Grey Shades

Read about my pregnancy , childbirth – part 1 and childbirth – part 2 . Day 1 (the day of the delivery, Monday, 27 Feb, 2012) Back in the room, I tried to make Ashwin hold the baby. I had given him enough training with my life-size baby doll at home. Some of my friends were also kind enough to trust Ashwin with their babies. But all these went down the drain; he refused to hold the baby. Fear was written all over his face. So I gave up and he just kept hovering around instead. I did not want to use the Indian toilet after delivery. I was scared of the stitches coming apart. Since we did not have a western toilet in our house, it was decided months ago to use the in-laws’ new house instead of making any adjustments in our place. In-laws were shifting in June and since the new house would be empty until then, it could be used for the confinement period. The shifting was planned for later that week but since the baby came early it had to be done before I was discharged from the ho...

Read about my pregnancy and Childbirth – Part 1 . Monday Feb 27, 2012. The day must have been beautiful but I was in too much pain to either notice or appreciate. It was the third day (Chandramandal) of Bantwal Teru. I messaged my manager that my maternity leave may be considered from that day. Ashwin got ready to go home to freshen up saying he’ll come at 11:00 or so. I nagged him not to waste time in front of the TV and to come back as soon as he possibly could because I wanted him near me at the time of delivery. Just as mom came with breakfast – chapathi, dal and coffee – Ashwin left. The contractions were now coming in a pattern. As for breakfast, I could not eat even one half of the chapathi for in between I felt the urge to throw up. When I was back after doing the deed, mom was asking if I did not like the curry. Duh !! Seriously, my mom has the knack of annoying the hell out anyone. I tried to sleep but it was impossible. It was too painful to sleep on the left side du...

Read about my pregnancy experience here . It was Saturday, the 25th of February, marking the first day of Bantwal Teru of 2012. Ashwin was in town and had gone to attend the pooja in Bantwal with his father. I had decided not to go since I knew it would be too tiring to travel and spend so much time amidst the crowd. I was all of 38 weeks pregnant then. Moreover I had a bit of discomfort the previous day with pain all over my body and I did not want to risk anything. Perhaps to not go was one of the better decisions I took in a long while. Because at around 3:00 PM in the afternoon I started experiencing mild pain all around my tummy. From all the friends and relatives I knew this was contraction – the pain was shooting upwards from the lower tummy and was unlike any other pain I had experienced before. I disregarded it as false labor because as per the doctor I still had a few more days to go. Moreover from what I heard/read, babies when it was time for them to arrive, their activi...

Warning 1: I will be doing a series of posts on pregnancy and childbirth. There’s going to be what some may consider shameful or embarrassing details during the course of pregnancy and childbirth. As for me, I don’t find them embarrassing or shameful anymore. Only those who are mature enough to understand the significance and beauty of nature need continue reading the post. Perverts and immature people may stop reading further. Those with a weak heart, those scared of childbirth, those who are not ready (mentally, physically, emotionally) about childbirth, and those who believe “ignorance is bliss” please do not read further. As they say in movie reviews: Contains spoilers! ;) Warning 2: The following write up is compiled from my experience and those of friends and family who shared their pregnancy/childbirth stories with me. Every human being is different, so what worked for me may not work for you and vice versa. Please follow caution. Remember I am NOT a doctor. Consult your do...

Its been so long since I posted anything. I was on stealth mode, so to say. I wasn’t suffering from writer’s block and in fact I have quite a few posts in my draft ready to be posted…but I did not choose to post. Wanted some alone time with myself, with family and close friends before the roller coaster ride started. Yes, I understand there is a certain responsibility and discipline in maintaining a blog and I am aware I haven’t been fulfilling it. But try as I might, I am not feeling guilty about it. It was a conscious decision and I am not apologizing for it. Warning: Long post. Verbal diarrhea follows ;) So coming straight to the point. I went into stealth mode, for some time even from my gtalk and facebook. I cooped into my shell. I was quite normal with my daily gang though. If you are wondering why, its like the darkness before dawn kinda situation :) And our dawn is the coming of our baby… Barely three weeks to go, unless the baby decides otherwise :) The whole time since...