One Life

My first thought when I woke up in the morning was, “No baby yet.” But that wasn’t unusual. I’ve had that thought every morning for weeks before my due date.  On June 12, I went into the hospital as planned to have my labour induced. I was strangely calm throughout the process. I was moved to a private room where I fell asleep to voices around me. An hour or so later, I woke up with a jerk to see water gushing out of me. My doctor did an exam and said that I needed to go into surgery immediately. The baby had pooped in the womb and was in danger of inhaling it. Shiiit! I had started to get a little anxious by then. They moved me into an operation theater and stuck a needle down my spine. I was numb from the waist down within a few seconds. They asked me if I wanted my eyes covered, I said no. My sister-in-law held my hand reassuringly. I could feel my body shaking as the doctors cut through it. It was only a couple of minutes before the little one came out with ...

Today, I'm exactly two weeks away from  my   due date .  Two weeks!  Where did the time go? Pregnancy just  flew  by, and here I am, anxiously awaiting labour .  T he idea of giving birth terrifies me. I generally have a very low tolerance for pain and fear of the unknown is starting to get to me.   When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't too thrilled. I was about a year and a half into my marriage, and I was nowhere near ready. But then I realised that you can never be prepared for something as big as parenthood.   The first three months were awful.  Your body goes through lots of changes  –  physical and emotional. While some changes were obvious, others were unexpected and took me by surprise.   I was constantly hungry and tired. I ate like a pig all day and threw up after dinner every night. Things started getting better in the second trimester. On the downside, I put on so much weight that I c...