Year and a half in a jiffy

Bunty completed 18 months recently!

He is at the peak of his naughtiness, stubbornness, cuteness, innocence and whole lot of other things. We are running out of words and out of energy trying to keep up with him! It's been an absolutely fantastic journey with our little star.

Here are some funny things that he said/did during the last few months:

=> He hid the car keys in kitchen draw! We had to manage with duplicate keys for a couple of days until we caught him putting something else in the same spot :D And all this while, we kept asking Bunty "keys edi?" and he would say "keys" and bend down and see through his legs!

=> I was caught by surprise when he started pulling the laddu in Ganesh idol's hand calling it a ball. He also managed to give a hi-fi to Ganeshji's blessing hand. Kudos to his alternate perception.

=> One day I opened the fridge and found a comb in there. No prizes for guessing who did that!

=> I was giving Bunty bath the other day and he observed my hand and yelled Pulgu (he meant purugu, insect) suddenly. What do you think he was looking at? My mole :))

=> S often complains that we keep losing all the DVDs that we buy. He has no idea that our Bunty has stacked up quite a few DVDs under his toy car seat!

=> S's phone had gone for a toss and the home button wasn't working. Poor Bunty tried switching on the phone pressing the home button and said "battery ayipoindi" !!!

=> There was this one crazy weekend where I had to work from home and was totally busy. Bunty grabbed my VPN token (which is about half the size of a finger) and ran away. We searched the entire floor for it 3 days in a row and guess where it was? In his train chute! God save us :)

=> We did a fun survey of the number of words that he speaks (and understands). He knows about 120 words (30% Telugu, rest English + a few names)! And he is framing simple sentences these days.

Bunty loves to sing rhymes. His favorite rhymes are twinkle twinkle, wheels on the bus, Old McDonald, Five little monkeys etc. And he loves to dance with moosic. He grooves tirelessly until the music plays!

Bunty loves to cuddle up with mommy and play silly games. He loves it when his Pappa pampers him and reads colorful books to him. He brings the roof down with his hysterical laughter, tireless jumping, running around and endless expressions.

He has changed our world beyond imagination....loving every bit of it :)

Fun Trip to Mexico - 2

It took me almost an year to finish this write up! We went to another grand trip after this and preparing ourselves for this year end vacation...It's funny how life gets busier.

Simply put, this whole place was paradise. The room was lavish with modern furniture. The pool was right outside the room. And the beach few yards away. The whole place was super designed with all beach activities, hammocks and lounges. And the resort had a sports lounge, art centre, unlimited food/beverages at any time of the day, spa, entertainment shows in the evenings and lots more!

My favorite and most memorable time was when I spent my mornings alone at the coffee bar, sipping my cappuccino away, looking at the waves in peace. Pure Bliss!

I had planned outdoor activities on alternate days so that we could laze around rest of the days, which worked out perfect for us. I had plenty of time to click pictures and take care of Bunty while we also managed to do so much during that week.

On my birthday, we went to the Dolphin park. We took turns to play with the dolphins. I wasn't sure if my body was ready for a dolphin ride, but the thrill factor pushed me. So, I simply floated on water, waiting for the dolphins to pick me up! No sooner, two baby dolphins lifted me up in the air with their beaks (supporting me underneath my foot) and took me for a super fast ride before dumping me in a big splash. I thought I sprained my back after the fall but all was well, when I got out of the water! I'll remember this super ride for the rest of my life.

On a super hot day, we chose to visit the Chichen Itza. It was a guided tour and we ended up missing from the group, for atleast 4-5 times. They had to come back searching for us. Bunty hated the weather and he was all cranked up. Poor thing was not ready to bear the heat. We took our own sweet time to explore the surroundings and luckily got back to the bus on time. That was the only strenuous day in the entire trip and we were glad that it was over.

