The journey before parenthood.

To begin with, Frankly, I am not much into writing. Even after having a sound family background of writing, I missed that part. I don't know why .. But today I decided, why not ... :)

Few birds decide to travel to heaven, because GOD told them, if you do so, you all will become "angels". They take it up and starts the journey. They all were enjoying flying high and exploring the sky. They kept going. They were enjoying every bit of the journey. After travelling for few months, they did not reach the heavn. They got disappointed. But To their surprise, they all became "angels" ... Why? because their journey towards heaven was a enjoyable experience.

I just remembered this story after giving the title .. Don't worry, I promise this is the only story and rest of all will be my experiences.

I still remember the day, when doctor told Namita , "Congratulations, Pregnancy Test is positive". Our joy was having no bounds. It was a moment that we both wanted to share together. We wanted to be with each other that day, but I had to go to the drama rehersals in the evening. I decided to call Sujay (who is director of the play) and told him the reason and said "Sujay, I cannot come for the practice session today" . He agreed to it. We spent that evening together. It was a wonderful evening. I was quite for few minutes and later released that I already started dreaming of our baby.

Then the day has come ... the first sonography test ..... I heard Baby's heartbits .. wow .. what a day ... That day I kept telling everybody that I heard the first breath of baby . Believe you me, its a wonderful feeling. After completing 3 months, one of the tests detected a low placed placenta (plz google for details) ... which requires a complete bed rest for Namita for 2-3 weeks . We again did the test after 3 weeks and it was all fine. Usshh !!!!

Time passed by, and It was a decision making day, we have to decide if we are planning to have delivery in Bangalore or in Kolhapur or in Pune. If any of the place gets decided other than Bangalore then I would have missed those days with my wife . We took the decision that she is going to be in Bangalore and both sides families supported our decision. It was good , but at the same time brave decision. But we decided to go through it together and enjoy the experience.
Trust me, it was not a cake walk. Every day was a teacher. Namita has been detected a gestational diabetes (which now they say is common in pregnancy) and she has to cut down on the intake of sweets, rice etc. Her diet intake was planned from 9.00 am to 11.00 pm . Also she has to take insulin injection twice a day. . She is strong and gutsy and that's why she has been able to cope up with all these things.

Delivery date was just one month away and one night suddenly Namita found very less movements by the baby inside. At 11.30 in the night we decided to go to the doctor. She examied her and told to perform NST test which plots the graph of baby's movements vs heart beat rate. We did that and found that it is as expected and nothing to worry about. Usshh !!!

We finalized on Apollo Hospital (opp to IIM-B) for the delivery. The main concern I was having is the distance from home and bangalore traffic. But we made a decision and later proved to be a good decision. Hospital is very good with all excellent facilites. The staff is alert and very responsive.

15 days before the delivery date, it was Saturday 14th April, Namita started some pains and we decided to admit her in the hospital. Again all the tests have been performed and found that baby's heartbeats crossed 175 (normal is 150) . Doctor told me that we should go for C Section on Sunday morning. 2 nurses were constantly monitoring Namita through out the night. They were monitoring Namita's Sugar level and Baby's heartbeats constantly.
Its rightly said, "What nurses do in shifts, nobody can do in lifetime".

The D day has come ... Just outside Operation Theatre I was with her. I was trying to speak to her but she just told me "Nikhil kahi bolu nakos" (Nikhil, don't say anything) and she started crying. Never ever in entire 9 months, she had a single drop in her eye, first time I saw Namita breaking down at the crucial stage. I think it was the silence outside the OT made her feel that way. I just told her don't worry everything will be alright.

At 7.36 in the morning, Nurse called me and told me that I am a Proud Father of a Baby girl .. Ohhhh ... God .... what a feeling ... what a feeling ... I rushed to the observation room and baby was right there ... Nurse was holding her and Baby was looking at me with dark, black eyes. I was in tears .. cann't handle so much joy .. Initially I didn't dare holding her .. but I made up my mind and after some time i was holding our bundle of joy ... a great day ... Namita was still in the OT and I insisted the nurse that I want to meet her. She told me that Namita is fine and you cann't meet her till she comes to the room .. I said nothing doing and I want to see my wife right now .. After few heated arguments, she asked the doctor and allowed me in the observation room ... After seeing Namita, I couldn't talk to her and we just kept looking at each other. No words exchanged, but lot has been said ....

This is the journey before parenthood and I have enjoyed every bit of it. And now I am even enjoying more, since our pillu is smiling, crying and listening to my stories everyday .. :)

Everybody supported us during this time, our parents, sisters , relatives, friends ... list is endless ...

It is the new begining now .......