Xmas is here

Last Christmas, I had received an unexpected gift.. I clearly remember when, after my routine trip to empty my bladder in the middle of the night, I badly wanted to go back to sleep but couldn't as I had felt uncomfortable and errr... gassy(I think my digestive system had taken a form of big air balloon ever since my first trimester). I had tried my best to take those gas bubbles out but failed. Even after all the efforts not only did those teeny weeny bubbles had refused to come out but also kept freely moving in my belly. The more I tried, the more they refused to leave. It was then that I had realized that they are not gas bubbles but Chinipie (whom I knew as my tadpole then) had kicked me for the very first time on the Christmas eve. And as the realization dawned upon me, I had tried to wake DH up, who adamantly refused to budge from his slumber. And I forgot anything to do with the sleep. Keeping my hand on my belly, I lied down with a smile on my lips and thanking Santa for this wonderful gift! As DH had refused to wake up, Santa had made sure that he wouldn't feel those beautiful kicks until after the new year!! :) :)

Later during the pregnancy, the teeny weeny kicks grew harder and were not contained just in the belly but could be felt down till the uterus and up till the ribs. And my tadpole loved her exercises so much that she not only kicked but fisted and banged her mommy with her head as well!! And there were times, when they were so many simultaneously throughout the bulging tummy that it was difficult to tell which ones were the kicks, the fists or the head-banging! Most of the day, she would keep her tiny feet stuck in my left ribs though. I could even feel her little toes and often, used to tell DH that our tadpole doesn't know how to unstuck herself! But one thing, that we knew for sure that our tadpole was going to be a hyper-active child given the way she used her all her limbs!! Am glad, we were not wrong!

This Christmas, my active tadpole uses her limbs to CRAWL! That's right! There's still some time to Xmas but the holiday season has begun and I would consider this as an early Christmas gift from Santa. It's been a week now that she follows me everywhere in the house and my heart knows no joy when hearing me calling her, with a chuckle she comes as fast as she can to me. It started 3-4 days before the 11th of dec, when after her usual massage, I left her on the floor to prepare her a bath and always found her crying loud stuck in the crawling position on her limbs. It was like she had wanted to follow me but couldn't or may be, she was distraught by what she could or could not accomplish. Everytime, I would rescue her, either when her crying would grow too loud or when she would give up and fall on her back crying. But, last Tuesday, when I came back to take her for the bath, she was moving forward on her fours with a "uuuuuuuuuu"!! I had almost bent down to pick her up when I realized she is crawling. I stopped and took a few steps backwards and she followed me with "uuuuuuuuu". I made her follow me until the bathroom door and finally picked her up and kissed her. She, too, was very happy with this new found mobility. Since then, it has become our routine, the speed and agility increasing each day. Initially, she used to lie at my feet to be picked up. Since past two days, she sits on her tiny bumchis when she reaches me. I know, soon she would be be grabbing my pajamas and trying to stand up!!

My tadpole still likes to kick around though her favourite activity now-a-days is crawling. With her hands, she doesn't fist but waves good bye, especially to Daddy when she is done playing with him. Yep! we have this little ritual everyday, when Daddy goes to office, he waves her good-bye (we actually started this after re-watching 'Baby's Day Out' around 3 months back). Last month, she had started raising her hand a bit. Now, she has figured out that when she waves good-bye to Daddy, he leaves the house. So, now it's waving goodbye all the time to him! When mommy enters the room, it's goodbye(*action) time; when daddy irritates (read kisses, rubs his face, hugs tight) a lot, it's goodbye (*action) time, and for no reason again, it's goodbye (*action) time! She does that with a smile on her face. It's such an adorable sight. Both of us burst out with laughter when she does that. In fact, just to see her wave goodbye, on purpose, he irritates her!!

Did I mention, this thanksgiving she learned to clap? Yep, we were in the mall wehn daddy taught her how to clap. She loved clapping so much that she kept doing it all the time for about a week. Later on, she loved waving goodbye so much that she forgot all about clapping. All our efforts to show her how to clap went in vain as she would start waving good bye to us. But last night, she herself started clapping again to my relief!

So these were my gifts this year! What else can I ask from Santa? But since, Santa is being so kind, I take this chance to make a wish. Santa, I always have wanted to see my parents happy and lead a comfortable life. They have made so many sacrifices for us that it's time for them to relax. But, some things keep on happening that even at this age, their lives is not smooth and have to face so much. Though, they would strongly disagree with me and still say that they are content with their lives. Can you take all the troubles away from their lives??

Sweet Melodies!!

My doctor could set-up an emergency appointment for me; so we had gone to see her. Though I was feeling less hot as finally at around 3:00 a.m. DH had forced a crocin tablet down my throat despite all my protests that I won't take anything not prescribed my doctor. I guess, he was equally tired of me tossing on the floor. Nevertheless, I still was feeling very tired and my eyes were still burning and felt like red burning coal!!