My favorite outing was to Isla Mujeres, a beautiful tiny island off Cancun. We rented a golf cart and covered the island in about 3 hrs. Driving along the sea coast is a beautiful experience. The boat ride to and from the island was breathtaking as we got to see the blue, green, turquoise colors of the sea and the gorgeous caribbean sunset. Exactly the moments why I crave for vacations :)

Rest of the days, we lazed in the pool or played on the beach and binged on food like there was no tomorrow. The fruits were the yum part. Bunty thoroughly enjoyed playing in the pool! We got some great pictures of him in this trip. We also got few family portraits clicked.

When S and Bunty were fast asleep, I used to take off to spend some ME time. Visiting the spa refreshed me unbelievably. I also got a chance to paint again, which I had long forgotten. Love, love, loved it.

This trip is special of sorts because S tried Bungee jumping. I had goosebumps the moment he jumped. A sense of anxiety mixed with excitement. So proud of him for giving it a shot. While he jumped, I went on a joy ride over the caribbean sea, parasailing. It was a dream ride with gorgeous sights all around.

But after having a baby, our mindsets for sure have changed. Realised it when S was prepping himself for this feat. We are definitely not in a frame of mind to dare such stunts without thinking through a million times. Parenthood, I say!

Towards the end of the trip, we were so pampered and royally spoilt at the resort that I almost cried while leaving the place. The Mexico trip was a super hit and we got so confident traveling with Bunty that we went on a Europe tour for 3 weeks with him in September this year. I must say, he is one little happy traveller...touchwood!

More about the Europe tour in future posts, when I get free again!

Fun Trip to Mexico - 1

After having enjoyed the baby phase down and under, S and I were eyeing on a little holiday….a tiny break from the routine, especially with my birthday around the corner. But the thought of taking the baby out of comfort zone, exposing him to the big dangerous world of germs out there was holding us back. Adding to it, I also had the difficult task of packing baby stuff.

Bearing all of this in mind, our plans started with a simple 2/3 day outing, somewhere closer. Since it was winter, we had limited options. In fact, just one option….indoor water parks with lodging. Really??? Pity on us parents with infants. The options are cut down drastically! It was definitely not like before…when we could just hop off randomly without having to worry about food, accommodation with kitchen, weather, infant-friendly and stroller-friendly locations, clean washrooms with diaper changing facilities, abundant time blahh …hell, yeah. It donned upon us that we were past the golden phase of easy travelling. It never was going to be the same. But, our spirits were the same….we were not to give up so easily.

I had to look for a place where we could relax, have plenty of time on hands to take care of the baby and see the places around. That’s when I bumped upon the all-inclusive packages in one of the travel sites. All-inclusive….the name itself was appealing and that too at Mexico, where the weather was moderate. Half my problems were solved. After weighing all the options, I finally narrowed down to a 5-star resort for a 7-day vacation. The resort was in Cancun, by the beach. It had plenty of swimming pools and indoor entertainment. The food, beverages were all free 24/7. I read the reviews and double checked if it was infant-friendly. It was all too good to be true! We went ahead and booked it without a second thought.

I started packing way ahead to avoid last minute rush. The little one’s stuff filled up 1 big suitcase! I wasn’t taking any chances…I packed up everything right from baby medicines, plenty of baby food, swim diapers to dishwashing liquid, microwaveable containers, flask etc etc. The list goes on and on. S was saying, “why don’t we just carry our home there?” :D It all came down to 2 big check-in bags, 1 cabin bag, a stroller along with the car seat and the baby, of course :D Oops...we also had the rock-heavy diaper bag!

Because it was New Year’s eve, the airport was bustling with people. We would have almost missed the flight, thanks to the long line for check-in.  It was a 4 hr flight and so, there were no bassinets for babies. We had to settle for regular seats with baby on lap. It was Bunty's first flight trip and we were pretty nervous about him crying during take-off and landing. But he surprised us like he always does. He not just enjoyed the flight, but had fun watching out of the window. During take-off and landing, I put him to sleep and he was alright. The journey was much better than expected.

