(19/04/2014) We decided to continue with the pregnancy. We opened up about the scan results to our families. They were not supportive of our decision.
Against everyone's advice , we wanted to go ahead and have the baby.We burnt our bridges by taking such a decision. No turning back... We knew deep down that it was a life-changing decision; but a decision that we would never regret in life.
(20/04/2014) 'Easter Sunday'. My birthday. An expectant mother could not have asked for a better birthday gift - gloomy prognosis for her baby - Genetic counselor: "Microcephaly is a neuro-developmental disorder. It has no cure.The prognosis for your baby is poor. He might even be a vegetable... blah blah blah ... ". Despite the pressure and stress that we had , some kind of a hope returned.We felt strong enough to move forward.
(21/04/2014) That day was 21st April - I turned 21 years old and my baby was 21 weeks old.
From April 22nd 2014 ...
We had so much hope that a miracle would occur and our baby would be born with a normal sized head.
After a month: Finally our families got convinced and started supporting us. The doctors too stopped asking whether we wanted to abort the baby. Everyone around me thought that I was committing the greatest mistake of my life. Some people think that way even now.
At around 32 weeks of gestation I had terrible pain and I thought I was going to go into labour. I was afraid that the baby would be born prematurely. Luckily, the pain subsided after some hours.
From Aug 15th 2014 ...
I started getting impatient. I wanted to meet my baby soon. I was in complete hope that he would be born normal. I was constantly checking whether I had any symptoms or signs of going into labour.
(21/08/2014) A google search can be a disaster at times. I suddenly started to itch all over my body. When I started searching about it I found that it could be cholestasis of pregnancy. Most of the symptoms matched and I was scared to the core. Cholestasis can lead to still birth. I started getting tensed and I was praying God to keep my baby safe.
(22/08/2014) (in the 39th week of gestation) The itching started becoming worse as time passed by. I was so badly wanting labour to start right then so that I could have my baby safe in my arms. Late evening , that day, I got a strong feeling that my baby would be born by that time the next day.
(23/08/2014) Around 2 am I started to get contractions. It was irregular and very mild. As time progressed the baby's movements became stronger. By 6 am my waters broke and I went to the hospital. The labour was approximately 11 hours.
Sharp at 5.07 pm : Welcome to this world Sai Kishore!!!
For one second I hoped that he would have a normal sized head. No. It did not happen. He had microcephaly and it was evident; but it did not matter to me even a bit... He looked beautiful.
Doctors thought that he might not even survive natural birth, To their astonishment, he fought his way through and survived.
He proved the doctors wrong.He continues doing it every day...
We are proud to be Sai Kishore's parents. He is our hero. We will always love him no matter what.
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
My pregnancy story - part 3 - a 3.5 min read
We were discussing the possibilities of why we were asked to have a repeat scan.It was at that time that a woman passed by and dropped a diagnosis card by mistake. I saw the word 'MICROCEPHALY' on the card. I picked it up and gave it to her. She whizzed away without even thanking me.
I told my husband that maybe she was the parent of the baby whose diagnosis was Microcephaly and that I felt sorry for her. I was explaining him why microcephaly could be such a big problem for the baby and what would probably be the prognosis for the little one.
After a few minutes , another woman gave us a sheet to fill out - ' GENETIC COUNSELING'. Why the heck do we need a counseling when we didn't ask for it in the first place? I skimmed through the form quickly and tears welled up in my eyes. There was one question that broke my heart. ' Was MTP* advised?'. So there was something wrong with my baby or why else would I be asked to fill out some stupid form.The woman who gave me the form collected it back and asked us to go to the counseling room.
*MTP -Medical Termination Of Pregnancy
In the counseling session , we were asked for our family tree, relationships etc. Specifically if any one of us had a small head running in our family. Once we answered all the questions we were given a diagnosis card- the same one that the other woman had dropped. It turned out that I was the mother of the baby who had microcephaly and not her.
By that time I was trying so hard not to cry. We put on a strong face , took the diagnosis card and entered the scan room.
The apathetic behaviour of the sonographer and the hostile environment of the place were adding up to my anger and stress . It was easy to read the sonographer's thoughts. Clearly she felt that she was wasting her time in scanning a 'subject' that was not going to be born. I promised my baby that I would give birth to him no matter what.Once the scan was over she just left the place without saying anything.
Then came the genetic counselor. He was no different from the rest of the people working there. He explained us what the problem was, what we could expect and what was the best thing to do. He was not adept enough to answer our questions. Rather he was just regurgitating whatever he had prepared for this session.
