Sunday, September 21, 2014

Doha Review: Al Ahli Day 5 of Admission

Sunday, September 21, 2014 0 Comments
Early this morning my doctor came in to ask me how I felt and the last time I had my meal which was 9.30pm. So she did the math and decided to put me up for C-section in her afternoon slot at around 1pm.

I got to shower and that was the time the anesthesiologist-a Dr Tachy decided to come in to sign consent forms. I rushed my shower but he missed me so he came in later.

My nurse Alice came in to shave my pubes. I had already shaved it earlier but she shaved the areas I had missed

 Getting cleaned up before the surgery


My nail polish being removed. I was also asked when to remove any contact lenses if I were wearing one-which I wasn't

My cocktail before the surgery, it was cooling and made me itch a bit (left ear arms)



The anesthesiologist came in again to ask if I wanted spinal or epidural and I told him my doctor told me to go with the epidural so he said in his opinion that's a better choice in my situation and I signed consent forms which was literally pushed to me I didn't even have time to read them

I was wheeled into the operating room at about 2.50pm. It was cold and everyone was in scrubs and face mask so I couldn't see anyone's faces really. The nurses were kind and jovial. There were probably about 8 of them in the room. My husband followed me all the way to the main entrance and wasn't allowed in the operating theatre so he waited patiently for me outside. My back up blood supply took time to reach Al Ahli from Hamad hospital. So I was made to wait for another 15 minutes in the cold room. A nurse was making note of the tools to be used in the room

When my blood supply did reach the hospital the anesthesiologist got down to business. I was made to sit up on the table while he wiped my back and inserted a catheter up my spine. It hurt a bit and my right knee jerked. I wasn't suppose to move so much and I did try my best not to but I couldn't help my reflexes! Then he started to administer anesthesia ( I heard him say 5cc) and I could feel something cold running up my left hand where my IV was hooked up. Within 30 seconds I could feel numbness crawling up to my legs. I tried to wiggle my toes and they wiggled a bit. My legs started to feel heavy but somehow I managed to lie down on the narrow bed and (rather quickly, I was told to lie down slowly-but there was simply no place to rest my hand to lie down, the bed was THAT narrow)

Someone put up a blue paper screen clipped to two posts on both my sides and two arm rests were pulled out for me to splay my arms. I asked someone if they could lower the screen so I could see what is going on but of course no one listened to me they probably thought I was crazy.

As my lower body got numb, someone inserted a Foley catheter. I didn't feel a thing- I was numbed. Someone tried to put oxygen mask on me but it  moved and blocked my breathing so I asked to remove it.

I didn't even see the doctor coming in, no one introduced themselves-it was business as usual. She was in scrubs; not her usual attire of high heels and saree. She got down to business. A Pfannenstiel incision was made. The anesthesiologist kept me updated of the progress and said the baby will be out in 10 mins. A nurse asked me about the missing Malaysian flights. And the next thing I knew the doctor was holding my baby in her arms-him covered in white substance and looking surprised. I think the doctor tried to be funny like hey he's out but it didn't look like she was enjoying it.

Someone took him away to vacuum him and inspect him. All I could hear was his cries. I felt teary myself. I think the anesthesiologist wiped my tear and said he's alright for his age, his weight is fine. I wanted to see my baby! He was cleaned up and brought to me. I asked the nurse if she could bring him closer to me so I could kiss him. I kissed him twice and asked her to bring him to my husband so he could see him. Again it was the anesthesiologist who delivered the good news to him and he came back saying your husband had 100 questions for me!

Since my baby was born before 37 weeks, the state law requires the baby to be kept in the hospital for observation before I could see him. A nurse told me my husband had opted for the NICU observation over the normal nursery observation (with other babies) so I said OK

I was stitched back up and I could hear my doctor humming to herself while closing me up. She was very good at her job I will tell you that. I went in at 3 pm and came out at 4.25 pm!

I was cleaned up by the nurses after the doctors were done. A single drop of drop had spattered to the blue screen. I was wheeled out of the room to another part of the delivery room where a nurse sat to write down the baby's & my details to be passed to the nurses on duty. I was given something to contract my uterus and it made me shiver like hell. I was wheeled back to my room where my husband awaited me and I regaled to him the story in the operating theatre. I wanted to talk to my mom so he took the phone and dialed my mom's number.

My husband could go in to see him and he came back with videos and images to show me how the baby looked like. All the IV tubes made me teary again so I told him not to send me those videos. I'd rather look at the pictures

That night I was given more antibiotics and some type of morphines which made me heaty I had to ask the nurse to reduce the room temperature twice. I was given to wear granny pads-no undies because the Foley catheter was still up my bladder. I was slowly gaining feeling of my legs but could not move much I felt numb at some places. I asked one of the nurse who came in at night with my medicine dosage if she could show me my urine bag and thank god the urine color was light yellow. She joked my urine is clearer than hers!

