The Miracle you are
Love of my life, Rohini, is highly fond of kids. I mean she really loves kids. She wanted to start a family and have our own kids; the peer-pressure too was strong as everyone in our close circle started conceiving. After long deliberations, half-convinced about the timing and unsure about my preparedness to enter parenthood, I agreed and we planned to have our first kid in 2015. We even went out to Hawaii to celebrate our togetherness as a couple before we upgrade to three.
It turns out that the Universe sensed my half hearted agreement and made us visit fertility clinics, wait eagerly for the lottery of life through the multiple IUIs, IVFs etc. This experience took us through a phase when we two were getting even more strongly bonded emotionally, deeply appreciating each others sensibilities. Rohini displayed unusually strong character and perseverance throughout these difficult times. She went through the brutal physical troubles of hormonal injections, multiple acupuncture sessions, stimulation treatments, and waited patiently for her turn in the super long patient lines of the hospitals. With her grit, she made me fall in love over and over again. Ultimately, the best doctors in Bangalore threw in the towel, as they couldn't find a reason why we weren't conceiving even after trying all the available options. The current technological progress couldn't diagnose why we weren't able to have a child and the doctors left it to the realm of hope and miracle.
We started thinking about adoption and surrogacy while Rohini slowly resigned to the expertise of Gods and the related belief system. I knew that physiologically all the systems are intact and functioning fine in both of us and I was just blindly hoping that someday it would just happen, even though I had no explanation for why it didn't happen so far.
Come April 2017, I was eagerly waiting for Rohini to join me in Austin. At this point, we spent the longest time away from each other due to my work place shift to Austin and her fertility procedures in Bangalore. I couldn't wait for her to join me as I wanted to soothe her of all the failed attempts and wanted to help her pick up new goals to get distracted. Strangely, miraculously, amazingly to our joy we discovered that we are pregnant towards the end of May. Just like that... naturally, without the aid of any fertility procedures. The tears of joy in Rohini's eyes, when she found out, tell everything about the tumultuous times that went by and the happy and hopeful future to come upon us.
The 40 weeks
We broke the news to the select few as soon as we got to know; the emotional support these people had given us couldn't be acknowledged enough. Immense relief and joy started to fill all the concerned quarters.
Parenting books were bought, doctor appointments were booked, patiently listened to all the experiential knowledge from concerned folks, the three trimesters just flew by. As Rohini's tummy started growing bigger her beauty and charm did the same. She handled all the phases like a champ, be it dealing with the initial nausea, the minor levels of gestational diabetes at the late stages, my frequent work trips, taking care of Samanvi (our close friends' kid) or the month long travel we undertook to Washington and Grand Rapids.
We both agreed that we wanted a baby girl and we also knew that we would love and cherish no matter which gender the baby turns out to be. Few things are left as real surprises these days, so we opted not to know the gender till the birth. However, we set ground rules that a girl child would be favored more by me and the boy child by Rohini. We really didn't know what 'favor' meant when we had this talk neither did we know what it will mean at any point in time. But it was agreed between us that all the pivot points would be decided by me in case of girl and by Rohini in case of a boy. For example, I have the right to name the baby if it is a girl and vice versa. It turns out that Rohini picked the name Aura and I liked it so much that we never thought about any other name for a girl child. At a later point I picked the name Vihaan for a boy child and Rohini liked it so much. So all our 'favor' rules went to toss well in advance of us knowing the gender at birth.
As our doctor lightly pointed out in one of our visits, active labor never happens in the normal hours and invariably come about during the wee hours. This forecast did come true in our case as we rushed to hospital at 2AM right on the brink of 40th week. After a painful pre-labor followed by active-labor and finally 30 super pushes during 10 strong contractions, Aura was out.
The Zen Baby
Aura was born with loads of jet black hair, round face with chubby cheeks, straight eyebrows, thin lips and a well laid out nose. As babies go, the past 6 days have been completely about eating, sleeping, and passing pee and poo.
She has been a sound sleeper, rarely crying and when she does, it is only to indicate that it's time for her feeding. Aura has this deep thinking mode where she just stares at people and things around her, arching her eye brows to deliver looks with 'smoldering intensity'! I know that she couldn't see properly as she is just days old and her cortex has just started making those neuron synapses, but it is so fun to watch her do this. Strangely enough, she just stops crying whenever she is in my arms even when she is hungry. I think I have a thing for babies and soothing them comes natural; or in reality Aura just feels warm enough in my arms to stave off crying. I am an ardent fan of Telugu classical hits like the albums of Swarnakamalam, Swathi kiranam, Siri Vennala etc, and Aura has been an avid listener of all the songs and distorted notes that come out of my mouth as I sing along these songs playing in the background. She just inspires me to sing more and I hope she picks up music naturally as she grows.
Another thing super cute about her is the way she fights and grabs the nipple when her mom tries to feed her. She is always in super hurry to do this and to poke fun at that we started calling her 'Aathresh' :)(one in a hurry). It is funny that after all the trouble of fighting to get her milk, she would fall asleep midway after just having a gulp or two.
I can imagine myself reading and singing to her, dancing with her, watching and playing Tennis with her, and teaching her all sorts of things - Grit, Chess, Philosophy, English, Telugu, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Genetics, Evolution, Computers, Quantum mechanics, Business, Ethics, Empathy... and the list goes on. Having born in a very interesting time of human progress I hope you have a rich, fun-filled and empowered life. I wish you discover, acquire, and hone your capabilities and live life to the best of your abilities.
Welcome Aura. Ever yours - Mum and Dad.
