Dear Baby - 12

Hello Bangaru Konda,

Before I get into hospital stuff, let me tell you that your Amma felt kicking in her stomach for the first time yesterday and she was super excited. So far, she was conscious of your movements inside her stomach but this time around she could feel it on the surface, on the bump to be precise. Sadly I had gone out to bring something and your Amma too was disappointed for not being able to share the moment. Well many more firsts to come, is all I say and I know my cutest dumpling wouldn't wait too long for the second kick. With world cup in 11 days, I can feel the excitement building in you. I am waiting my sweet chap.

Getting back to things at hand, last Friday we had been to the hospital for TIFFA scan. This is used to check that all the parts of your body are well formed and to photograph each part. Like all the previous scan, this too had a adventure waiting to happen. To start with, 2-3 weeks prior to your scan, I had been literally slogging in the office coming quite late and going early. That week when scan was planned, my work was relatively low and I had good amount of breather time. I desperately was looking to take a break for myself, you know, like people do in college, bunk, I mean. Your Amma wasn't planning to join in though as she was saving up her leaves for maternity.

A day before the scan I started my jogging routine again. I vowed to increase my tempo and to scale down much faster by putting some extra stride in my jog for a km at the start and another half a km during the end of the 3 KM track. Even before I started my jog at the park, I could feel acute pain in the back right at the spot where the backbone ends. It was giving me pain when I twist my body in one angle, otherwise I was good and sturdy. I felt it was a test of my perseverance and resolve. I didn't want to give up, not that day. I had stopped my routine for almost, give or take, 2 months and have put on lot of weight. The worst of the part was my favorite Iron Man T-shirt was fitting me like a 2 month pregnant dad. Horrendous to say the least. I didn't want to get bogged down. No pain, no gain right.

Same thing happened on the next day too. I remember reading somewhere, if one feels ache in the body when exercising, then exercising is being done properly. I brushed it off and did my rounds. I was perfectly good except in one angle. We finished our chores early as our appointment was fixed for 9:30 A.M. Reaching there on time, we completed the formalities and were asked to wait for the name to be called up. There was considerable rush on a week day which was bit surprising actually. The only thing that wasn't normal in this setting was my condition. From the time we parked the vehicle and gave it for Valet at the hospital, the pain at the back shot up, causing me to push my back with one hand and continue walking to the lift, resulting in me walking like a guy with a limp or a 9 month fully pregnant lady who was being rushed to labor. It was that bad.

It was your Amma who fixed up the appointment, paying the money and helping me settle down. First thing I had to do was call up my office and tell them I can't make it. Funny thing ain't it? I wanted to bunk by citing false pretense and it turned out to be a real sick leave. Another mental note I took to my brain is - health is MOST important, no matter what cost. You have a back pain, don't do jogging. As simple as that. In retrospect it may be bad sleeping posture in bed or me going over bumps on the road or  me getting up in a haphazard manner that has caused it but jogging just aggravated it. Jogging demands quite a load on your back.

Anyway coming back to hospital, Amma's name was called up around 10, half an hour later than the scheduled time. We went in and there was another new doctor this time around. She was middle aged, very cheerful, well adorned with bangles, large earrings and along with her there was one more rotund male doctor who had distinctive Asian features, bald head and french goatee, small eyes. If someone points to him and would say he is a doctor, you would believe it without a single thought. We made our way in and took up our positions - Amma lying on the make-shift bed, me at her side having a nice view of LCD screen that was placed opposite to our bed , near the top of the ceiling.

As soon as she started scanning your Amma, she said this may take 2-3 sittings as you were not in a proper position. You see, the objective being to get feel of all parts of your body, you were needed to be in a sleeping posture with your back at the bottom, legs stretched out, and arms at your side. You, though were in a fetal position, all curled up and unwilling to show any of your features. As the scanner moved around the stomach we could only your hands and legs tightly placed over your face. Only few pics were taken, your head, each of your hand and that's it. Doctor told us, this is quite common and that we had to come back after 30-45 minutes again to give sometime for you to do some morning sommersaults if you can. She wanted you in both supine position as well as position where your back was on the top, with your head pointing down. A very difficult task indeed.

