Sympathy Symptoms?????

Now what the heck are sympathy symptoms! Well pregnancy definitely has expanded my horizon of understanding various pains, but this area called 'Sympathy Pains' was untouched until now. Not sure if many people know about this, but atleast my coworkers were the first ones to share it with me. And now I can practically associate it with!

To make it clear in lay man terms, sympathy pains are usually similar symptoms to pregnancy a partner usually experiences around the same course. Example, if I am having nausea- there is a possibility Amit might be feeling sick! I couldn't believe it at first, but slowly and gradually I have started to realize this is true! I can't prove this theory since Amit doesn't reflect his condition upfront, but I recently noticed him feeling the same way I did. He said it before I did! And I wondered, if at all Sympathy pains are to be believed. I definitely have!!

Hiding!!

Yeah, I've been hiding in my snugly little corner- away from blogging and the social world. Couple of reasons-

- Work is keeping me occupied 12 hrs at the least. By the time I reach home, I am tired, exhausted, drained, in pain at times, and many other things that follow.

- Doctors appointments. Well starting December 2008, my appointments have moved from monthly to biweekly.

- Days are drawing close. That I would say is the # 1 reason for my hiding in my closet...shying away from blog. The feeling of finally having our little gem finally kicked in as soon as this month started! I couldn't believe at first that just 2 months are left for the grand arrival, and I guess I would wanted to stay in denial all this while. I feel so unprepared now! Oh gosh!! I have been reading the newsletter and the same-month-mommy's are so ready, I feel I am the only one lagging behind. I haven't done much preparations yet. No nursery, no crib, no travel system, no diapers!!!!! Can't believe myself that I have not done any of that. All I have shopped for my cuddly fellow is bunch of clothes that would be needed in the hospital!!

So, I am under a constant pressure, to look for stuff, research for it and as it is in here it's very hard to quickly decide for the stuff you need!! One have to browse through couple of stores, compare, check, and finally make your decision on a particular item. Hopefully by the end of this year- we'll buy most of the items listed in my checklist, complete Lamaze classes, pre-register in the hospital and hopefully be finally ready.

This week is going to be super busy and I'll talk about the happenings around a little later. Got to get ready for work! Will catch up later!!! Ciao!

Dadi Dada are here!! Wohoo!!

Dadu and Dadi aka our baby's grandparents have arrived! They reached Orlando on Friday evening from California. This time around it's their baby care trip. As initially they visited CA to take care of their grand daughter, Raashi, who is 5 month old. And then now they have come to visit us, to welcome their grand child.

Who knew they'll be seeing two new grand children in a single trip!!

baby pictures- 3D/ 4 D

Finally- we get to see our baby!!! Yay!!

I am amazed as how the technology has advanced in these past years, that we can actually look at our child, find out his/her expressions, features and what not!! Though your baby needs to be co-operative to take these memorable photographs. We went thrice to the technician, as our baby is you can call it as a shy baby. He/she would cover his/her face with their legs and toes or at times with hands or go behind placenta.

But there was no giving up by Mommy and Daddy either. We are as stubborn as our lil one to take a peak as to how does our lil gem looks like. The third time, we could capture some nice profile of our baby and here is how it came out:





If you notice carefully, the baby is pointing the index finger towards us.


Is that a smile? I can't tell!!

29 weeks and counting....

I don't feel too great this week! Feels like I am a mess! Stomach's all bloated, cramping has increased, cannot bend down to wear shoe/socks, getting dreams of baby birth, elevated pains...and what not. Geez, am I the only one who feels like this? Sometimes, it feels like I have become of a complaint box, whining about the new symptoms that keep cropping up every now and then.

At times, I feel had I a wish, I would have frozen the time to second trimester as it was the best! No worries, so easy and smooth rolling! But to bring the lil one in this beautiful world, I guess I would have to go through all this.

Well, I will write later- when I am in a better mood, and health wise feeling much better too!

Deep Red!

Festivities!

It's holiday time, and the coming weeks are super busy because of the approaching festivities! Last week we attended the Dushera festival organized at our local temple. And this week it's Diwali!

It's our baby's first Diwali! Technically, he/she won't get to celebrate it until next year with us - when we can hold our mini's fingers and kiss the cuddly cheeks to wish him/her happiness and prosperity for Diwali. However I still consider this time as precious as our munchkin is a part of all the festivities inside my womb- he/she can hear and feel all the celebration and I am sure must be feeling as excited as both of us!

