Saachi's 1st Solid Food

1st Five Months

September 16th 2011

Sep-15th :
Debbie was slightly more restless than usual nights. She woke me up a few times to massage her back and I tried my best to fight the sleep and you know "be there" for my wifey.

Sep-16th

4:30 ~ 5:00 AM : Anyway, after a restless night Debbie fell asleep at may be around 4:30 ~ 5:00 AM. It's a pretty standard  time when people suffering from pain usually go to sleep (even without pain killer meds). You can quote me on this - No matter how much severe the pain is the patient will always fall asleep by early morning. I guess around this time the brains puts sleep on the top of it's issues to address. Anyway coming back to the story. So the next morning, i.e. Sep-16th, I had to go to the bank for some office work and so anyway I was going late to office.

9:00 AM : Since Debbie was only able to go off to sleep by early morning only, I didn't wake her up until around 9AM. I think I made nice breakfast also that morning.. :) Debbie asked me not to go to office that day. So I just went to the bank and came back home. Also made a pit stop at Road Transport Office to submit my application form for a Permanent Driving License.  I think around this time Uma Di called to just check and asked me if we've already prepared the baby and mommy bag for the hospital. I told her that we are planning to do so this coming Saturday. As usually she got really mad and scolded me, so I told her that I'll do it today itself.

11:00 AM : When I reached home, Debbie was pretty uncomfortable and was almost not able to rest in one place. She was pacing up and down. I was massaging her back but there wasn't much relief. She was doing some breathing exercises but I guess by this time the pains were not very regular, although intense. This continued for an hour or so..

12:00 ish PM: I asked her to take the pain killer meds that the doctor had given to test if it's an actual labour pain. You see, a pregnant woman can experience false labour pain towards the end of her pregnancy but these pain subside by taking these pain meds. but if they don't subside then that means that these are real labour pains. So Debbie took the meds and the pains did not subside. But we were still sure that this weren't the real labour pain. Because that pain makes the woman go crazy but Debbie was managing pretty well till now.

Sep-16th, 3:00 PM : <But before that flashback>

Sep-3rd :
We came to know that our baby is in breech position, which meant in today's scenario a 100% caesarian. No doctor goes for a normal delivery these days in a breech condition. After we came to know that our baby is in breech, we were pretty upset. I mean after all the efforts we did to make sure that we get a normal delivery the baby was in breech position. (At that point of time I thought that God is teaching us a lesson on arrogance - Anyway long story). So after we came to know about baby's condition we decided that we'll still do our best - with all the possible exercises etc. and then just may be 3-4 days before the expected date (which was 23rd Sep) do a final ultrasound and then decide whether to go for Caesarian or not. So we told the doctor that we will confirm about the caesarian in our next scheduled appointment i.e. Sep-16th. She was ok with it.

Now, since the context is more clear..

2:00 PM : So, Debbie was still in pain, even after the pills and we were still convinced that this is false labour. Since, I had taken leave, we decided to get the ultrasound done and if the baby is still in breech position get the caesarian done on the next day. We reach the clinic, got the ultrasound done and found the not only was the baby still breech but now it also had umbilical cord around its neck. The clinic doctor advised that since the baby is full term and fully developed there is no point in delaying further. I told that we've decided that if the breech we'll get the operation done tomorrow. She said that it's a very good idea and recommended that I take my pregnant wifey out for a nice dinner tonight and get the caesarian done tomorrow.

4:00 PM : So by now Debbie was in a lot of pain and so we decided to leave for the Hospital for our scheduled appointment but a bit early. And probably get admitted in the night to prepare for tomorrow's operation. But while getting ready Debbie vomited and after this I was a bit worried. So now we also picked up the baby bag that Debbie had prepared after Uma Di's scolding. But we took the bag mainly because we thought we'll get Debbie admitted in the hospital tonight and get the operation done the next day. Around that time I decided to call my mother also telling her about our decision to get Debbie operated on Sep-17th and asked her to come either tonight or next day early morning. I think within 15mins she and my brother were on their way.

