May 2, 2010 10am
I'm in pain. Make that a lot of pain. And I am irritated as well. This child has been playing games with me for an entire week now. Last Friday I was admitted to the hospital with contractions. The doctor checked me and said I was already 1.5 cm dilated ( you have to be 10 cm dilated to actually give birth) and that I was in active labor. But the next morning the contractions had disappeared and I was packed off home. Turns out my child was playing Braxton Hicks (false contractions) with me. Since then every single day I had experienced hours of painful contractions and each day I would get my bag and clothes ready to go to the hospital. But they would subside soon after. On May 1st I was admitted to hospital for induced labor. They had already put two doses of the induction gel but the kid didn't seem to be in any mood to budge. I vaguely remember someone telling me that no matter what you did or how hard you tried, your baby would come out only when it wanted to. Neither earlier, nor later. 'Ok baby,' I thought grudgingly, 'whenever you are ready'
May 2nd 6pm
Phoosh...my water has broken. Phew...finally. Now where is that epidural? Please give me the epidural...please?
May 2nd 8pm
Arfaz and my mother-in-law come to visit me in the labor room. I don't remember what I said but Arfaz did mention later that it was my best mood in the nine months of pregnancy (and for a long long time afterwards as well). It was the epidural...made me so light-headed. I guess this is how people feel when they are drunk
May 2nd 10pm
"you are 10 cm dilated," the doctor tells me. Woohoo...that means the final delivery is just minutes away. My mom stations herself beside me. "who is this?" the doctor asks me. "My mom," I say. "Oh my God she looks so young," she gushes. And my mom blushes. Ladies, can we have this conversation at some other point in life?
May 2nd 10:30pm
"Ok doc, I really feel like I want to go to the toilet," I told my obs-gyn. "we are ready for you," she told me as 2 doctors and 3 nurses with gloves and a whole lot of tools crowded around me. And yes, they do tell you to push, like you see in the movies. "Push," they are all screaming. I can't feel a thing, thanks to epidural but I do push. "Yes, it's coming," the doctor is excited. And I think to myself 'Oh ya right...you can stop lying to encourage me. I know it's not coming.' A couple more pushes and the doctor says 'It's almost out' and I think 'ok lady, whatever...I'm going to pretend I believe you'
(At this point, Arfaz informs me later, all those outside the delivery room hear a baby crying. They all hug and congratulate each other. Suddenly they hear the doctors screaming Push again. Turns out, the lady in the room next to me delivered a few minutes before me and it was her baby crying)
May 2nd 10:38pm
I knew what to expect. I had read books. I had spoken to friends. But when they placed the baby, wrapped in blue tissue paper sort of thing, I gasped. So the doctors were not lying. The baby had been coming out when they said it was. I caught a brief glimpse of the baby before they whisked it away. The first thought that crossed my mind was "Did Arfaz clone that baby? It just looks like a photocopy of him." I also saw something dangling. 'Its a boy,' i thought. Someone called Arfaz. They pulled a curtain around me and were working on me when one of the nurses said "It's a girl, isn't it?" What? Cheeky monkey. And I had thought all along it was a boy. She had taken us all for a ride. Oh...what about the dangling? That fell off 7 days later...it's called the umbilical cord.
The first few hours passed in a blur. She was a perfect baby...yawned, smiled (my mom said it was gas but I'm sure it was a smile), slept. I couldn't wait to get home. Get home we did...and then she started to scream!!
May 9th
It was on the 7th day of her life that we shaved her hair and put on some gold for her. She sat like a lamb throughout the shaving of her head. Then we had a sumptuous lunch. And oh she still screams a lot
November 2010
Sleep? I don’t like him much. His acting isn’t that great. Huh? What are you talking about? Oh you mean the act of lying down on a bed and closing your eyes? Aaaaah…that one. I don’t do much of that these days.
I am delusional now. Almost every other day, Arfaz and I take turns walking up and down the room, performing something like an aadivasi (tribal) dance to put Mehreen to sleep. She would only sleep if we performed that particular dance. Arfaz grudgingly noted that if CK Janu (google her) saw him, she would just adopt him for his skilful dance steps. Our hands would be so sore from carrying her. Getting up at 5am to go to work is also not doing us any good. Apart from that Mehreen screams every time someone comes home. She screams every time we go out. Quite anti-social, she is. I have forgotten the time when I could step out of the house without having to worry constantly about upsetting her. And she would scare everyone within a 2 km radius of her with her screams. Life just looks great, doesn’t it?
May 2012
Phew!! 2 years already, eh? She is now a happy bunny who will walk up to random people and just start having conversations with them. Her social skills have built up remarkably. She has also started swimming lessons and can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Why This Kolaveri (although you will probably need a translator to understand the words). She continues to make everyone walk on the line that she draws. This includes both her set of grandparents, uncle, aunts and most importantly her dad. I do too most of the times but not without a fight. But I guess it isn't going to last very long because this is probably her last birthday as the unrivaled supreme queen of the family. She is preparing to welcome a sibling as well as a first cousin in the next few months.