We came out, made our calls to Dadi. Jeyjayya and Dadi were in Chennai that day as Jeyjayya too had a crucial interview scheduled for his last stage of promotion i.e. for GM post. Two big days. On talking with Dadi, we got to know that interview didn't start yet and from our end we told her whatever doctor said. Added to the discussion was also my condition and your Amma's fury for my stubbornness in going to jog. With the prominence now being on your Amma, the hearing was considerably less.We also explained to Dadi that there was no cause of worry and this repeat procedure was being advised for several patients too for the same reason.

45 minutes passed and still there was no call. It was your Amma who was moving around, speaking with the receptionist to let us know our turn. With my condition, the only thing I was able to do, without any pain was to sit erect in the chair. In another 15 minutes, we were called up. Same doctor, same another rotund doctor, same place , everything same same. The doctor started the scan and this time around she captured the legs, the hands, your position too was slightly better. She was saying some encouraging things like your baby is now fully focused, the scan is going smoothly and that it may well be over. I don't know what came over me or what prompted me to ask - Is the back captured too ? She looked at me as if I just cracked one of the most important cases ever in history of mankind. She was pumped up, reivigorated as if the case has just got interesting and with all smiles, she told me - Yes, that's necessary, the last time I didn't capture, this time around too baby isn't the position I wanted. I mean it was like watching a Nutty Professor movie real-time. Here was a doctor, playing the role of absent-minded professor to the tilt. Only an hour back when we first came in, she was stressing that back wasn't captured and now it was only when we asked she tells us the same thing. Unbelievable, I tell you. The output was the same, she asked us to come back after an hour or more. It was already nearing lunch time i.e. around 1 P.M.

We proceeded to the lift, me limping with a hand at my back and your Amma calmly walking beside me. By that time, your Amma only had gone down and got the tiffin boxes up. The other people were staring at us. People must be wondering who exactly is pregnant among us. We went up to the cafeteria and had our literally hot food. The car was parked in a lot without any shed and our lunch boxes were cooked up to say the least.

Your Amma had rice, dal, pickle and fruits, myself roti, cabbage curry. We ate our lunches calmly with little talks on the happenings with only one thing one my mind- how much more longer we need to endure this ordeal. Amma couldn't eat the pomegranate that was packed as it was literally hot. We came down and around 2-2:30 we were called again. This time you were in the best of forms and the posture she wanted. She showed us your ears, nose, whole face in fact but slightly covered with hands, heart, legs. Everything. The only thing wasn't satisfying to her was the picture wasn't fully perfect as in the hands not on your face. She was suggesting to make another appointment and your Amma too was like if it isn't perfect, let's do it again kind. I was having none of that. Completely restraining myself, I asked the doctor if the purpose of the scan was served, she said yes. I then told her, we are also satisfied and we are good with the progress. I think this time she got the message and agreed that scan is done.

Trust me baby, it isn't because I didn't want to see you further, it is just that I was having very bad pain that I wanted to end this and go back home to sleep.

That's how the day ended and we were back with our jobs for the week to come. Your Jeyjayya too got promoted and there was good news all around.

More to follow, my sweet munchkin.

With Hugs and Kisses,
Nanna.

Dear Baby - 11

Hello bangaru konda,

We are bit more than half way through the pregnancy period. Your Amma is now 20 weeks pregnant. Couple of days back she told me she started feeling some movements inside her stomach, either while she is reciting or sometime during her day. That's a good news considering, she was getting little concerned about it a week back. I also am doing my regular check ups too but somehow you are always in sleepy mode when I do that. Somehow I feel you are able to sense it's me and staying put. I know a trick or two you know, will try doing a surprise visit. Let's see how you will overcome that.

