Selecting an OB/GYN

Pregnancy comes with its own caboodle of joys, responsibilities, pleasure, confusions, hopes, commitments and what not !
And for the first time mommies and skeptics like me, each stride needs careful investigations and knowledge and references. We all do plenty of research even before buying any simple household item, then why go with traditional methods of selecting a doctor for yourself. It is not necessary that the same Ob/Gyn who delivered the lady next door or some of your relative's daughter in law is the best for you too.
We are all different, our mindsets, preferences, lifestyles are different; so here are some tips that helped me selecting not the best Ob/Gyn in the town, but the best one suited for me.

Start with making the list of all the hospitals where you consider delivering your baby. Following factors can be considered while doing so -

• Distance from your home 
• Facilities Available
• Cleanliness 
• How cordial / helpful is the staff
• How well equipped is the child care unit  
• Past records
• Suggestions from people around you
• Cost 
• See if your insurance covers the particular hospital 

One of the major reasons for limiting your search with the hospital is, just in the case of emergency or when your pains start, you'd be thanking God or whatever for an easily approachable hospital.

Once you have this list in your hands you can start with meeting the practicing Doctors in those particular hospitals. Some of the factors I considered are listed below, you can interview the Ob/Gyn according your

concerns.

• Education/Certification
• Experience
• How updated and open minded the Doctor is
• Doctor's Outlook on preventive care
• How comfortable you are talking or asking questions to him/her
• How well the Doctor understands your needs, anxiety, wishes and deal accordingly
• Is the doctor supportive of natural childbirth, if that's what you're interested in? 

Now that you have met and interviewed the Doctors you can then go and visit those hospital where they practice, because once again the hospital plays a major role in decision making, as that is the place where you'll be dealing with all sorts of pains, complications (if any) and what not.
While visiting the hospital, along with your own preferences, don't forget to check -

• Labor room and available facilities
• Postpartum ward
• Cleanliness / Sanitation / Hygiene 
• How difficult or easy are the admission Procedures 
• Delivery Attendants and their attitude 
• Emergency Calls and appointments

Once you finalise the best ones, you can finally select the best available combination of Hospital and Doctor.

Disclaimer - The advises are purely based on personal experience and opinion. For high risk pregnancy, take an expert advise. 

Lucid Dreaming !

This whole journey of pregnancy is totally dreamlike and a tempest of sentiments. The irony is we struggle with an emotional commotion and still stay ecstatic :) :)

Thanks to this holy mess of hormones, excitements, fear, joy, passion, love, and god knows what, we get sometimes bizarre, but definitely colorful and dramatic dreams during pregnancy.

In my case, at times these dreams are too disturbing, like screwing-up with feeding or choking the kid with too many clothes or the kid slipping from my grip so on and so forth. The most annoying part of this whole situation is, I remember all this even after waking up. And not only the dreams but the memories of dreams would haunt me for days and at times for weeks :( :(

Some times these dreams leave me exhilarated, the other day I actually composed a poetry in my dream for my brother's birthday, lyrics of which I still remember in part :D :D

Therefore, attributing to the fact that it is my first experience of carrying a baby, it was all crazy for me to manage - nausea, morning sickness, mood swings, tiredness and now the dreams. But after talking to my contemporaries and the new mommys it became apparent that I am not the special one ;)
We all get into such kind of situation someway or the other.

Thence, the lesson I learnt here is, to be patient and to have faith in oneself.
Motherhood is inbuilt in our genes and it comes natural, no matter it is our first time or tenth, do not worry about the fine-prints, the outcome is worth it :) :) 

Losing Weight In First Trimester !?

Aversion to food, morning sickness, throwing up all the time can be the reasons for losing weight in first trimester. But don't worry, it is natural, unless you lose it like crazy, and if you do go see your doc.

Although you do expect your weight to go up once you discover that you're expecting, but losing weight in early pregnancy is quite normal, especially if you have a bad case of morning sickness and/or nausea. Having said that, it is quite a challenge to eat blandest of the foods and keep it down. But as long as weight loss is in the range of 10% of your body weight, don't worry, it won't affect your baby's development.

And any which ways, you are not supposed to put on a lot, in an ideal situation, you should gain 1-2 kg in the entire trimester. And if you are losing out on your weight, trust me, you'll quickly gain it too, once this nausea and morning sickness and aversion to food wears of.

So, Mommys to be, don't worry about the weight loss at all, its just normal.

Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy !!

The Mood Swings

One fine day after lunch in office, I felt like crying, for no reason whatsoever !
I called up my husband and thrashed him, spoke rude with colleagues and didn't call my family that day. When husband came home from work (thankfully not angry on me for what I did), I cried, like badly.

Then the other day, I felt like I am going to be the worst mom ever, I'd get nightmares like screwing up feeding, and making the baby wear too many clothes that she'd choke, and not holding her in proper positions that she'd slip out, and what not :( :(

But "A Big Thanks" to Google, that I could figure out what was wrong with me, and it was nothing but mood swings !
We all suffer from it one way or another but the ones you get while you are pregnant are too bad and pretty hard to handle, specially when everybody asks you to stay Happy.

Mood Swings are as inevitable as morning sickness in pregnancy. They can be majorly attributed to changing hormones, or fatigue, or sad metabolism causing heartburn and constipation, or worrying about parenting specially if its your first pregnancy. They are pretty much uncontrollable, but there are some ways you can sort it out !!
The commandments to mellow the mood swings -

• Cry if you feel like it, laugh if you feel like it, don't hold it to yourself and let go.
• Talk to your partner/husband/closest friend/mother or whoever you feel like, opening up really helps !
  
