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Category: Pregnancy and Motherhood
How to be a perfect mother?
Why isn’t my child like other kids?
Am I a failure as a mother?
Am I too harsh? Am I too soft?
How can I handle them?
Why didn’t my child potty train before two?
Why is my child a fussy eater and none of the tips I see around work?
Some of you would have asked this question to yourself. You would have researched the parenting guides. You would have diligently followed your social media idol to see how they do it perfectly.
But have you ever asked what makes your child different?
BECAUSE YOUR CHILD IS AN INDIVIDUAL.
Would a top-loading washing machine and front loading washing machine give the same result? Would a Samsung oven and LG oven give the same results?
Then, WHY DO YOU EXPECT YOUR HUMAN CHILD TO BE LIKE ANOTHER CHILD OR CHILDREN AROUND.
You can try to apply the parenting tips and tricks that you see around. But if they don’t work out, it’s not your fault, nor your child’s. It’s because your child is different. You should be happy that your child has an individuality.
You would have wondered how another child remains calm and composed, while your child is unmanageable. Have you ever asked the other child’s mother how she feels about it?
She might be wondering when her child would be active like yours.
ABOVE ALL. THE SOCIAL MEDIA IS A WORLD OF FILTERS. WE ARE ONLY SHOWN THE RAINBOW BUT THE CLOUDS BEHIND ARE OFTEN CONCEALED.
So don’t compare your life with the perfect lives portrayed on social media. It’s just a virtual world. Not the real one.
SO HOW TO BE A PERFECT MOTHER?
ANS: PERFECT MOTHER IS A MYTH, IF NOT A FACADE
What is the real awareness of breastfeeding that we should have?
Breast feeding awareness week is going on. Everyone is talking about the importance of breastfeeding and also breastfeeding in public. It is commendable that contrary to the past aversion in many women regarding breastfeeding connected to their own body and health, people are indeed showing interest in the topic. So what is the awareness that we need to spread
Exclusive breastfeeding
1. For the first 6 months, the child should be fed exclusively on breastmilk.
2. The more you breastfeed, the more you lose weight
3. The more you breastfeed the more immune your child becomes.
4. You shouldn’t be ashamed of feeding in public.
Well n good. All these points are the best advice to be given to a mother.
But what if a mother is not in a position to exclusively breastfeed the child?
The pressure of the society, the judgements, the frustration of feeling inadequate and what not.
While it is true that breastmilk is the best medicine for the child, we should not judge a mother who is not exclusively breastfeeding her child
She wouldn’t be lactating much to quench the child’s thirst and hunger. The child’s sucking reflex would be week. The child could be in an NICU. The child could have breastmilk intolerance. She might have to have take medications which could be dangerous to child. She could be a working mother who had to rejoin early for work. Worst of all, the mother and child could be having some serious disease which could make breastfeeding all the more dangerous for both.
There could be many genuine reasons for not exclusively breastfeeding the child or weaning early.
Why would the society decide what she should do with her child? Why is it imperative to tab her as a beauty conscious, figure conscious bimbo just because she is not exclusively breast feeding the child/weans early? For some people it is a cruel ecstasy to state how long did they breast feed their child, to a mother who weaned early.
WHAT SHOULD THE MOTHER ACTUALLY DO?
If you are a healthy woman, with ample breastmilk, with a healthy baby whose sucking reflexes are well developed, and also a stay at home mother breastfeed your child exclusively for 6 months.
If you are not any or all of these. Do what’s best for your child and yourself because only a healthy mother can bring up a healthy baby.
DON’T FEEL GULTY.
DON’T LEND YOUR EARS TO JUDGEMENTAL PEOPLE.
DON’T THINK OF YOURSELF AS ANY LESS THAN OTHER MOTHERS.
Breastfeeding in public
If you feel ashamed of breastfeeding in public, there is nothing wrong with you. That’s also your personal choice but yeah, there are indeed options for the same.
We have feeding bibs available these days. If that’s expensive for you, get a ‘PONCHO TOP’. It’s available cheap in the market. Put if over your head and feed your child.