Last week has there's been hub of activity both literally and figuratively. I have more or less spent my time more at office than home, a constant 12+ hours per day. Our project is running at a tight schedule, so had to pitch in my part. On the home front, preparations and planning were on the way for a small gathering to celebrate 5th month by performing small Sreemantham function. Actual plan is to have this at 7th month as your Peddaiah, Peddamma also would be there to partake in it. Your Ammamma though wanted to have one on 5th as she felt it is the most auspicious time and she didn't mind to have it again later. So that's how yesterday's sreemantham came to be.

As per the custom this ritual is done by 5 women related to your Amma either from husbands side or from her end. Our list included - Dadi, Ammamma, Vasundara Avva, Vasantha akka, Sowjanya atha and your Amma's atha Vijaylakshmi. Just out of curiosity on searching google came across wiki page about Sreemantham and it describes what happened yesterday in perfect detail. Here is some portion of it-

Long ago, Seemantham was performed twice: once by the pregnant lady's in-laws and the other time by her parents. These days, it’s all combined into a single elaborate celebration performed by the in-laws and the gifts are brought over by the parents (during the first pregnancy only). The gifts include a saree with two blouse pieces, baskets full of between five and nine kinds of sweet and savory food items and fruits for the pregnant woman, towels/clothes for the man, and clothes for the in-laws. The savory items includeSakinalu and Madugulu; sweet items include Arasalu, Garjalu and Laddulu. The four kinds of fruits include apples, oranges, pomegranates, mosambi, and others, but no bananas. The elaborate lunch or dinner is served by the in-laws.

The pregnant lady and the man are made to sit in chairs facing east. She is anointed with kumkum (vermillion) and gandham (sandal), paspu (turmeric) is offered for mangalyam, and paspu is applied to her feet by her mother. Then she is given a saree and blouse and a string of mallepuvu (jasmine flower), all placed in her saree kongu/wollu. The man is anointed with kumkum and given clothes by the lady's father. Then the in-laws are seated adjacently and also marked with kumkum and given clothes by the lady's parents.

The pregnant lady takes all these gifts, adorns herself, and goes to the Deity and offers a prayer. Meanwhile all ladies present are offered kumkum and paspu. The pregnant lady and the man come back and sit in the chairs. The lady's mother applies kumkum, gandham, and offers paspu for mangalyam. Then she places two green glass bangles on each hand. The mother places four kinds of fruits, five savory and sweets (total of nine items) in her wollu/kongu. Then she blesses her with akshanthalu for safe delivery. The mother then places five varieties of sweet and savory food items in the man's wollu. Then he gets up. Now a little girl/adabidda is made to sit beside the pregnant lady in the chair. Four older ladies perform the same ritual - they offer just one fruit and four savory and sweet items, totaling five items, to the pregnant lady.

The pregnant lady is then given mangala haarthi by these five older ladies and traditional songs are sung. She is assisted in getting up carefully with all the goodies in her wolluintact and taken to the Deity's place where she offers a prayer and places all the goodies (leaving five foods in the wollu) in a tray (these are consumed by the pregnant lady, man and children). Then the lady is fed with sweets and pulihora rice. She returns with her wollu and takes blessings from her in-laws, husband, sister-in-law and parents by touching their feet, with assistance. Then she places the rest of the food items in her wollu with the rest of the goodies near the Deity.

The in-laws will offer kumkum, paspu, flower and thamboolam/ goodie bags to all the lady guests. This consists of betel leaves, betel nut, sweets and a coin (optional)

Considering we may not be to hold all the 5 variety of sweets by ourselves, we took hold of the tray carrying the sweets and it was taken back. The whole event ended very nicely and everyone had a good time. Here are some pictures of the event -

That's all for now, little munchkin.