5:00 to 7:00 PM : So we got ready at Debbie's pace and left home at 5 PM. The stretch between our home and the hospital is merely 2.5 to 3 kms but we got stuck in a major traffic jam. All the roads were flooded because it had been raining for last 2-3 days and we all know Gurgaon basically becomes Venice when it rains. So heavy rain + peak traffic hour + traffic lights not working (not to mention the lack to civic sense we observe while driving on roads) resulted in a crazy traffic Jam. I think even by 5:45 we hadn't reached South City 1. And the no. of lanes on that two lane road had increased to 8. Debbie was quietly sitting next to me so I thought that her pain has subsided but since she was not talking also, I also knew that all was not well. I found an opening on the other side of the road and took a U-turn. Believe me to take this U-Turn I had to request at least a dozen unrelenting drivers. Almost all of them gave way completely reluctantly, some of them were even pissed. Anyway, we decided to get to Sec-40 market road via gullys in South city. We took a gully which was in terrible shape already but to add to our woes we reached a dead end. So we went back toward the same road and decided to take a by lane to get to the South-city 1 gate crossing and then take the Sec-40 market road. We somehow reached the Sec-40 market road rather quickly but only to encounter an equally bad traffic condition with severe water logging. Anyway, there was no turning back this time so I decided to get into the side of the road that was completely drowned in water (which the other vehicles were avoiding) and thank God to that I covered quite a distance. And thank God to the fact that the invisible road beneath the water was intact. I mean thank God that there were no potholes or any other major damage to the road. So we entered the main road (Arya Samaj Road), I think by 6:30 and thank God that it was pretty empty till Huda City Center round about. Which was also crowded, but not jammed, so finally we reached the hospital by 7:00.

7:00 PM : The minute the doctor saw Debbie she knew that Debbie was in real labour. In fact, the minute we entered the doctors cabin, Debbie, who had been quiet till now, started crying. She was rushed to the labour room as I started signing related papers in the reception hall.

7:30 to 8:30 PM : Mom, Sifty, Uma Di, Arun & Anupa arrived and all of us were just waiting anxiously to hear just one news - whether it's a Boy or a Girl. We had already finalized the name for a baby boy but never got to a consensus for a girl baby name. Around that time, as I was updating my college gang, I received an sms from Kanu proposing the name 'Sanvi' if we have a girl baby. Although I like the name but because Sanvi means goddess of wealth, I didn't want to use it. This lead me Sanchi and Sachi. I asked Arun to look up for the exact meaning of these two names because I knew that one of them had a Japanese origin and the other didn't. Meanwhile, as Arun was googling for the meaning for the two words, my mom asked me to get baby and mommy bags from the car, as we might need to clothe the baby as soon as it arrives. So, I went to the parking and on the way back I saw Victor Uncle also.

8:35 PM : The minute I arrived on the maternity ward, everybody who had come started congratulating me. It was a Boy!!! 1st among those, I remember was Arun. I wasn't expecting it to be so soon. I, being the father, was allowed entry to the nursery. And as soon as I entered the nursery, my eyes fell on the baby's wee-wee and it wasn't the kind one would expect a boy to have. So I was a bit confused and I thought that may be the wee-wee descends later but I had never read or heard about it so I was not sure what it was and some other things also came into my mind. At this time the attending doctor spoke to me congratulated me for having a Girl baby!!! For a second, I didn't know how to respond to that but I was glad that my biology was ok. :)

Anyway, I came out and told everyone that it's a Girl! \o/

2011 Reflections

What we've seen and experienced this year can never be summed up in one blog post and further more can never be justified by my writing skill. None-the-less, here is a recap of what went right and what went wrong this year.

Well actually, this year was mostly a year of new experiences mostly....

Loss of a brother :

The year actually started on a very sad note, I lost my cousin brother to meningitis. He was only 21 at the time of this death. When I heard the news all I could think of was that when he come to my wedding he came to me greeted me and then sat down somewhere in the corner. And may be was called upon once or twice for family photos. Had I known that that was the last time I'm meeting him.... When he died I thought that this might change a lot of things, specially with his mother. But I realise that even someone's death is not good enough to change some people and now upon reflection after almost 1 year everything is just the same.

Brother-in-Laws Wedding and Kuala-Lumpur Trip:
Well there were moments of lament and there were moments of happiness as well. In Feb. we went to Tirunalvelli via Chennai via Kuala-Lumpur, all first times. It was a great experience to be a part of Augustine's wedding and specially when I got to know that I get to be the best man for the wedding just because I am the "Damaad-ji" of the house. Such is the power of the Damaad in the house of his in-laws.