Happy Diwali our lil darling! We love you and waiting to celebrate all the 2009 festivals together :).

My beauty sleep!

Gone are the days, when I used to get 8 hrs sound sleep at a stretch! Now-even when I get 4 hrs at a stretch, I feel glad! Everyone talks about how hard it might be to get a good night's sleep in the months that follow the birth of their child, but who would have guessed that catching some ZZZs during pregnancy would prove to be so difficult?



Good sleep is a blessing in the first trimester. I used to feel sleepy whole day long, and hit the couch as soon as I used to get home from work. I used to look out for a place to catch up with a quick nap at my workplace (around lunch time of course) and if I didn't find any other area- my desk became my comfy sleeping zone. I am so glad, my work colleagues were so supportive and tolerated my ZZZs around that time.

Sleeping got difficult as soon as I entered the second trimester and I have heard that third trimester is going to be worse. Sometimes I wake up at odd hours and if I have nothing constructive to do, I'll call up Mom! It works out well as well cause of the time difference (they are in Australia and If I call them at 0400 hrs, its usually their evening time). Reasons for sleep deprivation? Well they are countless! Some days its the uncomfortable postures, leg/stomach cramps, hunger, nightmares, frequent urge to pee, shortness of breath, backache and what not! Doctors recommended me to sleep only on left side and that being said, itself brings a lot of discomfort. As it is very hard to stay in one position whole night long!

Imagine a pillow castle... that's how I try to create with the help of 5-6 pillows. I surround myself with lots and lots of pillows including a huge body pillow to make myself comfortable...but then it doesn't always works. Poor Amit suffers cause of all this. He wakes up as soon as I turn or scream. But he is taking it in a good spirit as he feels that this is all a natural way of preparing ourselves for the life after your birth, little one.

Alright now... sleep topic brings **yawn** and looks like our little monster is also busy sleeping! I'll see if I can catch up with a quick nap while I can.

Week 25! Woohoo!

I cannot believe when I wrote the title of the blog myself! Week 25!! Oh My Gosh! The time is flying like a flying saucer. It still feels like yesterday that we came to know the news. Now I am getting all anxious and nervous as the days are drawing closer. The usual fears of first time pregnancy has started seeping in. Well, I guess it's all so natural and I am trying to keep a positive outlook to the entire deal though. But sometimes, the entire process and the stories that you hear from other friends, does make you feel anxious. I question at times, "Oh really! Can this happen too?" and makes me go wow! what courageous women are out there who deliver babies!!



I guess I am going to be a part of the herd pretty soon! But till then I think I shall continue to feel nervous and anxious from time to time. One thing that eases out the nervousness is the baby kicks! Oh yeah... the baby is kicking around the walls - left, right center! Sometimes I feel the baby so hard that I am on the verge of screaming out "ouch" or "ooh"! But trust me it is a great feeling overall. This is what I call is the bright side of pregnancy or light at the end of the tunnel as you can call it. As the baby feeling keeps me motivated and makes me feel stronger day by day. Talking about kicks, I have started to see a pattern of the baby moving as well. Strange enough, as soon as I eat something he/she would start jumping or playing. The baby is more active towards the evening especially when it is my turn to sleep. It's funny - how you want to focus on sleeping but the kicks are so distracting! Now- I am used to it all though. Now if I stay still or lie down for few minutes quietly and observe, I can see my tummy jiggling - that's all baby inside doing salsa dance I guess!!

election time?

Well we all know there is a big hype about elections this year. This is the very first time I heard the presidential debates, which are quite interesting! With elections approaching near, everyone is talking about either Obama or McCain. These are the two most popular names on everyone's lips. At my work place, they have even given our baby name "Obama Gandhi". When I ask, what if it is a girl? They say then tweak it a bit and call it "Abama Gandhi".



My colleagues have also created a huge list on our white board with list of all such funny names. If I get an opportunity, I will post the picture that I took it from my cellphone here pretty soon!

White rose brings peace!

Papa takes us for a vacation! Yay!

