Of Deliveries and Dosas

I, along with 24 other bloggers are celebrating #9daysofwomanhood throughout Navratri. I've never felt more fierce than during my labour, so this is an apt story with which to celebrate womanhood. Thanks for setting the stage for me Uttara - I loved your blog sharing your experience!

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The gynac and I both stared at the machine monitoring my contractions. I'd come in for my regular 40th week check-up, and she'd suggested I check.

"You really don't feel that?" she asked.

"I feel... something," I said. Mostly the need for chocolate and a long walk, but the machine told me I was supposed to be in pain. 

"You're in early labour, and the contractions are pretty intense. If you're not in pain, I guess..." she trailed off. "Maybe you could come back later. Be prepared for the baby to come soon."

Uh, no. By now I'd realized that my doctor was the kind who preferred to be safe than sorry. She'd been saying the baby could come any day now for the last few weeks - thanks to my blood sugar being high and the baby's weight being low. But I'd continued to do my yoga, eat well, and hope for the best... and here we were at week 40. So you can excuse my taking her proclamation that I was going to have a baby soon with a pinch of salt. 


The next two days flew by as usual. I walked 2km twice a day, shopped a lot, and cooked + cleaned up the kitchen after myself. My mom tried to remind me that I was technically in labour, but I couldn't feel much more than standard PMS. After I wiped down the kitchen on the night of Feb 7, I SMS'ed my friends to make sure we were going bandi-hopping the next day. Hyderabad is famous for its street vendors who sell dosas from 2am onwards. By 5am, they're sold out. For some reason, I hadn't made it to a bandi yet, and I was itching to go visit one before I had the baby. 

"Just hold off for one more day," I told my belly. My due date was February 8, but I really wanted a Valentine's baby. I was hoping I could be like most other first time moms, who typically have their babies later than the due date. 

I switched from reading a good book to reading a horrible V.C.Andrews trash novel. It was outrageously bad, but I didn't have the mind space to read anything better. And I couldn't not read - that's how I put myself to sleep. For some reason, I was having more trouble concentrating than usual. When the husband came home at around 10:30pm, I was still struggling to make sense of the plot (in my defense, that plot makes NO sense.)

"Are you having contractions?" he asked. My mom had tipped him off that I'd cut my evening walk short by a little bit.

"No, I just need to poop. I'm going to Govind's bandi tomorrow morning, ok?" I said.

I shifted to the loo, but (excuse the TMI), I just felt massively constipated. I tried to figure out my book again, but couldn't. 

"Should we go to the hospital?" the husband asked.

"This is nothing!" I said, convinced by all the movies I'd seen and the reading I'd done that the pain would be a whole lot worse. "They'll send us back home. We can't go until the contractions get much closer. I'll go eat my bandi dosas tomorrow, and then we'll go to the hospital later."

(Yes, priorities, dosas over deliveries).

Image result for govinds bandi dosa
Pic courtesy machax.com

I downloaded a contraction timer anyway and tried to time them. They made no sense at all. They came close together and lasted a long while, then they spaced themselves out a bit, and lasted for a shorter duration. I was convinced they'd go away if I could only use the loo. Either way, they could certainly wait until 7am, by which time I could have eaten that dosa I'd been longing for.

"Is it paining?" the husband asked again, at around 3am, when he woke up to find me still on the loo.

"No! I just want to sleep!" I said, trying to figure out what the hell my book was saying. Little did I know I wasn't going to sleep though the night again for the next two and a half years (and bloody counting).

At around 4:15am, I realized I wasn't going to get my bandi dosa after all. I figured I was going to be that woman who went to the hospital and was told to go back home because this pain was nothing. Still, I figured I may as well go, mostly because I wasn't able to sleep anyway, and my husband was starting to get annoyed at my denial of any pain. The Uber driver was petrified I was going to have the baby in his cab, and sped through the nearly deserted roads. In retrospect, I'm lucky I didn't have the baby in our loo. We barely made it to the hospital. A duty nurse inspected me casually... all my research about long first-time labours and contraction intervals made me so sure I wasn't experiencing the real thing, I was quite calm. To my surprise, she said, "Don't move! I'm calling the doctor."