Dealing with Sinusitis- The tried and tested cure.
Of late I came across many kids and adults who have been suffering from Sinusitis. I myself used to struggle with the headache. Now my daughter does. Often for many diseases, the medicine is your experience. It’s not always the theoretical knowledge provided to us by the doctors. Not that they are wrong but we have our own trial and error methods that have worked for us.
Today I am sharing my tried and tested cure for sinusitis.
The best and the easiest medicine is taking steam. It could be done using water boiled with Panikoorka leaves or Tulsi leaves. Tulsi you all know is Basil. Panikoorka is called Indian Borage or Indian Rock Foil or Cuban Oregano
Courtesy: Wikipedia The leaves smell heavenly. By simply smelling the leaves we can have so much comfort from common cold. For more details on the uses of this plant, you can refer to
Panikoorka is helpful only if your headache is mild, so is Tulsi. If you have swollen sinus and severe headache, it is better to take Karvol plus.
I have already used a few capsules. It is a soft green coloured capsule with a silicony feel. It is quite strong as well.We need to cut it open and pour inside the vaporizer or boiling water.
For kids one or two drops would be sufficient. As it has a tingling feel it would be difficult to inhale it if the whole capsule is added.
If inhaling doesn’t help, next step is an ayurvedic preparation.
We need a teaspoon of fresh ginger juice and a pinch of rasnadi choornam.
Crushed ginger Heat the spoon with the ginger juice mixed with Rasnadi choornam directly over the stove till it boils down to a creamy consistency.
Roll it into the size of a 25ps coin and apply it on the pate like shown in the picture.
Do this twice daily for three days. And the results are guaranteed.
Pregnancy and Mother-in-law- Quirkiness in Tradition – Guest post by Payel Chowdhury.
It’s been a while since I have posted anything in the pregnancy and parenting category. I wanted to write lots about the morning sickness which surprisingly I did not have. Hence I chucked it. Recently I came across this article where there is this relatable experience with morning sickness and the notion of embarrassment attached to it . Payel Roy Chowdhury provided me the honour of publishing her interesting article on her experience with morning sickness. So here we go.
PREGNANCY AND MOTHER-IN-LAW
Have any of you ladies of this remarkable and progressive century ever been cold shouldered by an all- knowing mother –in-law for being too frank with your husband? For ‘shamelessly’ hanging around your husband during pregnancy, openly discussing nausea and other such uneasiness with your husband, and, in fact, not even hesitating to throw up during the early months, and seek his help to comfort yourself? If you disbelieve me, I shall be extremely happy for that, for, it means you have not witnessed such idiosyncrasies in your life. The unfortunate ones like me have by now got the drift of what I am saying.
Nausea, or morning sickness as it is termed as, is an unavoidable part of pregnancy. The changes that occur in the body are immense. The whole body and mind of a woman prepares itself for the housing the creation, to allow it to grow from an embryo to a fetus and then into a baby, day by day, week by week, month by month, in those 280 days till it is delivered. The entire mechanism is unique, and the formula of this creation doesn’t change, like a patented design.
I still recall those exciting times when periods missed by even a day gave rise to flutters and anticipation in me and husband. Each hour mattered then, periods not showing up each hour assured us of good news, increasing the anticipation. ‘Not yet’ were the most welcome words then. As three – four days passed away, we felt joyous. God’s grace was upon us. During that time, I was a Lecturer in an engineering college in Orissa where my husband was posted. It was January 2005 when the big event had occurred, giving us pleasure and giggles. Usually, every morning my husband drove me to college on his bike along the Ring Road of the city. The college was approximately 16 kms from our government quarters, and he covered that distance in barely 17 mins! We started at 7:40 am and a minute before 8 I would be signing my name on the ‘Department-Electrical’ register and head straight for the morning class or the Digital Electronics laboratory or towards the department. But now, when we were getting assured of pregnancy, our pace got slowed. He drove slowly, I walked slowly. Oh, how eagerly we had waited for these days to come. The gynaecologist had advised a blood test after 3 weeks and a USG in 45 days of the Last Menstrual Period abbreviated as LMP to confirm pregnancy. All couples who have gone through this, do you recall your moments of anticipation?
