My OB/ GN, Dr Anuradha at Manipal Hospital

From long time I have been thinking about writing a review about my OB/GYN Dr. Anuradha from The Cradle hospital. I must say that I am more than happy with her. She is very friendly does not make you feel like a patient. In every antenatal appointment, she spends quality time with us anwering all our queries. She never tries to impose anything and I can say that I trust her 100% that whatever decision she makes, will be for the well being of me and my baby 

For all those people looking for good OB/GYN, I would recommend her. She also consults at Airport Road, NM Medical 

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is defined as carbohydrates intolerance of variable severity. It is a condition that develops during pregnancy. The mother has an abnormally large amount of sugar in her blood. It usually resolves itself after the baby is born.

In the 21st week of my pregnancy, I was diagnosed as borderline case of gestational diabetes. My sugar levels were not very high but if I did not control my diet, it could well develop Gestational Diabetes. I was somehow terrified of the idea of injecting insulin everyday. So I tried to control it will strict diet and I can say that I have been successful in it. Trust me, controlling diet is not very easy especially for a person like me who had crazy sweet tooth 

Consequences:

• One of the main concern of having too much sugar in your blood is that it crosses the placenta to your baby which means that baby can grow big. A big baby makes labor and delivery more difficult and the chances that you might end up having caesarean section are very high.

• Another cause for worry is that too much insulin or glucose in baby’s system may delay lung maturation and cause respiratory/breathing difficulties in babies especially the ones which are born before 37 weeks.

• Baby might develop Hypoglycemia immediately after birth. Hypoglycemia which refers to low blood sugar in the baby immediately after delivery. This problem occurs if the mother’s blood sugar levels have been consistently high, causing the fetus to have a high level of insulin in its circulation. After delivery, the baby continues to have a high insulin level, but it no longer has the high level of sugar from its mother, resulting in the newborn’s blood sugar level becoming very low.

What worked for me:

1) Taking 1 spoonful of Methi powder everyday morning of empty stomach with water. Its very effective, though it tastes horrible. First few days were difficult, but now I am used to it.

2) No sugar in coffee, tea, milk etc or in any form. Please refrain from taking sugar substitutes as they cause more harm than good.

3) Eating small and frequent meals on time. Avoid eating junk food.

4) Reduce intake of carbohydrate or at least eat less carbohydrate at breakfast as this is when insulin resistance is greatest.

5) Avoid eating fruits which are rich in sugar content like Mangoes, Papaya, Sapota etc. Replace them with Apple, citrus fruits like Orange, Sweet lime etc.

6) Choose food high in fiber such has whole grains, breads, cereals and greens.

7) Drink at least 8 glasses of water

With my doctor’s permission, I used to indulge in sweets once in a while as an occasional treat 

Way forward

In my antenatal appointment at 31 weeks myOB/GYN had told me that she might induce me at 38 weeks if the baby’s weighs too much. She advised me to get a glucometer and monitor the sugar levels every alternative day. I bought One Touch glucometer which is very simple to use and monitored the blood sugar levels every alternative days. One day I did fasting and then after breakfast, then fasting and post lunch and so on. I recorded each days reading and my blood sugar level was fairly consistent and within normal range. So in my recent appointment, she was quite happy with the sugar levels and told me that we will wait till the due date if it goes the same way. So keeping my fingers crossed!!!

Bleeding in First Trimester Pregnancy

All I can say that I was glad when my first trimester got over. I don’t know how many of you would count each day and see how many days left for first trimester to get over…I did!! As I inched closer towards the end of first trimester, I was very relieved.

Apart from the little adventure (or rather misadventure) which happened sometime in the 4th month of my pregnancy, my first trimester went on very smoothly.

What causes bleeding in First Trimester:

 The fertilized egg will attach to the lining of the uterus, which at times causing light bleeding. This is known as implantation bleeding.

 When the placenta is being attached to the lining of the uterus, in this period some uterine lining might be discharged, This is usually considered normal.

 If the bleeding is bright red in colour accompanied by sever abdominal cramping, it might be a sign of miscarriage. In this case you need to contact your Doctor immediately.

Slight bleeding/spotting is considered normal in pregnancy. Usually it is brownish or pinkish in colour and there will be no cramping. But still it is always better to contact your OB/GYN. She might ask you to have an ultrasound to ensure everything is fine.

You need to worry if the bleeding is heavy and accompanied by cramping. There is no specific reason why bleeding occurs in the first trimester.

If anyone has any similar experiences, please share your thoughts

Crazy craving

They say all pregnant women have some craving….I did not have one nor I had the “morning sickness” (thank god!!) associated with pregnancy…so I was just wondering if everything was alright…

Now I have a new found craving for..guess what??….Mishti doi!!!!! and that explains all the extra pounds I have been gaining lately….. I don’t know how many Shaimak Davar dance classes I will have to join in order to lose all the calories I have been piling up…… sigh…….

But what the heck….it feels great!!!!!!!!!!!

Maternity Hospitals in Bangalore (Continued…)

The Cradle (Packages)

Luxury Package

Normal Delivery will cost you around 45,000+ pharmacy charges for 3 days/2 nights stay. This includes Ward stay, food charges, LDR charges, Obstetrician charges etc.

Caesarean Section will cost you around 55,000 + pharmacy for 3 days/2 nights stay. This includes Ward stay, food charges, OT charges, Obstetrician charges, Anaesthetist’s fees etc.

