Home, at last
After spending two long days and nights at the hospital, I was eager to go home. God told me that home is a wonderful place where you can eat, sleep, play, pee pee or poo poo wherever you want. It also has people like Mommy and Daddy.
The morning of 29th June dawned, though a little late for my liking. I couldn't brush my teeth - remember, I am just 2 days old and do not have any teeth. I couldn't take a bath - my umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet. So, I had little to do, except for waiting for the doctors to come and okay our discharge.
But, as Capt. Edward Murphy would know, the doctor will be late when you are waiting for him and longing to go home! So, I waited and slept, slept and ate, ate and waited.... and waited. Finally, the nurses came and wheeled me into the nursery so that the pediatrician could take a look at me. They took some more blood, put me under one of those huge blue lamps and discussed their July 4 holiday plans.
Poor dad. He kept shuttling back and forth between Mommy's room and the nursery. It would be disconcerting for a new parent to see lot of babies laid down like an assembly line, crying their hearts out. But to his credit, Daddy managed to keep a straight face.
What are the advantages if you are an Indian and your baby is born in the US? American citizenship for your baby? Wrong answer :-) The nurses would know you are the parent even in a crowd. Black hair, brown skin, worried face - you get the idea, right?
Coming back to the ordeal of waiting for the doctor... he came, he saw, he left. I was just joking. He checked my reports and noticed that the bilirubin content in my blood was a little high - 6. What this translates into, my dear readers, is that I had mild jaundice. Poor mommy started sobbing as soon as she heard that. It took the doctor a full minute to explain to her that jaundice was common in infants and that it usually goes away by itself in the first week or so.
My weight dropped to 7 lb 3 oz - which meant, I lost 6 ounces in 2 days. Apparently, this was not a cause for concern as all infants lose some weight - up to 10% of their birth weight - in the first week. Having comforted mommy that way, the doctor gave me the thumbs up to leave for home.
That triggered off some frenetic activity. Mommy tried to pack some of our stuff - the clothes, the nappies, the medicines. And daddy went to the car to get the car seat - which would be my secondary mode of transport for the next few months. Just in case you are wondering, the primary mode of transport would be... daddy's and mommy's arms.
A few minutes wait later, Daddy came in with the car seat. One thing I like about daddy is that he accepts that he cannot do some things. He glanced at the car seat and me.... and knew that he had no clue how to put me in the car seat. He called the nurses and asked her to help him put me in the car seat. Giving him a reproving glance, she proceeded to strap me into the car seat.
Have you ever sat in a car seat, or the 'Infant Safety seat' as they call it these days? I mean, did you ever sit in one of those seats and remember how it feels? You do not. Be glad that you don't. Deliberately designed to show us kids who the boss is... these car seats are quite effective at rendering us immobile - which by the way is a highly desirable by-product of the contraption.
Before I go off tangentially, let me continue. I was strapped into the Car seat, my belongings were packed and we were all set to leave my place of birth. The nurses summoned a wheel chair for mommy and off we went.
The car journey was not as bad as I expected. Traffic was light but Daddy's brow was heavy with sweat. I guess driving with a baby, even one as nice as me, could be a huge strain on drivers. Speed limits which were previously routinely ignored and dismissed as a guidance.... were religiously followed. As a result, the ride that normally would have taken 15 min took 32 min to finish.
Does that matter? No, we finally reached HOME.
The morning of 29th June dawned, though a little late for my liking. I couldn't brush my teeth - remember, I am just 2 days old and do not have any teeth. I couldn't take a bath - my umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet. So, I had little to do, except for waiting for the doctors to come and okay our discharge.
But, as Capt. Edward Murphy would know, the doctor will be late when you are waiting for him and longing to go home! So, I waited and slept, slept and ate, ate and waited.... and waited. Finally, the nurses came and wheeled me into the nursery so that the pediatrician could take a look at me. They took some more blood, put me under one of those huge blue lamps and discussed their July 4 holiday plans.
Poor dad. He kept shuttling back and forth between Mommy's room and the nursery. It would be disconcerting for a new parent to see lot of babies laid down like an assembly line, crying their hearts out. But to his credit, Daddy managed to keep a straight face.
What are the advantages if you are an Indian and your baby is born in the US? American citizenship for your baby? Wrong answer :-) The nurses would know you are the parent even in a crowd. Black hair, brown skin, worried face - you get the idea, right?
Coming back to the ordeal of waiting for the doctor... he came, he saw, he left. I was just joking. He checked my reports and noticed that the bilirubin content in my blood was a little high - 6. What this translates into, my dear readers, is that I had mild jaundice. Poor mommy started sobbing as soon as she heard that. It took the doctor a full minute to explain to her that jaundice was common in infants and that it usually goes away by itself in the first week or so.
My weight dropped to 7 lb 3 oz - which meant, I lost 6 ounces in 2 days. Apparently, this was not a cause for concern as all infants lose some weight - up to 10% of their birth weight - in the first week. Having comforted mommy that way, the doctor gave me the thumbs up to leave for home.
That triggered off some frenetic activity. Mommy tried to pack some of our stuff - the clothes, the nappies, the medicines. And daddy went to the car to get the car seat - which would be my secondary mode of transport for the next few months. Just in case you are wondering, the primary mode of transport would be... daddy's and mommy's arms.
A few minutes wait later, Daddy came in with the car seat. One thing I like about daddy is that he accepts that he cannot do some things. He glanced at the car seat and me.... and knew that he had no clue how to put me in the car seat. He called the nurses and asked her to help him put me in the car seat. Giving him a reproving glance, she proceeded to strap me into the car seat.
Have you ever sat in a car seat, or the 'Infant Safety seat' as they call it these days? I mean, did you ever sit in one of those seats and remember how it feels? You do not. Be glad that you don't. Deliberately designed to show us kids who the boss is... these car seats are quite effective at rendering us immobile - which by the way is a highly desirable by-product of the contraption.
Before I go off tangentially, let me continue. I was strapped into the Car seat, my belongings were packed and we were all set to leave my place of birth. The nurses summoned a wheel chair for mommy and off we went.
The car journey was not as bad as I expected. Traffic was light but Daddy's brow was heavy with sweat. I guess driving with a baby, even one as nice as me, could be a huge strain on drivers. Speed limits which were previously routinely ignored and dismissed as a guidance.... were religiously followed. As a result, the ride that normally would have taken 15 min took 32 min to finish.
Does that matter? No, we finally reached HOME.
Comments
We are your pedda doddamma, peddananna, Sravyakka and Suraj anna and we are staying New Jersey. We all love you and want to meet you as soon as possible. God bless you.
with love
doddamma, peddananna, sravya and suraj