With Love,

Nanna

Dear Baby - 10

Dearest bangaru konda

Your Amma's brain is in heightened senses  and now that she knows what we have been up to. Here I was casually clicking the pics and the house and she was quick to shout "This is for the blog isn't it?". It was like being caught red-handed while trying to eat that food that was not meant to be eaten until pooja is done. Putting on a blank face I said "Nope".

Psst, It really is for this post. To borrow the oft-repeated line, 'its time to add some color to this post'. Let's start with some of the baby photos I was telling you about that are pasted in the bedroom.

1. Facing the bed

2. Leftside of the bed

The one that she liked of all is the cute girl photo in the pic (1) with a bowling hat over her head. I hope this is having good affect on her. 

Here is the pic of her first weekend walking outing in the Botanical Garden that we did couple of weeks back

3. Momma during the walks

A selfie of mom and me to follow- 

Last couple of days one thought is occupying her mind - the feeling that she isn't able to feel the movements inside the stomach. I told her to be patient as doctor has clearly said it would be take around 2-3 weeks to start getting the motions.

Today we have gone for one round of walking - almost 5 rounds in the Gautami Park. Its a very nice park, one of the first parks where I have begun my jogging. I will post some links about that. I used to do about 10-12 rounds every day for almost 5-6 months and that led to my weight coming down by almost 9kg's. It has almost reached the same levels now. Sigh. For some reason every post is boiling down to my weight. Anyways like last time, today also we saw so many mothers and fathers in the park playing standing with their kids and helping them play. There were two fathers doing see-saw with their kids on one side and they sitting on the other side. Few kids playing around with small football and one among them was an adorable tiny tot, barely able to walk slowly walking around. It was lovely feeling doing all the rounds.

Coming to the another main objective of the post - today she felt her first craving. Before going for her lazy weekend afternoon bath today, she called me and said she wanted badly to eat Black Forest pastry. Your Dadi too had some work along the way. Dadi got ready and we both started out. I went to the Cakes and More and luckily for us a fresh Blackforest cake was getting baked. I ordered 4 pieces and brought them home. 

Dear Baby - 9

Hello my sweet munchkin

On Monday this week I revealed to Amma about our secret exchanges. Prior to this I published all the drafts and finally sent a mail to her. As expected she was pleasantly surprised and waterworks were in full flow. I didn't really see it but she mailed back saying she couldn't control her joyful tears.

She was extremely happy and overjoyed. I prodded her to write one herself for you but she says since I write better, I should continue. Don't worry, one day I will get her to write for you. So update update update -

We have gone for the doc checkup and this time it was a pretty short one. I for one was having dizzy feeling and felt kinda out of place sitting there as my mind was totally consumed by my work at office. I realize on retrospect this isn't a good thing. I blame it mostly on my jogging routine that has stopped. For almost two weeks now I haven't been going. Work at office has spiked up and am have become quite lazy to get up. Also sadly I have put on weight and my pants too have become tight. Ain't a good sign.

Well, I got completely sidetracked right? So back to the doctor visit. Firstly Dr.Evita checked the sugar level report and confirmed that the readings were good, the sugar being under control, and cautioned her to be little careful in consuming sugary foods. She went on to say in 3-4 weeks time Amma would start feeling you inside much more prominently, indicating your growth and your activities inside the stomach. The time to start walking or exercising has come and your Amma needs to do it at an hour per day at least 4 times a week. I guess you can say this week its going to be a miss as she is feeling 'very tired' both in the morning and evening. I quoted it because on or off pregnancy your Amma isn't much interested in exercising, even walks for that matter. So I have to push her to do it. With work at high flow this week, I am not able to keep that extra effort. Next week I promise to take you both to a nice walk as prescribed. She also suggested pre-natal yoga sessions. I would need to speak with some folks to understand how useful or needful it is. I would be calling Nikhil's mom to find out. I remember Amma mentioning something about it quite early in the pregnancy that she would need to do some yoga etc. She does have interest, need to know the need.

