Impending motherhood - Stage 1 in Bangalore
I am on my 8th month of pregnancy and i have been meaning to post this from the first month, but hey this is me and there is too much of kunnumpuram in me to start doing anything as soon as i think about it.
To summarise the last 7 months before i get into the present:
The day we found out
I got wind that something could be up by the first week of Dec last year. Didnt get into any home pregnancy stuff for about a week, since i was scared that i would be proved wrong! All that from somebody who always thought that parenthood would always be "2 years later". Well we did the Home pregnancy stuff before going to office on a Monday morning (11.12.06) - we were very determined not to make it a big deal :) The 5 minutes we had to wait were the longest ever. After the 5 minutes was over, i went inside and checked and i saw the prettiest 2 pink bands - confirmation of pregnancy - ever. Went outside and told Josh and all he could say was "Aano?" hehe can you beat that??? Anyway called up both our parents and told them... I dont think Appa (FIL) was prepared for news of this kind... he was as non-emotional as his son :) didnt even say 2 words after Josh told him about the news. Amma was slightly more excited - kept asking if i was sure - and i said no, i gotta go get the scan before we can be 100% sure.
The next 5 days were the most exciting ever; we didnt know what to do - cant tell people though we were bursting at the seams with the news - so we just celebrated between us, pampering each other and eating out, what else can you think two unimaginative working couple can do on weekdays :)
First obstetric appointment
Saturday came, nice and bright and early - and our appointment was for the afternoon. I went to town with husband when he went to office and was idling away time at the mall, with a movie (the most horrible of all times) and some shopping. Josh came from office, and we trooped out like the 2 brave troopers that we are and visited the clinic where we were supposed to go get the first obstetric appointment out of the way and get the scan done. We were blessed to have a family friend as the gynaec - Lathika aunty; otherwise life would have been kinda confusing. At the scan we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time, we couldnt believe that something so tiny (8mm) could actually have such a strong heart. The heart was beating at a rate of around 150 per minute!!!! Nothing could beat the feeling of a live little you living inSIDE - breathing, eating and of course crapping :) Its like a little guest in your home. We saw the live video of the baby lying so peacefully inside connected to my insides with a tiny lil cord and of course the beating heart. It was the highest point of 'overwhelming' in our lives. Of course god gives every bit of brilliant news with some bad news - there was a tiny bleed which needed to be taken care of with a couple of weeks of bedrest. Even that couldnt actually mar the day's happiness; we just went home, marvelling at god's blessings and just lay down :)
And then came 2 weeks of bedrest
See, I knew I had married one of the really good guys in the world; but bedrest when Joshua Mathew is your husband is actually as close to heaven as you could ever get.
After we knew about the baby and the bedrest - making everybody go through the happy news and then the not-so-happy news - Amma figured out that she wouldnt be able to come and stay with us rightaway because of Geochettan's kalyanam and i didnt have a live-in maid... Eliza came and stayed with us for about 3 days in the beginning, and after that it was just the two of us. It was quite tough in the beginning, Mr Mathew would get up early in the morning, make sure i get milk and even cook breakfast for me (i had cravings for Dosa even then), make sandwich lunches and get loads of short eats for me kept at a convenient place right next to my bedside, make sure about the water situation... in short it must have been quite a taxing time for him - and i was not helping since all i was allowed to do was to go to the loo!! For the 2 weeks we didnt even have a cook. I really dont know how Appu managed all that, now that i think back to those times. Seriously we did it completely on our own, or rather; on Appu's steam. Even beyond making sure about the food situation, he was the ultimate husband to be with, making sure i was not bored by going to the book shop and getting me all those mills & boons, making sure he came home as sooon as office gets over and being with me all the time after he comes back - not even taking time out for some R&R :)
... and another month...
Finally the day we were waiting arrived, when we were supposed to go get the scan done for the second time to see if the bleed has clotted. It was quite disappointing to know that instead of clotting, the bleed had become bigger... I am lying, I was not disappointed, I was shit scared. Like a typical female, i started thinking of all the worst things that can happen. Anyway the doc said we will just have to be ultra careful and go in for another month of rest and hope and pray that everything will be alright. And thus started the second bit of "resting"!
As soon as the latest verdict was out, we had managed to get a cook - Amma came by the 10th of Jan with Maria who was to be our live-in maid for the next 4 months - Roycha moved in with us for the next 6 months - we shifted the TV to our bedroom; basically life became slightly easier for my husband, except for the fact that he had to handle all my tantrums... :) though he insists that he is still to see evidences of a more-than-usual tantrum.