Baby News:
We weren't prepared for this at such an early stage of our marriage but it happened. Towards the end of January Debbie missed her period and from a home pregnancy test we found out that she was pregnant. At first I didn't know what to do, as we were neither prepared for this pregnancy nor were we planning for it. When we came to India to attend Augustine's wedding we decided to come to Delhi and meet a gynaecologist and the minute I heard the heartbeat of those lump of cells (that later turned out to be our daughter) we simply bowed down to the will of God.

Earthquake, Tsunami and Radiation:
At that time we were almost finished with our stay in Japan and were all set to depart by the end of March. But on 11th March what we experienced cannot be described in this small section of this blog post. At best I can only narrate what happened with us. So here it is : I was in my office when we felt the 1st tremor, immediately I called up Debbie on landline to tell her that now her experience of Japan is complete and she can check the earthquake from her list of "Must experience things in Japan". But as we were talking the tremors became wilder and wilder and stuff started falling at home and in the office. At that moment I asked Debbie to get out of the house and what did my dear wifey do - as trained in India she ran towards open space which apparently was near the river that merges into Tokyo Bay just 1 km from our place. At this point I can only thank God that Tsunami did not hit Tokyo. Otherwise God only knows what would've happened. Actually at that point of time we weren't even thinking of Tsunami until the videos started coming in on the web. Only after watching those devastating videos that later would become synonymous with natural calamities did I realise the actual sense of what I had just experienced. Although to me it was actually not so big a deal back then and even now but when ever I tell that I had to walk 3 hrs non stop to reach home that night people are amazed so I'm mentioning it again. But did I even have a choice?

The news related to Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant radiation leak made every Indian I knew in Tokyo run to India like way we run to toilet when we have diarrhoea. We too were one of them, but my main concern was Debbie's pregnancy. The water was contaminated, the air was contaminated and I was not willing to allow my first born being born short of a limb or mentally retarded. So we had a genuine reason.

Return to India, Settling in & Saattal:
On April 20th, after a brief return to Japan to settle the issues that I had left in the middle because of the earthquake and aftermath, I returned to India permanently. And boy was it a delight. To be with my people, my Church, my family and my home. I did experience the cultural shock for a while specially on the roads with traffic, littering etc. but I was back. Returned to Saattal after 2007.

Raining Babies:
Have mentioned this in previous blogposts also but no harm in mentioning again. Our joy of having a baby was multiplied a billion times when we came to know that 2 of our best friend couple were also expecting babies at almost the same time. And it turned out that not only these two other couples were expecting babies along with us but there were 5 more couples (also our friends) who were expecting babies between the period of August to December this year. Here the list:

Josh/ Sarah - Aug - Girl
Vishal / Mary - Sep - Boy
Gaurav/ Debbie - Sep - Girl
Arvind / Karisa - Sep - Girl
Biju/ Jeena - Oct - Boy
Freddie/ Beaulah - Nov - Girl
Amit/ Pinky - Nov - Girl
Ajay / Rachna - Dec - Boy

Not only that some celebrities also had babies. :)

Life After Sep-16, 2011:
Yes, having a baby in the house and being it's father completely changes your world. Honestly, when I first saw my baby I didn't know what to make out of it. I just stared at it for a while and then asked the doctor standing next to the baby - What should I do? The doctor gave me a brief statistics, reflecting babies good health condition. And I nodded pretending to understand what she's saying. Since I was the only person who was allowed to enter the nursery, when I came out, I was greeting with my friends and family, that had heard the news of Debbie going in labour and had reached the hospital just in time to see the baby along with me, and they were asking me - How do I feel? And was like - I don't know... I mean I actually had no thoughts expect phew!! finally the 9 months of pregnancy are now over. But now I can say How I feel. I feel like I've been given a blank slate and now I and Debbie have a chance to write our version of life story on this blank slate. But that's the big picture I also sometimes feel happy - When I'm able to make her smile, sometimes relaxed - When she's sleeping at the perfect hour in the night, sometimes frustrated - When she's not sleeping and it's 1:30AM in the night., sometimes anxious - Whether I'll be able to shape a good human being out of her.

I think it was nothing but blessing from God that we have had our baby at this point of time, now that I look back at it. I mean now since Debbie has rejoined work, if it wasn't for Arvind / Karisa who so lovingly volunteered to take care of our baby when we go to office, we don't know how we would've managed. Mostly likely Debbie would have left her job but with the housing loan due to start soon, that option was almost out so we were literally at God's mercy and showed us his faithfulness once again. In fact, looking back, it appears that He had this planned right from the very beginning.


There is a small interesting nugget - The Story of How Saachi was born that I'm leaving for now.