 Amma had list of questions to ask such as Is it safe to continue driving? Yes, pefectly safe. What kind of food precautions to take? Please consult our expert dietitians. I felt really dizzy once, could it be because of fluctuating hormones during pregnancy etc. Don't remember her answer. I am having slight back pain of late, is this expected? Please consult our massage therapists.

Suffice it to say Fernandez is a multi-specialty hospital and they have enough branches for each problem. It felt like a unabashed advertising for all the services much like how insurance agents lure you to various schemes. We didn't say anything and as per what she advised have taken appointments for each. This wednesday was supposed to be session with dietitians, didn't happen. One good suggestion though was to have appointment with endocrinoligist, to have recheck on thyroid level. This is scheduled for Saturday evening time. This we both felt is very much necessary.

It isn't that we are very cynical about doctors but these aren't the usual people that Amma's friends had been to and not very much needed. I for one to get some assurance that we are on right path would need to start reading about things that matter and be armed with - Baby books. All about pregnancy I mean. It's fifth month running and am yet to do any basic homework. All I feel is being in shoes of Seth Rogen in Knocked Up where he is so overwhelmed that he buys and reads up the baby books.

I need to get my stuff right. I promise you by the next time I post I will be better armed. One more thing, we also had some discussions on Srimantham and it is still undecided where to have it. Updates soon to come.

With kisses and hugs,
Nanna..

Dear Baby - About Amma

Hello my sweetie pie,

Today I want to dedicate this post to your Amma and tell you why my love for her keeps increasing year on year.

A bit of nostalgia to start with -
Here is what I wrote about her when we created a wedsite to announce our wedding invite to all our colleagues and friends. -

"How did you meet her?"

"What is she Like"

"Is she compatible"

"Tell us more man. How did this all happen?"

All these questions and more would be answered with this "short, crisp, and make it small" description.i (as instructed - ekkuva sodi rayaku)

Writing about her reminds me of the days when Testimonials were of great craze. Samhitha a.k.a Sammu, born and brought up in Hyderabad is a pucca Hyderabadi. I met her over a plate of Idli's at Chutney's. Unlike the regular family gathering set-up, we actually had a sweet date, the events of which we still remember as if it has happened yseterday - the talks we had, the opinions we framed and how lucky we are to have eachother. It was a really special moment with some unforgettable memories that will stay on with us.

She is also known by so many names that it would take a seperate post for that - Bips for one (spot on ain't it?), Fattu and so on but the name she loves and the one most call her by is Sammu. She just hates people calling her Bhabhi/Vadina (getting the hint?). Right from schooling to her job she has been around the Begumpet/Himayat Nagar area and she knows every nook and corner round there. With her office now moved to Hi-Tech city her horizons expanded a lot more. She is a great foodie and loves trying new restaurants, new dishes and new joints. A huge Mahesh Babu fan almost falling just short of searching for guy by the name Mahesh to wed with(thank God for that!). The first thing that strikes to anyone is her beautiful smile. She has got the cutest smile that stretches from ear to ear - a full fledged heartful smile which can easily melt anyone's heart. Quite frankly, that's what I love about her the most. She easily gets along with anyone and has got amazing set of friends. She believes in enjoying each moment as it comes, highly expressive and is so much fun to be with. Music is her passion. She is a veteran singer herself and has given performances at various musical concerts. Classical singing is her forte but she has the ability to mould her voice to suit any song and I just stare in awe and wonder everytime I watch her sing. It gets me lost in trance and I feel very special to have her in my life.

I have had one of the best moments in my life ever since we got hitched. I have changed myself over and over again, became more committed in managing my work and life balance, set new goals, lost good enough weight and enjoying every bit of it. She inspires me to become a better person every day with her positive attitude towards life. I just can't wait to get married and begin the next exciting journey of my life.