Morning sickness- every pregnant lady faces it. My great grandmother had it, even her mother, and all her descendants including me. Same happened to my mother in law, the bearing women in her clan, and her mother in law too. Also, conception procedure world-over have remained the same ; that of my mother in laws’ couldn’t differ. After copulation, the (husband’s) sperm fertilizes the (wife’s) egg, and if this process inside the fallopian tube was successful, the fertilized egg would successfully travel down the fallopian tube and implant in the uterus, and embryo would start growing. Simple.
My in-laws surely adopted the same procedure- they have two children. Stretching far to assume ‘it’ wasn’t too exciting and was more of a mechanical workout between them, still I can’t place ‘shame’ and ‘embarrassment’ of the wife from her husband when she got pregnant! It is normal to face morning sickness which usually starts within 6 weeks of pregnancy and may last upto 14 weeks, a week here and there isn’t uncommon. Medical science attributes it to increased levels of hCG Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in blood, and/or increased levels of estrogen hormone, though there are no tests to prove these factors as causes of nausea. Again, I don’t see any embarrassing thing into it. I fail to understand, the man to whom I got married , with whom I entered into copulation, how on earth could I feel embarrassed in getting pregnant, from him? That I would have to run stealthily to the washroom if I needed to vomit, and avoid giving any clue of this ‘embarrassing’ act to my husband?
I had terrible bouts of morning sickness in the morning, in the afternoon and evening too, and I was unable to eat anything. Unfortunately, with the sickness attacking me every meal time, I lost count of the number of times I was expected to ‘feel embarrassed’ and act suitably. To add to further excitement, I needed to remain doubly embarrassed as my father in law was also in the house. Women are upholders of modesty. I should have remained underground, only come out when the males of the house weren’t in my purview.
My husband’s office was close by and he could come home for a quick lunch, but in my absence, he preferred to carry his lunch box. At times he came home too. I would keep his lunch in microwavable glass bowls and he would warm his food. My mother in law had once asked me to leave my job as warming the food in the microwave was a ‘hardship’ for my husband. Now, during these early months of pregnancy, I was unable to attend college and therefore, he came home for lunch. Oh, how I used to bawl in hunger, and he rushed home with some boiled potatoes and rice from office kitchen, and seeing the food my hunger would die down. The hormones were to be blamed for the erratic-ness. I wasn’t able to cook, neither could I stand any cooking done in the house. It was terrible. We tried hard. Unable to cope up with the unavoidable circus, we approached both the set of parents. Unfortunately, my parents had planned a trip with my mother’s siblings months before and cancelling it now would mean cancellation for the entire bunch. It was just a week’s trip, and she assured she would reach us within two days she returned from the trip and would stay with us till I got okay. My parent’s participation was taken for granted. None other than the mother can soothe and relieve an ailing or a troubled child. So, the wait was only for 10 days maximum. My in-laws scored a few brownie points here. They filled the gap of the 10 days with abundant excitement and melodrama, giving me the opportunity to write about those now, after 13 years.
As I just mentioned, my husband came home for lunch, and as a natural instinct, he came straight to our room to inquire after my health. Can this sit well with in laws? Never. 2 days the sin was tolerated, and the third day it was brought to an abrupt halt. The mother took it upon herself to redeem her son of the sin and prevent him from committing it any further.
One evening, my neighbour had prepared dahi vada(a popular snack made with fried lentil balls, dipped in yoghurt and spiced up with chillies, tamarind pulp , plain tomato sauce and gramflour crispies sprinkled over it) for me and I relished eating it, forgetting momentarily that I would throw it up quick. And that evening was bad. I needed support to even stand near the washbasin. My in-laws had parked themselves comfortably on the sofa-set in the living room, and who other than my husband would hold me then? But what followed surprised both of us. I laugh at it now, but we had got very upset then. Unable to control her anger seeing her son helping me, she made a sharp remark at me- ‘ How shamelessly you use the washbasin and throw up in front of all of us, don’t even have the common sense of going to the washroom? You women of this era have no respect for your elders. In our days it was so different. I felt so ashamed in front of your dad. Never ever he came to know of all this morning sickness and all. Infact, I never went around the house this way infront of him and never ever infront of my father in law. I was so embarrassed to even break the news of pregnancy to your dad. He eventually got the good news from others in the house. And betu(her son), your dad never went around me the way you do. This is so embarrassing to see you do that!’
