Dear friends,

Let me tell you how this site came about.

My wife got pregnant last year (August 2009). She was 33 years old then and unfortunately she had an abnormal triple-marker test. We were referring Dr. Geeta, our gynecologist at that time. When she saw the results of the test, she referred us to another senior gynecologist at Ganga Ram in New Delhi for further consultation. My wife was told she was a high-risk case and we should consult a senior physician in New Delhi. Before consulting the gynecologist in New Delhi, we thought of taking another opinion in Gurgaon. So we went to another gynecologist with the tests and the ultrasounds that had already been done. Upon seeing the papers, she said she would want my wife to have another ultrasound at her facility otherwise she would not entertain our case. The reason she gave was that she wanted to be sure that the baby was okay. I told her my wife had an ultrasound a fortnight ago and she should use that as a baseline and go ahead but she insisted that it is imperative to have an ultrasound at her facility. We found that quite absurd and unprofessional. We were quite disappointed and so we ultimately consulted our primary care physician, Dr. Rajiv Dang, a thorough gentleman who has a number of times offered great advice and over the years I have developed immense trust in his diagnosis and judgment. He referred us to Dr. Veena Bhat, gynecologist at Max Hospital (she is now with Artemis Health Institute). She is a nice and professional lady. She took care of my wife really well and ultimately my wife delivered in April at Artemis and we were blessed with a baby girl.

Also during my wife’s pregnancy we faced other problems and dilemmas, e.g., my wife during last month of her pregnancy developed hypertension (high blood pressure) and her uric acid level shot up and then there were other issues as well like whether we should preserve the cord blood or not. The marketing guys at various cord blood banks were selling it to us as it was cure-it-all method of the future. And the opinions on whether to preserve cord blood at that time were ridiculous even from doctors who said things like if you have spare money then go for it, there is no harm. How ridiculous can it be!!! It costs almost a lakh to bank the cord and there should be clear answers as to how it is going to be useful. Ultimately I had to sit down and research on the net about various pros and cons of it. It was at times like this that I wished there was some clear advice but there was none. However, after my research, I decided not to preserve the cord blood. I will not go into the reasons that made me decide against it as I do not want to deviate from the topic. I will write in detail about the reasons on a later date on the website.

It is these events that made me think about launching this site, I hope others will benefit as I will be researching on various issues and writing about those. In this endeavor, I would also like support from anyone who would like to help. If you have any experiences to share or you have written any articles, please go to the share link and write to us, we will be glad to publish your contribution on the site.

The other reason for launching the site is my interest in psychology and philosophy. I have read extensively on this topic and now that I have a daughter, I hope parenting to be a new journey and I am sure there will be various discoveries and experiences along the way. I hope this to be a learning experience and whenever I find time, I would be writing and sharing these experiences.

Lastly, I want to wish you the best on this wonderful phase of life when one becomes a parent. Let’s enjoy every bit of it.

Best wishes.

RK Chaudhry