My gynac made it over in ten minutes flat, despite it being a Sunday. Next thing I knew, the room was full of people, and they said I was going to have a baby very soon. I figured they were exaggerating to make me feel good about myself, I was still sort of embarrassed that I'd come all the way to the hospital before I was in 'labour proper.' I asked if I could please use the loo, and the doctor said no, because what I was feeling wasn't poop, it was the baby. That's probably when I realized this was actually happening. The next five minutes were a blur. My waters were burst with a shepherd's hook, and the baby came out in record time. So fast, in fact, that I had to have an episiotomy so that I wouldn't tear brutally. Honestly, those episiotomy stitches hurt more than the labour. My doctor kept telling me not to tense up, and reminding me that I'd barely felt labour. There's no comparison, this was so much worse! I was tempted to ask for an epidural. 


Somewhere in there, I managed to ask if it was a boy or a girl. I'd won the birth lottery of my dreams, it was a girl! I can't get over how lucky I felt in that moment; to have not just a healthy baby with an unfussy delivery, but also a girl. It's everything I'd ever wanted. There were tears from my gynac, who couldn't believe how quickly it all went. Yeah, me neither. A few minutes later, I was blissfully feeding my daughter, and that's how I became a mom. Bang on my expected due date, with irregular contractions and no water bursting. Sometimes all the reading you do doesn't prepare you; you get to be the lucky exception to every first-time-labour rule. 

Oh, and I'm still waiting to go bandi hopping (or get a full night's sleep!) a good two years later :D If you've a labour story to share, I'd love to hear it! You can check out my co-blogger Anubhuti's story for today here


50 comments:

  1. Wow I felt like I was reading a novel! Such beautiful flow. Oh btw I kept telling my baby to wait on so I could attend to my cravings. Not only did he oblige, labour had to be induced because he just wouldn't come hhehe

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  2. I lovee the pictures and am now craving dosas

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    1. Haha what a lovely, cooperative little boy! Mine heard about dosas and probably charged out to see if they were as yummy as I expected them to be :D

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  4. wow, what a beautifully penned down story, and omg you didn't feel the pains...hope you get to eat your fav dosas with your girl soon!!

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    1. I'm very reluctant to have a second baby, I'm sure second time labour won't necessarily be as smooth :D Meanwhile, we both definitely are big foodies!

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  5. This is an amazing birth story, and I really do feel like writing my own! Just that it's been more than a decade! The contraction timer ? Wow I had no idea about taht! I also hope you get to eat the Dias soonπŸ™‚

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    1. Better late than never though! Would love to read it anyway. And wow, a decade ago, you're an experienced mom.

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  7. Lovely story! What an experience :)

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  8. I had a Feb baby too & just like you I kept not expressing my pain as I wanted mine & baby's birthday to fall on the same day. The baby came right on her due date just 10 hrs before my bday. Now we will be celebrating birthdays on 2 consecutive days. I just loved reading throng this beautifully expressed post. The minutest of the detail took me back to my labour day πŸ˜‡

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    1. Awww, longer celebrations are always a good thing! We take off from 8th to 17th every year to celebrate her birthday, Valentine's, and our engagement-anniversary :)

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  9. You woman literally glided through your labour πŸ˜… I loved reading your post and was actually sad that it has ended πŸ˜‹

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  10. I love your dosa Pregnancy. cheers to dosa and baby πŸ˜‹

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    1. Thanks so much Upasana :) Cheers to raising mini foodies indeed!

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  11. That's so beautifully penned down. I am sure now you get to enjoy your bandi dosas with your baby ;)

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    1. Hehe soon, very soon :) Maybe when she turns 3 she'll stay awake long enough to come out with me.