I've been wanting to take a break for so long, and I've been telling Amit that once the baby comes we won't be able to travel anymore. Though Amit had his apprehensions of taking me out to travel, he still planned out a vacation for us! Well apprehensions were - where would I eat? what would I eat if I felt hungry in the middle of night. It is not going to be as comfortable as being at home at this time. Since we are vegetarians it becomes an issue to eat outside and look for places around at times, especially in small towns. And what if I need some sort of medical attention? Besides all these inhibitions, he I trusted in me (I was positive that I can carry on with the travel) and planned a lovely vacation to New Hampshire. It is the beginning of fall season and we wanted to explore the foliage and admire the fall colors since long. Thinking we would keep the exploration to the least, take it easy and that's how he planned the entire vacation.





Now that we are back from the vacation, I can say that it was all worth it! We got to see some picturesque natural God made beauty. Also, we got to see a new city- Boston. Thanks to the baby for being such a nice support. He/she didn't trouble us at all and the overall traveling was fun and nice break! And thank you daddy for planning such a wonderful vacation!!

Purple flower time again!

20 weeks and counting...

Hooray! We're halfway there! Yep, this is one of the major milestones in the duration of pregnancy...and I am so glad we made it smoothly till here. There were some hurdles and different routes we had to take in the middle, to make the ride smooth...but I don't have any regrets for that. That just gave me a different experience and makes me relish this moment all the more. I just can't believe though that how the time is flying and it won't be far when baby will be in our arms...

We are hoping the remaining journey is as bright, colorful, splendid as it has been till now. Experience? Well it has been tremendously beautiful and special...atleast for me! I love this feeling, and the amount of attention I am getting these days. Yeah, you heard it right..'attention'. Ever since my belly has started showing...I guess it's been around 2-3 weeks now that it has become apparent for people to recognize that we're expecting.. everyone around me tries to be very careful and cautious. It's funny to see so much care around yourself. Even strangers around you would act as they are in someway attached with the baby and would care for you.

By strangers, I would mean- at work, while I ride the bus, I come across so many unknown faces and people. Couple days back I came across this gentleman on the bus who was so concerned, that as soon as I stepped out of the bus he approached me and asked me if I knew that the guy I was sitting next to me in the bus was unhygienic and I shouldn't have sat next to him since I am expecting. Makes me wonder if the same would have happened if I was in India? May be more?

So I am now being seen as most vulnerable person on earth, however on the flip side I am enjoying being pampered and getting cared for by everyone. I am telling myself...baby.. enjoy while you can. This all attention will go to our baby once he/she arrives. But trust me I am going feel good about that too!

What are these flowers for?

Perplexed as to what all these flowers mean and why are different one's posted every now and then? Well, there is a reason behind posting different,colorful flower pictures. Amit presents both me and the baby with these flowers and as long as they are blooming, they stay in the house. As soon as they dry out, it gets replaced with new ones, hence new pictures :). Cute na!

Well, this is a very sweet and nice gesture from him and both baby and me really appreciate it!

Cannot thank him enough, can we baby?

It's Tiger Lily Time

Shopping Spree

Being pregnant, thats one thing that one has to do quite frequent, yeah that is 'Shopping'! Not for baby clothes... but for yourself. If you are first time preggo, bingo- you hit the jackpot... and there you go, shopping trips every 2-3 weeks. The clothes keep getting shorter and you don't fit into it after 3/4 weeks max! Wow! What a growth! I know many women would love to do it, but sincerely.. when you are heavy, get breathless, get tired, and have a backache - it doesn't come back as a fun trip. It is more like a compulsion. Though I have to admit I simply "Love" shopping. But with my current condition, it gets a bit tedious as I just want to be home in my PJ's :).....aah even writing about PJ's give me a sense of comfort, talk about wearing them!

I think the most comfort wear is the PJs for the expecting mothers and I would like to give a round of applaud to whosoever invented these comfortable wear.

Talking about Maternity wear, it gets odd to find the right fit. I used to be XS (ah, gone are the days baby) before entering into pregnant shoes and now... please don't ask!!! I look for anything from Small to Medium in general and in Maternity wear itself thankfully I am still Small or Xtra Small.

Well, moving out of the maternity wear discussion, this weekend I went shopping at Kohls' and bought a lot of clothes. And I absolutely loved them. This entire week, I am wearing all those new clothing and feel so new!! Isn't that the fun part of being pregnant. I bet it is!!

