Eat, puke and repeat. My pregnancy journey - Part II

If you have read my pregnancy journal till my 6^th month, you know why Penguin is a miracle baby? It was expecting the unexpected. If you missed it, you can catch up story so far here.

I was happy. I was beside my superhero, she would do anything for me. My Maa. I dreamt eating her gobi paratas, pulao and all delicacies for months now. My baby was healthy, kicking me every now and then. I was still puking my guts out but under control. As walking was hard for me. I did meditation and few stretches every alternate day till I could. Long story short, I was content.

It was already evening that day. I was enjoying company of my Uncle and Aunt, not to forget my cousin monkeys. Later my brother-in-law and his family joined. During our conversations and laughs I ignored slight still increasing pain near abdomen. I noted it only when it was unbearable. Family advised to take bed rest immediately and doctor appointment was booked. Our family doctor (not an Ob-Gyn) also advised the same. Everyone assured me, it was normal. And I believed so. Next day, to my disappointment my hometown gynaec doctor put me on complete bed rest for 3 weeks. A trouble with doctors who are related with family, they say just rest kid and never mention what’s going on. That was bad. But worse was yet to come. Long forgotten asthma kicked in. When my sonography said baby was at breech position. Tonnes of advisors appeared out of nowhere and drove me up the wall. Today I know, it was such a nuisance. It is normal for baby to stay in any position until your doctor gets worried. Braxton Hicks contractions happen at times. But that time I was scared.

7^th month of pregnancy was a mixed of tears and smile. My baby shower was a memorable day. But within a week I lost my grandfather. The loss was followed by a terrible road accident. Thank God, the people who met with accident are safe and healthy today. I was on an emotional roller coaster then. Next month was no different than other pregnancies. Swollen legs, Braxton Hicks contractions continued with other minor troubles.

My next monthly routine check-up was pending and my doctorwas out of town for long. So, I had to connect with this new doctor who wasreferred by my previous gynecologist. The new lady Ob-Gyn doctor was a smoothtalker, she prescribed all new medicines and gave me the scary news of baby inbreech situation and IUGR condition. The way words are communicated matters alot, especially to a first time pregnant scared mother. No? The dialog deliveryand words used to express the idea that my baby in womb is in breech positionscared me to death. Whereas fact is breech presentation during 32th week is notabnormal. You can read more about breech presentation here.I started reading or say googling about the new hyped term. When you areterrified you tend to read all negative information. If you are reading this,learn from my experience. Things won’t get bad till you accept that it is real.No smoothing words of my Maa or Mr. Fabulous (my husband) helped. I didn’t wantto lose the baby after coming this far. Most doctors truly putpatients first, before profit. But, there are a few who inappropriatelyuse their medical degrees for profit. And it is sheermisfortune when you trust the later. I was diagnosed with IUGR and she gladlyinformed I must undergo C-section within next week or so. She took a step aheadand calmly mentioned the baby is highly underweight, maybe dwarf and can’thandle the labour pain pressure. The beauty of the doctor’s advice (note thesarcasm) was I can choose a good muhurat or auspicious day and time for my babyarrival. Like, are you serious?! Really!!

If I retrospect the situation now, my fear turned every positive word unheard. Situation slipped out of hand. Words were misunderstood. Things went wrong. Period.

I swiftly searched out for a doctor, rather than making dealwith businessperson. By grace of God, I found a perfect doctor, who would lendher ears to my worries, give a soul soothing smile and actually do the job. Shemade me understood, yes, IUGR is the condition but baby is still good inside.Thanks to Dr. Renuka Sahu, Basundhara Maternity Home, Sambalpur I delivered myhealthy baby vaginally without any stress.

My pregnancy taught me few things.