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  12. You definitely have your priorities right ;) I like that you wanted to still make it for the dosa :) and lucky you .. didn't feel the contractions.. I was up all night before I went in to active labour! Loved the read

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    1. Aww. I always feel slightly guilty/silly when I tell this story, but I blame the dosas :)

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  13. I never experienced labor either because I delivered via C-sec at 40+ weeks. I am not sure how I would have handled the labor pain though. It scares me to even think about it. Maybe because all my friends and relatives have had very long and painful labor. But good to know yours wasn't too bad. God bless.

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    1. There are stories like this too :) I also heard horror stories, I think reality invariably ends up being different. But a C-sec at 40+ weeks, wow! Takes a different kind of strength too.

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  14. I think every women becomes a #maadurga while in labor. I went through induced labor for almost 9 hours..it was the most scary night ever. Good to read your labor story.

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    1. Oh wow, that sounds really challenging! More power to you for labouring through it successfully :)

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  15. I know of a friend who had a similar experience. Who didn't realise that she was in labor and when she did go to the hospital, she delivered in 10 minutes flat. Enjoyed reading your story

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    1. Haha just happy your friend and I both made it to the hospital :D Thanks for stopping by!

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  16. Akshaya I have been in splits!! I mean I'm a sore reader. I cant read but I read each and every word of what you wrote and you freaking had me hooked!! This is a masterpiece!!

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  17. So beautiful! It was like a page from a novel.. i didnt blink until i read til d end! Loved the dosa pic...

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    1. Aww, thank you so much! Comments like this make my day :)

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  18. I like how you've got your priorities straight! Haha

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    1. Me and my daughter both! Lol. Both shameless foodies.

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  19. I was giggling all the way! Satish walked in wondering why .. :D

    It was the same for both my deliveries too :D
    I thought I knew about being heavily constipated and pushing the baby .. but no .. only on my second visit to the loo assuring the nurse I knew what I was doing .. I realized .. I was in very very active labor :D

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    1. Lol! Second baby also? That's truly remarkable. Anyway, as long as all's well that ends well :D And thank you so much, you're always the best motivation!

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  20. P.S. U must really really write more often

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  21. What a lovely story of your birth. I am amazed how despite the baby attempting to come out you felt it was just a normal case of constipation. hahaha. But i do remember that feeling of bladder always feeling full. And I am so glad you wrote this. I hope you will write lots more.

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    1. Thank you so much :) I'm happy this blogathon got me started. And I'm not risking another baby, who knows what that delivery will feel like!

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  22. Hahaha..had fun reading this.. especially when you asked your doc if you can use the washroom and doc said it's the baby and not poop. πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
    Hope you get to enjoy those yummy looking dosas soon :)

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    1. Thank you :) :) Those dosas are on my to-do list for sure!

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  23. This was a fun read. Interesting to read about all pregnancy stories.

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    1. Thank you :) I love reading them too. Used to read so many when I was pregnant.

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  24. Oh wow! I loved reading this... Karma toh was super comfortable inside and my labour was induced. Even then she wasn't coming out and I went mad pushing and the nurses also went mad pushing down on my stomach during labour... haha. But the second she came out, Karan and I both burst into hysterical laughter. This really brought back memories. :D

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    1. That's hilarious! What a dramatic entrance Karma made :D And may I say, she seems to absolutely be worth the wait <3

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  25. You’re such a hilarious and creative writer! You should consider writing a book! I loved reading your story!

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    1. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your saying that! It's been on my to-do list forever and I keep chickening out, despite having a couple of drafts ready :D

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  26. My God.. you are hilarious.. :D I am wondering how it's going to be for me as I am expecting my second child. *fingers crossed*

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    1. Oh wow, congrats!! Would love to hear your experience, all the best :)

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  27. You are damn lucky to not have been in pain. My mom had similar experience when she had me. She says she was drowsy from the blood pressure meds and didn't realise when actually i was born! No feeling of pain!!!

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    1. Here's hoping you have the same experience for any future babies! :)

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