After seeing all the commercials involving a new-born, I was expecting that I would bond with my new-born at the first sight. However quite strangely the bonding did not happen so immediately.
I had anticipated a normal delivery all thru my pregnancy.. However, I ended up having an emergency C.
Due to the flurry of activities preceeding the surgery, my head had started spinning even before I was given any anesthesia.
I was quite awake during the operation with my hands tied down.. I also had to wear an oxygen mask.
Within seconds of administering the shot on my spine, the gyne cut me open and within minutes I could hear my baby cry.
The doc called out that I had a beautiful baby boy... They then bathed him and brought him to me... I felt that I had received a lovely gift. I was quite amazed and stunned but did not experience any of the motherly feeling. He was wide awake... His head was covered with lovely silky hair and he was looking at me... I just placed a kiss on his forehead.
I was kept in the recovery room for an hour or so and then taken to the maternity ward. He was then brought to me for his first feed.. I tried quite unsuccessfully and then we were shifted to our room where he was placed in a cradle beside me.
All that I experienced for the next few days was anxiety... I was anxious that I was unable to feed him, anxious that he should be kept away from any sort of dirt lest he should get any infection.. I even scolded my mom for asking my cousins to hold him when he was just 3 days old.
He was so tiny and delicate that I even did not have the courage to hold him... My mom held him most of the times and my husband would also hold him at times..
I had a lot of issues in feeding which is going to be the topic of another post...
But I put my foot down that my baby was going to get only breast milk.. So that caused a lot more anxiety since I was worried that he was going without enough food..
A lot of the bonding actually came thru feeding.. My baby ( hence forth I am going to refer to him as Prince Charming.. i.e. PC ) would feed all the time for the first few weeks.. When it hit me that he needed so much of me all the time, I realized the motherly instinct in me.It took about 6-8 weeks for me to realize that I was a mother.
I would like to know if there are others who took such time to bond.. Sometimes I feel very envious when I read some posts where people say they had bonded at the first sight of the baby... Its about 4 months now and PC and I know were are made for each other... :))
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Pain Points post delivery !!
I haven't experienced labor pains, so really cannot write anything on that.. But there are a lot of other pain points after delivery.
1. Rashes from using sanitary napkins... You need to use them for atleast 3 to 4 weeks after delivery.
The continuous usage of the pads, especially the synthetic ones with the dry feel cover etc does cause a lot of rash.
I switched to cotton cloth by the end of 3 weeks.
2. They shave you off before delivery.. Don't understand why they do that ... Its absolutely meaningless for a C..
I think even for a normal delivery its really not required... I guess they have stopped the practice in the west..
Anyways in India its still done.. And when the hair grows back along with the usage of sanitary pads it can be killing.
3. The stitches of C-section hurts... Every time you try to get up from a lying down position, you sneeeze, cough , turn , bend, etc...
4. The sore nipples till you get the hang of latching on the baby correctly...If you are breast-feeding and the baby is not latched on properly you are quite bound to get sore nipples and the very thought of the next feed may be quite painful...
People only talk of labor pain when they talk about delivery... But these are the associated ones too..
Its a complete pain package :))..
But having a baby is definitely worth all this and more !!!
1. Rashes from using sanitary napkins... You need to use them for atleast 3 to 4 weeks after delivery.
The continuous usage of the pads, especially the synthetic ones with the dry feel cover etc does cause a lot of rash.
I switched to cotton cloth by the end of 3 weeks.
2. They shave you off before delivery.. Don't understand why they do that ... Its absolutely meaningless for a C..
I think even for a normal delivery its really not required... I guess they have stopped the practice in the west..
Anyways in India its still done.. And when the hair grows back along with the usage of sanitary pads it can be killing.
3. The stitches of C-section hurts... Every time you try to get up from a lying down position, you sneeeze, cough , turn , bend, etc...
4. The sore nipples till you get the hang of latching on the baby correctly...If you are breast-feeding and the baby is not latched on properly you are quite bound to get sore nipples and the very thought of the next feed may be quite painful...
People only talk of labor pain when they talk about delivery... But these are the associated ones too..
Its a complete pain package :))..
But having a baby is definitely worth all this and more !!!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Getting tricked into a C-section
The rate of C-sections in India is way beyond average.. Somewhere I read it to be 45% and in some other article 60%.
I delivered my first baby about 4 months back and had a c-sec too.. Was it required... I am still finding answers..
I was admitted to one of the best hospitals in bangalore and was consulting a reputed gyne.
I had a perfectly healthy pregnancy... No Bp, no sugar, no thyroid, good weight gain, etc , etc..
In fact my pregnancy kept me perfectly active till the last trimester.. Even during my eighth month I was able to get on a ladder and pick things off my loft.
I was asked to get a scan done about 2 weeks before my due date... And since the scan predicted the fetal weight to be 3.4 kg I was advised to get induced..
My advice to people who go for inducing of labor is to get a clear understanding from the doc as to why it needs to be done and if there is a possibility to wait for natural labor.
Labor is natures way of preparing the baby for birth... Please don't go against nature unless absolutely required and agree for inducing of labor...
I should have asked the doc to wait till I started on labor and cut me open if the labor did not progress well...
I am a well built woman... And I feel I could have delivered him even if he went upto 8 pounds.. I later got to know that women have vaginally delivered babies of 11 pounds and more...
But I was unaware of a lot of things before I actually went thru it. And so here I agree to the docs advice and begin to get induced... One tube of the prostaglandin gel, no effect, 2nd tube , still no effect... then the third and yet I don't have any signs of labor.. How will I ?I was not yet ready... My little one was not ready too... Here I was forcing him to come into the world a lot earlier than he wanted to... I denied him the pleasure of staying inside my cozy womb till he wanted to.