Heart broken , we left the room. I excused myself to the restroom just to cry out as much as I can. My dreams were crushed; it was as if my wishes and expectations were shattered to pieces. I came out as if I had managed to process the information in a matured way.
Half way through the stairs , my husband stopped and turned to look at me. I was acting strong . Suddenly he broke out into tears. It was a day that I would never forget in my life ; it was the first time that I saw my husband, the strongest man I have ever known in my life , shed tears. Seeing him cry , I couldn't act anymore. That was one of the darkest days of my life.
We were not feeling strong enough to break the news so we hid the truth from our families. We had to decide what to do next. Were we going to abort the baby for whom we had grown so much love?
My pregnancy story - Part 2 - a 2 min read
(6/2/2014) I saw my baby in the ultrasound for the second time and it was really an exciting moment. He was so cute- jumping and moving all around. The whole week I was reminiscing about it.
I was given tablets for nausea (they didn't work for me anyway).Back to my symptoms- nausea & vomiting didn't settle down, headache & lower abdominal pain continued, constipation was a new comer. As if that wasn't enough I had dizzy spells, short breath and muscle ache. Yet , the thought of my baby & the anticipation of seeing him in the next scan session made me strong enough to handle all those pregnancy aches.
As I'm writing this, I feel that people will think that I am whining. Everyone talks about how good pregnancy feels, how special being pregnant is, how wonderful the experience is and so on; but the painful side of bearing a child- no one talks about.
Yes, not everyone has to go through so much discomfort during pregnancy; but that doesn't mean everyone has it the easy way. Some have to endure so much during this period that they definitely deserve a salute just for the sake of bearing a child and giving birth.
Coming back to my story,
(27/2/2014) Third ultrasound - The baby moved his hand like saying 'hi'. Wow! Such a special moment.
New set of tablets for nausea ( didn't work). I lost weight because I couldn't even eat a scant amount of food due to severe nausea . Even if I managed to eat a little , I vomited it within few minutes .
Without the support of my husband I couldn't have managed even the least bit of that period.I take this chance to thank him wholeheartedly for being such an awesome , understanding and supportive husband.
(12/3/2014) I think I felt my baby kick- for the first time. I wasn't sure though. After 2 weeks, I started getting regular kicks from the baby. I was eagerly waiting to see him do all those flips in the next ultrasound session.
(17/4/2014) My husband and I entered the ultrasound room with so much expectations. The sonographer was not impressed with the measurements of the baby and we were asked to have a repeat scan. When we questioned her why another scan was necessary she had a grim expression. She finally opened up that the HC(Head circumference) and BPD ( Biparietal Diameter) were not meeting the requirements.
We were so confident that they would have not taken proper measurements since the baby was constantly moving.
THE BOLT FROM THE BLUE
(18/4/2014) It was 'Good Friday'... We were in the waiting room for the repeat scan.
Click here for part 3
I was given tablets for nausea (they didn't work for me anyway).Back to my symptoms- nausea & vomiting didn't settle down, headache & lower abdominal pain continued, constipation was a new comer. As if that wasn't enough I had dizzy spells, short breath and muscle ache. Yet , the thought of my baby & the anticipation of seeing him in the next scan session made me strong enough to handle all those pregnancy aches.
As I'm writing this, I feel that people will think that I am whining. Everyone talks about how good pregnancy feels, how special being pregnant is, how wonderful the experience is and so on; but the painful side of bearing a child- no one talks about.
Yes, not everyone has to go through so much discomfort during pregnancy; but that doesn't mean everyone has it the easy way. Some have to endure so much during this period that they definitely deserve a salute just for the sake of bearing a child and giving birth.
Coming back to my story,
(27/2/2014) Third ultrasound - The baby moved his hand like saying 'hi'. Wow! Such a special moment.
New set of tablets for nausea ( didn't work). I lost weight because I couldn't even eat a scant amount of food due to severe nausea . Even if I managed to eat a little , I vomited it within few minutes .
Without the support of my husband I couldn't have managed even the least bit of that period.I take this chance to thank him wholeheartedly for being such an awesome , understanding and supportive husband.
(12/3/2014) I think I felt my baby kick- for the first time. I wasn't sure though. After 2 weeks, I started getting regular kicks from the baby. I was eagerly waiting to see him do all those flips in the next ultrasound session.
