Take a bow !

I had been referred to this website called flipkart.com by someone and to my immense delight, its a wonderful site. They are basically an online bookshop but what really sets them apart is their wonderful order provisioning and the fact that they are based out of bangalore. Which essentially means that if I order a book today evening, I will promptly get it day after early morning. Now, this for someone who is kinda immoblized right now, is a boon of exponential order..
No venturing out to Blossoms or Landmark, sift thru aisles, stand in the payment counter (especially in Landmark which is bleddy crowded all the time!) or desperately find books ! Here you have everything at the click of a button :)
Very impressive indeed ...

Schedule for the sake of posterity...

7 am - a very tired and groggy mom hands over Viv to his grandmom. Fresh and rejuvenated grandmom looks at the fresh and rejuvenated grandson and love is in the air.. she coos at him saying where is my sweetie grandson..the next 2 hrs are a blur as yours truly desperatly catches a quick 2 hrs nap. I have been told that he is very cheerful during that time and poops.
9 am - a very hassled grandmom wakes up the mom - heres your son, hes hungry ! (i don't fail to notice how quickly it has changed from my grandson to your son !!)
9.30 am - feeding over but baby not able to sleep
10 am - after much rocking, a little sleep looks imminent
10.30 am - Viv sleeps finally (if I wasnt so tired would jump in joy). Yours truly wonders if she can also catch a quick nap with Viv but dreams are shattered when my mom yells for me to get up to finish all chores b4 Viv wakes up again
11 am - finally managed to brush and have coffee. Viv stirs in his sleep and I am praying with all my fingers crossed. Pat him back to sleep for 20 mins.
11.30 am - mom points out that she has already heated up breakfast twice by now which i quickly gobble up just to cut short that conversation !
12 pm - sterilization process for all Viv's stuff
12.15 pm - Viv has dirtied his diaper and screams for me to get going.
12.30 pm - Feed him but no point trying to make him sleep now, he is fully awake, put him in his crib in the living room. Viv is chewing his hands
1 pm - his great grandfather visits and is promptly awarded a smile
1.30 pm - diaper change
1.45 pm - my mom's gives me a lectre about how i suck at time management and how it is lunch time and I have neither had lunch and nor made Viv sleep.. i slowly realize how hungry I am..
2 pm - feed and rock him to sleep
2.30 - finally sit for lunch, mom is still glaring at me..
3 pm - make a bottle for Viv and decide to check emails
3.30 pm - Viv threatens to wake up again, mom's yelling at me for not sleeping with him and I am getting beaten in mafia wars on facebook. my cup runeth over ! i promptly pat him baq to sleep and catch a nap myself
4.30 - Viv air boxes me to indicate that he's hungry and i have to get up to feed him and change him
5 pm - all fresh Viv decides to look around, is put in his crib in the living room where he stares at the curtains first and then the fan..I manage to shower.
6 pm - Viv is slightly tired with all the staring and just when i decide to change the screnery for him he poops.
6.30 pm - feed and diaper change (again !)
6.45 pm - dozes off in my lap much to my annoyance and i dont want him to sleep in the evening
7.30 pm - diaper change and time for his oil bath. oil massage commences for 15 mins.. he likes the idea of a spa immensely :D
8 pm - bath time and massage with johnsons bedtime lotion (which is my pathetic attempt to make him feel sleepy !)
8.30 pm - lights are off, lullabies are sung and the baby dozes off.
9 pm - dinner in the house begins
9.30 pm - Viv wakes up for a diaper change. I feel like kicking P&G, whats the point of a diaper if the baby can actually scream for changing it !! I jump to it in the middle of my dinner
10 pm - i resume my dinner while his dad takes after the baby entertainment
10.30 pm - feeding over but no sign of sleep
11 pm - the dad is feeling sleepy by now and is threatening to hand over the baby to me.. by then having chatted with whoever is online and jumped a few levels at mafia wars, i am tempted to hand over the non sleeping baby back to the hospital.
11.30 pm - Viv no sleep, the dad is asleep, the granny is asleep. Only nocturnal creatures are awake - Viv , his mom and his uncle.
11.45 pm - Viv hollers and i have no idea why.. try to feed him, burp him, rock him, pat him, switch the AC on, reduce the temp, change hands, change rooms.. no effect.. give colic drops.. some relief
12 am - too tired and hand over Viv to Rahul.
12.15 am - sterlize stuff like a mad woman, make a bottle for Viv
12.30 am - diaper change
1 am - finally some signs of sleep, rocking helps.
3 am - Viv kicks to indicate that hes hungry.. feed, change diapers
3.30 am - baby sleeps again, mom is fully awake
6 am - dad wakes to go for a shower, wakes me up with all the noise..
6.15 am - Viv decides why should he be left behind and wakes up for a feed. feed and change diaper.
6.45 am - seems to doze off..
7 am - false alarm, no sleep.. i finally take him out and hand him over to my mom..

