It was a fun day... Blogging Marathon 2014 Post 8

I don't know what's your take on fun.Of course it will vary. At that time, for me it was a big chore. Looking back, it leaves me chortling, something to the effect of All in a day's work. The power of a small baby and her intestines. Yes, you heard it right.

After lil G was born, we started the long process of getting paperwork in order to apply for passport and visa. A month old lil G has visited the police station and passport office, bundled up in an old yellow sari (memories). The last leg for the visa application was a health report from a designated hospital in B'lore. After bribing Big G who thought I was abandoning her, with promises of daily phone calls, gifts and chocolates and that we would be back in 4 days,  lil G and me took a plane to B'lore.

The stool test was a mandatory part of the health report. Lil G, in those days, would poop once a week. Since she had not pooped for 3 days before, I was confident of getting some substance for the stool test. Something about the plane and change in pressure, made her go in the plane. I changed her and even saved the stinky diaper, took it with me to the in-laws place. The hospital appointment was only 1 day later and my mil told me that that an old stool stample would not qualify. So we prayed for more of it for later. I did have suppositories as a back-up but not keen on using them.

The atmosphere in B'lore made an impression on lil G, a 5-month old baby, and she obliged by giving me soiled diapers, but hold on, nothing more than a speck. I had a plane to catch 3 days hence and I had to get this sorted out fast. So we made a visit to the hospital and went to the lab, where I checked with the lab technicians if the speck would suffice. Of course, they did not understand at once what I was talking about, so I had to whip out the diaper from my bag (raises eyebrows) to make them understand. I could not understand the immediate recoil in their reaction, so immune are new mothers to baby poop, I tell you.

But they were kind enough to tell me, they needed more for their test. So, off we went back home and this time I used a suppository which gave me a little more than a speck. But not enough for me to scoop and put in a bottle. So, baby, mil, the diaper and me made another hospital trip. To get into the lab. of the hospital one has to stand in long arduous queues but we managed it. The lab staff refused the sample, again stating quantity as the reason. I was so upset, but had to go home and wait, nothing else that I could do.

Lil G obliged me with a third soiled diaper in the next hour itself. It was more like a liquid mess, but I stuffed bits of the diaper cotton soiled with it into the bottle, washed my hands with a couple of different soaps, final rinse with dettol and rushed to the hospital again - baby, mil, the rest of the diaper (just in case) and me. Third time lucky, the lab staff were even sympathetic to my case, and congratulated me!!! and said I could collect the report later that day.

So, I made a 4th trip to the hospital to collect the report and finally called it a day. What a day!