Days in NICU..

Bad days in my life. Was more painful than the labour. I pray that, even my worst of worst enemy should not go through this..

Yes, my baby was in neo-natal intensive care unit.

It was just the second day after baby was born. I think it was around 9 pm. I was eating bread with milk in the room. I was sitting on a plastic chair. Baby was sleeping on bed.

Baby opened it eyes .

Appa( my husband): hey, kutti( means small in Tamil)..

Amma( me): finally appa is playing with baby??( smiles)

Appa panics and call MIL and MOM. I sit all confused on my chair. I am not able get up because of the stitches.

Appa: baby is vomiting blood.

Everybody is shocked. The nurse station is just opposite to my room. We call the nurse. And she in turn rings up the doctor in charge.

Jr. Doctor: what happened?

Appa: baby has vomited.

Jr.doctor: did you people give the baby honey or something?

Amma: no we didn’t.

Jr. Doctor: let me call the pediatrician

Pediatrician: did you collect sample?

Amma: ( thinks, what the hell? Sample?) no

Jr.Doctor: just give the bed spread with the vomit. And take the baby to NICU.

Amma is still struck to the chair. Appa and MIL carry the baby to NICU.

After they leave the room, Amma cries. She is just feeling depressed seeing the empty bed. Appa comes after ten minutes.

 

Appa: baby is crying. You need to come to NICU to feed her. Wheel chair is coming for you.

Day 1 at NICU.

Amma sits on wheel chair for first time. She is taken to NICU, which is in ground floor, 2 blocks away. Security in the NICU asks her to wear apron, gloves, hair cap, etc etc.. ( amma is crying and angry at him for delaying)

The nurse comes with baby and takes Amma to feeding room.

Amma: what happened to my baby?

Nurse: nothing. We have just kept the baby for observation. You don’t have to worry. You will be called every 2 hours to feed the baby.

Amma: can’t I stay here?

Nurse: no no, baby will be kept in Incubator. There is no place for you here.

Amma is taken back in wheel chair to her room. She is holding Appa’s hands and crying. Amma goes back to room to see both MIL and MOM sleeping.

Day 2 at NICU.

Amma is taken to NICu every 2 hours in wheel chair. Appa accompanies her. In the morning, Amma is curious to see the Sr. pediatrician. Appa bring old reports and tells about spleenomegaly  to Doctor.

Sr.pediatrician: nothing is wrong with the baby. We even did palpitation. She is all fine. May be the baby has eaten mecum before delivery. As the baby has not passes motions till now, lets observe for one more day.

Amma continues her routine of going every 2 hours or 4 hours based on need. 

Day 3 at NICU

Amma: has baby passes motion?

Nurse: not yet. But Doctor was saying that baby’s eyes are yellow. So, we need to take a blood test.

Amma: why?

Nurse: doctor thinks baby might have jaundice.

Amma: so, what is next now?

Nurse: don’t worry. Let’s hope for the best.

Evening, Amma meets Gynecologist and tells her the story. The sweet lady talks to the Pediatrician and confirms that baby had passes mecum before delivery. Nothing to worry, and baby can be sent back to room.

Day 4, which is day 5 for us in hospital.

We get discharged. We are back home happy.

Hey people smile, now we are out of it.. baby is perfectly normal.

Note: there is post coming about the spleenomegaly soon.

Suspense ends…

I delivered a girl baby on 29^th of may 2011, at 6.49pm. I just can’t express how happy I am. I wanted a girl baby, and finally it is.. J. It was a suspense till the end for everyone. But, I kind of got an hint a month ago when I went for a scan. The doctor was showing each part of the baby and explaining. She said, this her brain, lungs, stomach, liver, kidney etc etc. but at point, she drew two ovals and nodded to her junior. I knew she was showing ovaries. She thought that, I wouldn’t notice or understand that. I confirmed that it was a girl baby.

False labour

It was Saturday morning. I had severe back ache. I was not sure what was happening. I told my husband about back ache, hoping that he would massage. But he went and told my mom. Mom is always mom. She called my friend, asked him to bring his car. I was taken to the nearby hospital. As it was a Saturday only duty doctor was available. He checked me. He called the gynecologist. But the gyn said, she can’t come to see me. Hence I was taken to another hospital, which was 20 km away from my house.

We reached the hospital. Doctor came to examine me. Oh ya, it was internal examination. I can’t say how much I hate it. As she was examining, I started bleeding. Doctor told me that I might be in labour any moment. I was asked to remove all my jewels and I was sent to labour room.

To my surprise and doctor’s surprise, I was the only patient for the day. The previous night they had some 22 cases including labor, DMC, uterus removal. I was asked to sleep on a bed. I didn’t get sleep. I was all excited knowing that I was in labour and going to have a baby soon. Lady in my next bed had a c-section done and got wheezing. I was holding her baby. The feel of holding a baby is great. Then the baby and the lady were shifted to ICU.

It became evening. Still there were no signs of pain. I asked the doctor in charge and went out the labour room to meet my mom and husband. They were all the more restless. I thought it was going nowhere. I asked the doctor in charge to send me back to my room for the night. They agreed to send me back.