Suffice it to say, the journey has been one hellava ride so far. Sometimes she complains I don't write much about our lives or our adventures. It's true for some extent. This isn't a conscious decision. It's just a writer's block. I keep hitting that imaginary wall in recurrent interval. As to the subject of us, I don't know if our small fights and make-ups are worth letting the world know.

Amma is one of the most dedicated wives and if there is a competition for cleanliness and maintenance, she would ace it. She takes care of the house as if it were a baby. Methodically every she sets aside a routine to cleanse all the items in the house by dusting it. Starting from drawing room, dining room to bedroom she takes up a cleaning cloth and wipes things like sofas, T.V, showcase items, pictures hanging on the wall. She does it with such precision and such sincerity, every single day, never complaining never giving up. Even with you in her stomach, she is relentless in her pursuit of cleaning. Trust me I know it is one of the hardest things to do - maintaining punctuality and interest. I am sure another month or two, she wouldn't be able to do all these things. I would like to assure her that I am there to take up this work, for which I first should be able to get my routine properly organized.

Aside from that she is an open book. She doesn't hide her emotions behind a veiled mask and speaks her mind out. This sometimes comes out like a angry tirade or sometimes a non-committal sentence. This is a very important trait that I love about her. Some people just hide the feelings and by keeping it inside themselves let it manifest into a bigger problem. Before you know it, they will start pointing mistakes for every single thing you do. Your Amma though lets it out, we discuss about it, weigh the outcomes and stick to it. Of course it is important to note that she is little short-tempered. But as much angry she can become, within few moments, give or take 30 - 60 minutes she calms down, and comes back to you with twice the love.

Let's say this is part -I. Many more parts to come.

With Love..
Nanna.

Dear Baby - 8

Hello bangaru..

Consider this a cheat post. I know I told last post was supposed to be the last chuppa rustam post. I couldn't help holding one more back.

Couple of days ago your Amma, when about to sleep made some sad cute face. On inquiry she told me what if we are going to have a boy and so far we had mentally prepared for girl. Her concern being we should also be prepared for boy. For a girl the name is 'Maya'. Its a name I have fell in love with for some reason and both of us liked it. We started the exercise for boy's name. So far we have narrowed our names to - Prithivi. Only one for now.

One important update too. Your Amma prepared on her own Chettinad Chicken Curry today with so much love and attention, I loved every bit of it.

With Love..
Muaahhh
Nanna..

Dear Baby - 7

Dearest Sweetie pie,

You are in your 16th month now and here are the quick updates. Radha atha has brought one nice beautiful tiny red woolen knitted shoes the size of our fingers yesterday. One of the first ever gift to you, in advance. We also got talking about how to go about Sreemantham function that needs to be organized during your Amma's 5th month. You know about how many people should be invited, should it be at home or hotel etc. Atha was of the opinion to make it very good function by arranging it in a nice hotel.

Amma and I too had a talk on the same subject the day before. She opined that she wanted it to be at home with most of her cousins present, to which I agreed. Anyways good number of days are left, let's see how it goes.

One of the things we started from last week is a daily one hour hearing of nice mellifluous music. It is believed that starting the day with such nice music in background will instill calmness and have a nice effect on your growth. For this first I have downloaded some songs mentioned in the site - BabyCenter Garbha Sanskar music. I have also ordered the CD -Garb Sanskar from Flipkart which has voice over of Amitabh Bachan. This has been going on for that past week.

I haven't told you the best part yet. Your Amma after some amount of persuasion has agreed to sing one nice devotional raga before she we hit the bed. You wouldn't believe but I wanted to start this exercise for such a long time. I love hearing her sing and I can keep listening to it forever. She did song for few days then but it didn't continue for long. This time I am sure she would be consistent and continue her singing spree till you come out open and hear it for yourself.

Looks like this chuppa rustam acts we have been doing will be ending soon. This may be the last such post as I am planning to show it your Amma this 21st April.

With Love,
Nanna..