The first baby feeling

Yay!! Just few minutes back I felt our baby for the very first time!! I felt the baby poke not just once, but almost 3-4 times. It was like a soft finger poke. It was such a wonderful feeling!! It almost made me cry out of happiness :). It's hard to express, but it does make me feel very special and assures of an existence of a soul and a life existing inside of me. Isn't that cute and amazing!!



I messaged Amit instantly and told him how I felt our baby for the very first time. He felt splendid and I wish I could pass on the same feeling to him as well. It definitely is a day to treasure as from here on, it would be 3 of us all together as a family feeling, loving, and caring for each other.

All this while I was not sure if whatever I feel was the baby or something related to uterus expanding, gas, or something weird happening in my belly. I had been feeling some heaviness around my lower abdomen for the last couple of weeks and felt strange. I often got confused and wondered if it is the baby or something else. I have been reading online and reading books and everywhere they mention about the 'butterfly feeling' ; 'flutters' and so on and so forth but never could co-relate with what it means.

I wonder what trigger the poke? I had the spicy 'dhokla' as soon after that I had 4 pokes in 4 secs. Maybe that did the trick heheh? Amit said, the baby ko mirchi lag gayi hai :)

Whatever might have triggered it, it surely made the mom happy. And it would worth a mention "Baby, you did make my day....muuah:)" Bless ya!

Babies, Babies, Babies... everywhere

Lately, I have started to hear a lot about babies! On channel news (Caylee being on the top of the list), optimizing baby genetics, baby brains, baby advices, and what not! Well, I guess it's understandable cause I am all about babies now [giggle]. I guess it's a natural way of phase changing procedure that we all go through.

Perhaps those baby info that I have listed above doesn't excite me all that much, infact it makes me depressed especially the kidnapping news of babies. I’ve read that it’s natural to feel that way! The news that gives me a kick is to hear other people who are expecting and are in the same boat. Well, there are few- who have already delivered (I still consider them in the same bracket) and there are some who are recently shared their expecting news!!! Good thing is that the year 2008-2009 would have a lot of babies, and will make our baby have a lot of friends and cousins of same age group. Coolio, isn’t it?

I have started listing out the people who have delivered in the past couple months/ or will be delivering soon in the coming months.


Delivered babies

•Raashi (girl) born on July 3, 2008 (our baby’s cousin) - My SIL, Rakhi didi’s daughter
•Sargun (girl) born on July 7, 2008 (our baby’s friend) - My friend, Sona’s daughter
•Alaina (girl) born on August 15, 2008 (our baby’s friend) - My friend, Anu’s daughter
•No name yet (boy) born on , 2008 (our baby’s 2nd cousin)- My cousin SIL, Sapna’s daughter

In the running:
•Joy and Nidhi – don’t know the gender yet - due in November ‘08
•Shashi and Shiney – expecting a Baby Girl - due in November ‘08
•Shagun – don’t know the gender yet - due in January ‘09
•'US' – don’t know the gender yet - due in February ‘09
•Varun and Shalini – don’t know the gender yet - due in April ‘09

Perhaps, there are few babies in the family who will be few months or a year or two apart to our’s and I am hoping they might bond well together well cause of not so much age difference between them. They include, Navika (Kangan’s daughter), Anitej (Akshay’s son), Dylan (Ashish’s son), and Tanisha (Varun’s daughter). Let’s see- we have to consider the distance between us and them as well and will depend upon how often they get to meet each other. Though it’s a long thought as of now, but it’s good to see so many babies around! Cute!

So if you notice, a lot of baby girls’ in the group! It’s nice to see girl power all around.

I’ll be updating the above list as and when I get more updates of these groups.

Orangish Red Rose

It's Rose time. Such bright and beautiful rose petals make my everyday splendid and beautiful. Thank you Amit, for such a nice gesture!

From Our Little Bean

Cravings?

First thought that comes to anyone’s mind as soon as you tell them that you are pregnant is “are you having food cravings?” I guess it’s a natural phenomenon to crave food while you are expecting, albeit an obvious question. To be frank, I was expecting more cravings than it has actually happened with me so far. Whatever I have seen in movies, and have seen around- women pester their husbands and get upset if they don’t the stuff they are craving RIGHT AWAY!

