"I think my water just broke"
Lets go back a few days in time... June 3rd, Saturday, around 4:00PM... I sat making some changes to my yet-to-be-published photoblog, penning the words "... are expecting their first child in the first week of July..." when I hear Priya steal a line from Hollywood movies "I think my water just broke" - about 5 weeks earlier than expected date.
My hand freezes, blood rushes to my brain, and perhaps some adrenaline with it, which prompts me into a series of robotic actions... get the OB's phone number, but the clinic would be closed (medical emergencies apparently wait for Saturdays and Sundays), call up the labor and delivery dept, gets me redirected to the hospital's main line, someone at the other end takes down the details we had to share with her, and within minutes the on-call doctor gives us a call back and asks us to head for the labor and delivery department at the hospital. We grab our car keys and rush out the door (no, we hadnt prepared the delivery bag yet, we were going to do it just that weekend) and by the time we reach the hospital, the watch is showing 6:45PM.
After some checkups, we are assured that the water indeed break and the most appropriate step is to induce labor. After signing of consent forms and other formalities, Priya is strung up on three different IVs of glucose, anti-biotics and Pitocin. And by 8:00 PM, she is still looking brave and sounding brave "Its pretty much like a bad cramp!"
In the meantime, we decide to call up my parents at Phoenix, AZ and they arrange to fly over by afternoon next day. We also call up Priya's parents in Ahmedabad, India and her mom also prepones her visit to June 9th. Next we request our friends, Senthil and Kanak, to see if one of them could come over and stay with Priya for a while while I gather items of siege from home, to best substitute the missing delivery bag. Kanak and her sister, Puja, appear like savior angels and by 11:30 PM, I have managed to stock up for survival through at least two nights. After Kanak and Puja depart, I learn that during my absence, Kanak has voiced strong opinions over the choice of baby's name. But could that have tipped the delicate balance in choosing the "ever-so-perfect" name for our first born ? Thats a different story, different post.
By 12:00AM, Priya is already pointing to pain level 6 in the pain chart, though I could have sworn that her facial expressions registered no more than level 4. The next two hours pass fairly quickly with Priya tossing and turning in the bed trying, in vain, to find the most convenient position to sleep in amid the web of IV tubes tangling around her, and the nurse strugging just as much to find the right position for the sensors to register the fetal heartbeat, contractions and Priya's blood pressure.
By 1:00AM, Priya is screaming for pain killers and the nurse starts her on a yet another IV of a narcotic which she claims "will take the edge off the pain". Priya gets by on this for another 30 to 40 mins or so, but by 2:00 AM, she is ready for the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologit is located and epidural administered, the clock is registering 3:00PM. With the epidural administered, she feels joy and elation and freedom from pain that I probably cannot even put in words here. The epi lowers her BP some and sends her into shivers, but with proper adminstration of extra fluids, she hangs in there and so does her BP. With Priya comfortable, relaxed and happy over her victory against pain, I pull out the sleeper couch and catch a few winks, waking every now and then to ensure she is comfortable and her BP is keeping up reasonably well.
This brings us to the end of the first chapter in this story of adventure and drama, pain and happiness, companionship and friendship, risk and rewards...
My hand freezes, blood rushes to my brain, and perhaps some adrenaline with it, which prompts me into a series of robotic actions... get the OB's phone number, but the clinic would be closed (medical emergencies apparently wait for Saturdays and Sundays), call up the labor and delivery dept, gets me redirected to the hospital's main line, someone at the other end takes down the details we had to share with her, and within minutes the on-call doctor gives us a call back and asks us to head for the labor and delivery department at the hospital. We grab our car keys and rush out the door (no, we hadnt prepared the delivery bag yet, we were going to do it just that weekend) and by the time we reach the hospital, the watch is showing 6:45PM.
After some checkups, we are assured that the water indeed break and the most appropriate step is to induce labor. After signing of consent forms and other formalities, Priya is strung up on three different IVs of glucose, anti-biotics and Pitocin. And by 8:00 PM, she is still looking brave and sounding brave "Its pretty much like a bad cramp!"
In the meantime, we decide to call up my parents at Phoenix, AZ and they arrange to fly over by afternoon next day. We also call up Priya's parents in Ahmedabad, India and her mom also prepones her visit to June 9th. Next we request our friends, Senthil and Kanak, to see if one of them could come over and stay with Priya for a while while I gather items of siege from home, to best substitute the missing delivery bag. Kanak and her sister, Puja, appear like savior angels and by 11:30 PM, I have managed to stock up for survival through at least two nights. After Kanak and Puja depart, I learn that during my absence, Kanak has voiced strong opinions over the choice of baby's name. But could that have tipped the delicate balance in choosing the "ever-so-perfect" name for our first born ? Thats a different story, different post.
By 12:00AM, Priya is already pointing to pain level 6 in the pain chart, though I could have sworn that her facial expressions registered no more than level 4. The next two hours pass fairly quickly with Priya tossing and turning in the bed trying, in vain, to find the most convenient position to sleep in amid the web of IV tubes tangling around her, and the nurse strugging just as much to find the right position for the sensors to register the fetal heartbeat, contractions and Priya's blood pressure.
By 1:00AM, Priya is screaming for pain killers and the nurse starts her on a yet another IV of a narcotic which she claims "will take the edge off the pain". Priya gets by on this for another 30 to 40 mins or so, but by 2:00 AM, she is ready for the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologit is located and epidural administered, the clock is registering 3:00PM. With the epidural administered, she feels joy and elation and freedom from pain that I probably cannot even put in words here. The epi lowers her BP some and sends her into shivers, but with proper adminstration of extra fluids, she hangs in there and so does her BP. With Priya comfortable, relaxed and happy over her victory against pain, I pull out the sleeper couch and catch a few winks, waking every now and then to ensure she is comfortable and her BP is keeping up reasonably well.
This brings us to the end of the first chapter in this story of adventure and drama, pain and happiness, companionship and friendship, risk and rewards...
posted by kmd at 12:10 AM
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