Dear Grace

Hi Grace ... wrote this one 3 years ago.... never published it :) I guess everything under heaven has a perfect time!

February is a month for birthdays in our family and for at least the reason of not being able to eat cake ... I am sad I am not in Mumbai ... where most of the celebration is happening. I want to write something for each of those who have a birthday this month. I may not complete it by your birth date - but hope to get it posted by  your the end of the month

Here is to my favorite person

Grace; Happy Birthday - I know you are 14 --- but to me your are still the little girl who I held 14 years ago - one fine Saturday morning. Or was it close to noon. I think it was close to noon.

I always want you to remember these things about your birth -
1. Your mother went through over 36 hours of labour before you were born - Always value and appreciate her (I always give advice --- sometimes you see me not praticising it -- I am working on that skill)
2. You were really lucky to have so many people waiting to see you - Here is the list
   Appacha (Baby)
   Pappa (Santosh)
   Ammachi (Molu ammachi)
   Ammachi ( ponnu ammachi)
   Chochmmachi
   I think Appu appacha and Chinnama ammachi were also around but probably just arrived or left before you came into the world.
  And of course ME

3. You were very lucky to be cuddled by your Great-grand mother (maternal) a few hours of being born!
4. You were called Kuttappi (named by Baby Appacha) a nickname forgotten -- but apt for you!
5. Your parents spent days looking for the perfect name for you! It is perfect!
6. Your mother and father spent days arguing who you looked like (him or her). I think you are a perfect mixture - Good from both sides - be thankful for that
7. Your father counted your fingers and toes to ensure you had the correct number (Too funny)

There are lots more I can go on about --- but to end all of this

I am so thankful that you were born into our family and I am so thankful that I got to be your aunt!

Happy Birthday - May the Lord bless you and may he make his face shine upon you!

And then life changed forever! First time parents!

Every so often I do this thing where I check time in another country. Usually it is either US, if hubby is travelling or UTC because I forget to turn on my work timer.

Today I am thinking of a time long ago. 6 years to be exact. And so I typed into google ‘Time in US’

7:39 pm: Washington DC.

That sounds about right and since I was about 50 minutes from Washington DC I think I was in the mall right now. Columbia mall to be exact. I was eating my last meal as a married woman. Tomorrow I would be a mom! Yes October 15 2009 about 7 pm, DH dragged me to the mall for a walk and a meal. All I wanted to do was sit on the sofa.

I had hoped ‘Isaac’ would be born on October 15 since it was my father’s birthday. I really wanted him to be birthday partners with my dad whom I had lost about 18 months before. But Isaac decide he needed just a few hours more to come out, drawing the date to October 16 2009.

I still remember I ate ‘gyros’. Probably the worst ‘gyros’ every. DH ate his favorite ‘five guy burgers’ and I think he did share a few fries with me.

I waddled all over the mall. Yes literally waddled like a duck. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Little did I know that the night was going to get too exciting to sleep. Just as I hit the bed, I had to ‘pee’ yet again for the umpteenth time. I sat up and then it happened.

‘Suresh … my water broke!’

DH who had probably drifted off just a little into dreamland jumped off this bed. You could see the excitement on his face. I think he probably expected the baby to be there. Time on the clock was probably midnight. We had to wait another 15 hours to see our little boy. He took his own sweet time to arrive and could not be rushed any sooner.

The rule in the US was if you are not in pain you do not come to the Hospital. So when I called my midwife, she told me to eat something and try to sleep some. SLEEP some!!!! I was going to be a mom. There was no way I was going to sleep. We waited for a few hours and then unable to hold in our excitement drove to the hospital and got settled in.

And then the wait began. They say ‘No pain .. No gain’. Well whoever wrote that has obviously never been induced for labor pain. The actual labor pain started at about noon. By 1 pm I was begging for the epidural. At 2 pm I was fast asleep enjoying some pain free rest!

Finally at about 5 pm, Isaac decided to it was time to make his grand entry into the world. And just like that he opened my womb!

The beginning of a long roller coaster journey called motherhood.7 years of waiting, 15 hours of labor and then all else is bliss!

Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday ... well not really. But for many years after I had left for the US, my dad would call me on an odd day during the year and wish me happy birthday.
Me: Its not my birthday today
Appa: Its Janmastami today. You were born on Janmastami.

I still tear up at the thought that he remembers the day I was born ... not the date ... the day.
Janmastami is a festival in India where the Hindu's celebrate the birth of Krishna. Like all Indian festivals, this follows the lunar calendar. So every year it comes on a  different date. I would always wonder what he (my father) remembered about that day .. that made it such a fond memory that he remembered it every year. There is a lot of activities in Mumbai for Janmastami. The most famous and the one I really enjoy watching is the Matki breaking. They form a human pyramid and break a pot that is way up in the sky ... usually tied between two buildings. The pot has makan ... a supposed favorite of Krishna and of course ... incentive...Money.

I always wonder what my father thought about when he saw the breaking of the pots, which you could not miss anywhere in Mumbai, as he picked up the phone to call me. One year he even distributed food to his employees on this day in celebration.

My father ... years ago

Now  5 years after he is no longer with us ... I wish I had asked him. What happened on that day? How did it happen? What were you doing?
We mom's love writing our child's birth story. But I think father's have a different story to tell... different incidents to remember ... different moments that make the day so special.  A note to Suresh to tell him to write it all down ... before we become old and frail.


Hubby dear got a lot of brownie points for wishing me. He did not know it was Janmastami as he had to work. But on his way back from work someone stopped him to ask him how he did not get a day off.  What for he asked? Janmastami.
He came home and wished me! Made my day!