Oh goodness, till date I couldn’t figure out why my mom-in-law felt so ashamed or embarrassed of her husband during her pregnancy! They copulated, right? That involved no shame or embarrassment but morning sickness did? And the one who impregnated you gets to know the results of his act from others and not his own wife. Sorry, can’t buy the logic. Nowadays, a husband accompanies the wife to the doctor and in many cases also to the labour room. Wonder how the in-laws cope up with this embarrassing and unacceptable behavior. Times have hopefully changed…
New parents, can you relate to the above?
Have we changed really, or are we just wearing a garb of modernity? After all, old traditions and quirkiness go hand in hand in a few cases- in cases of ignorance.
To all the new mom in- laws, please be a little patient and kind towards the would-be mom in your house. Much love.Payel Roy Chowdhury
Payel Roy Chowdhury is an Electrical & Power System Engineer by profession and works in the field of Electrical power generation, transmission and distribution systems as Design Consultant and Lecturer.She did her Classical Vocals and Kathak from Prayag Sangeet Samiti and holds a Visharad degree in both. She has been associated with Lalit Kala Academy, Kolkata as a Creative Dancer. Cooking, traveling and photography are her passion apart from music. She travels to explore nature and find stories in people. She is an avid reader and writes on issues she feels strongly about. She also assists authors to evaluate their manuscripts, develop and fine tune them.Listen to her songs here :
Bed rest and pre-term delivery
Hello mommies out there,
Don’t sulk and frown at me. I know I left everyone half way with the pregnancy posts. Some of the expecting mothers among you might have had their babies by now. But I was trapped with the three hellions. What I understood in the past one year is that if you have a child, it’s beautiful, endearing;if you have two kids then you are handful; if you have three kids you are in chaos. If you have four kids and more, may god bless you.
So, I had left the line of posts with the cervical encirclage. We saw the two main types of encirclages. Since I had my encirclage for the first baby in my seventh month, the uterus was already expanded and the stitch was towards the end. Hence it was more painful when compared to the rest of the cases. I was on complete bedrest for good two months.There can be difference of opinion regarding the bedrest. Pregnancy is a time when we get unsolicited advice, with a lot of tips. For my bedrest as well, I got too many advices. Why are you taking rest, that too with the foot end of the bed raised! So and so doctor wouldn’t have advised bedrest, for a healthy baby a mother should walk and work, you shouldn’t have travelled so much lest this wouldn’t have happened, this and that and there and then and what not.
My dear to be mommies, the first thing you should do on getting pregnant is to shut your brain to baseless advices. Just smile and nod and forget! I had to undergo encirclage because I had incompetent cervix not because i travelled in my car. I had to remain on bedrest because I have a unicorn uterus which is too weak to carry a baby. Now, how can I convince this to the aunties and chachis and bhabhis. So, i just smiled and nodded and forgot!
