or the welcome drink. I waved frantically at a waiter who was loitering nearby, desperate for sustenance.

Angel (smiling sweetly) : we only just got to the hall, do you think we could have some drinks served to this table?

Waiter (somewhat loudly) : NO

Eh? What??? How dare he... what's wrong with him... can't he see I'm pregnant? I need special treatment...! Hang on.... I'm entitled to a welcome drink, dammit!!

I sit there, massively pregnant, wrapped in my cream silk saree, the voluminous folds making me look more like a beached whale than anything else, and stare up at him in shock.

Angel (stammering) : But why not?

Waiter (miffed) : we have been instructed not to serve drinks, Madam.

...................

...................

??????????

...................

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The penny drops.

@##$@&&****!!!!!

Angel (in a voice so cold that hell would have frozen over) : I meant a welcome drink you moron not an alcoholic drink!

Waiter : Ah... um... sure.... (and scuttles off)

The rest of my unsympathetic table-mates burst out into gales of hysterical laughter. The general consensus was that the waiter has (quite understandably) put down my dimensions to alcoholic cirrhosis!

Hmmmp! I don't get no respect!

Our little survivor

Thanks so much everyone for all your good wishes and for sharing our joy at the impending arrival of a wee bundle of joy. I owe everyone a bit of an explanation as to why the announcement was kept so late. Trust me, you weren't the only ones, some of our close relatives didn't find out till almost six months into the pregnancy...

Let me digress a minute on our traditions associated with pregnancy... among them eating jackfruit and brinjals (to ensure abundant milk), not completing the baby clothes before the delivery, not bringing the cot home before the baby, and reciting religious chants (Angulimala piritha) to ensure smooth delivery. In other words, there is no assumption that the birth is a certainty and that all will go well. Life is uncertain... and obviously, someone from my field will have abundant evidence of this uncertainty.

I knew I was pregnant a good couple of weeks before I missed my period. Maybe because I was more aware of the changes in my body... maybe because I just had a sense of not being "alone". So Darling and I waited, all starry eyed until it was time to do the blood test. I can't find the words to explain how I felt when I looked at my HCG report... nothing I have ever done before or since was comparable to this big jolt of joy that ran through my body. Some of you may remember that in the past, my views about kids have changed from ambivalent to negative to "whatevah" to expectant... mostly because (career woman that I am) I had little faith in my parenting skills. Over the last eight months, not a smidgen of a doubt has crossed my mind... even when I tested myself by deliberately thinking "will I be a good mum?" my gut reaction would always be "Good mum? Of course I'm going to be a good mum... I'm going to be the best mum ever, because no one can love my little Bubee more than I do".

One of the first pics... Baby lies between the green and yellow crosses

That said, the last 8 months have not been a bed of roses. Soon after the first scan, a contaminated sandwich gave me Shigella food poisoning. The fever, vomiting and diarrhoea nearly caused a miscarriage... Baby was 1.29cm long... and 1cm of the sac had separated from the protective walls of my womb! I was terrified... but our little survivor kept hanging in there.

After about 3 months, I kept feeling lousy, got odd fevers, swollen lymph nodes and developed a leaky valve in my heart. My blood work was crazy... and I had three consultants (still do actually) scratching their heads and wondering what was wrong. During the next 2 months I was tested for every nasty and obscure disease under the sun, from TB and HIV to toxaplasma and Epstein Barr virus. And throughout it all, Baby continued to thrive and grow in leaps and bounds.

Baby @ 13 weeks

Somehow, I got the ok to travel abroad, and honestly, those 3 weeks in Malaysia were a godsend. Of course the training was hectic... but I had no other responsibilities... I did minimum shopping and spent most evenings and weekends in my room with my feet up, reading Terry Pratchet. Once I got back, my Mum needed cataract surgery and Darling was hospitalised, (food poisoning again - honestly, we seem to attract the worst bugs).

And Baby continued to grow and develop. I felt the very first kicks exactly when I was supposed to... and the growth scans were right there in the midline. The "anormaly scan" is usually done at about 20 weeks and the doctor looks at everything visible... the brain, spine, heart, face, palate and nose, the stomach the kidneys and the bladder. Baby got gold stars in all of them... somehow managing to overcome the limitations of an illness prone mother.

I wish I could be in better health, for Baby's sake, but even as I type this, I am on medical leave, lying on my left side to maximise the blood flow to the placenta. Somehow, during the last few weeks, Baby hasn't grown as expected. I'm just 32 weeks pregnant and hoping against hope that we will not need to go for a pre-mature delivery. The worst thing about being a doctor is knowing full well of all the nasty things that can go wrong and having a dozen worst case scenarios playing through your mind.

Hang in there my little Angel, my Sweetie, my Cutie! You're a fighter and a survivor... You're the best thing that has ever happened to your Mum and Dad... we love you so very much and are rooting for you all the way...

Stay with us...