Thinking Out Loud

Aanya is a month “young”

npranjal — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:15:45 +0000

Aanya turned a month old two days back. In retrospective, the past thirty days have been the most life changing days. These days have been stressful, yet most delightful. They have been full of anxiousness, yet I cherish them all. They have involved frantic visits to the doctor at midnight. There have been frustrating moments when I have tried to decipher what her endless screams and yells could mean, and then there have been moments when a smile on her face has made me forget that she did not let me sleep well the last night. When she stares at my face I wish she calls out “Mama”. The past few days she has been able to turn her head and focus on an object. Seeing my baby grow has been one of the most fulfilling moments of my life.

Aanya’s Day Out

npranjal — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:41:56 +0000

Today was Aanya’s first day out. We went shopping for her pram. It was just too bad she was sleeping the entire time that we were shopping for her stuff, but in a way we were lucky our first excursion with Aanya was over without her screams and yells.

Aanya ready to go out in her pram, but does she care??

Tagged: Aanya, Shopping

Aanya has Mashi visiting her

npranjal — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:10:39 +0000

Aanya with Mashi

Pinku and Vineet visited us yesterday. They are visiting India after a year since they moved to Seattle. They were here for just a day; but I am happy Aanya got to meet her Mashi and Masaji. They got lots of gifts for Aanya and had fun playing with her. It was actually Pinku’s and Vineet”s first experience at holding a child this small. While Pinku was quick to learn how to handle Aanya, Vineet was actually nervous to even hold her. :)

Tagged: Aanya, Pinku

Aanya’s first visit to the doctor

npranjal — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:34:17 +0000

Aanya turned two weeks “young”. She had to go for her first routine checkup after birth. I was anxious to find out how she had been doing in the last fifteen days. When you are first time parent, handling a newborn is such a challenge when you keep wondering if you are doing everything right.

The checkup went well. Aanya has gained 400 gms and increased in length by 3 cm

Daddy thinks he is the best !!!!

Tagged: Aanya

First five days with my baby

npranjal — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:57:45 +0000

Oct 20th:

My water broke on the midnight of Oct 20th. I was just going off to sleep when that happened. I waited for half an hour to make sure its not just a urine leakage. It was definitely my water breaking. Mohinder, Papa and I rushed to the emergency ward of Apollo hospital. I was not in any pain, that puzzled me because I was epecting contractions along with my water breaking. I was admitted to the labor room and kept under obsevation. The doctor examined me and confirmed I was in labor and had dilated 1 cm. But since I was not in pain they wanted to observe me for the next three hours. So, I lay there, trying my best to relax and get some sleep. At 4 AM the doctor decided to induce labor. In 15 mins, the induced labor showed results. My back started to ache. At first I thought that was just a result of lying down for too long. I adjusted my position but the pain returned in another 15 mins with the same intensity. I was informed these pains were contractions. They were different from the definition of contraction I had mentally prepared myself with. The intensity of pain grew exponentially as time progressesed and so did my resistance power. I screamed, hollered and tightly held Mohinder. Thank goodness, he was with me most of the time. The pain just kept increasing and I told the doctor I was not able to bear the pain anymore. She injected me with a pain killer and I was told it would take 15 mins for the pain killer to take effect. by 8 AM I was told by the doctor I was in active labor and it would be just half an hour before I would deliver. I was still in the pre labor room then. The labor room was opposite to the pre-labor room. I walked across to the delivery room while the nurses set the room for the delivery. All this was happening so quickly. The doctor told me I had only 15 mins to go. And in the next 15 mins all I heard was the nurses shouting “Push” and me pushing on every contraction. Then at 8:46 AM I felt the doctor pulling the baby out. And that was when my sweetheart was born.

Oct 21st

I spent the next day in the hospital. Kiddo was immunized with three vaccines, BCG, Hepatitis B and Polio. I was expected to be discharged tomorrow. Baby is so tiny, I am actually scared to hold her.

Baby is tired

Oct 22nd

As I wait to be discharged from the hospital, baby has to go through photo therapy since baby is diagnosed with physiological jaundice. I am upset and worried; she has her blood sample examined by the paediatrician. She would have to stay in the hospital for atleast one more day before the doctor can make a call on her discharge.

Oct 23rd

Baby has to wait for another day before she can be discharged since her doctor wants her photo therapy to continue. I am grumpy.

Oct 24th

Finally, the good news. We can go home!!! The blood samples tested today showed bilirubin level under control. I already had my bags packed. and by 2 PM I was at home

Tagged: Baby

Pink Dwarf Ixora

npranjal — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:18:51 +0000

I added a new plant to my garden. It’s a dwarf Ixora. I captured some pictures when flowers were blooming. Flowers look really bright and lovely because of their cluster formation.

Tagged: Gardening, Ixora

I am nervous

npranjal — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:39:44 +0000

I went for my weekly check-up yesterday. I am into my 36th week. After my routine check-up the doctor explained to me what I should expect from labour pains. She went on to add how intense it could get and how long it could last. And man, was I nervous. My throat almost chocked and my eyes were moist. I was almost on the verge of crying, but thankully did not burst out. I was thinking, would I survive all this? Anyway, I finally gave into my emotion. While driving back home, I just wept out of nervousness.

Tagged: Pregnancy

Ganesha at home

npranjal — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:11:44 +0000

I had a quiet Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at home yesterday. Actually, it was also the first time I was celebrating it at home. I didn’t know what rituals had to be followed, so I kept it quite simple. I bought a Ganesh Idol from the store and set it up at home. I decorated the idol with some flowers, diyas and incense sticks. I had a small pooja at home, chanted some mantras I knew. For lunch made Kheer and poori as prasad.

If you love Dosas and you are in Hyd…

npranjal — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:42:39 +0000

…try Chutney’s. It’s got the most yummy idlis and Dosas. When I crave for South Indian food the only place I can think of going is chutney’s. The food is fresh and the good thing is its a vegetarian eating place. They have got a whole variety of chutney’s. Try the Chiranjeevi dosa, which is a steamed dosa. Has a sushi kind of effect . But I any day prefer the masasla dosa or the rava dosa. some people may feel its on the expensive side, but it’s ok if you have it once in a while and get what you want. They have North Indian dishes on their menu as well, which I am too scared to taste. Somehow I have never had a good experience with North Indian food in South Indian joints.

On my birthday eve, I went to Chutney’s with Mummy, Papa and Mohinder. Tried the rava dosa. It was great as usual.

Rainy Birthday

npranjal — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:30:47 +0000

We had a small family celebration on the 8th of Aug since it was Mummy’s birthday. Mummy and Papa are in Hyderabad so we decided to go out for dinner to Chutney’s. Mummy was in mood for authentic South Indian food, and Chutney’s is indeed one place where you can get that. Pinku and Vineet had ordered a Black Forest cake, that came as a pleasant surprise when it was delivered in the morning. Dinner was eventful since it started raining like crazy just few minutes before we were set to leave. Not to dampen our spirit, we took off only to find the roads jammed and flooded. We reached Chutney’s in a hour and a half which normally should take us just half an hour. Thanks god, the food was good !!! What’s more, it never stopped raining that night. It poured non stop for the next 24 hours. No kidding.