Poor hubby!! He got a scolding from the assistant - ha ha!! No, not for giving me tablet, but for assuming that I have a temperature! Yeah, we got to know that the pregnant women do feel hotter than they would normally have as a whole human is building up inside!! Hmm.. at least I was right that it's my tadpole's doing ;o)

Enter the doctor, and she looks at my tired face, asks me to lie down, uncovers my belly and starts the check-up. She has a instrument in her hand and all I can hear is a loud rumbling like a thunderstorm or something. "Oh!oh! I did have a clear potty in the morning! Do I have such a bad stomach? Is that the reason that I feel so awful!!" these are the thoughts that went across my head all at the same time as I look from Uttam's face to the doctor's to the instrument. I am still looking at my doctor's face trying to figure out what she would say, when suddenly I hear my DH's thrilled voice, "Baby's heartbeat!!!" and I see a smile breaking on her face as she removes the instrument, equally excited that one of us could decipher that. And I find myself shouting, "Please I want to hear that again. Is that what it was?" as I again look at both theirs smiling nodding faces. ("Oh!Ohh!! Why do these guys want me to keep out of it!!") and as I feel the instrument back on my tummy, almost instantly, I can make out the distinct sound this time and believe me, never heard anything more melodious than this. It sounded like "buh buh.. buh buh.. buh buh".. lots faster than ours!!(Doctor said it was around 140 per minute.. almost our double!!) And I could hear myself saying, "WOW! That’s my baby!!" as all three of us were smiling ear to ear!! It was more thrilling to hear than either reading or writing... take my words for it!! I can still hear it distinctly in my ears. I hope I am able to record it the next time.Oh, and yes, I was still feeling unwell and this time (surprisingly), doctor agreed that I look pathetic and need some rest and gave me a week off from work. That means a week off for DH too or at least, he will have to work from home. I am not feeling well, you see... ;-))

Baked in Oven!!!

That's what I feel like ever since I woke up today.

Still thought would be able to make to work and would feel better as the day progresses. But, as soon as I reached office after more than usual tiring two and a half hours of travel, I was desperate to come back home and take rest. Lucky for me, though being at the client office, I was allowed to be off from work early (or may be the look on my face softened them up). Still, by the time I reached home, it was already 5 in the evening and I felt like I am just out of a hot furnace!! DH went to buy fruits and juices for me so that I might feel cooler. But did I?!!?

It's 11:30 p.m. and I am not able to sleep nor am able to bring my body temperature down!! I hope I am not running a fever. DH makes a point to buy thermometer very first thing in the morning. May be on our way to see the doctor.. Meanwhile, I keep shifting from one side to other, feeling restless and tired of experiencing burning pee every half an hour!!

Little Tadpole, is this your heat energy that's coming out from me??

Breaking the news!!

Since our knowledge, we have been debating how to break the news to our families. I did not want it to be the just usual way of calling them up and telling them.. had wanted to share in some different way. Besides, calling from US would have meant to call up four different numbers, at least, to make sure that nobody important is missed out or gets the news before we convey it to them. We decided to send them the copy of the first ultrasound and have a look at my 'tadpole' before talking over the phone.

Here's the e-mail that DH drafted:

Congratulations!!

I am not sure, what should I be writing?
Should I congratulate you or myself at this juncture....

All I can say, by the grace of almighty and your wishes we all have been entering into a new role soon

We (Swati and me) into a new role of parenthood..and you might be becoming Dada, Dadi, Nana, Naani, Chacha, Bua, Mama, Maami, the list is long and the occasion is great!!!!

Please find the attached photograph of the new life who is entering our lives 6.5 months from now.

Will be calling everybody soon.

-- Warm Regards,

My 'tadpole'

Have a look at my adorable li'l tadpole, as I saw him first!! Isn't he cute?!?

Nothing but 'LOVE'

Friday, the 13th
To some this day is horror and sure to bring bad luck while others would love to debate that the phobia associated with this day is nothing but superstition. To me this day carried no meaning (except for the slasher film series I had enjoyed as a teenager) until Friday the 13th of Oct'2006.

This was the day I got to see our maybaby in the most primitive form, which I lovingly call 'tadpole'! I, instantly, fell in love with approx. 2 inches sized unseeing, unhearing, and formless cute little 'tadpole' of mine and, yes who else by my DH had jumped out of his seat just to have a better look of our baby and both of us were overwhelming with joy! This sure was the loveliest moment of my pregnancy!! He (I'll take the liberty here as I can't address my unborn baby as 'it' which sounds so lifeless) was peacefully lying on his back (again, I assume) in my abdomen with his li'l unformed head and yet to be formed hind limbs all curled up; blissfully unaware of what's going on around him and outside his mama's abdomen. What a adorable picture it posed! No wonder my DH and I could instantly feel our entire parental love outburst from our hearts!!

Probable reason for this sudden rush of feelings might be attributed to the fact that we came to know about my pregnancy rather recently (as I did not experience the usual symptoms associated with the pregnancy), we never imagined or calculated that I would already have carried our baby for 10 weeks now and our baby would actually have acquired some form by now! Another reason could be that though lot many times earlier we had discussed how we plan to up bring our baby and since our knowledge, had started planning for the arrival and mentally preparing ourselves and each other for this new role of 'parenthood', we had never given a single thought over how our baby would look like, be it later or even now for that matter!

Whatever be the reason, the truth is that I am in love with my 'tadpole' months before he steps into this world and I can't wait to hold him in my hands and tell him exactly what I feel - nothing but 'LOVE'!