The other side of the story!

This is the story of birth of a mother, well, almost most of the mothers. Some scrape through it easily. This is definitely my story. You would have seen photos in my facebook profile when my little one was born. A happy, smiling mother with her precious darling son. I was definitely happy, on cloud nine, but there is this other side of that story...

There were three more weeks to go, yet, on that Saturday morning I woke up startled with this excruciating pain and I just knew it. I called up the hospital and they asked me to take paracetamol. Yeah, are you serious? Paracetamol for labour pain?

Finally, by evening we head to the hospital. The mid-wife who examined me says I could go up to four to five days. No way!! We were sent back home and that night, I kept waking up every 15 minutes with this cry which eventually would wake up my husband who sat by my bedside and starts his duty of rubbing my back. And this went until 5 in the morning and after which I could take it no longer and we went back to hospital.

A god-sent angel midwife looked after me on Sunday. She promised she would break my waters artificially and have the baby on the very same day. Oh yes, she promised epidural too! Her decision helped speed up my labour and after receiving epidural, it was all good. My worried mother came straight from the airport to the labour ward only to find her daughter smiling and 'pushing' through the labour. And after an hour, it was the birth of the tiny little thing and he was put straight on my chest. Before tears could well up in my eyes, he started making funny faces at me! Bursts of laughter everywhere!

The real drama began then. They do not let your mother or husband stay at the hospital at night, the new mother and the baby were left all alone. And I realized, I was not prepared for our first time alone together, that too straight after the birth as T was born in the evening. This was the scariest bit of all! I was scared to sleep because you need to keep an eye on the newborn, and I was exhausted from 2 days of labour and sleeplessness. 

After a day, T was diagnosed with high levels of newborn jaundice. He was put under lights and I stood helpless there when he cried and looked for comfort. I was not allowed to take him out other than his three hourly feeds which the nurse said should not last longer than 10 minutes. He remained under the lights for two more days. 

End of it all? No, I was hit by Bells palsy, another consequence of pregnancy and childbirth. It was no good looking at the mirror everyday at your half-drooping face. Well, it resolved in four weeks time. 

Blame it on hormones! I made the life hell for my parents, sister and husband for the following two months. My anger flared up instantly at anything which does not work my way, my OCD way! Worst of all, I hated when they said it's all hormones! Had not my mom and sister stayed here for two months, I would have struggled. A big thank you to all of you!!

I hate to keep my posts long, but could not help it. Here is the final verdict - it was all worth it, trust me!