However, I spent two months on bed. After 33 weeks I started having pain in the pubic area like I had during the 27th week. The NST test didn’t show any contraction and hence doctor asked me to wait. I waited for one more week and after 34 weeks the pain was unbearable and doctor decided to remove the stitch lest it would break and asked me to come for a check up after four days. On the fourth day, we went for the check up. We reached the hospital at 5 o’clock in the evening. On doing the finger test, doctor said “I think I can feel baby’s head” and asked me to go to the labour room and started induction. My father went to take necessary clothes and my mother called my husband who was only a few kilometres away from the hospital. It was 6 o clock by then. Induction started and immediately I said “I have the pushing tendency.” Doctor asked me to wait for an hour Or two since child birth takes time. But I was unable to wait and kept on compelling the doctor to do something. Finally the doctor gave up and checked my cervix and I still remember her horrified face. She started screaming “OMG!Crowning has started. Shift her to the labour table.” The sisters literally swung me near the labour table and asked me to shift. With the baby’s head stuck in my vagina, I still don’t remember how I made myself shift from the bed to the table. Doctor asked me to push. One strong push and a filthy thing flew to doctors hands. I was angry that after so much why didn’t my baby come first. In the ba`ckground I can hear the doctor yelling about suction. And suddenly I heard a shrieking sound from the filthy thing which happened to be my baby daughter and my delivery was done in twenty minutes. Offff I have goosebumps now.
The nurses, after cleaning her, wrapped her in a white towel and brought her to me. That was the most beautiful sight I have seen in my life. A little face with tiny dots in the place of eyes and a line instead of mouth and a prominent nose like a Pinocchio, just like their dad, to my dismay. This reminded me of the funny quote ” I carried you for nine months, I was in labour for fifteen hours, I couldn’t sleep properly for six months, and you came of looking like your dad.” In my case I can’t even tell that since none of my kids stayed inside my uterus for nine months and my daughter came out in twenty minutes. Nevertheless I have an edge over my sons since they put me in labour for 15 and 72 hours respectively.
I didn’t notice that doctor had applied local anaesthesia on my vaginal area and stitching the bruise that this little angel has caused. I slipped into a dreamy trance and slept.
Next post is the most debated Normal delivery Vs Cesarean. If you haven’t read my previous posts, please find the links below:
Incompetent Cervix and encirclage
The test time- TVS and Obstetric scan
Cherishing that tiny heart beat
Understanding the purple lines
Incompetent Cervix and encirclage
After six months of comparatively hassle-free and easy pregnancy, I faced the first challenge. I used to wonder why I was so lucky to be free of nausea or any pregnancy related fatigue. But I had least idea about what was in store for me. We, in Kerala have a custom called ‘Kootikondupoval’ which is equal to the ‘ Godh bharai’ or ‘Valakappu’. The preggy’s parents come to her marital home with 7 varieties of eatables on the 7th month of pregnancy and take their daughter to her parental home. I was super excited to go to my own home and relish the pampering and love of my parents. But the happiness didn’t last long.
I had been having pain in my pubic bone for the days preceding the function. But after two days, the pain was unbearable and I was taken to the hospital. On checking doctor informed me that ‘os’ are open. Now this time I didn’t have the time to go back home and Google about the OS because doctor said that I needed to be admitted and a stitch needed to be applied to my uterus in order to prevent a pre term delivery or abortion. Doctor said that I had an incompetent cervix.
Image courtesy :-Â http://www.medindia.net
“Had you not been diagnosed at the right time, you would have lost your first born. Your cervix had a two finger opening”, said the doctor later.
Back in the hospital room, I’m engaged with the universal tutor, Google. Google told me that incompetent cervix means that my Cervical tissues are weak and that cervix begins to dilate and efface before term, and hence the pain. OS is the opening of the cervix to the uterus.Applying the stitches in the cervix to hold it closed is called encerclage.
Normally encerclage is done earlier by about 12-14 weeks of pregnancy but in my case it was 28 weeks. This is a rarity but not the first of its kind. Applying a cerclage during the late pregnancy is called emergent cerclage. The patient will be given general or epidural anaesthesia. I was given general anaesthesia for the three pregnancies. Yes, you heard it right. For the three pregnancies I had to undergo encerclage. But it is not necessary that for everyone it is so. There are mothers who underwent encerclage for the first pregnancy but had a trouble free pregnancy further. This depends on the strength of your uterus.
There are three types of encirclages. We will find the difference and furthermore in the next post .
