[nagi] the long wait
well, the long wait is over. nine and a half months of expectations were full filled on the wee hours of the 1st of january 2005. at 4:56 am GMT, baby agastya breathed through his lungs for the first time. at birth, he weighed in at 3.51 kilos and was approximately 56 cms long. two weeks early ? may be, may be not. we am not complaining that my baby was born 12 days early.
so, this is how it all transpired. on friday, the 31st of dec, monica wakes me up at approximately 4am and recommends that i should not go to work that day as her contractions had started. during the course of the day, her contractions were building up in strength and by 5pm the contractions were quite regular and intense. at about 7pm, the contractions were 7 minutes apart and monica called in rosie maternity hospital to signal she will be arriving soon. i, monica and yovita [with our prudently packed hospital bag] reach rosie and meet one of the midwives. this midwife, name withheld, tells us to return home and come back when she has 3 contractions in a 10 minute period !!! the last thing i want to do is wrestle with the midwife especially if she is the one assigned to us and the relatively-pain-free aspect of labour monica was anticipating was to have any significance at all. she even refused to perform an internal examination on monica.
saved by the bell: there was a shift change and a new midwife, cathy, is assigned to us. she does an internal examination, tells monica she is 3 cms dilated, baby's head 2/5ths engaged and that she *was* infact in labour. this was at approximately 9 pm and this is counted as stage 1. over the next 3 hours, monica was on gas and air, huffing and puffing, in unendurable pain every 3 minutes. i massage her relentlessly and it did not matter how much pressure i exerted on her muscles with my fingers, she grumbled it was too gentle. it was agony for *me* to witness someone who is in unfathomable pain and i had no way of comforting them even a bit. the gas and air makes her head fluffy and she hallucinates. the midwife keeps giving instructions and monica cannot comprehend most of what she said. nugggggiiiiieee, can you pllleeeeeeeeaase tell me what she is saaaaaAaaaaaying?
it is not possible to explain, but the one single voice monica could understand or tune to was me. i was afraid and hesitant. whatever i say, monica retorts. i can say anything i want to monica on any day in my life, but i better not piss her off on that day. i don't want to make even a suggestion. my suggestion, in all likelyhood, will be rejected and i will feel even worse having said something that only made matters worse.
me: hmm.. mo, mo, um, mon..ica, what do you think about an ..umm...“epidural”.
2 second pause. i age 2 years in those 2 seconds.
monica: hmm .. uhhh.. arrr... YEEEEEEEEsses, can you aaaAAAaaask her ?
i ask cathy if an epidural can be arranged. cathy confirms in the affirmative and tells monica it will be 15 to 30 mins before it can be ready. after 20 mins a doctor comes in to administer the epidural. he was very professional, started by giving us cons and the failure rates step by step. monica was in no mood for this. it is a *legal* requirement, i am sure. the doctor is just doing his job. i glance my eyes on monica and see she is not having any of this now. so, to speed up things, before the doctor finishes every sentence, i say yes, we understand, oh yes, we do. he says, righto, letz do it then.
it took 15 minutes for the doctor to set it up. he had to *stop* in the middle doing what ever he was doing when ever monica’s contractions interrupted. 20 minutes after the epidural, monica’s pain is alleviating.
cathy: so, can you rate epidural's efficacy ?
monica: nuggie, what did she say ?
me: if your pain was 10 on a 10 scale before the epidural, what would it be now ?
monica: oh, about 2.
me: [thinking to myself jolly good. my agony is reducing.]
joy is usually short lived. monica's contractions gain strength with a vengeance. over the next 2 hours, even with the epidural, monica alleged the pain is back to 10 on that 10 scale. cathy, slightly concerned, checks the epidural dispenser. she does an internal examination and monica is 8 cms dilated. when cathy was doing this, monica's waters *finally* break !!
about 20 minutes later
cathy: ok monica, i want you to push now.
me: ah.. uh .. are you sure ? [i felt stupid afterwards asking a midwife if she knew what she was doing]
cathy: yes, she is ready to push
no need to detail much here. the baby's head emerged slowly but surely. 42 minutes later, the head in totality comes out !! agastya is furious. he is plum in colour. blood stained pink face looked like a plum. the next push, the shoulders squeeze through and the body follows gently. baby agastya makes constipated faces gasping for his first gulp of air. he does it and yelps out. monica told me later that her pain stopped instantaneously. surprising !
