Birth Story-part I

It's exactly two weeks since we were blessed with another baby girl. Let me tell you how she arrived.

Because H1's was an emergency c-section (yep..even her arrival was full of drama...being the drama queen that she is), we decided that Nanga baba too will be a caesarean. My doctor decided on 23 Aug, Sunday as the day and asked us to admit on Saturday.

Oh well, ze junior had other plans...
Monday, I was purging the whole night and around eight on Tue morning I felt what I thought were contractions. Hubby was getting ready for work, so I told him to hold off going to work and time my contractions. Good grief they were coming every five min! Which was sudden I must say. H1's started about an hour apart, so we had plenty of time to prepare. We hadn't even packed our hospital bag as we thought we had plenty of time.I quickly packed it while Hubs called the doctor who told us to come right away.

So, off to hospital we went. By 9.30 I was hooked on to monitors and the doctor checking my contractions called my doctor (Dr Athula Kaluarachchi...b;ess him!) that I was indeed having mild contractions. Dr A asked them to have me ready for surgery by 11.00 am.

One reason I opted for a ceaser this time as well was that I remember I didn't suffer too much even after the surgery. I was in pain only the first three days or so and that too was only when I tried to get on and off the bed. Another was that, Dr A said he will allow Hubs to be with me this time around.

So around 10.30 I was wheeled to the theater, where they gave me the epidural, which I was dreading, but much to my relief didn't hurt at all.

After putting up drapes and prepping me, everyone calmly waited for Dr A to arrive. Everyone except me of cause. I didn't know I was nervous...but i could hear my heart beat through the monitor and boy was it fast! Once or twice a few alarms went off and the anesthetist asked me, "Are you nervous deary?"

I gave a weak smile, but I don't think she saw it because of the oxygen mask. But none of them seemed too concerned about the alarms because everyone was calmly chatting and joking. I tried saying Ithipisso and Karaneeya metta sutta, but kept forgetting the words. Then Dr A called around 11.00 to say some road was closed and he's stuck in traffic and will get a little late. I think it's justified that a few more alarms went off after that don't you think?

Finally around 11.30 Dr A arrived and my Hubs was allowed in. It was sooo good to have him with me that I think all my readings were very normal after that and I did not hear any more beeps.

After a lot of shaking and pulling at 12.05 p.m. arrived our Angel number 2!!!!

Helooooooooo Everyone!

Ah! I know these two!

Somebody give me a bath!

Stay tuned and I will tell you about my recovery after the C-section...Oh boy!

Go Figure!

H1 talking with her grandma, "Kiriamma, why are you called Kiriamma? Why not Cheese amma?"
After a giggle from Kiriamma, "Or why not Watermelon amma?"

Preggy Post

It's been a week since our new arrival and so far she has been a fairly easy baby compared to H1, maybe to make up for all the worries we had during the pregnancy.

I so wanted to blog about all my preggy experiences but after the 12th week, just when we thought it's safe to announce to the world that we were expecting, the most scariest thing happened.

I had just put up these two posts, 1 and 2, when one night I started bleeding. It felt like the whole world collapsed around me. We quickly rushed to the Emergency Room and was told that the baby was doing OK, but it could be a threatened miscarriage, and I was put on bed rest for a few days.

I quickly took the posts off the blog. Those were the most terrifying of days. I just chanted pirith all the time hoping that everything will be alright. Though I wanted to share all my experiences like the first kick or how the pregnancy was progressing I didn't want want to jinx it in anyway so I kept it quite even from close friends, relatives and this blog.

After a few days of bed rest, when the spotting had stopped I went to the mall and walked a fair bit. The spotting started again and the doctor put me on bed rest again for a few days and told me its OK to go back to work after a few days. So again when it stopped I went back to work and started spotting again.

Though the doctor told us that there is no connection between walking or working and the spotting, I noticed that it was when I walked a fair bit that this happened. We decided that nothing was worth than our baby and decided to give up my job. Luckily I had already told my employers that I would be leaving soon as we were getting ready to go back to Sri Lanka, so I was able to stop immediately.

Then on our 20th week ultrasound the doctor gave us more scary news. He said that I have a low-lying placenta and it was completely covering the opening of the cervix. This can later cause Placenta Previa. Now we were really scared as in a few weeks time we were to fly to Sri Lanka. I was sooo scared that flying would harm the baby, but the doctor assured us that since it's a short flight, the risks were very low. But you know how mothers are...I was worried the whole time and again right throughout the journey I kept chanting pirith to keep my mind at ease.

We had made an appointment with my gynecologist, Dr Kaluarachchi (who was H1's doctor), the same day we landed as we wanted to make sure the baby is alright after the flight. It was so reassuring to see him again. He's such a calming person that I immediately felt safe with him. He told us that there was nothing to worry about and not to think too much about the placenta as most move away from the opening of the cervix as the pregnancy progresses.

All in all, this pregnancy was filled with worries for me and I am so thankful that our baby came into the world without further complications.

Stay tuned and I will tell you about the whole birth experience...that one was scary too.

Look what the Stork brought in

A baby girl!!!

DOB 18/08/09
TIME 12.05 p.m.
WEIGHT 2.7 kg
LENGTH 48 cm
HABITS nocturnal (gaaaaaaaaah!)

details will follow after I get some much needed sleep and am able to keep my eyes open.

Garfield keeps getting fatter!

How I see it

H1 watching a heard of cattle walking leisurely down the main road, "They are going on a field trip...that's the teacher right in front..."

Art Stuff

H1's kindergarten had an art exhibition last week. These are her handy work.

That purple and pink fish is mine!

I drew this part of the picture

These are our group projects