Suite Package

Normal Delivery will cost you around 55,000 + Doctor’s charges for 3 days/2 nights stay.

Caesarean section will cost you around 70,000 + Doctor’s charges for 4 days/3 nights stay.

The suite will include an additional attendant room with separate entrance, bathroom and sleeping space. The patient room and bed is also quite big and spacious.

We settled for the Luxury package as it works best for us. Initially you need to pay a deposit of 10,000. If you have an insurance cover, then you can go for cashless facility.

*Note* The package mentioned here are subject to revision. Please check with the website www.thecradlebangalore.com for latest updates.

Maternity Hospitals in Bangalore - Part 1

Manipal Hospital

Once the pregnancy was confirmed, the next step for us was to search for a good hospital. Since we stay close to Manipal hospital, we decided to go there for my regular check- ups.

We zeroed on same GYN/OBG whom we had consulted before I conceived. So I was familiar with my GYN/OBG and I must say that she is really good. I will recommend Dr. Meena Muthiah to anyone who is looking for a good GYN/OBG. She is very patient, has pleasant personality and makes you feel very comfortable. One of the things I like about her is that she patiently answers all your questions and never seems to hurry. Couple of times I had to call her on her cell when there was an emergency and she was always available on the phone.

Although I was really happy with my OBG/GYN, I was not at all impressed with the facilities that they provided. So I decided to do some research on net. I read many reviews and all of them confirmed my fears.

I also had some personal experiences which prompted me to change my decision of having my baby in Manipal.

The only good thing about Manipal is that they have good and experienced doctors. As far as the cons are considered, there are many!

1. The hospital is always very crowded.
2. The staff attitude is horrible. They are rude and do not show any sort of compassion.
3. They do not allow you to check the private rooms and they do not have any sort of package.
4. You never get appointments for scans. It’s always booked up to 2 months and if you go as walk-in patient, you will have to wait up to 3 hrs or more with full bladder!!
5. The washrooms are dirty and there is never any soap in the dispenser or tissues and the floor is always wet. The washroom near the scan dept did not even have a lock!

I just felt that for the money that we were spending, the facilities we were getting was not justified. So finally I had to take the tough decision. I liked my OBG/GYN very much and the hospital was near my house. But I shuddered when I thought about all that was in store for me and decided to change my hospital in second trimester. After all, giving birth is experience of a life time and I did not want to be awful!

The cradle

Although Cradle is far from my house, we decided to give it a shot. I had read some great reviews about Cradle and so we decided to check it out.

I was really impressed with the hospital. It was spic and span and the reception area was really great! I did not feel as if it’s a hospital.

The staffs were also very cordial, they showed us around and I was really impressed with the Luxury rooms they have. Oh! the bathrooms were just awesome!! We checked out the packages and it seems quite reasonable for the facilities they provided. I will provide details on the package later on in this blog.

We decided to meet Dr. Anuradha S (I had some research on her and read some reviews) and I was quite impressed with her. She is very warm person and spent considerable amount of time going through my reports and asked relevant questions about my medical history. Then she did the routine check ups and also provided me with some useful tips. I was very comfortable with her the moment I met her and that was something which was very important for me.

I was worried that she will ask me to do all those test and scans all over again, but she never even mentioned it. She just referred me for the Anomaly scan at 21 weeks which is done normally by everyone.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my experience with The Cradle and my GYB/OBG. I hope everything goes well in future as well!!

P.S: As Cradle is far from where I stay now, S and I have decided to move somewhere closer to Cradle in couple of months.

(For more information on The Cradle, please visit their website http://www.thecradlebangalore.com/)

Home Pregnancy Test

What really amazes me is the progress medical science has made. Gone are the days when pregnancy was confirmed based on the vomiting and the fainting spree and that knowing look on the face of other womenfolk in the house (at least that’s what they showed in movies!!)   Thank god we don’t have to rely on those tell tale signs anymore. One of the easiest ways to confirm pregnancy is to simply take the Home Pregnancy Test. This is especially convenient for women who are trying to get pregnant so that you don’t have to run to your health care provider every time you suspect that you are pregnant!! It is very simple to use and can be done within the privacy of your home.   In India, one can choose from various brandsPregcolorcard pregnancy kit, Velocit Pregnancy test kit etc. I took the Velocit Pregnancy test kit it was fairly simple to use and the instructions were not too complicated.  

How it works?  

All home pregnancy kit detects the presence of hormone called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) in your urine. It appears in pregnant women’s urine in approx 20 days after her last menstrual period. The hCG level rises rapidly after this.    

Interpreting the results

  It’s fairly simple. If single line or band appears it means that the test in negative. If you see two lines on the test kit, it means that the result is positive. If you get a faint line, then don’t get disheartened, try the test again after few days and you will be able to see a darker line.  
However, some times home pregnancy test might give a false positive result i.e. you may get a positive result although you are not pregnant. This can happen due to certain medical condition, improper testing or defective test kit. So it is always better to confirm the pregnancy by the doctor once you get a positive result on the home pregnancy test before announcing it to the world!  
Similarly, you might get false negative results too!! The test will show negative, but you might be actually pregnant!! This can happen if you take the test too early or the pregnancy test kit might be defective. If you get a false negative result, then try the test after 4-5 days again. By then the hCG level in urine might rise and you may get a positive result.  
Home pregnancy tests are not considered 100% accurate. You need to visit a doctor and get a blood test done to check the beta hCG levels which will confirm the pregnancy.