There's nothing more thrilling than homecoming after childbirth - coming back to the comforts of your own home takes away all the pains of delivery and exhaustion from the mind and body.
Everyone in the family was excited when I gave birth to LG through a normal delivery instead of Cesarean section just as I wanted. But our stay at the hospital stretched with no end in sight because of LG's medical condition. What was annoying is that no one gave the same story and told what was exactly going on. With the Doctors taking turns in going on vacation and being incommunicado just worsened matters and the nurses acted like they ran the show. The drama is all over now.
We're back home. Lil' General and I left the hospital this afternoon ten minutes past noon and were home in a few minutes to be welcomed the traditional way with a aarthi. We are excited and LG is all confused looking at his new surroundings as if he cares :) But it's nice to be home!
We're home
You're back!
There has been a steady flow of guests - relatives, friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Those not familiar with our story yet look at the empty cradle and ask, "Where is the baby?" I feel like saying, "He is attending to Nature's call". But this is not the time to joke. So, i patiently narrate the entire episode. They ask if we have decided a name for you yet. i say, "Name can wait. Let the baby come home first."
No one around here tells us when you will come to me. The Seniol and your uncle have been whiling away time at the other hospital where you are kept by playing UNO cards. They have been asked to standby 24 hours at the Child Jesus Hospital just in case they might need something - medicines etc. No such emergency has ever come in the past 48 hours. We assume they are feeding you well; they caught a glimpse of you this morning.
All I do here is wait for you to arrive. I am fit to go home but you are not. So I wait and wait. It's pretty boring and I am not in the mood to watch any TV. The nurses are no good company either. Every time I see them all I get is instruction to do this and that; to walk, to exercise; to bathe at 7 a.m.; to plait by hair and look presentable at 9 a.m. for the Doctor. what the heck! I think. I just went through a delivery and I am allowed to not look OK for a day, am I not?
I am waiting for that phone call from The Seniol after the Paed has seen you; waiting to hear that you can come back to us so that we don't have to manage the logistics of two hospitals.
The phone rings. Yay! You are allowed to be discharged. Your calcium deficiency condition has been taken care of. You have shown signs of improvement. But they will have to keep you under observation for 2 more days. So, here we are confined to the hospital environs of 2 more days - until the 25th. And then, we go home! Welcome back, for now.
It's a boy
Our kid - Lil' General was born today at 8:13 p.m. It's a boy - 3.2 Kg in weight and a normal delivery.
How to calculate the due date of your baby's delivery?
My first question to the doctor on knowing that I was expecting was "Doc, when is the expected date of delivery?" EDD as is known is calculated from the first day of your LMP (Last menstrual period). it works out to roughly 39 weeks + 9 days. Ofcourse, give and take a few days based on what your sonography reveals. The way my gynaecs calculate how old the foetus is has always made me think that docs are not good at math. While she maintained for the first 4 months that my EDD was 24th Dec, it suddenly changed to 27th Dec mid way. This article in Hindu titled Post-term pregnancy — a dilemma revealed their easy mathematical aptitude :)
The due date
The average length of pregnancy is 280 days, or 40 weeks from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period. It can be hard to predict the exact date of delivery. Only 5 per cent of babies are born on their due dates. Calculating the due date helps the obstetrician know which month of pregnancy you are in and to monitor the progress of the baby, particularly its growth.
Women with irregular periods may require an ultrasound in early pregnancy to establish the actual due date.
Even women with very regular periods may be asked to have an ultrasound scan in early pregnancy to confirm the age of a fetus and thereby, the due date.
The due date should be confirmed as early in pregnancy as possible. Later, it becomes harder to set the due date accurately.
Calculating the due date
The due date is based on the assumption that the conception occurred exactly 2 weeks after the first day of the last period. The method used by all obstetricians around the world, is to add 7 days and subtract 3 months from the date of the first day of the last menstrual period. For example, if the last menstrual period began on June 1, 2006, the due date is calculated as follows: June 1 + 7 days = June 8. June 8 minus 3 months = January 8. Therefore the estimated due date would be January 8, 2007.
Tags: due date, delivery date, EDD,
My fingers have been quite busy the past few weeks. Quite agile and I wish I had 10 more of them during the nights. The itching and scratching was so worse that I couldn't manage with 2 hands and was worried I would have rashes all over, which I did eventually, as souvenirs of my first pregnancy.
I was forewarned by a friend that the area around the tummy gets a little itchy as the skin stretches itself. But within days the itchiness spread to arms, legs and thighs. Forgot to mention this to the doctor, so I did a little research myself and was alarmed to find that this could lead to a serious ocndition in some cases causing babies to be still born. Apparently, this is caused by lack of secretion of bile juice from the liver. I mentioned this to the doc today and she confirmed the same and prescribed me a tablet and that seems to help a little bit. But what helped the most since last week were these:
- Shed all tight clothes. Wear only loose cotton clothes.
- Avoid soap altogether. Soap increases the itchy feeling around the rashes.
- Apply oil with a dash of turmeric everyday while talking bath and remove the oil using payatham maavu (powdered moong ki dal).
- Drink barley water
- apply mosituriser
- Stay away from dust. what caused the maximum irritation in my case was the dust in upholsetry and furniture. Strange as it may sound but the skin is very sensitive now.
Medication for Sctracthy/Itchy skin
Here's a tablet prescribed by my Gynaecologist that helped a great deal:
The tablet is called Udiliv to be had once every night. This is to help in the secretion of bile juice (if thats the reason for your itchy skin). Consult your doctor before consuming this tablet.
Here are a few links that might help:
Itchy skin
skin changes during pregnancy
Why have my stretch marks started to itch?
Categories: itching, scratching, rashes, skin, pregnancy