• Take some time out to read what you always wanted to, watch movies, or dance (not too wild), or sing or wander or visit some place you like, see some old friends, distract yourself with good things, the things that keep you engaged in a better way !
• Exercise, yoga, meditation - do whatever suits you, it is not only a great energy booster but it also makes you much calmer.
• Educate yourself not only on mood swings, but on other nuances of being pregnant.
• Don't scare yourself much about taking care part of the baby, it comes naturally to mother.
• And if you really think that your feelings are much severe and you just can't handle it, go see you doctor ASAP.

The Morning Sickness

Yeah, it is there and most of us are badly affected and it is feared most.

It is indeed bad, but, its all in state of mind !

There are plenty of resources available on internet to curb the throwing up part of pregnancy, but I'll tell you what worked in my case. All our bodies are unique in some or the other way and they do respond well to certain things and have different triggers. Here are some ways which helped me fighting the morning sickness -

• Its all in our head !
  Have a strong resolve and think you are tougher than the sickness. It really works. 
  
• Identify your triggers - In my case it was boiling milk, cooking eggs, toasting with butter. We all have some or the other kind of smell or sight weaknesses that can trigger vomiting. Identify them and stay away from them. 
• Eat every two hours - Keeping your stomach empty is one of the major causes of vomiting. I understand you don't feel like eating anything, but try to nibble your favorite biscuit or chocolate or any fruit, whatever you can eat. 
  
• Try lime based fruits to feel fresh - Keep a lemon or orange or sweet lime with you always. Its super refreshing smell did wonders to me. 
  
• Keep chewing bits of salted or caramelized adrak (ginger) or amla (Indian Gooseberry) 
  
• Last but not the least, its just a customary thing that comes with your condition, don't worry, it will go away, just stay happy and calm ! You're going to be a mom soon :)
  And trust me its all worth it :) :) 
  

Low Glucose Tolerance Detected !

So it was my seventh week when I went for the first Ultra Sound !!
There was no kid to be seen, just a small sack on that black and white screen, but I could see the heartbeat and hear it too, it was surreal :) :)

Something Like This !

Out of all the tests doctor prescribed only one was not too good. I was diagnosed with high blood sugar, low glucose intolerance, which meant I need to take super care of my diet and have good exercise so as to not have sugar levels more than 120 at any time of the day.
My patterns were clear after I took the tests after each breakfast, lunch and dinner for 6 consecutive days !
They were slightly more after lunch and dinner, the upper limit was 140 when I ate all rice.
So my I consulted another specialist for the same, besides giving me a diet chart (eat anything you want, but in small quantities, and eat every 2 hours) he prescribed Acarbose & Metformin Tablets, had to swallow half each during lunch and dinner.

Seemed like it worked, but my gyn wasn't satisfied and asked me to get NT Scan, (Some kind of scan that ensures if kid is not affected by the down syndrome).
 Now this NT Scan was kind of funny, they wanted the kids picture in a particular position, where they could clearly see the neck of him/her and measure some soft tissue.
When the doc started the scan I thought it would hardly take 5-10 minutes to get it, but the kid was literally dancing and as if refused to get into that position. It was so pleasurable to see him/her moving those tiny little limbs, it was totally dreamlike !!

Finally it was after 2-3 walks and almost 80 minutes the kid came into the desirable position and they took the pictures and measurements.

This was the required position !!!

The report came after what seemed like eternity, but thankfully there was low risk !!
And the doctor was too kind to ask me to follow my diet schedule and take medicines timely.

But managing diabetes and pregnancy is a full time job !
It was in the second month when I was scheduled to travel, my doc told me there are no issues in traveling unless you can mange your diet and nausea and medicines etc.
I should be talking about, what happens when you travel in your first trimester in my next post !!
Till then happy pregnancy :) :)

The first test !

It was 3 days after I missed my period, I did my first urine test !!
The pinkish purple lines were pale but were there.
Oh I was so exhilarated, it was 3 in the morning and I snuggled with my husband and whispered him that you are going to be daddy soon :D :D :D
And he hugged me hard and we almost cried !
The emotions we can't really explain, those were of overwhelming love, fear, delight, jubiliation, thrill, anxiety and what not.
But since the lines were too pale, we decided to take the test again after 2-3 days, which passed excrutiatingly slow, like super slow, as if time stopped moving. But then after 2 days I tested for hCG levels again, and this time lines were a bit prominent.
Therefore, we decided to see the doctor coming Saturday. Meanwhile we called both our parents and broke the news, who then instructed us to eat properly and don't tell anyone till things are confirmed.
But we were happy, I started walking slowly, started feeling like I had a baby bump already, and felt like all those tell tales and old wives stories and blah ..
Then came the Saturday when we went to see one of the oldest gynic in the town, man she was almost 70 years old !

That happy faced lady heard us, then jovially asked why did you do the test twice and winked ;)
Then prescribed us Folic Acid and some Vitamins and mundane tests and took the history and weight and BP and whatever it takes to create an antenatal profile and asked us to go for a sonography in 7th or 8th week. Also told us not to tell anyone unless you hear the heartbeat of the kid.
We came back happy and worried. Happy for obvious reasons and worried as it is first for both of us and our parents were out in the US, and are scheduled to come back after 4-5 months, so we had no idea ho to go about it, but we had to :-|