Today...

Friday 9:00 PM:

"You can come in to the Hospital now"  I hung up the phone and lit up the lights, did a namaskaram to the God, kept 1.25 rupees (dont know why, I was an obedient daughter then) to be dropped in the Thayumanavar temple and was ready to leave after pranams to in-laws.

10:00 PM

We reached the Hospital and entered via the emergency entry as it was well past 10 pm.  The staff nurse took us to LDR (labour and Delivery Room) 11.  We discussed if 11 was a lucky number :)).  A nurse who resembled yesteryear actor Sharmilee (not to be confused with baby shaamilee) set up the IV line for Pitocin, the induction medicine.  I thought of my mom and got the courage to face everything that was going to follow. The contractions and baby's heartbeat were monitored every 2 hours by the staff nurse.  By this time, MIL and hubby were snoring.  I was not able to sleep and was thinking of so many things.

Saturday 4 AM:

The nurse who was ready to go home wished me good luck and said "I will not be in tomorrow I hope you deliver before I come on Sunday."  My monitors started to show contractions.

11 AM:

Contractions were not closer to each other.  I went to the restroom and noted that my water started to leak.  I alarmed the nurse and was advised not to move then on.  And all this while I was only given ice cubes. Contractions started to get closer and sharper.  The Doctor who was supposed to supervise my case reported to duty and she visited and checked me and said I was not dilating more than 2 cm at that point.

4 PM:

4 cm dilation.  Dr performed membrane rupture around 5 pm.  The water gusted out.  She said she can wait until Sunday morning around 6 am to see if things happen naturally.

8 PM:

No more dilation.  Dr suggested to go for C-section.  By this time, MIL went home. I called up my eldest sister and asked her what to do.  She suggested to take the Dr's direction.  Hubby and I requested to wait for 1 more hour.  We waited for 10 long days, cant we wait for 1 more hour?

9 PM:

It was decided to go ahead with C-section.

"Do you want him to be born on 7th or 8th?  And we have to get him out before 2 AM as the clocks will get adjusted an hour forward."

"We want him on the 8th as it is already the 8th in India, and we definitely want him to be out by 2 AM"

11.45 PM:

I was ready to be taken to the OT.  Hubby was waiting for MIL to come to the hospital.  And there he was, with a mask on his face and a head cover.

Sunday 00:15 AM

"Is he out?"  I asked the anesthetist who was trying to suck (with a tube) the thing that I disgorged.  "No, not yet"

00:30 AM

Heard the softest cry of HIM.  He was BORN, we heard the second cry.  "He is a big boy"  the Dr exclaimed.  And I saw his image just over the curtain like sheet that covered my sight to the rest of my body. I turned my face to hubby and asked him "How is he?"  there was no strength but a lot of enthusiasm in that voice.

From that moment life has changed a lot, and is still changing and highly demanding. And he is TWO today.  H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y  dear!