Read the previous posts on this topic
The test time- TVS and Obstetric scan
The test time- TVS and Obstetric scan
The last post was a short one. Apart from the headache which the physician misdiagnosed as migraine, my first trimester was hassle free. The three months came to an end faster than any other pretty  since my UPT was done at two and a half months. “On completion of third month we will do TVS and Obstetric Scan,” doc said. I stared at her in horror. My overestimated self-proclaimed vocabulary seemed to come a cropper under those words applied in daily life. Unable to admit that I didn’t understand what she just said, I smiled and took leave. First thing I did on reaching home was Google TVS and Obstetric Scan. The first link came was that of TVS motor company. Cursing the stars in revised my search and typed “TVS pregnancy”. There came the answer, thanks to babycenter. There I got to know that TVS is Transvaginal Scan. I was wondering how it would be  done. On further research it became clear that it would be done by inserting a probe inside the vagina. The probe would be covered with a condom to avoid infections. Okay, so that much is clear. Now Obstetric scan. As you guessed I didn’t even know the spelling. All thanks to auto correction, I managed to type the name. Obstetric Scan is Ultrasonography used in pregnancy which brings me to the knew knowledge that Obstetrics is a branch of medicine and surgery related to child birth and midwifery. My overconfidence of being knowledgeable about every ‘science’thing was reduced to ashes.
ObstetricUltrasound
Photo courtesy :Â www.ob-ultrasound.net
Transvaginal Scan
Photo courtesy http://www.cancer.gov/images/cdr/live/CDR618018-571.jpg
The first pregnancy is a time we are introduced to many acronyms. After completion of third month, I went in for the obstetric scan aka Ultra sound scan. The nursing staff asked me my LMP. I stared at her as if I saw a ghost. She, seemingly used to such reactions, clarified with the expansion Last Menstrual Period. Thanks to the white soul. Else, I would have to excuse myself and Google again. I sadly and shamefully one of those who were reluctant to say “I don’t know”. The bravest thing to do is to learn how to say “I don’t know” instead of pretending that you know everything.
Time came for the first ultra sound scan. The radiologist, after taking forever to examine, showed me the heart beat. A tiny blip. I felt as if God is winking at me reminding me to cherish the moment, to freeze it in my memory. My first feeling of motherhood. My first baby. His /her heartbeat. I couldn’t believe that it was real. I felt as if I’m floating on thin air. I wanted him to be with me. My partner in crime, partner in pregnancy in this case. His expression was one of the most priceless moments in my life.
Don’t you agree with me? Oh my God. I’m getting emotional. It might seem unprofessional but I need the moment to resurface. Even after experiencing it thrice. So folks, let’s see next week.Next week you will see the one thing, the revelation that changed my life forever.
You can read the related posts here
Understanding the purple lines
Initial days
So we have seen he pregnancy tests last time. Now, the sickness. Pregnancy is synonymous to morning sickness. Get up in the morning brush your teeth ‘Thup’. Drink Tea, coffee or milk, Thup. Eat something cook something, smell something Thup, Thup, thup. There can be several reasons behind this like increased hormonal level, decreased blood sugar etc. Level and type of sickness can be different for different pregnancies. In most cases, vomiting stops by the fourth or fifth month, which makes me feel that BETA HcG is the reason behind this.
Minor sickness can be ignored and cured with home remedies. Having lime water helps sometimes. Fry cumin seeds and boil water putting these fried seeds. This helps in some cases. Smelling lemon helps some ladies. Put a kalimirch in your  But these are all relative. Sickness during pregnancy is a tricky thing. We never know what helps for each person. If you feel that you are dehydrated, do consult your Gyn.
I had severe headache during the first trimester. As mentioned before I had no idea that I was pregnant and took medications for migraine. Thankfully nothing dangerous happened to the baby even if migraine medicines are not advisable during pregnancy.
It is said that we shouldn’t reveal the news of pregnancy to anyone till 3 months. This is because first three months, chances of miscarriage are more. If you find unusual spotting do consult a Gyn.
