Vaccination

Gowri had her second vaccination shots yesterday. When we took her for the first shots, we were apprehensive about her reaction. I had heard various experiences from new mothers about chances of getting fever, being cranky and crying all night etc., however, to our surprise, she didn't react much at all. She was sleeping while the injection was being administered and she slept through that day and night. Probably that made me complacent. To my happiness, Gowri didn't react this time as well while the shots were being given, so I assumed that she was okay with it. This happiness was short lived.
After we got home, she started getting cranky. Initially, I thought it was due to hunger or sleep. But then the crying / crankiness continued even after feeding and every effort to make her sleep turned futile. That's when it dawned to me that the vaccine was showing its ugly effect on my poor baby. What ensued was a day full of crying and a slight swelling around the area of the injection. She has been trying to turn on her tummy for the a couple of weeks but she was so weak yesterday that she didn't attempt it.
Night passed and I was eager to see how she would be faring in the morning. I was relieved when I saw a smiling Gowri as she looked at me.... That was worth a million dollars.... :)
Lesson learnt - No two days are the same

Weighty Issues....

Of late there’s been a lot of buzz about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s post delivery weight gain. Initially I didn’t show any interest in reading these articles for the mere fact that I have never liked the actress. It’s another fact that if one doesn’t like a beautiful actress like Aishwarya, it’s assumed that you are jealous of her beauty!!!!! Anyway, coming back to the issue, as much as I tried to ignore these articles, it became impossible to do so because it was all over the place, on the internet, newspapers, facebook and even prime time news!!!!! And as I looked at the images I did realize that she had gained much of weight as compared to her earlier hour glass figure. I felt sympathy for her not for her weight gain but because she was also a woman going through a natural process of child birth but no one was giving her a chance.
Probably my interest in reading this bit of news was related to my own weight gain post delivery. I seemed to lose weight easily in the initial days after birth which made me ecstatic. I thought all I had to do was feed my daughter and the calories would take care of itself. Sadly it was not so. As weeks went by I realized that I started gaining weight and was looking more round. To begin with, I was never a thin person; I was what I liked to call “pleasantly plump” :)
I started getting poured with advices on how important it is to maintain your weight post delivery and if I didn’t control my weight initially then there was no chance of losing the delivery fat at all etc etc…… it can actually get a bit irritating because first of all you are dealing with something that you have not been used to till now, i.e.; a baby, you are awake at times when earlier you used to be dreaming and to top it all you are expected to maintain your weight which probably is your last priority at the point in time. Weight loss is important but then each one to their own. Also each body is different and mine has always been a disobedient one. I liked to take it slow. I was in no hurry to lose my weight and prove to the world that in spite of having a baby, you can maintain your figure.
But the sad part is that even public figures (read actresses :)) who had delivered never stepped out of their homes till they got back to their previous self. That makes us even more pressurized to lose weight. In such given circumstances, I felt very happy to see Aishwarya plump and round. First of all, I could not ignore her guts to step out and show the world the way she was especially when she has always been one to be known for her thin frame and second of all it would give all the ladies a moral boost because they would think, “if Ash took this long to get to shape, then it’s ok for me to take a while longer” and they will not be forced to feel sorry for their odd shapes….
As much as I disliked Ash earlier, I could not ignore her truly feminist attitude when it came to this. Kudos lady, way to go!!!!!

The Beginning

My baby turned two months yesterday and I could not help but think how quickly time flies. It seems only yesterday that she was safely sleeping in my womb. I still remember the day that I felt her movement for the very first time. That was very exciting. As months passed, she made her presence felt through strong kicks and movements and at times I could even feel her heartbeat.

I had to deliver her through C-section because my water bag ruptured 28 days in advance and her head had also not set by then. So, finally we saw our daughter on 21st March, 2012 at 1.47 pm. I still remember my doctor’s words as she held my girl, “It’s a girl and she is fine”. Probably, I’ll never forget those words which were my first connect with my daughter.

Since she was born preterm, she was kept under the neonatal care for a week. She was a puny little girl all of 2.32 kg. She had a few mild infections which were being adhered to and I still remember the celebration which was making rounds in other rooms while our room was very quiet and all of us were anxious to know the welfare the new little member of our family. We had to wait a whole day to see her and I had to wait for two days to breast feed her.

It’s amazing how small babies who have just seen the light of the day into this world latch on and feed. I was really amazed. Almighty’s creations are great. I had read a lot of articles where mothers write about the excitement and thrill they feel when they hold their baby for the first time. I have also seen videos of emotional mothers holding on to their babies. This had created an expectation in my mind about my own experience. To my disappointment, I didn’t feel any such emotion when I held her for the first time. It even lead me to think, whether delivering through C-section was the reason for the same. Probably, the pain endured during natural birth instantly connects a mother to her child. I felt odd disclosing this feeling to anyone, even my husband. I thought that they might think badly of me.….. Like they say, time is the best healer. Most of the time Gowri was kept in the baby care room and was brought to me only for her feeds. As days went by, I started eagerly waiting for her to be brought to me and I enjoyed holding her in my arms. I started looking at her face with excitement to see what features of her’s resembled mine; I enjoyed feeling her soft skin against mine. Slowly it occurred to me that it’s not when I start connecting with my baby that matters, it’s the connect itself that matters…..

As we were discharged from the hospital, we knew for sure that our lives were no longer going to be the same. There was now a little angel who had completely taken control of our lives. As we neared our home, my dreamy eyes were already building images of the future. Life indeed is beautiful!!!! :)