... and another 7 weeks...
We did a 3rd scan by the end of the month-long bed 'arrest'; and we received the results with mixed feelings - i had actually hoped that by this time everything would be alright and that i could go back to work. There was good news, the bleed was finally receding, but had not completely disappeared - and hence the prescription for another 7 weeks of rest!
We were actually very thankful that it was showing signs of getting better, even though the bedrest was a bummer of news. But lets say, we managed it without getting on eachother's nerves. Amma and her sister and her mom had come over to stay so that took care of a lot of the food situation :) By the end of the 6th week in this spell, one day i suddenly felt the baby move!!! Josh was away on some conference in Bombay at that time, or i am sure he would have stopped working and come home then and there...
On that positive note we went for the 20th week anomaly scan - and the doctor gave us a clean chit. I was perfectly ok, and more importantly the baby was perfect - with functional everything; lungs, spinal cord, heart, everything... it was a perfect day.
Life after bedrest
I got my release papers from the doc and figured out that i will have at least 2 months before i headed home for a life of total R&R. As i was contemplating what to do with my life - the doctors had told me that i can resume my normal life... walk as much as i want, even go to work if i wanted to - I called up my old office to figure out if i could still be of some use to them. They actually said that they could and i joined back; for alternate days of office going and the other days working from home! It was too cool... I really didnt know if i was cut out for sitting at home brooding about things that I have no control over.
It was really great to start work again, after almost 3 1/2 months of sitting at home - and the office guys actually made me feel as if i was really needed. Worked on so many things which not many people wanted to get involved with (will not get into the details, then it will look like a resume :) ), did the last round of byes with people i normally interact with and somehow people who had become a part of my life. Did a lot of roaming around with Josh, went for a last movie in Bangalore with friends, Ate out to my heart's content, wanted to go away for a weekend - but somehow that didnt work out, cooked whatever i wanted to cook and used and abused all those recipes that i had noted down while i was in bed... in short did a lot of things i wanted to do in those 2 months...
At last it was time to go
Before i knew it, it was time to leave for Kerala - it was kind of a bittersweet moment for me. I knew that the baby was going to come in a few weeks - which was the good part, but the fact that i am going to be completely jobless for a long period was quite a bummer. Of course missing my husband also came into play for about 1% :)... Anyway that was it; exit phase 1 - enter phase 2
To summarise the last 7 months before i get into the present:
The day we found out
I got wind that something could be up by the first week of Dec last year. Didnt get into any home pregnancy stuff for about a week, since i was scared that i would be proved wrong! All that from somebody who always thought that parenthood would always be "2 years later". Well we did the Home pregnancy stuff before going to office on a Monday morning (11.12.06) - we were very determined not to make it a big deal :) The 5 minutes we had to wait were the longest ever. After the 5 minutes was over, i went inside and checked and i saw the prettiest 2 pink bands - confirmation of pregnancy - ever. Went outside and told Josh and all he could say was "Aano?" hehe can you beat that??? Anyway called up both our parents and told them... I dont think Appa (FIL) was prepared for news of this kind... he was as non-emotional as his son :) didnt even say 2 words after Josh told him about the news. Amma was slightly more excited - kept asking if i was sure - and i said no, i gotta go get the scan before we can be 100% sure.
The next 5 days were the most exciting ever; we didnt know what to do - cant tell people though we were bursting at the seams with the news - so we just celebrated between us, pampering each other and eating out, what else can you think two unimaginative working couple can do on weekdays :)
First obstetric appointment
Saturday came, nice and bright and early - and our appointment was for the afternoon. I went to town with husband when he went to office and was idling away time at the mall, with a movie (the most horrible of all times) and some shopping. Josh came from office, and we trooped out like the 2 brave troopers that we are and visited the clinic where we were supposed to go get the first obstetric appointment out of the way and get the scan done. We were blessed to have a family friend as the gynaec - Lathika aunty; otherwise life would have been kinda confusing. At the scan we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time, we couldnt believe that something so tiny (8mm) could actually have such a strong heart. The heart was beating at a rate of around 150 per minute!!!! Nothing could beat the feeling of a live little you living inSIDE - breathing, eating and of course crapping :) Its like a little guest in your home. We saw the live video of the baby lying so peacefully inside connected to my insides with a tiny lil cord and of course the beating heart. It was the highest point of 'overwhelming' in our lives. Of course god gives every bit of brilliant news with some bad news - there was a tiny bleed which needed to be taken care of with a couple of weeks of bedrest. Even that couldnt actually mar the day's happiness; we just went home, marvelling at god's blessings and just lay down :)
And then came 2 weeks of bedrest
See, I knew I had married one of the really good guys in the world; but bedrest when Joshua Mathew is your husband is actually as close to heaven as you could ever get.