Dear Baby - 6

Dearest munchkin,

The last Sunday we had one of the scans again (nuchal scan) and for the first time we got to see you in whole. Your whole body was fully formed - the hands, the head, the legs, the nose. You were resembling your brother Ram. For a while I felt I was looking at one of those pretty creatures in Princess Mononoke.
Small tiny wholly white creatures with round head and empty eye sockets. I don't mean ghost kind of way but cute.

It was such a huge emotional feeling for me to see you. I was almost close to tears and I can't express the overwhelming feeling of love I was feeling for you. We also got to hear your heartbeat, blood flow and the lab technician told us you were growing quite fast for a 11 week old and that we can expect the delivery to be two weeks earlier than actual expected date of delivery.

The way she told us about this we weren't sure if she was happy about it or if it was a caution. So we had to ask her again if that's unusual to which she, thankfully, confirmed it wasn't.

Amma too was in surprised mood. In the scan we could see you moving both your hands and feet and making some movements but Amma wasn't feeling it in her. Few more months and I think she would start feeling you every bit.

There were lot of comedy of errors too on that day. Around 9:30 Amma had her breakfast and the technician had told us that we had to wait 2 hours and give blood again. That would be around 11:30. We started the day by first giving blood sample, had nice packed breakfast (chapatis for me, pongal for Amma) in the hospital, got the scan done. All this got completed by around 10:20. We had an hour to kill and also the folks there wanted to have our first scan reports to ascertain the exact date of delivery. We had to go back to our house. It was sweltering hot on that day and as we neared the botanical gardens, we made a stop near the bondam seller, and had one each.

Reaching home I lay flat on the bed while Amma was on the phone with Dadi and Ammamma telling them about day's proceedings. After resting for about 20-25 mintue and picking up the reports we went back to the hospital. We entered the lab to give blood. While strap was being put on the arm of your Amma, the technician casually asked when we had last eaten, what we ate, did we have anything in the middle etc. His eyes flared up when we mentioned we had coconut water on our way home. He wasn't happy to hear that and told us cocunt water contains sugar and that would impact results and kind of blamed us for having missed that part. He went on to add we may need to wait another 2 hours before he takes the blood sample. It was stupid really and it was definitely his fault. Before I could retort, Amma gave it back proper telling him he didn't say anything about not drinking in the interim time and blasted him to let at least others patients know about it. Anyway on re-calculating the break time we realized we had to wait for another 1 hour.

Outside the lab, the heat was on and Amma scolded me for making her drink coconut water and that I should have been more thoughtful, more diligent and why is it that everytime I cause such trouble with consistency. I didn't argue much. Sometimes just hearing her out is enough. She will only understand what really went wrong and would come back to me. So all in all we finished our day around 12:30, a hour late than anticipated and got back home.

An eventful day nonetheless and with that first glimpse of you, my eagerness to see you has multiplied.

With Love,
Nanna..

Dear Baby - 5

Dearest bangaru konda

Your Nanna is becoming bit lazy. This was a post which had to be posted yesterday but got delayed by a day. Before it gets any more late I wanted to quickly write this off.

As I type this, I am hearing a series of sounds coming from somewhere near to our house where a mother is reciting names and relations such as "Nannnaaa..ammmaaa...." in a tuneful repetition. Its really sweet to hear and I will with full certainty teach you the same. The main topic for today is the surprise that we pulled off on your Amma.

Your Amma had taken off for 3 days over a weekend starting last Friday to this week's Tuesday and had gone off to Ammamma's place for nice rest. Dadi and I packed our bags for weekend and went to Guntur to spend some time with your chutku brother Ram. This was the only time we can spend with him as he and Gautami were planning to go to Vempalli. We had wonderous time with, shook quite a leg, heard him make lot of complaints, praises all in his baby language. Will post some pics someday.