we brought him home the next day. he is a very well behaved boy, a fitting combination of i and monica. i have taken some photos of him and i will post them in the gallery tomorrow. will update the link in a new post.
so, this is how it all transpired. on friday, the 31st of dec, monica wakes me up at approximately 4am and recommends that i should not go to work that day as her contractions had started. during the course of the day, her contractions were building up in strength and by 5pm the contractions were quite regular and intense. at about 7pm, the contractions were 7 minutes apart and monica called in rosie maternity hospital to signal she will be arriving soon. i, monica and yovita [with our prudently packed hospital bag] reach rosie and meet one of the midwives. this midwife, name withheld, tells us to return home and come back when she has 3 contractions in a 10 minute period !!! the last thing i want to do is wrestle with the midwife especially if she is the one assigned to us and the relatively-pain-free aspect of labour monica was anticipating was to have any significance at all. she even refused to perform an internal examination on monica.
saved by the bell: there was a shift change and a new midwife, cathy, is assigned to us. she does an internal examination, tells monica she is 3 cms dilated, baby's head 2/5ths engaged and that she *was* infact in labour. this was at approximately 9 pm and this is counted as stage 1. over the next 3 hours, monica was on gas and air, huffing and puffing, in unendurable pain every 3 minutes. i massage her relentlessly and it did not matter how much pressure i exerted on her muscles with my fingers, she grumbled it was too gentle. it was agony for *me* to witness someone who is in unfathomable pain and i had no way of comforting them even a bit. the gas and air makes her head fluffy and she hallucinates. the midwife keeps giving instructions and monica cannot comprehend most of what she said. nugggggiiiiieee, can you pllleeeeeeeeaase tell me what she is saaaaaAaaaaaying?
it is not possible to explain, but the one single voice monica could understand or tune to was me. i was afraid and hesitant. whatever i say, monica retorts. i can say anything i want to monica on any day in my life, but i better not piss her off on that day. i don't want to make even a suggestion. my suggestion, in all likelyhood, will be rejected and i will feel even worse having said something that only made matters worse.
me: hmm.. mo, mo, um, mon..ica, what do you think about an ..umm...“epidural”.
2 second pause. i age 2 years in those 2 seconds.
monica: hmm .. uhhh.. arrr... YEEEEEEEEsses, can you aaaAAAaaask her ?
i ask cathy if an epidural can be arranged. cathy confirms in the affirmative and tells monica it will be 15 to 30 mins before it can be ready. after 20 mins a doctor comes in to administer the epidural. he was very professional, started by giving us cons and the failure rates step by step. monica was in no mood for this. it is a *legal* requirement, i am sure. the doctor is just doing his job. i glance my eyes on monica and see she is not having any of this now. so, to speed up things, before the doctor finishes every sentence, i say yes, we understand, oh yes, we do. he says, righto, letz do it then.
it took 15 minutes for the doctor to set it up. he had to *stop* in the middle doing what ever he was doing when ever monica’s contractions interrupted. 20 minutes after the epidural, monica’s pain is alleviating.
cathy: so, can you rate epidural's efficacy ?
monica: nuggie, what did she say ?
me: if your pain was 10 on a 10 scale before the epidural, what would it be now ?
monica: oh, about 2.
me: [thinking to myself jolly good. my agony is reducing.]
joy is usually short lived. monica's contractions gain strength with a vengeance. over the next 2 hours, even with the epidural, monica alleged the pain is back to 10 on that 10 scale. cathy, slightly concerned, checks the epidural dispenser. she does an internal examination and monica is 8 cms dilated. when cathy was doing this, monica's waters *finally* break !!
about 20 minutes later
cathy: ok monica, i want you to push now.
me: ah.. uh .. are you sure ? [i felt stupid afterwards asking a midwife if she knew what she was doing]
cathy: yes, she is ready to push
no need to detail much here. the baby's head emerged slowly but surely. 42 minutes later, the head in totality comes out !! agastya is furious. he is plum in colour. blood stained pink face looked like a plum. the next push, the shoulders squeeze through and the body follows gently. baby agastya makes constipated faces gasping for his first gulp of air. he does it and yelps out. monica told me later that her pain stopped instantaneously. surprising !
we brought him home the next day. he is a very well behaved boy, a fitting combination of i and monica. i have taken some photos of him and i will post them in the gallery tomorrow. will update the link in a new post.
posted by Dingleberry Delight | 8:42 PM
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