And then another mother was born....

And then a mother was born....

After more than twenty four hours of pain. Well, the word pain can truly be understood only by a mother... a mother who has gone through the labour pain, to be exact.

When my midwife asked about the Braxton Hicks contractions (practice contractions that the uterus undergoes before labour in preparation for the big job) that i got towards the end of pregnancy, I'd say it was sometimes painful. And when D asked how he'd know when I got true labour contractions, she simply smiled and said 'You'll hear the difference!'. And my mom would say it was something that one can hear from block away!

And I used to wonder how it would be...

In fact when my water bag broke the day before my lil prince was born and contractions started soon after, I could still bear it. Yes, it was the most painful pain i had experienced till then, but i didn't know then that it was just a fraction of what would follow! Yes, seriously!

It was the most painful twenty fours of my life... every hour was more painful than the previous. And then I remembered my mom quoting my grandma that a baby will be born only after the mother thinks she can take the pain no more and will die of pain. Well, i did decide I'm dying at one point, but still the little one did not arrive till a few hours later!

Now to be frank, I hesitate to call the usual headaches, tooth aches, throat pain, joint pains and so on as 'pain'! It sounds rather funny!!

Well, is that not how I was born too? Even my mother would have experienced the same pain, may be a little less or a little more. That is what every mother has gone through for ages and ages and that is what will continue to be.

But what an amazing way nature has... just after the baby is out, all the pain is gone - well, not exactly (it in fact continues!) but then, the feeling of pain is gone. It just disappears when hearing the sudden cry, when holding the little, tender being in arms. People had told me that before, but one needs to experience it to understand. It is just beyond words to describe the feeling of holding a new born close after hours of pain. Love, affection and all the good feelings just overwhelm at once. All you want is cuddle the bundle snugly close to you...

I guess that is what motherhood is all about! They say 'With every baby, a mother is born'... And now i understand it :)

Those nine months...

I had been wanting to have a baby.... and thoroughly enjoyed my pregnancy and birth. Oh well, i did not say it was an easy pregnancy or an easy childbirth. Wait... i think easy and difficult are pretty relative terms. People with a trouble free or rather morning-sickness-free pregnancy call mine as a difficult one, and those with more complications call mine an easy one!

For one, i had morning all-day-sickness not just in the first trimester, but throughout the pregnancy. Right from the time i discovered i was pregnant in week 6 till the day my lil one was born - okay it was till hours before he was born! Being the foodie I am, I hated food like anything and meal times were like a punishment to me. Except on rare occasions, like when eating out or when there was something exceptionally good. And even then there was this risk of it going down the drain as I could throw up anything anytime! Let me tell you honestly - it is no fun hugging the ceramic bowl in the bathroom everyday, twice or thrice a day... it just drains off all energy, takes off any little appetite one might have... but then when you are pregnant, you have the mental appetite to eat or not, your body does have the appetite. 

And well, it is no fun that way, trust me! You are hungry, eat something, rather healthy, start feeling uneasy right after and a couple of minutes later throw it up, and then after exactly five minutes you are hungry again. And wait, you cannot even ignore it, as there is a lil fella inside you, urging you to eat. Again. Immediately. And you go back tot he kitchen to repeat the whole story again. If you are lucky, you will retain it. Dee and later mom had difficulty making something to my taste! They would be delighted if occasionally i'd eat something happily... and then not throw it up for the next few days!!

And then it turns into a bigger problem - someone inside feels cramped and so presses against the lil stomach and as a result, the contents of the stomach and its friends rush upwards, towards the entry point - resulting in severe acidity. Hugh!

I was surprised how every part of one's body - yes every part - undergoes a change when one is pregnant! From aching legs to tooth pain (what is the relation between tooth and pregnancy, God knows!), discolored skin to join aches, raging hormones to mood swings (the effect of which is more on others than self!), and a completely topsy turvy abdomen! And then the sleepless nights when tossing and turning on bed was an adventure due to a huuuge belly... of course this is a common thing, if one were to carry an offspring full term.

But apart from all these, I must say I did have a healthy and easy pregnancy. I continued almost all the daily activities, continued to travel, had many exciting and adventurous trips, kept a journal of pregnancy, and all that... Did not take any supplements at all, except for the folic acid in the first trimester, underwent just a couple of ultrasounds, as opposed to the amount of supplements one is administered and the number of scans one is made to go through these days. Also, did not meet a doctor even once here in Sweden, and whole of pregnancy and most of childbirth was managed by the midwives here. It was a surprise for us that people are advised to meet the doctor only in case of complications. This was all a paradigm shift even for us, but then we are thankful that it went this way. And thankful that we were here in good and safe hands.

So when i look back now, i can definitely say it was an easy and healthy pregnancy inspite of all those troubles... Or is it the mother in me that feels so?

Varför???

This was in the initial days of my Swedish classes. There were people from countries across the world enrolled and we were all getting to know each other.

The first few days went in learning the usual questions and answers for the same like

- What is  your name?

- Where do you come from?

- Where do you stay? and so on.

And then it progressed to 

- How old are you?

- Are you married?

- Do you have kids? 

- How many siblings? and so on

And after that came more details on Question words. And some in the class who did not know English and us who did not know their language were all conversing in sign languages and in the bare minimum Svenska we had learnt till then. And there were a host of mistakes we did, especially with the confusing question words - using something for something else, others not understanding sometimes and correcting at other times.

So this girl from the class, from some middle eastern country knew very little English and was at our table talking something. From the class of previous days, we'd learnt each others' age and marital status. And apparently she was barely 19 and was pregnant. 

The first question she had for all of us is how many kids each of us had. Not many in the group had kids and well, we were all elder than her. She went on asking each one the same question and got her response. And when I said I still didn't have kids, her next question was 'Varför?' [means 'Why?']

Given our little knowledge of Svenska, we all assumed that she is asking the wrong question, may be she meant to ask something else. Someone asked her what was her question and she repeated 'Varför?' 

This was a common question that comes from a super-inquisitive 'ajji' or 'aunty' or so from where I come from. But I had been glad about people not asking about your personal life here. Thank goodness I was not the only one who was shocked at this question! 

After a few moments of recovery I got back my balance and asked her back 'Varför?' She didn't understand what I meant. Then i made myself clear why she wanted to know about it! That confused her enough while the rest of them were giggling about my response! And when she asked the next few people the same question, she was smart enough not to ask 'Varför?' again! And they almost thanked  me for saving them from having to face that embarrassing question!

The others, who have become quite good friends now, laugh at that incident even till date!

PS: This was written and saved as drafts sometime last year and i had totally forgotten to post it... Here it is now... after i have a baby!

New kid on the blog!!

Yes! I'm a mother now!! To a sweet lil baby boy!

He was born on the 13th of Oct, Vijayadashami, an auspicious day in Hindu calendar, on his due date! And life has changed quite a bit since then! He does keep us all busy round the clock, though he is not a troubling baby. Life does change after a baby!

So my guess is this blog also might turn into a mommy-baby blog... or this may inspire me to write other things too, more frequently now on. Lets see.... Right now, i have so many things to write and so little time....

Let me sign off now, and get back soon with more stuff...