Confession time: I didn't like kids

...or babies. I especially did not like children between the ages 4 and 9. I even hated being a kid! I wanted to grow up as soon as possible. That was a while back. Now that I have 2 kids of my own, I love babies and I can definitely manage older kids.
When I was about 7 or 8, a lot of people used to visit our home. With little kids in tow. The kids were always handed over to me (because I was a girl and that means that I automatically loved kids); while the mothers chatted happily with my mom. Those kids would routinely stick bubblegum in my hair, tear out pages from my beloved books, and break my belongings. They screamed and ran all around the house. They demanded to be fed and entertained since they were under my charge. They were little ROGUES. I hated them.

Once, at school, we were asked to manage junior classes, as a part of our curriculum. I was around ten then. We were asked to mind a class of six-year olds. Unfortunately, my partner was as bad with kids, as I was. We ended up with 50 hysterical children. It's a good thing that I did not know any swear words back then. Finally, when the hour of torture was over, I presumed that everyone would have fared as we did. Apparently not. One of my friends said that her class behaved perfectly. She told the kids stories to keep them entertained. What an idea! Why didn't I think of it?

Your kid is so......

.....small, weak, thin, short ___ (fill in the blank with a negative adjective). There seems to be an epidemic of sanctimommies these days. Both my kids are on the smaller side. My son hates to eat food and each meal is a battle with him. However, we still manage to feed him his daily dose of proteins, vitamins, and carbs. My daughter, on the other hand, eats well. Still, both are small for their age. I know most of it is due to genetics, as both H and I are not very tall. It is INFURIATING to hear from other people that I am probably not taking good care of my children. I met an ex-colleague the other day at the park and he gave me some really good advice. He suggested that next time someone says that to me, I should say that I eat my kids food on the sly. Or that I leave them hungry and watch TV while they beg for food. This is why they are as they are. Priceless! I should do that one day.

Low Amniotic Fluid - My experience

For details on low amniotic fluid or Oligohydramnios, refer to this link.
I suffered from low amniotic fluid in both my pregnancies. In my first pregnancy, it started a bit late, when I was almost 37 weeks along. My normal Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI) should have been between 8-18. It was somewhere around 5. Adequate resting and drinking loads of water did not help at all. When the level dropped to 2, my doctor suggested immediate induction. I had already crossed 37 weeks by then and I was also suffering from heavy bleeding. I had a healthy baby boy at the end of the delivery.

With my 2nd pregnancy, I had this much earlier- at 33 weeks.
During my regular appointment, I was happily chatting away with my doctor, when suddenly she stopped talking. Frown lines appeared on her forehead and she asked me to go for a NonStress test immediately. She informed me that baby had not grown proportionately in the past month and my AFI had dipped to 6! She a
So told me that I will be admitted to the hospital immediately if something is wrong.

Chorionic Vilius Sampling (CVS) Testing - My experience

Some people breeze through their pregnancies without an incident. I am not one of those mummies. I had quite a few hiccups in both my pregnancies. I went through CVS testing during my second pregnancy. Here is my experience.

I was super excited about my second baby. Even though I had a bad pregnancy experience the first time, I was looking forward to having another baby in the house. I went through all the routine tests that are done in the first trimester of the pregnancy. I opted to go for the Down Syndrome test as well.

The test consisted of  2 parts. the first was an ultrasound for soft markers of Down Syndrome and other related conditions. The second was a blood chemistry test.

I went through the ultrasound and got the report instantly. The baby had 1 in 247 chance of having a condition called Trisomy 13. The counsellor told me not to worry as the blood test results were still pending and the final results may look much better after that. She also told me that another test will be offered only is the ratio was less than 1:300.

Birth Story - My daughter

So after a harrowing birth experience with my firstborn, I still decided to go back to the same hospital. Why? It's because they are the best in managing complicated pregnancy cases, in case the need arises. My second birth experience was a cakewalk compared to my first. Well almost.

I had low amniotic fluid in this pregnancy as well and my baby had not turned till 37 weeks. My lovely doctor decided to wait for some more time instead of forcing a c-sec on me. 
After 38 weeks checkup, my baby had turned and my amniotic fluid also went up for the first time in weeks! I was asked to wait for normal birth. Yay!

I was 39 weeks plus, when I decided to shop for a Moses basket for my baby. I walked a lot that day to find a perfect basket that I wanted. The same day my contractions started. The doctor had told me to come to the hospital when the contractions were 10 minutes apart. But wait a minute, my contractions started at 10 minutes apart. I decided to wait before heading to the hospital. My husband was out partying with his friends so I called him back. 

Birth Story - My son

5 years ago, I gave birth to my first bundle of joy - my dear son. The birth story, however, is not so joyful. In fact, I am surprised that I went ahead and had a second baby after going through this....

The last few weeks of my pregnancy  were really stressful. I was having a rough time in office, with people being fired left,  right, and center. Yes, this was the year 2008 - year of the global financial crisis.
One not-so-fine morning, I realised that I was bleeding profusely. I continued with the heavy bleeding right up to the day of my delivery (this was a total of 3+ weeks!). To top it all, I had Oligohydramnios, which in layman's terms means low amniotic fluid (this is a whole new story, that I will blog about some day).
Finally, one day the amniotic fluid went dangerously low and my doctor decided to induce me within the next few hours. She asked me to go back home, get ready and come back.
So back I went, had a shower, ate a morsel, and gathered my baby bag. It was almost midnight when I went back with my husband and mother-in-law.

Turning this into a mommy blog

Alright, so I am turning this blog into a mom blog now to jot down my experiences with my two little kids. I have a 5 year old son and a 10 month old daughter. While bringing up my daughter, I realised that I had already forgotten most of the stuff that I enjoyed while bringing up my son.
So here, I will note down whatever I remember from the past 5 years. Of course I will start with my birth stories! Aren't those the most important? :D