(17/4/2014) My husband and I entered the ultrasound room with so much expectations. The sonographer was not impressed with the measurements of the baby and we were asked to have a repeat scan. When we questioned her why another scan was necessary she had a grim expression. She finally opened up that the HC(Head circumference) and BPD ( Biparietal Diameter) were not meeting the requirements.
We were so confident that they would have not taken proper measurements since the baby was constantly moving.
THE BOLT FROM THE BLUE
(18/4/2014) It was 'Good Friday'... We were in the waiting room for the repeat scan.
Click here for part 3
My pregnancy story- a 2 min read
My pregnancy wasn't what one would call a wonderful experience. I was facing problems right from the start,even before the pregnancy test showed positive - Severe acne (for the first time in my life) , terrible headaches , mood swings, lower back ache to name a few.
On observing a lot of symptoms pointing in the direction of "Hey! You are pregnant", I took a home pregnancy test. Guess what? It showed negative. I had a strong feeling that it was a false-negative.
I decided to repeat the test a few days later.
( 25/12/2013) Pregnancy test - positive. I couldn't control my excitement. I was going to become a mom. I cannot put into words how lovely the moment was.
My first appointment was scheduled for 10th Jan 2014 and my doctor was not available before that.
I had so much trouble concentrating , even on trivial matters.I often had dizzy spells and awful pains in my lower abdomen. My family urged me to have a checkup as soon as possible in order to rule out ectopic pregnancy, and not wait until Jan 10th.
So there I was sitting in front of an obstetrician, who I would say was least interested in listening to me ( wrong choice of doc - my mistake ). Then happened the ultrasound in which she couldn't locate my baby's heartbeat. She blabbered about my baby and that if she didn't get to see my baby's heart beat 2 weeks later , at the next appointment, she would advise D&C for me. Wow, how considerate.I was deeply hurt and started crying the moment I left the hospital. The only gain from that visit was that I ruled out ectopic pregnancy. I vowed to never go back there.
(10/1/2014) Saw my baby's heartbeat in the ultrasound. The baby's age was corrected based on his CRL- from 8W 5D to 6W 4D. The doctors weren't concerned about the correction of age. They said that these kinds of things do happen and that it was nothing to worry about. Feeling reassured , I left the hospital with a good feeling that finally my sufferings were over.
My acne was gone, my headaches were not that terrible and most of the other symptoms were also subsiding.
A week later, I started experiencing nausea and cramping . I felt sick and wanted to lie on the bed all day. I wasn't able to distinguish between nausea and hunger. Acne was back, headaches started getting terrible and I couldn't sleep at night. I started vomiting many times a day and it was draining me out.
Click here for Part 2
On observing a lot of symptoms pointing in the direction of "Hey! You are pregnant", I took a home pregnancy test. Guess what? It showed negative. I had a strong feeling that it was a false-negative.
I decided to repeat the test a few days later.
( 25/12/2013) Pregnancy test - positive. I couldn't control my excitement. I was going to become a mom. I cannot put into words how lovely the moment was.
My first appointment was scheduled for 10th Jan 2014 and my doctor was not available before that.
I had so much trouble concentrating , even on trivial matters.I often had dizzy spells and awful pains in my lower abdomen. My family urged me to have a checkup as soon as possible in order to rule out ectopic pregnancy, and not wait until Jan 10th.
So there I was sitting in front of an obstetrician, who I would say was least interested in listening to me ( wrong choice of doc - my mistake ). Then happened the ultrasound in which she couldn't locate my baby's heartbeat. She blabbered about my baby and that if she didn't get to see my baby's heart beat 2 weeks later , at the next appointment, she would advise D&C for me. Wow, how considerate.I was deeply hurt and started crying the moment I left the hospital. The only gain from that visit was that I ruled out ectopic pregnancy. I vowed to never go back there.
(10/1/2014) Saw my baby's heartbeat in the ultrasound. The baby's age was corrected based on his CRL- from 8W 5D to 6W 4D. The doctors weren't concerned about the correction of age. They said that these kinds of things do happen and that it was nothing to worry about. Feeling reassured , I left the hospital with a good feeling that finally my sufferings were over.
My acne was gone, my headaches were not that terrible and most of the other symptoms were also subsiding.
A week later, I started experiencing nausea and cramping . I felt sick and wanted to lie on the bed all day. I wasn't able to distinguish between nausea and hunger. Acne was back, headaches started getting terrible and I couldn't sleep at night. I started vomiting many times a day and it was draining me out.
Click here for Part 2
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