After we got off the flight, we waited for a while at the airport for the hotel transport to pick us up. No sooner, we were on our way to the Cancun Strip and were dropped off outside the resort.

The moment we entered the resort, we were blown away by the interiors. The christmas decorations were still fresh. The lobby was huge. The interior decor was modern and chic. There was a coffee bar towards the end of the lobby overlooking the beach through glass walls. We could see the blue waters and white sand. It was like a dreamland!

The resort staff were very polite and friendly. They upgraded our package and gave us a villa accommodation! We were given a grey band. We were to wear it on our wrists all the time to avail the premium facilities at the resort. Our vacation had started with a bang!

Days at NICU - 2

As the days progressed, the little peanut started showing signs of improvement. He was latching better and had started bottlefeeds once/twice in a day. At around 2 weeks, the nurses were confident that he would go home soon.

The NICU bustled with new borns, caring nurses and new mommies! By now, we had become familiar to the environment. Bunty's immediate neighbours were twin boys on one side and a little girl on the other side. One baby would start crying and wake up all the other babies! Sometimes, the babies would pull off the nodes and set the monitors to beep.  Bunty once pulled the feeding tube out of his nose and startled us!
I had mastered the art of disconnecting all the nodes from the baby, feeding him, changing his diapers, dress, putting him to sleep and connecting back all the nodes.

At around Day 18, Bunty baby was off the tube feeds completely. He had switched to bottle/breast feeds. He had passed his first test yayy!

The next test was he had to stay in his car seat for 90 minutes after a feed without any discomfort. His stats had to be normal a;; the while. He was so tiny when we tucked him up with all the belts in the carseat...like a doll. We left him to sleep and left to home. Called back later to find out that he passed the carseat test too :)

So, the final test was for us basically. On the night of Day 19, we had to stay overnight at the hospital with the baby. We had to take care of him without any help from the nurses. We were given a family room with all amenities. Of course, now it feels it was so easy to carry off. But we were real nervous that day! We were on the spotlight and we were on our own to take care of the baby. So, it was a big thing then. S and I took turns and woke up every 3 hours to tend to the baby. Little Bunty didn't trouble us much. The nurse checked on us a couple of times to see if we were doing okay. Next morning, we got a big thumbs up from NICU to take Bunty baby home!!! We almost jumped in joy!

On Day 20, we dressed up Bunty in a cute red welcome home dress. Took pictures with the nurses. Left them a Thank you card and treats. Afterall, we couldn't have done it without them.

And so, we were on our way home :) S and the grandparents had decorated our home for the baby's welcome!

The moment was so heart warming to have our little bundle of joy enter our abode. Little Bunty was finally HOME!  

What is your name?

We had pondered over the name game right after we knew the gender of the baby. It wasn't as tedious as we had expected it to be. We didn't make any lists, in fact. I casually bumped on this name in one of the websites and liked it. S liked it too. And so did everyone in the family. It's hard to find a name accepted unanimously by everybody in the family! We had found one. This name also sounded like a combination of my name and S's name.

Next step was to make it unique by appending a middle name. I think, S and I came up with the idea of appending our gothram name as middle name. I was against making the name any longer, I still am. But, we thought it was only appropriate because the baby is the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of S household!

The combination sounded so right, everyone loved it. Especially S's paternal grandmom. She was on cloud 9 and beaming with pride ever since she knew that it was a boy! These old people, I say...

I also double checked with angrez people (my colleagues), if they could pronounce it with ease. They got it perfectly. They can really kill beautiful names!

Now....on the contrary, some of the fellow indians are not able to pronounce the name properly. That's another story.

There's always a downside to finding a name as no name is perfect. Some people like it, some don't. I mean, there's this huge responsibility of gifting your baby his identity for life and all that. But I have come to the realization that it's the person who builds the character around his/her name, that makes it unique/lovable. Afterall, it's the upbringing that needs attention more than the name.