Love of my life, Rohini, is highly fond of kids. I mean she really loves kids. She wanted to start a family and have our own kids; the peer-pressure too was strong as everyone in our close circle started conceiving. After long deliberations, half-convinced about the timing and unsure about my preparedness to enter parenthood, I agreed and we planned to have our first kid in 2015. We even went out to Hawaii to celebrate our togetherness as a couple before we upgrade to three.
It turns out that the Universe sensed my half hearted agreement and made us visit fertility clinics, wait eagerly for the lottery of life through the multiple IUIs, IVFs etc. This experience took us through a phase when we two were getting even more strongly bonded emotionally, deeply appreciating each others sensibilities. Rohini displayed unusually strong character and perseverance throughout these difficult times. She went through the brutal physical troubles of hormonal injections, multiple acupuncture sessions, stimulation treatments, and waited patiently for her turn in the super long patient lines of the hospitals. With her grit, she made me fall in love over and over again. Ultimately, the best doctors in Bangalore threw in the towel, as they couldn't find a reason why we weren't conceiving even after trying all the available options. The current technological progress couldn't diagnose why we weren't able to have a child and the doctors left it to the realm of hope and miracle.
We started thinking about adoption and surrogacy while Rohini slowly resigned to the expertise of Gods and the related belief system. I knew that physiologically all the systems are intact and functioning fine in both of us and I was just blindly hoping that someday it would just happen, even though I had no explanation for why it didn't happen so far.
Come April 2017, I was eagerly waiting for Rohini to join me in Austin. At this point, we spent the longest time away from each other due to my work place shift to Austin and her fertility procedures in Bangalore. I couldn't wait for her to join me as I wanted to soothe her of all the failed attempts and wanted to help her pick up new goals to get distracted. Strangely, miraculously, amazingly to our joy we discovered that we are pregnant towards the end of May. Just like that... naturally, without the aid of any fertility procedures. The tears of joy in Rohini's eyes, when she found out, tell everything about the tumultuous times that went by and the happy and hopeful future to come upon us.
The 40 weeks
We broke the news to the select few as soon as we got to know; the emotional support these people had given us couldn't be acknowledged enough. Immense relief and joy started to fill all the concerned quarters.
Parenting books were bought, doctor appointments were booked, patiently listened to all the experiential knowledge from concerned folks, the three trimesters just flew by. As Rohini's tummy started growing bigger her beauty and charm did the same. She handled all the phases like a champ, be it dealing with the initial nausea, the minor levels of gestational diabetes at the late stages, my frequent work trips, taking care of Samanvi (our close friends' kid) or the month long travel we undertook to Washington and Grand Rapids.
We both agreed that we wanted a baby girl and we also knew that we would love and cherish no matter which gender the baby turns out to be. Few things are left as real surprises these days, so we opted not to know the gender till the birth. However, we set ground rules that a girl child would be favored more by me and the boy child by Rohini. We really didn't know what 'favor' meant when we had this talk neither did we know what it will mean at any point in time. But it was agreed between us that all the pivot points would be decided by me in case of girl and by Rohini in case of a boy. For example, I have the right to name the baby if it is a girl and vice versa. It turns out that Rohini picked the name Aura and I liked it so much that we never thought about any other name for a girl child. At a later point I picked the name Vihaan for a boy child and Rohini liked it so much. So all our 'favor' rules went to toss well in advance of us knowing the gender at birth.
As our doctor lightly pointed out in one of our visits, active labor never happens in the normal hours and invariably come about during the wee hours. This forecast did come true in our case as we rushed to hospital at 2AM right on the brink of 40th week. After a painful pre-labor followed by active-labor and finally 30 super pushes during 10 strong contractions, Aura was out.
The Zen Baby
Aura was born with loads of jet black hair, round face with chubby cheeks, straight eyebrows, thin lips and a well laid out nose. As babies go, the past 6 days have been completely about eating, sleeping, and passing pee and poo.
She has been a sound sleeper, rarely crying and when she does, it is only to indicate that it's time for her feeding. Aura has this deep thinking mode where she just stares at people and things around her, arching her eye brows to deliver looks with 'smoldering intensity'! I know that she couldn't see properly as she is just days old and her cortex has just started making those neuron synapses, but it is so fun to watch her do this. Strangely enough, she just stops crying whenever she is in my arms even when she is hungry. I think I have a thing for babies and soothing them comes natural; or in reality Aura just feels warm enough in my arms to stave off crying. I am an ardent fan of Telugu classical hits like the albums of Swarnakamalam, Swathi kiranam, Siri Vennala etc, and Aura has been an avid listener of all the songs and distorted notes that come out of my mouth as I sing along these songs playing in the background. She just inspires me to sing more and I hope she picks up music naturally as she grows.
Another thing super cute about her is the way she fights and grabs the nipple when her mom tries to feed her. She is always in super hurry to do this and to poke fun at that we started calling her 'Aathresh' :)(one in a hurry). It is funny that after all the trouble of fighting to get her milk, she would fall asleep midway after just having a gulp or two.
I can imagine myself reading and singing to her, dancing with her, watching and playing Tennis with her, and teaching her all sorts of things - Grit, Chess, Philosophy, English, Telugu, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Genetics, Evolution, Computers, Quantum mechanics, Business, Ethics, Empathy... and the list goes on. Having born in a very interesting time of human progress I hope you have a rich, fun-filled and empowered life. I wish you discover, acquire, and hone your capabilities and live life to the best of your abilities.
Welcome Aura. Ever yours - Mum and Dad.
