Shouldn't this be called Sammu's birth story? Well anyway, I thought i should write this down at least 7 months after the event :-). Just so I don't have different expectations next time (if there is a next time!)
I was on leave from 21-Sep-09, eagerly anticipating (or so I thought at the time) Sammu's birth... I couldn't wait for her to be born, to actually hold and cuddle a newborn baby seemed so unreal. And it felt as if the pregnancy would never end. I was so tired of hauling my huge self everywhere, even sitting down and getting up seemed like an excercise by itself. I fully expected pains to appear all of a sudden each night and imagined myself on the way to hospital screaming and holding my husband for support in the middle of the night! I could never have imagined that what would happen would actually be so mundane.
It was early evening on 2-Oct-09. I started to feel that I was having mild pains on the left side of my stomach, not dissimilar to what i generally get during ovulation time. Note the phrase, 'started to feel'. I wasn't really sure of how i felt and I couldn't be sure that I wasn't making the pains up. I am very imaginative, especially when it comes to inventing bodily aches and groans.
As it was a Saturday evening, R was also at home and he was very excited. He was more eager than i was to have the baby and he was also a bit scared for me
and how i would come through all of this. He suggested going to the hospital, if i was sure I was in labor. I wasn't so sure. I suggested that we wait a while.
That night I ate a light meal (just in case :;-)) and we decided to wait and see. Around 12ish, I thought i felt the pains increasing (notice: 'thought'). R had already spoken with a call driver to come in at a short notice, so we could go by our car to the hospital. R was not yet sure he could drive then - so we were still using a regular driver and call drivers for other times. By 1 AM i was convinced that the pains were getting stronger and that I needed to get to the hospital, fast.
R immediately got the call driver in and we were all ready and set to go to the hospital by 3 AM. I even got my sis V to take photos of me before the delivery. Now is the right time for you to ask this question: 'If you were really in labor, would you be able to think of taking photos?' We reached the hospital in less than 15 minutes. It was not at all what i pictured happening, except for the fact that it happened in the middle of the night. I remember thinking that I was so calm - how calmly i was bearing my pain :-) This must be what motherhood is all about- bearing pain stoically and silently. We reached the hospital's triage area. There was an attending nurse and doctor. The doctor started to note all my details down, giving me a glare when i said i had 'PCOS', 'Say Polcystic Ovary Syndrome - don't use short forms', she berated me, but not unkindly. The nurse took one look at me and said, she is not in any hurry to deliver. She doesn't seem to be having more than the mildest of pains. If she did, then she would not look like this!!! This was my introduction to the pain that's expected during delivery. The duty doctor examined me. To me, this is the most painful part of delivery. The examination -
ugh.. few things have ever felt so uncomfortable to me. She said that i was maybe dilated a tiny inch and not much more.
They called up my doctor, who immediately advised that i be admitted, although I was only in early labor. My doctor's not one to take many chances. She decided to admit me even though the whole world felt i was not in active labor yet.
Part 2 will follow tomorrow. I can't write so much in a single day!!! And as you will learn, it's a long long way to go before you meet Sammu!
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