I waited all night hoping to get pains. Doctor, who came to examine me, taught me few exercises. I did them every 40 minutes and walked for 20minutes each hour till noon. I was bleeding again. I was sent for scan. The scan reports said, I would be in labor any moment. But, there was no sign of pain. Suddenly fetal heartbeat was dropping down. So the doctor decided to induce me the next day for pains or else to do a c-section.

Monday morning, the senior doctor visited me. She said baby is in position. But it’s lazy to come out. So, I was asked to go home.

Note: as the hospital was multispecialty hospital, had to pay a huge amount for nothing.. as in false pains.

unexpected

Here I am back after a long break.. Had to come back to Chennai, it was an emergency.

It was Sunday morning. At 6 am I got a call from my dad’s colleague. They were just talking casually to me. I was angry as they were spoiling my sleep. I told them I will call later and cut the call. Again I got call from them. This time they wanted to talk to my husband. I woke him up and gave the phone. My husband gave a shocked expression and went to balcony to speak further. I was all confused.

AD went out of the room and spoke to his parents. I got a doubt that, they were hiding something from me. MIL gave me milk and breakfast immediately. They asked me to take bath. All this was confirming my doubt. Then again I got call from dad’s colleague saying, nothing to worry angio is done. I was not sure why angio and what exactly it is. AD is smart. He took my laptop and locked it. He was sure I would Google what it is. Later they told me that, dad was admitted in Apollo. I couldn’t control my tears after knowing he was in hospital. Immediately I asked AD to book tickets in tatkal.

It was difficult to travel 16 hrs without reservation, when you are seven months pregnant. We made a break up journey. Still sitting for 6 hours straight was hell. At least for the second half of journey, I got ticket in AC 3 tier.

Finally we reached Chennai. But stupid husband as always created non- sense in the last minute. He wanted to go to his house, freshen up and sleep for some time and then go to hospital. He expects all formalities. He wanted me to greet his brother, SIL at that point of time. Thank god, I didn’t have a knife. Or else I would have killed him. I asked him to go his way. I took an auto and reached Apollo.

I went straight inside hospital. Mom was in waiting lounge. She told me that, dad was in ICU. We can him see in only in the evening. I waited there. The doctor called us to his cabin. I was curious to know what happened?. My mom gave me shock telling that dad had a heart attack last night. They didn’t tell me as I am pregnant. It took a while for it settle in mind.

It was visitor’s time. Mom got passes to see dad in ICU. But the doctor didn’t allow me to see dad . I was sent home immediately as I could catch infection. I was not allowed to stay in hospital also. It took me three days to see dad.

Now things have settled. There is more pressure on mom. Everybody is clueless why this happened.

Note: Dad had a heart attack. He is only 52, with no blood pressure or diabetics or anything else.. But still he had an attack. Best part was neither my parents nor my in-law told me about it till I reached Apollo hospital. It took me 16 hours to reach chennai, and my husband kept the news away from me and was making me laugh all the journey.

Why I am pregnant so soon?

I am really fed up answering people why I am pregnant so soon?. It’s my life and I have all rights to have a baby. Still I couldn’t tell them all that, as it would sound arrogant.

So here are few reasons why I am pregnant.

1. I am already 26 years old, my hubby is 31. I don’t want to look like a grandma to the kid; I want to be her mother.
2. I consider 26 is right age for me to have a healthy baby without complications.
3. I feel that I am having a secured job. I and my husband earn enough to take care of the baby and its expense
4. I and my husband feel that we have all our life to enjoy. We consider that having a baby around is more enjoyable than anything else.
5. I feel that my parents and in-laws are becoming old with various medical exertions. So, it’s better for me to have a baby and get their support now.
6. Only if have a baby now, I can plan to have a second one before I turn 30.
7. Before I loose the attention as a new bride, I wanted to renew the pampering by becoming pregnant.
8. As I am staying away from my husband because of our jobs, I wanted an excuse to stay with him.
9. As my sis is in 10^th standard, I wanted to have the baby during her holidays. So, I don’t disturb her or my parents during her +2 or college admissions.

Hence, I would declare that my baby is not a fluke baby, its planned baby. I am happy to have my due date, just after my first anniversary. J. So people stop bothering that I am pregnant so soon. I feel like to be this fertile.

weekend with nail art...

I went out with hubby for last check up in vizag. Entering the third trimester makes me feel a little nervous. Doctor said everything is normal. I have put on another 3 kgs.. good that it is all baby’s weight and I have not put on fat. I am all pleased putting on weight now.

After the check up, I went to the nearby mall. I happened to see a telugu movie. Though movie was not good, I enjoyed pop-corn and coke. Don’t know, when again I will be in theatre ? looks like, it would take a long time for me see a movie in theatre.

Nail art: in the same mall, I saw this poster. I was so thrilled that I decided to get my nails painted. I was imagining that, they would take a size”0” brush. Take some paint and do some strokes on nail. I was actually ignorant on it. I realised after the seeing the kit, that they a stencil and stamping machine. I was all confused which design to get done. I was very specific and was trying my own design and colour combination there. The lady was so patient with me, though i asked to remove the nail polish thrice, made her try a design and asked to remove it as I didn’t like it. I asked her to take a rose flower design from one template and butterfly from other and put it in small nail.

Now that nail art went on well, I am scared to do any activity using my hands. I don’t want all the efforts to go waste. So, now I am taking care of my nails with great concern. J