Look how far we've come my baby ... (taking a cue from shaniya twain i suppose)

So.. Here are a few milestones that Viv seems to have achieved since..

1. The first social smile at 6 weeks that was a total delight for everyone involved..
2. The smile has quickly tuned into suble laughter now :)
3. Can follow objects and is extremely fascinated by curtains.. (go figure!)
4. His sleeping pattern still sends me into a frenzy as hes an angel one day and sleeps at 9 to wake up only at 6, but other times will not budge till 1 am
5. Can definitely recognise his mom and mine :)
6. Thinks his dad is the "Wipro Uncle" who comes home in the evenings :D
7. Is very partial to his right side, so much so that it has become the butt of joke in our house.. Everybody comes up with how hilarious it would be if he continues like this and becomes a cricketer or goes to school or ... (the list is endless)
8. I am singularly concerned with the above mentioned partiality, trying my best to make him see the world on his left side too :P
9. We seem to have finally decoded the cryptic cry's...when you have exhausted all the sane reasons, just give him his colic drops :p
10. Loves to kick...
11. Cannot hold his neck properly but would love to be held upright !
12. ooh's and aah's at everyone who talks to him, mostly in a complaining tone
13. Can make out when i am scolding him and promptly hollers to get me scolded by my mom..(clever tactic i must say !)
14. Has learnt to push things away, whether its his bottle or bib or me (gasp !)
15. Used to love hot water bath, now prefers slightly cold water, has a totally scandalized expression when the water is even little hot..:)
16. Hates power cuts, has single handedly made my mom to get the UPS for the entire house and an AC for his room (a feat that we couldn't achieve in fifteen odd years !)
17. And last but not the least - has finally outgrown his newborn sized clothes !! yeaaa :) (but slightly sad too coz we hardly used them more than a couple of times each. sheeshh how fast they grow !)

Thank god for small mercies

It took 5 weeks for the exhaustion and irritation to set it. Sleep depravation came in early but decided to wait out for the other 2 to join before acting out !

Viv has been bawling quite without reason now a days. It takes the entire house (which is saying a lot coz I have my mom, bro, hubby, grandpa and grandma all at home!), to soothe him sometimes, even changing hands every 10 mins.. On my part, i frustratingly carry out the entire rigmarole of going thru all the possibilities - feed, burp, swaddle, unswaddle, cool the room, warm the room, sing, rock, bathe and finally when nothing works, i decide its colic and give him his colic drops.. It takes about an hour but at the end he does kinda dozes off, but the awful thing is that we still have no clue why he was bawling and what worked ! damn !

I am also sick and tired of hearing about babies who weren't like him or babies who were worse.. I know i know, I am at short fuse nowadays.. But believe me, its damn irritating when friends just say that ya babies are like this only, you just have to wait it out.. I agree but thats not to say i don't find that annoying... Plus its not like i like them giving advices as well.. yes, I am a complicated personality now and nothing seems to please me :))

I also find myself complaining quite a bit nowadays about how tough its become to soothe Viv and how sleep depraved I am.. But I want to stop doing that and for once thank god for other small things that I definitely have to thank for.. Apparently things will ease out when hes about 3 months old, so whats that compared to an entire lifetime, isn't it ? (bigger picture, helloo !)

So, here goes:

1. I am really glad that Viv is not fussy about being held by others, if he had clung just to me or was fussy about being held only by me, it would have driven me insane by now..
2. I am really glad that Viv is also not fussy about being fed in a bottle. The pump is my best friend now and gives me some hours of peace of mind..
3. I am really thankful for the fact that when he is damn sleepy, he will sleep with whoever is holding him and however hes being held.
4. I am really glad that we at least have a bathing routine in the night that sort of set and there are hardly any deviations there.
5. I am really thankful for the fact that even though its just been 5 weeks, he has let me go out on several occassions for shopping, for a nice birthday dinner and a few get togethers with friends :)
6. I am glad that he is growing well and even smiles at us sometimes :)

So, there ... in perspective, many things to be glad about..

