GeetaBihari.COM

all’s well that ends well…

The journey began long back in July, 2006 when Ashwin and I found out that we are going to become parents. Like every first time parents, we were nervous but happy at the same time. We had a little celebration the day we found out.

Everything seemed to go smoothly until I was 10 weeks pregnant. Then, I had to run to the Chiropractor two or three times a week. My back and my hips were misaligned. I could barely walk. As time went on, I began to gain weight and develop new issues. In my case, I gained a total of 65 lbs. Yeah, thanks to my crab rangoon cravings! And oh, how could I forget the chocolate cakes! I had a lot of swelling by week 24, not just in my ankles and feet but also my shin, my chin and my hands. I looked like a balloon ready to blast. Things got ugly and I developed severe carpal tunnel. I had many sleepless nights because of the pain in my hands.

By week 30, the baby had already flipped facing down. By week 32, she had already dropped causing more pelvic pressure and pain in my hips. It would hurt to walk. Towards the latter part, I would cripple while walking. And oh, did I not mention the countless trips I had to make to the restrooms? Every store I walked into, I first had to pay visit to the restroom and then carry on other business. At nights, I would wake up at least 8 times to pee.

March 3 was just another one of those winter nights. At 2:15 am on March 4, I woke up to go to the bathroom and discovered my water had broken. I was not sure at this point so I woke Ashwin up and told him what I thought had just happened. He asked me to try to go back to bed and relax for the remainder of the night. I tried but it ain’t pretty when your water breaks. There was no mistake this time, I called my hospital and spoke with the on-call OB-GYN, Dr. Karen Ammerman. She asked me to pack my bags and head to the hospital. So, we did.

We were on our way to the Saint Vincent’s hospital in Worcester when I started getting labor pains. At the time, I did not know what I was feeling. All I knew is my back hurt. When we got to the Emergency room, the nurse took me to the labor and delivery. Then I was seen by a midwife who checked to see if my bag of water were indeed broken. After she confirmed, she told us that we are not going home until the baby is born now. By 6 am, my contractions were regular, every 4 to 5 minutes. Then, it slowed down and my labor wasn’t progressing very well. They started me on pitocin. My contractions picked up once again. As they slowly increased the dose, the contractions got stronger and stronger. I was in a lot of pain but only 3 cm dilated so we waited until I was 6 cm dilated to ask for an epidural. When they came back to check, I was already 7 cm dilated. I asked them to bring in the anesthesiologist but to my luck, there were 8 more women in labor and delivery at that time. By the time the anesthesiologist walked in and set up everything, I was already 9 cm dilated. By the time he could administer the drug, I was 10 cm dilated. I was screaming that the epidural made things worse. What I did not know was that I was in transition phase and the baby is ready to come out. Dr. Aaron Mendel, the oncall OB-GYN, walks in. Five minutes later, I was pushing. I pushed for about 15 minutes. I tore and received a few stitches. As I was pushing, the baby’s heart rate dropped to 70 bpm since her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Dr. Mendel decided to perform a vacuum extraction and with that last push, our beautiful little baby girl was born. She came into this world at 2:20 PM on March 4, 2007, weighing 5 lbs 15 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She was just perfect.

After doing the initial tests on the baby, I got the opportunity to feed her. I had a difficult time trying to breastfeed. Riana was too sleepy to try. At about 4 pm, I was wheeled into the postpartum room and they took Ria to the nursery where she got her first bath. They brought her into our room at 5 pm.

Later that evening, we had some family visits. I was of course starving and could not wait for the supper tray to arrive. When it did, I did not care about anything else

We tried breastfeeding but things just did not work for us. I had severe pain my hands and could barely hold Riana. For the first 2-3 days, she was on formula. She lost about 4 oz at the hospital and she was a little jaundiced but we were discharged on March 6 since it did not look very alarming. It was very cold the night we came back home. It was -15 degrees with the wind factor. We had nicely bundled our bundle of joy!

When we returned, we tried breastfeeding a few times over the course of first 4 weeks. It was just not meant to happen so we decided to stick to bottle feeding. Thankfully a colleague of mine, presented me with a Medela dual electric breast pump. I made the best use of it. By fourth day, my milk came in and I was pumping round the clock. As of today, I am still pumping so that Riana at least gets the benefits of breast milk. So far, I have been producing enough milk for her to not have to supplement her with formula. We shall wait and see how things go in the near future.

By the end of first week postpartum, I could not do anything because of extreme pain in my hands. I had restricted mobility in my thumbs and wrists. I saw a sports medicine doctor, Dr. Peter Hoth at the Health Alliance Burbank hospital in Leominster. I was diagnosed with tendonitis in both my hands called deQuervain’s Tenosynovitis. I received cortisone shots in my hands and am going through weeks of hand therapy. They gave me spica splints to wear. Things are okay now, 5 weeks after I delivered. I am beginning to enjoy parenthood although we certainly do not appreciate the sleepless nights!

Riana, lost her umbilical cord stump last night. A little later than expected but everything seems normal. She is doing really well. As of today, she weighs 9 lbs and 2 oz and measures over 21 inches. She is not longer the tiny thing I delivered I couldn’t be happier. Everything seems to have corrected itself. My back, my hips and my hands are okay now. Riana is developing properly. She can now respond to noises.

All’s well that ends well. Although I still have about 40 lbs to lose. I plan on getting back in my size 1 pants by Ria’s first birthday. I am already back at the gym. Wish me luck…

I have posted pictures of Riana on my gallery. Please do not forget to view those.

Cheers.