Meanwhile Jeijayya had other plans. He had ordered some nice baby photo prints that can be stuck on the walls. I was planning to do the same once I was back to Hyderabad but as you know Jeijayya plans really far ahead. I was very happy with the initial two prints that came. I then selected 3 more from a collection of 20 which were brought the next day to the house i.e. on Sunday.

I wanted to maintain this as surprise and never once told Amma after I came back. The Monday was spent talking with her on phone and going on usual with the day's chores. In the evening though Dadi kind of tricked me saying he had told Amma all about the posters. I was bit disappointed but still I maintained the facade the next day too when I spoke to your Amma and made no mention of posters. Tuesday night, I stuck all the posters in the bedroom.

Dadi too was fully excited and she came in to sneak a peek as she too didn't have time to see them at Guntur. She was ecstatic and happy on seeing them. She also made observation that there were only 2 boys in the posters and the rest all were girls and wondered what would you think if it's not balanced well. As you know we very much want you to be the cutest sweetest girl of all and are very much hoping it would be girl. A name too is decided and that would be Maya. For boy it's still on the lookout.

On Wednesday unbenowkn to me your Amma on her way back from Ammamma's house had first stopped by at the house in the morning and then had gone to office. Over phone that day as part of our daily morning talk's she was bit livid with the state of things. You know the usual "the dining table was so messy","so much dust near kitchen, did you even once dust the bed cover( I did daily), " etc. She is a cleanliness freak that your Dadi and I can never hope to be.

Through all the conversations, I was hoping she would say something about the posters in the room but she didn't. She made it clear that she had gone inside the room to drop the bag. I too didn't prod and somehow understanding sunk in that Dadi may not have told her about it either.

That excitement of surprise made my rest of the day swoosh by. I wrapped up my work as fast as I could (7:00 P.M.!) and rushed home. She gave a nice warm hug and was all praise for the posters. She loved them all. Whenever we enter the room now it gives such a fuzzy feeling and it increases our anticipation of your arrival. In the night however your Amma had a very strange question to ask "Why aren't you loving me as much as you were loving me before? It decreased a bit" to which I have no idea what to reply. Poor thing she is as much a baby as you are and one of the best mums ever.

That's all for now..more on next post..

With lots of kisses and cuddles,
Nanna..

Dear Baby - 4

Dear cutest munchkin,

Yesterday we had our appointment with new doctor Dr.Evita Fernandez at the Fernandez Hospital which is where we would be going regularly henceforth. She is a nice 60 year old charming lady with a rough anglo accent, bob cut hair and impeccably dressed.

The branch we went to at Jubilee Hills is only for out-patient and the delivery would be at its another branch near Abids. Whenever we speak of hospitals the images that pop out are people with white lab coats moving around the corridors, dysentry smell all around but this one is very different. It has Jazz music playing in the background which is very soothing to listen to and also helps in diverting your thoughts to nothingness giving it a tranquil atmosphere. As we went in, your Amma's weight was checked before being escorted to the right room where doctor-in charge Dr.Chaitanya (female) noted down all the primary details of the tests we took at Vijaya Diagnostics. Everything seemed good until Evita came in and spotted a very important detail.

She declared the gospel truth that "Your Amma is the sweetest person of all, in fact, too sweet". Your Amma was charmed and blush was visible on her face. Then she continued saying the "too sweet" factor is to be brought down. Thing is her glucose levels are bit higher than normal which is what the "sweetness" she was referring to. She advised her to first and foremost throwaway the Chocolate Horlicks and substitute with either buttermilk, green tea or actual tea (minus sugar), cut down on the white rice and take brown rice instead, no more potatoes. We were told to get glucose checked up again in 10 day's time for which we made the appointment.

Apart from this everything was perfect and your Amma and I are pleased with this doctor as well.
Going back to the last post, we are yet to buy the Bhajans as your Amma is now clueless on what to buy exactly. I will be prodding her further this week and hopefully you will have nice music to hear in your sleep.

With Love,
Nanna