I wanted my husband to spend the night at the hospital with me but he was tired running around for his work, and our insurance and Hamad Card so we decided it's better anyways for him to just spend the night at home. He went to our local pub which we go all the time and spend 3 pints watching the baby videos over and over

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Doha Review: Al Ahli Day 4 of Admission

Saturday, September 13, 2014 0 Comments
This morning on top of the 12 hour CTG scan done for my baby at 5am/pm I had a visit from my doctor; Dr Sujatha and she decided on 18th as my OP date. I will be 37 weeks and 4 days into my pregnancy

I am having a lazy day today...plenty of TV and reading up on baby care. Someone delivered the newspaper so I called up a child care agency and they will email me with a 1 week invoice on mother and childcare. And the other good news I read was that PHCC is offering free mother and newborn care so I asked my husband to check it out when he goes to West Bay HC tomorrow to collect our Hamad Card

My breakfast, someone forgot the yogurt today

Tabaloueh was good and tasty (from lunch tray)

Qatari dessert (from lunnch tray)

Lunch tray


Update:

I had a long talk over the phone with the MIL since she missed out on my admission and all that, and was trying to explain to her not to rush here because the husband already took a month leave to care for me and between the both of us we can manage a bubba on our own

After that around 9.30 pmish I finally managed to get off the phone with her and had my dinner and went to pee. I spotted some blood drops on my panties and when I wiped so I informed the nurse which in return informed the doctor on duty whom then told me to fast right away and hooked me up with insulin. Someone called my ob-gyn and I was informed to fast-I am looking at an earlier delivery-tomorrow morning! Everything was going so fast! I was expecting 18th not 14th! I quickly called  my husband and then ranged up my mom. Both were worried for me and my mom asked to pray to God and leave it to His hands

Somehow I did manage to get some shut eye-told the husband to come in early the next day

Doha Review: Al Ahli Day 3 of Admission

Saturday, September 13, 2014 0 Comments
The husband visited me, spent the whole afternoon searching for properties online and made some calls. After he left I spent some more time searching for properties online, made more calls to more agents and then watched harry potter on TV. I was hungry halfway so I called 8491 (24 hour cafeteria) for supper and they had triple layer cheese sandwich which was moderately cheap; 8 riyals-and really filling

My doctor was off duty today so I had the L & D doctor (Labor and Delivery Specialist) Dr Manu whom visited me and asked if I was bleeding I said no and that was that

My supper; cheese sandwich

My breakfast tray

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Doha Review: Al Ahli Day 2 of Admission

Thursday, September 11, 2014 0 Comments
I was woken up at 5am for my baby's heart beat reading and the contraction count and level of intensity. I lost desire to sleep after that so I showered and read my book by the window. Dr Sujatha came in at 10 am and asked if I was bored. Of course I was bored! She didn't apologize for her mistake which caused the delay in my admission yesterday and I was just too tired to mention it to her so I said admission was a trouble because I had no medical report

In the afternoon some Guest Relations lady came in to ask if everything is Ok and I am getting the right service, I said well yes and didn't bother to elaborate much about the 4 hour delay yesterday. Why bother she's from Eastern Europe and is a BLOND. Probably won't understand the technicalities of things anyways

My poor husband had to run around for our Hamad card and now we can only get it done on Sunday after the weekends. We still have the case of the insurance which is expiring on the 14th


Breakfast Dish


The bag of assorted bread was especially good


Lunch Tray- I especially loved the tomato and labneh it was good


Dinner Tray

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Doha Review: Al Ahli Day 1 of Admission

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 0 Comments

Well it has come to this day and after 4 hours of waiting at admissions office I finally got a Standard room in Al Ahli hospital at 3pmish. We came in at 10 amish and after much ding dong this is what Al Ahli screwed up with

