My mum arrived in India on Friday 18th April. I picked her up from the airport and we went straight to the hospital for my check up. Dr Nirmala (my amazing Ob-Gyn) checked me over and told me that Dylan was still very high up and I could be anything up to 10 more days!!! Through my pregnancy I had two potential due dates ... April 18th or 19th; so I was quite disappointed to hear that I could be another 10 days. Anyone who's been pregnant knows what it's like by the end; although you're anxious about the delivery, you're just ready to meet your baby. We left the hospital and went shopping.
The time my mum was in India (prior to this trip) was when we first moved there two years before and I'd only been there 3 days so I had no idea what there was to do, where we could go or anything about Chennai. This time it was completely different. I knew all the best shops, restaurants and places I wanted to take my mum. So we shopped till we dropped (literally). We were shopping from 12 p.m till 9 p.m. We went home, had some dinner and went to bed.
The following morning (bright and early) we went out shopping again. Late morning I had a twinge in my tummy. It only lasted a few seconds and wasn't really painful. An hour later I had another one. Then the "twinges" started lasting longer and were happening more frequently (and they were getting more painful). The only way I can explain it is it was like a period pain but slightly worse. My mum kept asking if I wanted to go home and I kept saying 'no, let's keep shopping'. I knew I would have a while to go and didn't want to go home and sit thinking about it.
Every shop we went into, I sat down by the door while my mum looked around. Late afternoon the contractions were coming every 15 minutes and were painful. The way I got through them was to close my eyes and breathe through the pain. This lady, who worked in one of the shops, came over to see if I was ok and asked me 'When is your baby due?' I replied: 'Oh, I'm having him today; My contractions have already started'. You should've seen her face; she couldn't get me out the shop quick enough!
Anyway, at about 6 p.m we went home. I said to Penri 'Are you ready to have the baby?' He looked at me and asked 'Why? Are you ok?' and I told him I'd had contractions all day. He was surprised and asked why I didn't come home earlier. I explained my reason then went for a shower (as I'd read it is supposed to be soothing). Well, I just found it made it more painful. The contractions were coming every 7 minutes now and I called my doctor. She told me she was at Apollo First Med (which is the small Apollo hospital, not the main one). She was on duty there and told me to come straight over.
My bags had been packed for weeks before (just in case cause you never know). So, Penri loaded them in the car and then we all went off to the hospital. I was taken straight to the delivery room. They attached a continual fetal monitor to my stomach and put me on an IV drip.
The nurses tried to give me an enema, to which I refused as all I had eaten all day was half a croissant, then they brought out all this newspaper and started laying it on the bed. My mum asked what they were doing and they replied 'We have to shave her completely'. My mum said 'No'. They were very persistent and wouldn't let it go so my mum told them it was against our religion. With that, they took the newspaper and went away. That was at about 8.30 p.m and I didn't see Doctor Nirmala till about 10. At that point I still had only dilated 6 cm so she said I would be a while and that she would come back soon.
At midnight I was still having very frequent contractions but wasn't dilating much at all. I was absolutely exhausted and in a lot of pain. After having pethidine, gas and air (and neither doing anything for the pain), I decided to have an epidural. During this time Penri had gone for a sleep in the room next door to the delivery room so when he came back I was laid on the bed and completely pain free. I was so glad to have had the epidural.
The only downside was it slowed down my dilation even more. At about 3.30 a.m Dr Nirmala was back and told me it was time to start pushing. Then something horrible happened ... Dylan's heart beat dropped right down and Dr N told me that they had to get him out immediately. I had to have an episiotomy and they used a vaccum. I had about 4 nurses around me and one of them got up on the bed and used her knee to push on the top of my stomach to help push Dylan out. They got him out very quickly but the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. They whisked him off behind a curtain and a few minutes later he let out his first cry. I only got to hold him for a second before he was taken to ICU. He had some breathing difficulties and was jaundiced, but other than that he was ok.
This was his birth announcement:
The image on here is not very clear though (although if you click on it, it makes it bigger and more legible) - he was born at 3.57 a.m on Sunday 20th April 2008. He weighed 7lbs 15 oz and was 54 cm in length. And he was just perfect!
I couldn't believe he was finally here and couldn't wait to go and see him, but I had to stay in the delivery room for recovery for four hours after his birth. The nurses told me to get some sleep but I was on such a high that there was no way I could've slept!
Something funny happened while Pen was downstairs sorting out our room. The nurse came in and told me I had to clean my teeth and asked me where my toothbrush was. I told her that my husband was downstairs sorting out our room and my suitcase was still in the car (yes, I had a large suitcase - I was super prepared). Anyway, she kept saying "You must get your brush tooth, you must get your brush tooth" and when Penri came back up to the delivery room, I told him what she said and asked him to bring me my case. He told me he would take the case up to the room and bring me my toothbrush and toothpaste. Anyway, off he went and the nurse came back with her own toothbrush and started cleaning her teeth! Weird or what?! Penri came back and brought me my tooth brush and the nurse seemed really happy and brought me a bowl of water to the bed so I could clean my teeth. I couldn't really move much (probably still the effects of the epidural) so I levered myself up as much as possible to clean my teeth. However, it wasn't enough and I ended up spilling water all down my front.
When the nurse (the one who had been hassling me) came back, she looked shocked and asked me what happened. I told her "You told me to brush my teeth, but I can't even sit up properly so I accidently spilt water on the sheet". She huffed and puffed and took the sheet off me and went to get a clean one. I couldn't believe it was such a big deal to her that I HAD to clean my teeth. I'd literally just given birth an hour before! I found it really funny (and a bit strange)!
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