March 29, 2004 - The D-Day - Our precious little son is born!

March 29th came with no signs of contractions. I mean REAL labour contractions. I used to have Braxton Hicks contractions quite frequently starting from the 7th month. And since past 2 weeks or so I used to get about 35-40 in a day. Yes...that many! And still no signs of actual labor ..*sob* *sob*

My doc was surprised that I still haven't dilated or hadn't started labor pains naturally coz in my last visit with her on March 26, I had about 8-9 in my 15 mins appointment. And each one used to last about 40 seconds or so.

Anyways, the morning started as usual. Everyone (Myself, DH, MIL and FIL who had also arrived a day before) got ready and Mummy did havan at home and then we went to Mandir before going to the Hospital. When we reached there, I saw such a huge bunch of full term mothers-to-be penguin walking in the Labour and Delivery admissions area that I almost started to giggle. I really found it quite amusing. They took almost 40 mins to finish with the initial paper work. I had been all cool and calm as if this was just another checkup day. No nervousness or anxiety. Dunno why..not even when you have to sign the paper where it says they are not responsible if anything happens to the baby or the mother during..blah..blah... But that's how it was UNTILL they did not allow DH to come with me inside the labor room. They said, he can join later after they are done with the initial preparations.

I got so scared then that I had tears in my eyes. The whole place was echoing with moans and groans of mothers-to-be in labor and total strangers. And it really scared the hell out of me. On my way to my labor room I saw some women were even sharing rooms with other women. I was really glad that I had a room to myself. Rest of the story I'm just copying and pasting from the birth story that I had posted on his site 2 weeks or so after he was born. So here it goes

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Anirudh, was born on 29th March, 2004 at 5:54pm after being induced at 11 in the morning. My labor lasted about 6 hrs and although I had a normal delivery, it was a bit complicated. I moved from 4cm dilation to 8cm very quickly so in spite of me yelling and shouting to give me epidural, they couldn't. (This was coz of the homeopathic medicine which helps in fastening the labor - Kali Phos, that I took not known to the docs. This is the same medicine that Ma took when she was having me :D ) So it was literally hell!! I kept shouting to call DH but they just didn't. I remember telling them that "Tum log mujhe maar daloge!!" (You're gonna kill me!). One medicine they gave me had such a sinking affect on me that I thought I was going to die..lol!! They ruptured my membranes at about 5 pm and took me to the delivery room at 5:30 pm.

At one point baby's heart beat went down to 90 which scared my Obs and she started preparing for C/s also. But later it went fine after they gave me some meds (don't know the names). Then at 5:30 they moved me to delivery room and tried to take the baby out using vacuum but that didn't work. Then they did forceps delivery and he was born!!

Later they told me that I had lost lot of blood during delivery and they were planning to give blood infusion next day after checking my Hemoglobin. It was 7.6 and then they decided not to. They would have done it if it had been lower than 7. Am I glad about the fact that they didn't? WAY TOO MUCH! I hate needles. HATE THEM! I never had been pricked as many times in my whole life till my pregnancy. Since my veins are very thin, they as it is can't get it right the first time. Its only after 2-3 pricks that they get it right.

He weighed 2.8Kgs and was 20" tall. When he slipped out of me, my stomach suddenly felt so empty. You know like the feeling you have once you have passed out gas when it has been troubling you for long..lol!! When they took him out I thought it was a boy but wasn't sure as my eyes were full with tears. Few mins later they confirmed that it was a boy. And he just whimpered in the beginning and cried little louder few minutes later.

While they were cleaning him up, he was crying. And to divert my mind from the pain coz of the episitomy stitches they were doing, I kept talking to him. I think I blabbed a lot to the doc and the nurse coz of pain. Feels a little embarrassing to think about it now. I remember few things I said to them. Like "Mujhe baksh do..chhod do mujhe..jaane do.." (Please leave me..let me go), "Kya kar rahe ho...bahut dard ho raha hai" (What are you doing..its hurting a lot!), "Mere pair(legs) so gaye hain..khol do inhe" (my legs are numb..open them up) (..they had tied them up), "Kyun baandh ke rakha hai mujhe..baaki stitches baad mein laga dena" (Why have you tied me up...do the rest of the stitches later!)..etc..etc..

I even said that next time I will have a scheduled C/s. And my doc said "First take care of this one, there is plenty of time to think about the next time!" Hahaha..just can't help laughing thinking about it.

About 10 mins later after being born, the nurse brought him to me all cleaned up and asked me to kiss him on the forehead and then she took him outside to show him to all the family members waiting.

They took about 1hour and 5 mins to stitch me up. Since it was a forceps delivery, I got a 3rd degree perennial tear and that's why the stitches were more. I finally got moved out of the delivery room at 7:10pm. DH was so worried since they took so long to bring me back from the delivery room. He later told me people were calling him up to ask him and were congratulating him but he just wasn't in the mood since he hadn't seen me :)

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One thing which I did not write in the birth story was that I had asked my Obs & Gynae to show me my placenta. She was surprised I wanted to see that. Probably basis her past experience of patients and thier behaviours, she told me that I would loose my appetite after looking at it. But still I insisted and they showed it to me. I did not at all found it gross or anything to loose appetite on. For me it was the one which gave blood, oxygen, food and all the things required to my baby! It was the thing that nurtured my baby before I could nurture him myself. How could I not want to see it?

One thing that even my OBG would vouch for that is that I really gave her a tough time. I would read about each and everything relating to pregnancy and birth on the internet and in each appointment had tons of questions ready for her! :D

I remember her telling me once "Please stop reading so much on the internet!" We both had a good laugh then.