  • I had scheduled an appointment with a dentist today but I didn't show up because I was low on cash
  • the husband and I reached the hospital at about 10 amish and we went straight to Admission which was just a roped area with two tables
  • my medical report was sitting in the dental clinic and the staffs were looking for it-time wasted there
  • when my file was found they didn't know what to do with it 
  • then someone realised I was due for admission today and my consulting doctor needed to write off a medical report so my insurance provider could approve my stay in the hospital
  • my doctor was off duty today
  • her mobile was left in her office
  • she had conveniently forgotten to write a medical report for my stay and pass that to admissions despite being chased by them since August-September
  • the head of ob-gyn clinic Dr Rezvi had emergency C-section so she couldn't write off a medical report
  • another doctor, Dr Mithaili refused to write my medical report
  • all the doctors were preparing to go home at noon. If we hadn't chased and pushed for my case I wouldn't have got the admission
  • my insurance is expiring in 4 days time and my insurance provider is going n a day to day basis approval based on daily medical reports provided by attending doctor
  • finally close to 2 pm a doctor; Dr Muna wrote a medical report which my insurance provider needed to justify my stay here
  • the hospital needed Hamad Card which is now mandatory for all expats in case of blood transfusion etc needed for patients because blood comes from Hamad Hospital. The West Bay HC refused to do mine; they only did for Qataris and asked me to go to Al Dayeen centre. But the catch is since I am sponsored by my husband he needs to do his Hamad Card first and then do mine. They ask for utility bill/tenancy agreement Qatar ID, 2 passport size photos, RP and passport copies (2 of each)
  • they took my blood nevertheless to be sent to Hamad Hospital. And since I have no Hamad Card, I told them my husband is on it tomorrow morning so they stored my blood in fridge
  • oh did I also mention despite going to a government approved lab to do my blood test, the Qatari government still put the wrong blood group on my Qatar ID. It says O- when I am B+
  • without insurance daily cost of stay is about 3000 riyals. I am scheduled for a 10 day stay
  • the C-section costs about 21 750 riyals
  • the level of stupidity here is astonishing! 

If a Qatari or Caucasian was on my place, none of this shit would have happened

The room is good, the staff here is nice and friendly and the food is great. Makes up for the shitty service we had at admissions









I got my hospital tag


My lunch


My dinner


This was super good!


Chocolate mousse cake with blueberry jam


The menu for tomorrow


The breakfast menu

Monday, September 8, 2014

Food Review: No-Cook Edible Gum / Gundh Pak Recipe

Monday, September 08, 2014 0 Comments


Ok bitches lets get started on this recipe. I am going for my C-Section later this month and since I won't be able to swallow down solids for some weeks my aunt in India gave me the perfect recipe to make a wholesome tasty no-cook gundh pak or kachu gundh (raw gundh) / edible gum recipe to eat after my delivery. I figured I had better I do this shit myself otherwise the MIL will want to come here and ruin my delivery. Disrupt my private moments with my husband and baby with her mumbo jumbo. No thank you

First things first. I know you housewives have a love for utensils. I suggest you bitches invest in a good set of measuring spoon. Get the one that has at least a tablespoon, a teaspoon, 1/2 , 1/3 and 1/4 sponful. I use this to measure. Don't be stupid and measure with your dining spoon or ice cream spoon. And don't use too many utensils to cook. I know some of you bitches love to fill up the basin and spend hours doing the dishes. NO. STOP. If you're going to do this, then do it my way. I hate women slaving themselves in the kitchen for hours for one shitty thing you can cook in 10 mins

Here's what you will need

10 table spoons of powdered edible gum resin / gundh
5 tablespoons of almond powder
5 tablespoons of cashew nut powder
3 tablespoons of dry raisins (optional)
1 1/2 table spoons of gunthara / gonthara
2 tablespoons of gringer powder
100 grams of dry coconut flakes (add more if you like)
100 grams of jaggery/gor (add more to your liking)
melted ghee/clarified butter

Step 1

Again, don't go overboard with your utensils. Look at how many utensils I used. Slap yourself in the face if you still don't dig it



Step 2

Heat up the ghee so it melts and becomes watery



Step 3

While the ghee is being melted, get the gundh mixture ready. Add ginger powder to the pot


Step 4

Add coconut flakes



Step 5

Add gonthara/gunthara



Step 6

Add almond powder



Step 7

Add the cashew nut powder



Step 8

Add the edible gum resin/gundh/gondh


Step 9

Add jaggery last


Step 10

Put on your gloves bitches and mix the powder mixture well. Yes bitches, no one wants to taste your pubes in the gundh


Step 11

Pour the warm ghee over the mixture and mix well with a wooden ladle or your gloved hands



Step 12

Let the mixture cool off before transferring to a glass or steel container. Store in the back of your shelf or keep in a room with temperature running at 21-25 Celcius. Cool, dry place-remember that bitches





I made two batches, this is the second batch. I went overboard with the coconut flake here, reduced the ghee and jaggery


The first batch I added a bit more jaggery and ghee and you can see its shinier and darker than the second batch I did. If you are heading for C-Section then don't put so much of ghee in your recipe. Use just enough to coat the mixture

Notes:

I don't know the English word for gonthara/gunthara so if you know it please comment it

This recipe is totally hackable, you can add/reduce whatever amount of the dry powder items to your liking. I just followed word by word what my aunt provided to me

Don't go eating the thing right away, it takes 2 days for the ghee to seep properly especially into the edible gum powder.

If you can't find edible gum then sub it xantan gum or gum accacia. They sell it plenty in Souq Waqif, Doha

Says who you can't make your own delivery food? If I can so can you.

And if you're still in doubt what some of the items I use mean, then buy this book, read Chapter 12 and Index