Ummm, good thing is…it hasn’t happened that way with me! Lucky eh? I do feel desire some foods but generally that yearning settles down max in 30 mins. So if I distract myself- I won’t even notice or remember that I was craving for something a while back.

Interesting and the most surprising part of ‘MY cravings’ is- that I love having stuff that usually Amit’s favorite. Geez, how did this happen? They say, you crave for stuff that your baby loves. Does that mean, the baby likes all the stuff his father likes? No wonder he or she’s going to be “HIS baby”!

I am posting the pictures of my recent cravings. I’ll keep adding to this list as and when the list gets increased :).











Yummy isn't it :)

Purple it is!!

Not sure the name of the flower, but the flower for this week is this purple, bright and colorful bunch. I love the color.. it's bright and rich. I am hopeful that this brings bright and nice ambiance around us.

hmmm...

Well, the journey so far has been adventurous- a bit of scary feeling like when you ride a roller coaster. That's why I kept away in seclusion from this blog. For some reason I thought- it's better to give yourself a space.

Keeping aside the scary part, onto an optimistic and +ve news! I will start 12 weeks starting today. I am sort of confused, as in our last doc's appointment thee nurse pushed our D date back to 3 more days. That is made it Feb 9 instead of Feb 6!! They monitor baby using ultrasounds, and derive the d- date with that. Ultrasound reminded me, that I have to scan the ultrasound picture and post it soon here. We've gotten 2 ultrasounds so far, and the baby looks cute :). In the 1st very ultrasound, we could hardly make out anything. When doctor's told us, that this is the head and thats baby toes... then we realized to the fact that we are looking at some baby and not a piece of peanut! Ha!! Ya that's how babies look when they are just 6-7 weeks old (gestational age).

The second ultrasound, took both of us by surprise. The baby was moving his/her legs and hands up and down. The technician said that we woke up the baby and Amit named the moment as "baby first yawning moment". It was an ecstatic moment and feeling, when you see a live inside you.... its amazing and beyond expression.

The next appointment is not until next Friday, when we'll complete the first trimester and we are hoping to see and hear good and +ve things from the doctor then. Fingers crossed!!

It's White Lilly week...

Taking Hospital tours

I am 8 weeks pregnant as of Friday- June 27, 2008. And the fetus, aka our baby is 5 weeks old! Amazing, how time is flying.

Last week was quite busy for both of us. Amit, is keeping busy at work. Then there was a bit of commotion in our lives as both of our parents are flying. My parents went to Australia. And Amit's parents are coming to US, CA. So it was like half of your mind was there and 1/2 here. Then sad news- Amit's Chachiji passed away. Which was sort of very disheartening and sad. And then of course, my condition is keeps varying. Some days go smooth and some days are hard. I wake up sometimes with my head spinning and looks like sky is upside down... ! Well, I guess it will improve with time.

Apart from all of this, we squeezed in time to take some Hospital tours to see and evaluate the facility and get a buy in time to choose doctors accordingly. The two Hospitals that we visited were: Florida Hospital, College Park and the other being The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. Overall Florida Hospital is nice, but for the most part- the some areas are bit dicey may be coz it was under construction. More or less by the time we'll be ready, this hospital facility will be done and ready.

The later one, is beyond words expression! No kidding, its' like a fantastic place to give birth in. My manager jokes around about this facility saying, "If I had to bear another child just to give birth in this hospital, I would." And hard to believe, she just came back last week from maternity leave- and she gave birth here. It is definitely the most amazing place! By the first look of it, we were zapped and Amit said, "where can we sign up!" :)! I am attaching a picture of the facility here.



Not sure if we'll finally decide on this facility or not but it sure is one of the short listed places. Now, it is time to hunt for doctor's. Hopefully we'll finalize on that one soon too!

Ek chidiya

I grew up listening to this rhyme in my childhood days and would love our kids to watch it too. Not sure if they’ll love it the same way as we did coz in our days there were very limited animations on TV. The animation might be too amateurish in this video – but the moral of the story and the poem is super catchy. Bring back some old memories!