The three times of inducing did have its effect on the little one though... He was distressed and passed meconium in the womb.. Then the doc declares that the baby is in distress and declares an emergency c-sec..
Didn't she realise that I was not ready for inducing.. Didn't she realise that the baby's head was not yet fixed into the pelvic cavity.. Didn't she know that there was no way he would come out vaginally and at the end of all this gimmick I would have to go thru a C... At times I feel she knew all this and just did it so that she did not have to rush to the hospital at any odd hour of my labor...
Did she think twice about how much I aspired for a natural birth.. I had told this to her umpteen times from the start of my pregnancy.
I read a lot of articles about inducing, overweight babies, c-sec, etc and I learnt that if labor was induced well in advance it would in all probability end in a C.
I am extremely disappointed about the fact that my perfectly healthy baby was in distress.
And after reading a lot of articles I am very positive that the distress was caused only due to the three times of inducing. I still feel I was responsible for him getting distressed and I feel terrible about it. Probably if I had read more during my pregnancy I would have known better.
I am not against inducing of labor or C-sections. I really appreciate the medical advances we have achieved in reducing the risks in complicated deliveries. C-section is definitely a boon in these days whereas in older days both the mother and baby were at risk of their lives.
My issue is with the misuse of these advaces. Doctors have started using these to make delivery a planned process to suit their convenience. My doc told me that if you start getting induced at 11 pm you will in all probability deliver before 5 pm the next day... It later hit me that she wanted my delivery between 9am and 5 pm on the next day.
At the end of the day, these are just hard lessons learnt...All I can do now is probably just accept the fact that it is over and done with and be happy that I have a bonny baby in my hand.
I delivered my first baby about 4 months back and had a c-sec too.. Was it required... I am still finding answers..
I was admitted to one of the best hospitals in bangalore and was consulting a reputed gyne.
I had a perfectly healthy pregnancy... No Bp, no sugar, no thyroid, good weight gain, etc , etc..
In fact my pregnancy kept me perfectly active till the last trimester.. Even during my eighth month I was able to get on a ladder and pick things off my loft.
I was asked to get a scan done about 2 weeks before my due date... And since the scan predicted the fetal weight to be 3.4 kg I was advised to get induced..
My advice to people who go for inducing of labor is to get a clear understanding from the doc as to why it needs to be done and if there is a possibility to wait for natural labor.
Labor is natures way of preparing the baby for birth... Please don't go against nature unless absolutely required and agree for inducing of labor...
I should have asked the doc to wait till I started on labor and cut me open if the labor did not progress well...
I am a well built woman... And I feel I could have delivered him even if he went upto 8 pounds.. I later got to know that women have vaginally delivered babies of 11 pounds and more...
But I was unaware of a lot of things before I actually went thru it. And so here I agree to the docs advice and begin to get induced... One tube of the prostaglandin gel, no effect, 2nd tube , still no effect... then the third and yet I don't have any signs of labor.. How will I ?I was not yet ready... My little one was not ready too... Here I was forcing him to come into the world a lot earlier than he wanted to... I denied him the pleasure of staying inside my cozy womb till he wanted to.
The three times of inducing did have its effect on the little one though... He was distressed and passed meconium in the womb.. Then the doc declares that the baby is in distress and declares an emergency c-sec..
Didn't she realise that I was not ready for inducing.. Didn't she realise that the baby's head was not yet fixed into the pelvic cavity.. Didn't she know that there was no way he would come out vaginally and at the end of all this gimmick I would have to go thru a C... At times I feel she knew all this and just did it so that she did not have to rush to the hospital at any odd hour of my labor...
Did she think twice about how much I aspired for a natural birth.. I had told this to her umpteen times from the start of my pregnancy.
I read a lot of articles about inducing, overweight babies, c-sec, etc and I learnt that if labor was induced well in advance it would in all probability end in a C.
I am extremely disappointed about the fact that my perfectly healthy baby was in distress.
And after reading a lot of articles I am very positive that the distress was caused only due to the three times of inducing. I still feel I was responsible for him getting distressed and I feel terrible about it. Probably if I had read more during my pregnancy I would have known better.
I am not against inducing of labor or C-sections. I really appreciate the medical advances we have achieved in reducing the risks in complicated deliveries. C-section is definitely a boon in these days whereas in older days both the mother and baby were at risk of their lives.
My issue is with the misuse of these advaces. Doctors have started using these to make delivery a planned process to suit their convenience. My doc told me that if you start getting induced at 11 pm you will in all probability deliver before 5 pm the next day... It later hit me that she wanted my delivery between 9am and 5 pm on the next day.
At the end of the day, these are just hard lessons learnt...All I can do now is probably just accept the fact that it is over and done with and be happy that I have a bonny baby in my hand.
First Note
Have been thinking for ages about blogging.. Somehow could not get myself to do it till date...
I am quite motivated to start now.. :) and sure I have a reason for that.
Had a baby about four months back. There's so much that I want to write about it...
Things which I can't talk to people , lessons learnt, some advice which maybe of use to someone who reads this post ...
The first few posts are going to be about my delivery and parenting experiences.. Nothing else is happening in my life at the moment..
Those not interested in these topics -please stay away from these posts.
I am quite motivated to start now.. :) and sure I have a reason for that.
Had a baby about four months back. There's so much that I want to write about it...
Things which I can't talk to people , lessons learnt, some advice which maybe of use to someone who reads this post ...
The first few posts are going to be about my delivery and parenting experiences.. Nothing else is happening in my life at the moment..
Those not interested in these topics -please stay away from these posts.
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