“So what if you had to put up with such tantrums until she was about 10 months old,” my mom sometimes asks me. “You have such a good and well-behaved child for all the trouble.” I look at the pen scribbles on my brand new bed sheet, 5 million toys scattered all around the house, my broken pieces of make up which she has been experimenting with, the brand new carpet which she has peed on while potty training and say “Yes mom…she is a very well-behaved child”
Now let's see what my blog will be like for her next birthday...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I'm in pain. Make that a lot of pain. And I am irritated as well. This child has been playing games with me for an entire week now. Last Friday I was admitted to the hospital with contractions. The doctor checked me and said I was already 1.5 cm dilated ( you have to be 10 cm dilated to actually give birth) and that I was in active labor. But the next morning the contractions had disappeared and I was packed off home. Turns out my child was playing Braxton Hicks (false contractions) with me. Since then every single day I had experienced hours of painful contractions and each day I would get my bag and clothes ready to go to the hospital. But they would subside soon after. On May 1st I was admitted to hospital for induced labor. They had already put two doses of the induction gel but the kid didn't seem to be in any mood to budge. I vaguely remember someone telling me that no matter what you did or how hard you tried, your baby would come out only when it wanted to. Neither earlier, nor later. 'Ok baby,' I thought grudgingly, 'whenever you are ready'
May 2nd 6pm
Phoosh...my water has broken. Phew...finally. Now where is that epidural? Please give me the epidural...please?
May 2nd 8pm
Arfaz and my mother-in-law come to visit me in the labor room. I don't remember what I said but Arfaz did mention later that it was my best mood in the nine months of pregnancy (and for a long long time afterwards as well). It was the epidural...made me so light-headed. I guess this is how people feel when they are drunk
May 2nd 10pm
"you are 10 cm dilated," the doctor tells me. Woohoo...that means the final delivery is just minutes away. My mom stations herself beside me. "who is this?" the doctor asks me. "My mom," I say. "Oh my God she looks so young," she gushes. And my mom blushes. Ladies, can we have this conversation at some other point in life?
May 2nd 10:30pm
"Ok doc, I really feel like I want to go to the toilet," I told my obs-gyn. "we are ready for you," she told me as 2 doctors and 3 nurses with gloves and a whole lot of tools crowded around me. And yes, they do tell you to push, like you see in the movies. "Push," they are all screaming. I can't feel a thing, thanks to epidural but I do push. "Yes, it's coming," the doctor is excited. And I think to myself 'Oh ya right...you can stop lying to encourage me. I know it's not coming.' A couple more pushes and the doctor says 'It's almost out' and I think 'ok lady, whatever...I'm going to pretend I believe you'
(At this point, Arfaz informs me later, all those outside the delivery room hear a baby crying. They all hug and congratulate each other. Suddenly they hear the doctors screaming Push again. Turns out, the lady in the room next to me delivered a few minutes before me and it was her baby crying)
May 2nd 10:38pm
I knew what to expect. I had read books. I had spoken to friends. But when they placed the baby, wrapped in blue tissue paper sort of thing, I gasped. So the doctors were not lying. The baby had been coming out when they said it was. I caught a brief glimpse of the baby before they whisked it away. The first thought that crossed my mind was "Did Arfaz clone that baby? It just looks like a photocopy of him." I also saw something dangling. 'Its a boy,' i thought. Someone called Arfaz. They pulled a curtain around me and were working on me when one of the nurses said "It's a girl, isn't it?" What? Cheeky monkey. And I had thought all along it was a boy. She had taken us all for a ride. Oh...what about the dangling? That fell off 7 days later...it's called the umbilical cord.
The first few hours passed in a blur. She was a perfect baby...yawned, smiled (my mom said it was gas but I'm sure it was a smile), slept. I couldn't wait to get home. Get home we did...and then she started to scream!!
May 9th
It was on the 7th day of her life that we shaved her hair and put on some gold for her. She sat like a lamb throughout the shaving of her head. Then we had a sumptuous lunch. And oh she still screams a lot
November 2010
Sleep? I don’t like him much. His acting isn’t that great. Huh? What are you talking about? Oh you mean the act of lying down on a bed and closing your eyes? Aaaaah…that one. I don’t do much of that these days.
I am delusional now. Almost every other day, Arfaz and I take turns walking up and down the room, performing something like an aadivasi (tribal) dance to put Mehreen to sleep. She would only sleep if we performed that particular dance. Arfaz grudgingly noted that if CK Janu (google her) saw him, she would just adopt him for his skilful dance steps. Our hands would be so sore from carrying her. Getting up at 5am to go to work is also not doing us any good. Apart from that Mehreen screams every time someone comes home. She screams every time we go out. Quite anti-social, she is. I have forgotten the time when I could step out of the house without having to worry constantly about upsetting her. And she would scare everyone within a 2 km radius of her with her screams. Life just looks great, doesn’t it?
May 2012
Phew!! 2 years already, eh? She is now a happy bunny who will walk up to random people and just start having conversations with them. Her social skills have built up remarkably. She has also started swimming lessons and can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Why This Kolaveri (although you will probably need a translator to understand the words). She continues to make everyone walk on the line that she draws. This includes both her set of grandparents, uncle, aunts and most importantly her dad. I do too most of the times but not without a fight. But I guess it isn't going to last very long because this is probably her last birthday as the unrivaled supreme queen of the family. She is preparing to welcome a sibling as well as a first cousin in the next few months.
“So what if you had to put up with such tantrums until she was about 10 months old,” my mom sometimes asks me. “You have such a good and well-behaved child for all the trouble.” I look at the pen scribbles on my brand new bed sheet, 5 million toys scattered all around the house, my broken pieces of make up which she has been experimenting with, the brand new carpet which she has peed on while potty training and say “Yes mom…she is a very well-behaved child”
Now let's see what my blog will be like for her next birthday...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