Daisy's week

This week is yellow daisy week! Yes, Amit brought a bouquet of Yellow daisies- which I try to look at every day. With my condition- it gets hard to see it every morning, so I guess looking at the blossoming flower every day might be a better compromise. Trust me- it's really sweet to see fresh cut flowers in the house. It's like seeing them blossoming as your kid in you is :). Sheesh! Am I getting too mushy now!

Thank you daddy to be!!

Doctor's visit

June 17, 2008 Tuesday was our first doctor's visit. Albeit it wasn't the doctor who we had the appointment with, but the mid-wife or senior nurse as they call it here. She took both of ours medical history , asked bunch of questions, shared the list of do's and dont's, answered our queries, and finally took my test. Yes, officially we are pregnant and expecting our little bean before or by Feb 07, 2009! Yay!

I wasn't really convinced and happy with the group practice of ob/gyn here, though I've been with them for my annual check ups ever since I've got here in U.S., which is now almost 3 years. Reason being- they have 8-9 doctors in practice, out of which there is only one female doctor left and that too they don't promise that I'll be seen with her every time we have our appointment. This part really upset me, coz I need me and our child to be seen by one doc in our entire journey of pregnancy. This means, we have to shop for a new doctor, which becomes really hectic with my current condition now.

Talking about my condition, well presently every day is a bit hard cause of nausea and dizziness. But I am taking each and every day as it comes. Hopefully this weird sick feeling will go away after 6 more weeks, that is when we complete 12 weeks in total. Wow! Can't believe we're nearing 7 weeks already. I am really excited and at the same time scared. Hope our journey of next 9 months is a smooth one. Amen!

Sharing the good news

Finally we broke the news to our respective families. aka, dadu, dadi, nanu and nani, bua and fufu, and finally mamu and mami knows about grand news of your arrival! They were all very excited to hear the great grand news. It was Amit who told 'em first except for Mamu. He told everyone about how he's planning to celebrate the first Father's day! He seemed pretty excited and had that twinkle in his eyes, when he broke the good news. We were at friends place when Mamu called and told him, that I will call him Mamu from now on :).

So now, immediate family knows and we've been strictly instructed not to share it with the rest until we cross 12 weeks/3 months. I am pretty okay with it except for the fact I won't be able to share the news with my dearest sister, kangan or maussi to be. I hope she'll understand whenever it comes to tell her.

Besides, the excitement that we heard on the phone, after sharing the news the obvious next step was the list of do's and donts we were told by everyone. Out of the list, the prominent and most common was to "stay happy". So my dear child, it's not just coz of your dadu/dada, nanu/nani I am trying to be happy. Trust me- I want to give loads of joy right from the day of your arrival- which I'm treating as the day you were conceived. So ya- we'll put our best efforts to give all our love and happiness!! God bless ya!!

Halleluiah!

Zapped by the title! Well that’s what I’m being feeling these days. Ya man, finally the good news..yay!! We completed one week yesterday since we realized that there is a little bean on our way. Wednesday, June 4 2008 at 7 :00 a.m. did I came to know our bundle of joy is on our way. I have to tell you – how I broke the news to Amit. I sent an ecard to Amit with a message:

Ten little fingers, ten little toes, boy or a girl, nobody knows…

It was soo sooo hard to wait until he opened the eCard. I was dying to see his expression but then how else I could have opened up this exciting news? I waited, waited, and waited… and around 10 a.m., he replied to me on Gtalk. The first sentence… “ you tested?!!!!??” When I said yes, he filled the chat with loads of love and hugs. Though virtual, I could feel how happy he was! I wish I could freeze the moment and preserve it show to our lil one, whenever he/she arrives. He gave me a bouquet of flowers in the evening when we met. Isn’t that sweet!!! Thanks honey, you are the best hubby and I am sure best father our child can have.

Ever since I am having this mixed feeling. Feeling of excitement, joy, nervousness, scared, anxiety, and the list is endless. I have heard so much and I trust me I thought I am 100% prepared, but I guess I was wrong. Until you get in to the real shoes, only you realize that the road is not as smooth as you would have thought. Don’t take me wrong… I am glad to be in this shoe, and I am just sayin’… with new changes happening in your body, the journey becomes a lot adventurous! I will surely like to explain as to what adventures I have experienced in the last week or so, but for that you would have to wait until next post. I am too hungry at the moment … and would rush to eat some Thai food that Amit has prepared.. oooooh can’t wait anymore.

See ya!