That’s all for today guys. See ya next week
Checkout related posts here
Cherishing that tiny heart beat
Understanding the purple lines
Last week we had reached a pact on discussing about the UPT (Urine Pregnancy Test). Here I am with the new post. I had done the blunder of going to a Gyn as soon as I felt I have conceived. Thankfully I was. But, there have been cases when the whole family sets out for a hospital visit spree to come back disappointed. To avoid that predicament, do the UPT at home before running to a Gyn. Even if you are highly educated and well knowledgeable there can be instances when you misread your pregnancy test. It can be either due to ignorance, or lack of proper instructions in the kit or nervousness. A NEGATIVE UPT DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN THAT YOU ARE NOT PREGNANT. For a first time mother, right from reading the test, everything is a dilemma. So first let’s  see how to analyse a UPT.
There have been cases when a single line is misunderstood for a positive result. Any urine sample would give a single line. It is the control band. To compare the test sign. So, if someone say that a single line is positive, tell them that even their sample would give a single line. If that single line is not there that means the whole kit is a waste of money and time. It is mentioned in the kit that you should take the first sample in the morning, you should not drink water etc. It hasn’t worked in my case. My first UPT was done in the evening and I also had a lot of water. But again it is always good to follow the instructions. There can be cases of feeble positive line. Feeble or strong, a second purple line means it is positive. But we should definitely consult a Gyn. The feeble line can either be an indication that Beta hCG is not yet produced or an indication of ectopic  (tubal)pregnancy.
Beta hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is a hormone produced during pregnancy, the quantity of which is analysed during the pregnancy test. UPT will be positive only if beta hCG level is high. Sometimes, perhaps due to irregular periods or late conception, beta hCG level would not be sufficient to show in the UPT but a blood test might show a higher level. For my second pregnancy, I had four negative UPT and one negative blood test. But I had a motherly instinct that I hav3 conceived and did another UPT, which was feebly positive , followed by a blood test. This might be Thu reason why it is said that you should do the UPT about a week after missed periods. You can repeat after one more week if you didn’t have the periods.
That much for now.Time for the congrats and sweets. Next week we will see the problems during the first trimester. I again confirm that I am not a doctor.I am sharing my experiences as a mother of three children. Because sometimes, experiences help you more than theories.
Cherishing that tiny heart beat
I have been requested on and on to write about my experiences with three pregnancies and apparently motherhood that follows. As a person who is obsessed with privacy, I have always kept my personal and professional arenas at bay. Nevertheless, I was unable to misheed the requests. Hence here I am with my first post in the series Prengancy and motherhood.
It is a mandatory custom in Indian household to be ready with the question ” When can we see the little one ” exactly a month after marriage. It is as if marriage is a football match and folks around are waiting for the goal. ‘ The penis shoots the sperm it dodges the forward, defense and tribbles the way through the opposite team goal post aka uterus. The goalkeeper aka egg dives in the air and catches the ball And it’s a GOAL sorry zygote’. Does it work that way??? Sadly the women folks who knows about the reality are the ones to sit in the gallery and wait for the goal. Following the custom, I was also asked the same question ” When can we see the little one” not by my family though.
Nothing prepares you for the big news but experience. No biotechnological knowledge prepared me to understand that the spotting I found was not due to climate change or honeymoon stress but a tiny dot in my womb. Again presuming the dark spot was misplaced ‘chums’ I waited for a month more for the next blood in the moon which never came. That was a moment when I came face to face with the motherhood question. Am I or Am I not? Instead of choosing the easy way of the UPT or the Urine Pregnancy Test at home, we went to the hospital right away. The first question that the doctor asked me was ‘Did you do the UPT?’. Well, thankfully, without much cribbing, she prescribed a Urine test and asked us to wait.
The moment came. YES IT’S positive. I mean really? ?? My husband was like ‘Are you sure?’. It took an hour more for the reality to sink in. The first instruction I got was not to tell anyone outside family till the third month. I couldn’t wait to but I did. Wait, wait and wait to tell my friends, relatives, cousins everyone. For me, till the seventh month or precisely 27 weeks everything was smooth and fine. What happened afterwards will be shared in the further posts.
Every Time, getting the positive UPT or passing the three month hurdle is not as easy as it seems. Next week we will see how to identify a positive and negative UPT and risks during the first three months.
