Monday, November 15, 2010

The Gift of the OB Ward

I gave birth at the OB ward of Asian Hospital this time around. We had made reservations earlier for a slot in their ward since I had a scheduled CS anyway. Their OB ward only accommodates four patients and hubs and I agreed we'd go for it to save on funds.

After getting admitted though, hubs was sad and kept asking me if I was okay. He was feeling bad that we were there and felt it reflected poorly on his capacity to provide. I reminded him that I wanted to save some of our money for my own, so I can shop some more for things I want, and that I didn't feel shortchanged at all. Besides, the possibility of going over budget was really enough to scare me off the perks of having a private room.

Well, it turned out that other than having to play nice and considerate of our neighbors, staying at the ward wasn't a hassle at all, even with all the beds filled. Plus, it allowed us to put things in perspective.

I had a difficult and really painful second day and hubs had a migraine from being kept awake all night. We were out of sorts enough to literally ask his family not to visit anymore, and definitely not bring the kids there because we really couldn't cope with noisy kids and Yamee. November 12 was the only day in Yakee's life that he literally did not see a parent the whole day, and that hurt both Pappie and me. Pappie even told me we really needed to be discharged soon because he couldn't take having his family incomplete.

And I did say I was in so much pain right? Enough that I was crying half the time and thinking about how I just really couldn't go through another pregnancy and CS delivery again. I just can't.

But here's the gift of the OB ward: my neighbors had things worse, at least, from our point of view.

I might have been in pain but the CS delivery went well, Yamee was healthy and I was not really exhibiting complications. I just had gas I couldn't expel naturally which required two days of fasting and the help of a suppository to resolve. And yes, a second cut just hurt more. But that was all of it.

One of my neighbors isn't even pregnant but had an operation to remove cysts. She lost a lot of blood during the surgery and needed more transfusions and monitoring. Plus, since she was obstinate about taking her first round of antibiotics, she had to start again. And the hospital was already going after her to replace all the blood used on her and to find more donors for future transfusions.

The other neighbor had to be confined at the HRPU (I suspect) because it was only her husband who'd sleep in her cubicle (for lack of a better term) for the first 2 nights. Then, it seems she ended up giving birth prematurely and that their baby had to stay in the NICU, was anemic, will require antibiotics and monitoring, and that she will be discharged way before the baby will be.

The last neighbor was pregnant and was running a very high fever. And sometime during the early morning of my last day there, she seems to have been moved to another room (private one for isolation or HRPU for more close monitoring) but not discharged. Now, I can't imagine being that sick with a baby inside me... and she wasn't full term yet.

So, you see... the gift of the OB ward to us was that it gave us the opportunity, not just to save on expenses, but also to appreciate and be thankful for how truly blessed we are.

God's really been good to us... and we know we wouldn't always be as lucky or times won't always be this happy.

5 comments:

Fristine said...

You are so blessed, ganda. Your life inspires mine. *hugs*

Unknown said...

hi mec! congrats on your second baby...will pray for your fast recovery, hirap kaya maging CS! :D

anna

JMom said...

So strange no, just when we think our burden is too heavy, we see how someone elses is worse and in comparison we are truly blessed.

Ang sweet ni Jojo to stay there with you the whole time and for lamenting the fact that you weren't whole as a family until you are all under one roof.

Anonymous said...

congrats Mec!!!

naku, natakot naman ako sa kwento mo. mas masakit ang 2nd cut? waaah! good luck to me.

sleepless nights again! =)


apple (yanple)

popcorn said...

Congratulations!!!