First things first

I can see my toes, no let me reprase that, I can actually touch and paint my toenails now :)) It sure feels good to be able to do that after few odd months of being a beach whale !
It has been a good recovery so far and I have so much to thank my OB for that. I had a planned C Section, despite all the raised eye brows from friends and acquaintances and a good amount of chiding from my mom. I guess the first question anybody asks and that too so instinctively is an emphatic "Why". Now that I have heard so many why's I guess it must seem very strange and non natural to people when they hear that. There were some who were polite enough to mask it and some who very certainly were not and some even downright judgemental about it.

Anyhoo, to cut the long story short, from the very begining I was very sure of that fact that, a planned c is what is wanted and I had my very good reasons for it and did not need anyone's blessings or approval for the same. My doc was very supportive I must say although she did try a little bit to show me the goodness of a natural delivery and how easy it can be. But I personally do not like uncertanities just being the kind of person that I am and managed to convince her otherwise. She was gracious enough to let me chose without undue pushing or brainwashing :) (although she herslf is extremely pro au natural !)

They say that a good doctor is half the battle won and I have to agree. Dr. Praveena Shenoi was my OB-GYN and without any doubt the best in banaglore in my opinion. If anybody needs a reference, please IM me. It took me about 3 trial and errors to get to her and boy was I glad I did ! I believe that a doctor should put you at ease and not add to any apprehensions you may already have. And she did just that when I met her for the first time. No matter how many patients she sees in a day or how tired she would be, as a patient you would not realize that because even at 8 in the night or 6 in the morning, she greets you with the same affable smile :)

I remember when I met her the first time, I was in a very fragile state of mind as i was pregnant immediately after a miscarriage. I was already frustrated having tried out 3 other so called famous OB Gyn's in bangalore who were just plain annoying ! So, when I told her - "This maybe the one of the million babies that you help deliver but this is my first and I would like the kind of attention that this deserves from you, I would like you to help me with all the paranoid questions that I have and I will reach out to you for all the so called crisis situations in my head", she calmly said "I understand" and gave me her cell number. That clinched it for me and I knew that I had the right doctor..

There are doctors who put you at ease as soon as you talk to them and she is one of them. God knows how many crazy situations and scares we have had during the 9 months including the last ultrasound episode where the radiologist told us to get the baby out about a week before my scheduled surgery. She has been a constant support and voice of reason during the entire time and that is the mark of a stellar doctor !

She is also not the conventional sorts who tell you to rest the whole time as you are in a delicate condition, on the other hand she used to keep telling me that pregnancy is neither a disease nor a handicap so I shouldnt treat it like one. Infact she is one of the rare doctors who would tell me to be active and excercise the whole time (the ones that was allowed and thanks to that I actually dropped 10 kgs just 2 weeks after the surgery !). She was patient with my mum, who god knows is the only person more paranoid than me and told her very gently that I could eat whatever the hell I wanted and if I didnt feel like, not to force me. (during the annoying first trimester !).

During the memorable surgery she actually kept me occupied by talking to me the whole time and guiding me thru the process. The surgery by itself was such a breeze due to her and people dont believe me when I tell them that i was on my feet and walking the next day.

Till date i never experienced any major pain or complications and the incision scar is all but invisible (really!). The other grouse that most women have, is the feeling of being stranded alone after getting discharged from the hospital. This is mainly coz now the focus shifts to the baby and the baby has a doc for him/herself. The woman unless there are complications does not need her OB GYN anymore, so its a bit frustrating to be left to fend for ourselves with a brand new baby that we really dont know what to do with and weird things happening to our bodies trying to come back to its pre pregnancy state !
But thankfully she did not ditch us so fast and hand held enough for me to ease into mommyhood without having to worry about myself as well. Within 3 weeks, she had me declared fit enough to start an active routine and to do whatever the hell i wanted :) (almost quote unquote :p)

Her husband incidently is my baby's pediatrician, Dr. Arvind Shenoi, who if possible is even more famous than her ! He is simply the best ped in Bangalore and boy am I glad to get him or what. Although its a crazy rig to get appointments with him and there is a huge waiting everytime we go to the clinic. But the moment he smiles at us and touches the baby, it makes every frustrating waiting minute worthwhile ! There is just nobody in the world that my baby is so calm with ! Not even me, believe it or not :))

Anyways, this blog kinda transgressed into an ode to my doctors, but I guess that it is justified given how much I have to be thankful to them for :)