What to expect when expecting!

August 2003
I subscribed to plenty of newsletters and websites and started doing a lot of reading on how the baby grows. There were some sites that you tell details of the weekly growth of the baby. How the baby grows from the size the head of a paper pin to the size of a rice grain and so on. It was really amazing reading all that!

I really had a tough time in the frist trimester. Lot of morning sickness, aversion to smells in big big way. During this time we also learnt that I had lactose intolerance. So no milk and milk products for me. We realised this after 3 days of my constant throwing up. Trying to eat light, I would have thin chachh, lightly sauted paneer etc but nothing would stay in. Earlier we all thought that it was just the pregnancy symptoms. So the 3rd day my gynae gave me a medicine to keep my food down. I ate a roti and daal after it stayed. But the moment I had milk, I threw up again. And then it struck me what it was. I talked to my Gynae and she also agreed that it was indeed milk products that were causing all the trouble. So now I was off milk products totally. I still remember I tried little bit of paneer once..maybe just 2 bites and I had to face the consequences again. So that was it. It was strictly no milk products for me.

September - 3rd week
We went for our ultrasound at Holy Family Hospital.. The first one! We both were quite excited as we would be able to see our precious little baby! I think we can describe our feeling as a mix of nervousness an d excitement. There was quite a queue there. When my name was called we both started to go inside but the nurse stopped DH saying you cannot go in. I spoke to the doc the that he being the father has all the rights to be there. She somehow didnt like hearing that and said I will call him after I've done my scan. I asked her to tell us in details of the baby. She didnt respond and I got really upset. But then there was very little I could do about it. She did the scan and then called for DH to come inside and then she showed on the teeny weeny black and white monitor the baby and the various parts. The ultrasound system was such outdated one that we could hardly make out except for the heart beat and the spine. The lil heart was going up and down so fast like a spring that had been stretched and released and was now bouncing!

And no one could not have missed the spine...the curvy little structure of bones.

So after the doc was done and we were ready to go out, we asked her how is the baby doing. She again was not as responding. She said its fine. You just need to talk to your Gynae for details. Me being me, I was not satisfied and asked her but you did the scan so you must have something to say too. So she said the placenta is low and otherwise all is fine. Nothing more, nothing less. Then she said she has to look at other patients now. I was really angry with this lady now and decided then and there that I will never ever come here for any of my futre U/S.

Anyhow, we went to my Gynae next day after collecting the report and she explained what is a low lying placenta and the problems associated with it and what needs to be done. She advised me bed rest for a month and also prescribed another U/S at 18th week. As this was our first pregnancy and with the age I was in, she asked us not to take any risk. We got quite anxious and a bit worried after knowing the details.

Just a week before I had informed my office (was working with some other company those days) of the pregnancy and now I had to tell them that I needed atleast 1 month off. I spoke with them, and our CTO decided that I will work from home and they got broadband connection installed at my home system. That is one gesture that I will appreciate all my life.

My bedrest started around Sep 27/28. While at bedrest, I started going more often to the forum on pregnancyweekly.com and made lot of friends. Spoke to them about low lying placenta, got thier first hand expereinces as lot of them had had children earlier as well. So after reading more on the internet about my condition nd talking to others on the forum, I learnt its nothing serious and just a bit of bed rest takes care of the problem. So it was a big relief for all.

October 21, 2003
Then came the day for our follow up U/S to see how better is the situation with my Low lying placenta. A friend of ours had suggested an U/S specialist in Defence Colony saying he was too good. So we had decided that we will get it done from this doctor only. Went to the clinic, waited for almost 40 mins before our turn came. But in the end there was mutual consent on the fact that the wait was worth every minute! First, DH was not stopped for coming with me for the scan. Second, the doctor desribed the growth of the baby so beautifully and showed us all his organs in such details. The machine here was a much advanced one and we could see colored visuals. When the doctor focussed on his hand, betu had his one hand in a thumbs-up style...with thumb sticking out of the closed hand! Betu had been such a tease that day. We requested the doc to show us the baby in the 3D mode and when doc focussed on his face, betu had his one hand on his face. So we could see nothing but part of his lips. Thats about it.

Somehow the wish for a girl was too strong for us and we had already started calling our baby "MItthi". When the doctor came to know about this nicname, he said "Mitthi" sounds like an extra sweet Kheer! We all laughed a lot!

So after the checkup, the result was all was perfectly fine and placenta was where it should be. We were really relieved to hear that!!