9 month old

Aarav is 9 months old now. Feels like he was born yesterday. Last 9 months have been the best moments of my life. He is a darling. Whereever he goes, people fall in love with him. Now, he has started to stand on his own, takes few steps and sits down when his tiny feet get tired.

First month

First few weeks were very challenging. We both were new to breastfeeding, I was having problem in attaching him properly and Aarav was finding sucking bit difficult. At times he did it without any extra effort but other times he used to forget. As as result just after 2 days of his birth he got dehydrated and lost 12 % of his birth weight and was admitted to nursery for 4 days. When the doctor insterted needle in his tiny veins, I couldn't stop my tears from flowing. Those 4 days were like a nightmare when he used to scream in pain. The good thing was that infection came under control, I started getting milk and we both were given discharge. I wish all the babies in nursery recover fast and live a normal life.

Aarav has been very alert since day 1. He loves looking at our eyes. It feels like those big eyes are trying to say something.

Arrival of Baby

On 25th Feb, mild contraction started which gradually changed its intensity. My midwife came to visit me on 26th feb, did an internal examination and unfortunatley my cervix hadn't started to dilate. She again came in the evening and the findings were still the same. It was getting quiet frustrating for me as the pain was getting severe and the frequency of contractions had increased but still the cervix dilation didn't start. I was really lucky as my husband was thoroughly with me during those contractions. He was helding my hand and used to start counting whenever the contractions used to start.

On 27th morning another midwife came to visit me and she told me to focus on breathing rather than clench my fists whenever contractions start. It did help me. The best way to face contraction is to deeply inhale, and feel the air getting into your lungs and then exhale. She told me the pain is in your mind and you can easily manipulate it. By afternoon I had started vomiting and was not able to eat or drink anything. I was just putting ice cubes in my mouth to keep myself hydrated. Finally we went to birth center and there we met another midwife who was like an angel to me. The plan was to get me morphine injection so that I could get some sleep and become ready for final labor. At 8 pm , morphine was injected to me and by 12 am I was up again. And then the severe contraction started and I felt like doing a poo everytime it came.

On 28th morning, doctor came to visit me and by that time my cervix was dilated by 3 cm. My water was broken and epidural was administered to me. After taking epidural I slept peacefully for 7-8 hours. Finally at 5:30 pm I started pushing and at 8:24 my little bundle of joy came out. When he was given to me, I just couldn't stop crying. That's the most precious moment of my hubbys and my life. We both looked at each other and said it feels like a sweet dream.

I named my baby "Aarav" meaning peaceful. When he first opened his eyes I felt a little angel is looking at me with so much of love. I am very thankful to my hubby for supporting me throughout. Even when I was pushing , he was thoroughly encouraging me and was actually helding my leg so that I can push.

Week 38

Yesterday I went to visit my midwife and she told me that baby's head is engaged. It's deep inside the pelvis. For last 2 days bubs movement have decreased a lot. It's not moving vigourously now. My midwife assured me it's all normal as very little space is left for bub now.Braxton Hick contractions have increased, making it very uncomfortable for me to walk now. I try to stay active but the tightening of uterus restricts all of my activities. At times, I get period like feeling, which is a good sign. My midwife told me that my baby is a happy baby and the body is well prepared for contractions. Hoping for the best :)

Third Trimester

First 5 weeks

For the last 5 weeks, I was feeling very constipated, my stomach felt bloated. Before this, I never got the urge to pee in middle of night. Now I understood why this all happened. Morning sickness hasn't started at this stage. Reading on internet, I found out following development has taken place so far.

Week 1 : Not sure, why this is called week 1 of pregnancy as conception might not have happened so far. By the end of perod, the inner lining of uterus thickens in preparation for implantation primarly because of an increase in the progesterone hormone. If the implamantation doesn't take place, the hormone level drops and body gets rid of thickened layer in form of bleeding (period). No sign of baby at this stage, it's still hidden in one of the luck ovaries.



Week 2 : Also known as 1 week before the conception or the magic week.
Body is working hard for the ovulation. Progestrone level is rising and uterus is thickening. Period has come to an end and one of the ovaries is ripening and will soon released. After being released, it will have to make a journey down the fallopian tube in search of the lucky sperm.

Week 3: 1 week after conception
Within hours after lucky sperm meets lucky egg, resulting zygote starts to continuously divide.
Within 6-7 days, it turns into blastocyst(microscopic ball of 100 cells) and it heads on its journey from fallopian tube to its home for 8 1/2 mths,i.e, uterus.

Body starts to produce a hormone called HCG( Human Chorionic Gonadtrophin) which is detected in urine while doing a pregnancy test. It is this hormone which ensures that ovaries are producing more progestrone so that body doesn't get rid of lining of uterus. Ovaries will continue to produce progestrone for about 9 weeks, until the placenta takes over. It's the side effect of this increase in hormone which leads to morning sickness, tender nipples , indigestion and other pregnancy symptoms.

Week 4: Implantation week
To be baby, the blastocyst is now called embryo and has reached uterus where it will stay connected to its mother until delivery. Now it undergoes the great division and splits into 2 groups. First half will become son or daughter while the other half will become the placenta (baby's lifeline). The water bag,i.e amniontic sac, is forming and so is the yolk sac, which later gets incorporated into baby's developing digestive tract. The 3 layers of embryo is getting to grow into specialized parts of the tiny body.
1. Ectoderm - The outer layer will form nervous system, hair, skin, and eyes.
2.Mesoderm - The middle layer will soon be baby's heart, sex organs, bones, kidneys, and muscles.
3. Endoderm - The inner layer will form into digestive system, liver and lungs.

Note: During this period, some women suffer from bleeding, menstrual cramps which is normal as it happens because of the implamantation.

Week 5 : Baby's brain has started to develop. The placenta and umbilical cord has developed and is providing feed to new body. It pumps in oxygen, expels waste and supply essential nutrients. Little one is about the half the size of a grain of rice, around 2 mm long.

Source of reference: What to expect when you're expecting

Changing day in my life

It was 3 pm on 28th june,2009. I had missed my periods by 15 days, so I decided to do to a pregnancy test at home. I started the test and saw the pink bar appearing. I couldn't believe my eyes and I rushed to my hubby and showed him the test result. For a second he also couldn't believe it. I took another one and did the test again. Again the result was same. A little soul has arrived in my body. We immediately went to our GP for the urine and blood test. Though home test are 90% accurate, still we just wanted to make sure. After 2 days the results arrived and the doctor declared me 6 weeks pregnant. Still hard to believe but I started feeling new all of a sudden.