And so, we had the name. But we were still open for better names, if any.

Finally my son arrived like a thunderbolt and we were given a deadline to register the name. That's when we took a step back to rethink if it was THE name. My stay in hospital was spent productively looking for more names, but none came close. After beating around the bush for a while, we gave up. Looking out for other names only made it worse. Perhaps the destiny, we went ahead and registered the name we originally had in mind right from the beginning.

I hope we have made the right decision and I hope my son will like his name :)

Oh by the way, his name is SAHARSH ATHREYA. True to his name, he has brought boundless happiness into our lives...

We lovingly call him Bunty :) I love the sparkle in his eyes and his toothy grin whenever we call him Bunty!

Days at NICU - 1

I was discharged from the hospital a couple of days after the delivery. But my little one had to stay back at NICU. The wait was indefinite as coming out solely depended on him passing some tests! Barely stepped into the world, my baby had to prove himself fit to go home...insane world! Sometimes I felt it was good for him to be there as the nurses at NICU took wonderful care of him in a sterile environment. It was bad for me, to have delivered and not have the baby by my side. I just wanted to breeze through the days and have him home.

The 2 days I was at the hospital, the baby was just a block away. I used to drop by as frequently as possible. Though he didn't have any major issues, he had these 4-5 nodes attached for monitoring his heart rate and other stuff. And was being tube-fed as he was yet to learn to latch. He had his own cozy cubicle and a bassinet. He was so tiny that the nurses used to call him a little peanut!

After I was home, I started pumping breastmilk(BM) and carried tiny bottles to NICU for the baby. We were visiting him twice a day. The hospital was 5 minutes away, meaning we could be there at the drop of a hat. We were so occupied with the new adjustments that we forgot to get him some clothes until there was a note on his cubicle board "Mommy, can you bring me some clothes?" And so, the baby wore his first dress on Day 5, which was also our 5th anniversary! The cute blue onesie had wordings "Mommy loves me" :) A month ago, I had ordered t-shirts for our anniversary that read "Mom-to-be 2012" for me and "Proud Dad-to-be 2012" for S! Well, we did wear the T-shirts, striking out the "to-be" part :)

He was weighed every day. Initially he lost weight and got back to his birth weight by Day 8 which most of the babies normally do. The weight gain was in terms of 5-10 gms per day. And there we were cheering for every single gram gain :)

NICU stay was a learning phase for me as well. I had to learn to breastfeed him and he had to learn to latch on. It was only the beginning and we had to face quite a hardship. His first test was to bottlefeed/breastfeed for straight 36 hrs and not lose weight. We were taking teeny tiny babysteps in that direction. Breastfeeding can be tiring for the babies as they need to put some effort to it.

The nurses used to give bath to the baby every alternate day. The first time I saw him take bath was on Day 6. The nurse effortlessly held him in one hand, moved him from one hand to another, flipped him over while giving him a bath! To this day, the video amazes me. God, was he really so tiny? I was soon to try giving him a bath with the help of the nurse. I almost trembled with fear, trying to handle the baby. That was not easy!

Day 7 was Mother's Day! The previous night we stayed back at NICU and celebrated by cutting a cake at around 12. S gifted me and MIL with some cute teddies and photoframes. The next day, when we visited the baby, there was this little card on the table that had my son's footprint. Another cute moment :) My joy was boundless. The nurses had made it special for sure...my first Mother's Day gift. Another priceless gift, the little one peed on us while changing :D

Day 8 was special because I saw my son smile for the first time. We also tried bottlefeeding him for the first time and he drank about 15 ml. Another yay moment!

During our visits, I did a lot of skin to skin with the baby. The nurses were particular about it. I realized that it gave a lot of warmth and a sense of security to the baby. And I felt super good too, in the warm embrace. I had my personal bonding moments with the baby that way. As per several studies, skin-to-skin is believed to be very beneficial for the baby. Glad to have tried it.