After we knew about the baby and the bedrest - making everybody go through the happy news and then the not-so-happy news - Amma figured out that she wouldnt be able to come and stay with us rightaway because of Geochettan's kalyanam and i didnt have a live-in maid... Eliza came and stayed with us for about 3 days in the beginning, and after that it was just the two of us. It was quite tough in the beginning, Mr Mathew would get up early in the morning, make sure i get milk and even cook breakfast for me (i had cravings for Dosa even then), make sandwich lunches and get loads of short eats for me kept at a convenient place right next to my bedside, make sure about the water situation... in short it must have been quite a taxing time for him - and i was not helping since all i was allowed to do was to go to the loo!! For the 2 weeks we didnt even have a cook. I really dont know how Appu managed all that, now that i think back to those times. Seriously we did it completely on our own, or rather; on Appu's steam. Even beyond making sure about the food situation, he was the ultimate husband to be with, making sure i was not bored by going to the book shop and getting me all those mills & boons, making sure he came home as sooon as office gets over and being with me all the time after he comes back - not even taking time out for some R&R :)
... and another month...
Finally the day we were waiting arrived, when we were supposed to go get the scan done for the second time to see if the bleed has clotted. It was quite disappointing to know that instead of clotting, the bleed had become bigger... I am lying, I was not disappointed, I was shit scared. Like a typical female, i started thinking of all the worst things that can happen. Anyway the doc said we will just have to be ultra careful and go in for another month of rest and hope and pray that everything will be alright. And thus started the second bit of "resting"!
As soon as the latest verdict was out, we had managed to get a cook - Amma came by the 10th of Jan with Maria who was to be our live-in maid for the next 4 months - Roycha moved in with us for the next 6 months - we shifted the TV to our bedroom; basically life became slightly easier for my husband, except for the fact that he had to handle all my tantrums... :) though he insists that he is still to see evidences of a more-than-usual tantrum.
... and another 7 weeks...
We did a 3rd scan by the end of the month-long bed 'arrest'; and we received the results with mixed feelings - i had actually hoped that by this time everything would be alright and that i could go back to work. There was good news, the bleed was finally receding, but had not completely disappeared - and hence the prescription for another 7 weeks of rest!
We were actually very thankful that it was showing signs of getting better, even though the bedrest was a bummer of news. But lets say, we managed it without getting on eachother's nerves. Amma and her sister and her mom had come over to stay so that took care of a lot of the food situation :) By the end of the 6th week in this spell, one day i suddenly felt the baby move!!! Josh was away on some conference in Bombay at that time, or i am sure he would have stopped working and come home then and there...
On that positive note we went for the 20th week anomaly scan - and the doctor gave us a clean chit. I was perfectly ok, and more importantly the baby was perfect - with functional everything; lungs, spinal cord, heart, everything... it was a perfect day.
Life after bedrest
I got my release papers from the doc and figured out that i will have at least 2 months before i headed home for a life of total R&R. As i was contemplating what to do with my life - the doctors had told me that i can resume my normal life... walk as much as i want, even go to work if i wanted to - I called up my old office to figure out if i could still be of some use to them. They actually said that they could and i joined back; for alternate days of office going and the other days working from home! It was too cool... I really didnt know if i was cut out for sitting at home brooding about things that I have no control over.
It was really great to start work again, after almost 3 1/2 months of sitting at home - and the office guys actually made me feel as if i was really needed. Worked on so many things which not many people wanted to get involved with (will not get into the details, then it will look like a resume :) ), did the last round of byes with people i normally interact with and somehow people who had become a part of my life. Did a lot of roaming around with Josh, went for a last movie in Bangalore with friends, Ate out to my heart's content, wanted to go away for a weekend - but somehow that didnt work out, cooked whatever i wanted to cook and used and abused all those recipes that i had noted down while i was in bed... in short did a lot of things i wanted to do in those 2 months...
At last it was time to go
Before i knew it, it was time to leave for Kerala - it was kind of a bittersweet moment for me. I knew that the baby was going to come in a few weeks - which was the good part, but the fact that i am going to be completely jobless for a long period was quite a bummer. Of course missing my husband also came into play for about 1% :)... Anyway that was it; exit phase 1 - enter phase 2
posted by Riya Joshua at
4:49 PM
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