Towards the 8th month of your pregnancy or in the beginning of your ninth month, you need to keep a packed bag handy for your hospital visit. You cannot be expected to pack one in a hurry once the labour begins. It is best to keep it packed beforehand and just pick it up on your way to the hospital.
1. The amount of cash deposit that the hospital asks before admitting patients. (Ask your doctor or the hospital staff / accounts department for this information.)
2. 10 to 12 sets of nappies for the newborn, around the same number of swaddling cloths and Baby's sheets, 8 to 10 sets of clothes for the new born.
3. Ask the hospital if they provide clothes for the patients. If not, pack a couple of sets for yourself. Your baby may soil your clothes as well, so have a couple of sets handy. Definitely remember to pack underclothes even if the hospital expects their patients to wear uniforms.
4. Take along all your medical prescriptions issued during your pregnancy and all the reports of all the tests, sonographies or other scans you may have undergone during your pregnancy.
5. Pack your toothbrush, toothpaste, soaps, bath towel, hand towel and a box of tissues.
6. Pack your babies bath towel, a couple of small napkins to wipe off after-feed burps and throw-ups, soap/ shower gel and shampoo for your baby. Depending on how you feel about it, you could also pack some talcum powder for the baby.
7. If your hospital does not provide the patients with food, carry a plate, a bowl, a glass and a couple of spoons.
8. In the last minute, fill a couple of bottles with water to take along. You'll need them yourself and those waiting with you will need some too.
9. Pack sanitary napkins for yourself. If you are prone to heavy bleeding, having a couple of nappy pads, helps as they are better than sanitary napkins at holding heavy flows.
Apart from this, make a list of phone numbers for your family to easily access when you are in labour.
Starting with the person who has to be contacted first to transport you to the hospital, include numbers of your hospital and your doctor. If you have decided to save the baby's stem cells, you have call your stem cell bank and inform them as well, so have their number on your list.
The list should carry clear instructions on who has to be called in what order and the message to convey to each of them.
Make many copies of this list and have them put up in areas that can be clearly seen and reached. The title should clearly state, in big bold letters, "What To Do When I go Into Labour".
It's always best to be prepared and I hope this list helps you in some way!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Trying to get pregnant
Well I tried to get pregnant and it was really hard the first time around.
My husband and I would try and try and still at the end of the month, I'd get my periods with unfailing regularity. It started getting to me and to him. I will attempt to share with you what worked for us.
First let us understand some general facts.
Women ovulate in some cycles and need not ovulate in all cycles. By "cycle" I mean the time from the the day you start your period to the day before you get your next period.
Depending on the length of your cycle, your peak fertility date varies. It is generally 14 days before the start of our next period, but if you have irregular cycles, this is difficult to arrive at.
Typically, the female egg needs to be fertilized within 24 hours of being ruptured in order for you to conceive.
That means you have to have intercourse in these 24 hours to get pregnant.
Sperms can stay active for upto five days after entering a female's vagina. According to modern science, male sperms (that make a foetus male), are active for 24 hours only while sperms which are responsible for female foetuses are active for upto five days after intercourse has taken place.
Frequent sex leads to a diminishing sperm count. This means that the more often you have sex, the less sperms are released each time.
So, for maximum chances of getting pregnant, you ideally:
a. need to know your date of ovulation
b. need to ensure that there are enough sperms to result in a pregnancy.
There are various arguments that if you have all your information correctly, you can even plan the sex of your child. There are ancient Hindu texts that recommend various days of the month depending ona woman's cycle and the phases of the moon to ensure a child of a particular sex. I won't get into that right now.
The first time I tried getting pregnant, I didn't manage in the first four or five months. My Doctor said that though she could put me on fertility treatment straight off, she wanted to see if i was ovulating naturally, so we agreed to have follicular testing done for the first month before we started fertility treatment.
Follicular testing involves a series of sonographies where the doctor checks the size of your "follicle" or "egg". When it reaches a particular size, it is said to be mature and then it must rupture.
In my case the problem was that though I was producing the egg, it wouldn't rupture on it's own. So I had to take an injection to rupture it and then indulge in intercourse in the next 24 hours to ensure I got pregnant.
Your doctor may recommend some tablets to boost your fertility if she feels the need.
If a couple of cycles of this treatment fails, they may ask your spouse to go in for a sperm count and recommend a course of treatment if it is not high enough.
If all this fails, there i In-Vitro-Fertilization or IVF treatment. Thankfully I never needed it.
The second time around, since I had all this information, I didn't need any assistance from a doctor and got pregnant quite happily and promptly.
In India, these are not things we discuss openly and infomration is difficult to come by. I hope this helps some of you at least a little.
My husband and I would try and try and still at the end of the month, I'd get my periods with unfailing regularity. It started getting to me and to him. I will attempt to share with you what worked for us.
First let us understand some general facts.
Women ovulate in some cycles and need not ovulate in all cycles. By "cycle" I mean the time from the the day you start your period to the day before you get your next period.
Depending on the length of your cycle, your peak fertility date varies. It is generally 14 days before the start of our next period, but if you have irregular cycles, this is difficult to arrive at.
Typically, the female egg needs to be fertilized within 24 hours of being ruptured in order for you to conceive.
That means you have to have intercourse in these 24 hours to get pregnant.
Sperms can stay active for upto five days after entering a female's vagina. According to modern science, male sperms (that make a foetus male), are active for 24 hours only while sperms which are responsible for female foetuses are active for upto five days after intercourse has taken place.
Frequent sex leads to a diminishing sperm count. This means that the more often you have sex, the less sperms are released each time.
So, for maximum chances of getting pregnant, you ideally:
a. need to know your date of ovulation
b. need to ensure that there are enough sperms to result in a pregnancy.
There are various arguments that if you have all your information correctly, you can even plan the sex of your child. There are ancient Hindu texts that recommend various days of the month depending ona woman's cycle and the phases of the moon to ensure a child of a particular sex. I won't get into that right now.
The first time I tried getting pregnant, I didn't manage in the first four or five months. My Doctor said that though she could put me on fertility treatment straight off, she wanted to see if i was ovulating naturally, so we agreed to have follicular testing done for the first month before we started fertility treatment.
Follicular testing involves a series of sonographies where the doctor checks the size of your "follicle" or "egg". When it reaches a particular size, it is said to be mature and then it must rupture.
In my case the problem was that though I was producing the egg, it wouldn't rupture on it's own. So I had to take an injection to rupture it and then indulge in intercourse in the next 24 hours to ensure I got pregnant.
Your doctor may recommend some tablets to boost your fertility if she feels the need.
If a couple of cycles of this treatment fails, they may ask your spouse to go in for a sperm count and recommend a course of treatment if it is not high enough.
If all this fails, there i In-Vitro-Fertilization or IVF treatment. Thankfully I never needed it.
The second time around, since I had all this information, I didn't need any assistance from a doctor and got pregnant quite happily and promptly.
In India, these are not things we discuss openly and infomration is difficult to come by. I hope this helps some of you at least a little.
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