Oh the name! Shall save it for the next post :)

PS: I had scribbled notes everyday, while at NICU. That's how I remember what happened each day.

Birth Story of my little fellow - 3

Over to the Birthing Suite at 8:40 PM.

I had to go through the tormentous process of getting up from the wheel chair and sleeping on the bed. By now, my screams were in high pitch, whenever the contractions hit. I remember glimpses of staff peeping inside to see who was screaming. S and my MIL were by my side constantly, trying to calm me down. S says even today that it wasn't me screaming, must be some bhoot or chandramukhi :D

The nurses weren't helping me get over the pain either. I remember begging one of the nurses to do something, to give me epidural, to get me out of pain. Unfortunately, she said "There's no way out Honey. You have to push". They checked my dilation and I was already 10 cm dilated! No wonder, the pains were monsterous. I had passed the window when I could get the pain medication. It was too late. I continued screaming to the top of my voice and wriggling in bed. The nurses were trying to tell me something but I was in no mood to listen.

Inbetween the contractions, I could relax a bit. That's when a nurse yelled at me, saying I was wasting my energy screaming. Instead I had to divert my energy to push. That made complete sense to me. The very next contraction, I channelized the pain in a better way. Everyone around me was surprised. I had got the technique! phew!

From then on, I wasn't screaming. I started pushing hard. When I was close to delivering, the delivery team walked in. The doctor with his assistants, helped me further. My MIL couldn't see me suffering, and S asked her to leave inbetween. We couldn't put her health in jeopardy. I was so exhausted during the process, I had no energy left. But the thought of seeing my baby kept me going. And S was by my side supporting me all this while.

At 9:44 PM, I heard a tiny squeal! Our little bundle of joy had arrived. S and me were living the moment we were dreaming of since ages. That was the most precious and beautiful thing I was holding in my arms, my baby :) A miracle, I feel at times. Without the divine intervention, it would not have been possible. There were countless times, when things weren't happening the right way. But one perfect moment made up for all the pain endured. Touchwood!

Sailing through the magical moments, I did not realize that my pain was long gone. They had to take the baby to NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)as he was born early. He had to be monitored for any irregularities. The post - delivery process was so fast that I was wheeled back to mother and baby care unit as early as 10:10 PM. On the way back, I peeked into NICU to catch a glimpse of my new love. Later, our family got together to celebrate the little one's arrival :)

All's well that ends well. And so the beautiful day passed by unfolding tons of surprises and life-long memories to cherish.

Birth Story of my little fellow - 2

The maternity ward was transparent with glass doors. The nurses would drop in from time to time to check my blood pressure and temperature, also to check if the baby's heartrate was okay. S and my in-laws took turns to go home and freshen up. Meanwhile, I had my lunch at around 12:00 PM. The mood lightened in the room and we relaxed a bit knowing the baby was doing good. I still had no pains.

I had my ultrasound appointment at 1:40 PM. S wheeled me downstairs to the ultrasound room. To my luck, the lady who was to take my ultrasound was probably an intern. She would see something on screen and rush to her seniors for advice. She did this forever! We kept asking her if there was something we should know. She would give us a smirk and tell us that the doctor will look into the report and talk to us. As far as she knew, it all looked fine. After a gruelling long session, we got back to the room at around 3:30 PM. I was tired and took a nap.

The nurses kept dropping by inbetween. One of the nurses told us that the doctor reviewed the ultrasound report. He did not see any issues and so, that's it for today. He was to check back on me tomorrow. He didn't even pay a visit. Expecting an uneventful night, we were still discussing about S dropping my in-laws back home. They wanted to hang around for some more time. I had called my parents while I was in labor assessment room. I tried to sound as casual as possible and told them that there was nothing to worry about. I kept calling them from time to time to inform them of the updates. They were worried.

My dinner arrived at 6:00 PM. And just when I finished it, I felt a steep pain. It didn't last long. After about 5 minutes, the pain came back. I held the bed railings hard. The pain went away again. This continued for 30 minutes and we informed it to the nurse. The nurse asked us to get back to her, if the contractions got severe and 4 minutes apart. The contractions got really severe and I was finding it hard to control. I don't even remember when I started screaming! The pains got worse at around 7:45 PM. I had been recording my contractions in my phone all this while. 7:45 PM was the last contraction that I recorded, after which I just threw my phone out and struggled in bed with the immense pain! S on one side of the bed and my MIL on the other side tried to pacify me but to no vain. The pain only got worse. This continued till after 8:00 PM when the nurse arrived. She must have heard my screams :D She checked me and made arrangements to take me to birthing suite!

She asked me to get up and sit on the wheel chair. WTH? I was going mad and crazy with pains. S and my MIL helped me somehow with the move and we were on the run the very next second. My pains were getting unbearable.

Birth Story of my little fellow - 1

My world changed when my little one arrived on May 7th last year. He chose to arrive quite early (6 weeks before expected date!) We had no time to think or react to the happenings. I had read a lot of birth stories before. Mine was different.

My in-laws were visiting us then. They wanted to be around when the baby arrived. My parents were planning to visit just before the delivery. Thinking there was still a lot of time, we were putting off the baby shopping. Finally, one fine weekend S made some time. We headed all the way to Buffalo to buy baby stuff. The shopping was never ending. I picked up anything and everything that I liked! We stopped by Niagara falls and the casino, while on the way back. After a eventful saturday, sunday was relaxing. In the evening S and me took a long walk, talking about how our lives would be changing because of a little someone. Little did we know, that we would meet this special one the very next day! After the walk, I retired to bed early as I had to go to office the next day.

Sleeping gets difficult during late months. Turning and changing sides used to be so hard. At around 4:30 AM, I tried changing sides and felt something. I froze for a while to realize what was happening. My water broke. I didn't know what to do. Panic hit me. It was not even close to my EDD. I finally mustered some strength and put my hand on S to wake him up. All I could say was 'water'! S thought I was asking for water to drink! He woke up casually and started walking out to get some water. I yelled at him and said that my water broke! He switched on the lights and took a while to grasp the situation. He ran to my MIL and brought her in. She asked me not to panic and held my hand. Let alone the hospital bag, I didn't even have the emergency phone number handy! My mind was blank and so was S's. He finally got hold of the number and called them. The hospital staff asked us to come in right away. I was scared to even stand. Somehow managed to walk down the stairs and to the car. My MIL and FIL quickly got in. S drove the car to the hospital which was 5 minutes away.

He dropped us outside the hospital and went to park the car. I was wheeled in to the labor assessment area. The lady at the counter failed to notice my worried face. She must have been dealing with such cases everyday, I suppose. She coolly asked me for my health card. Darn! I wasn't carrying it with me. So, S had to go back home again and get my wallet.

Meanwhile, they put me in a room and started monitoring the baby's heartrate. The baby was fine and kicking much to our relief. They confirmed that the water had broken. We waited for the doctor to show up which took a good 3 hours. The nurses kept dropping by inbetween assuring us that it was going to be okay. One of the nurses really motivated us a lot. I can't remember her name but she made us feel safe. Thanks to her. She mentioned that they had delivered babies as early as 27 weeks and that the babies are all hale and healthy.

The doctor arrived at around 8 AM and examined all the reports. The baby was doing fine. I wasn't even having any pain or anything. She said that there was no going home now. She was optimistic that we could wait atleast 2-3 days before the labor kicked in. She asked me to go for an ultrasound. She said something that greatly relieved me of my guilt. That the baby decides to come out whenever it wants to. Physical activities like walking seldom induce a labor. All the while, I was blaming myself that I over strained myself and so my water broke :(

I was moved to the maternity ward at around 8:20 AM and given a private room. The ultrasound was scheduled in the afternoon. They did not check my dilation as they feared infection. So, I was put on IV and left to relax in the room.