Keep it simple, stupid.
Some admissions. N still sleeps in our bed. I hear tut-tuts. Eh. N is devoted to her mummy but somewhat ambivalent to daddy. There's a time and a place for dads, but mums are universal.
This had caused some loud discussions on how difficult it would be come hospital time. No one could put N to sleep except Deepti. Tension levels rose accordingly twice a week.
Being dead-beat dad, I tried to get more involved, reading, talking to N, developing a routine of books, prayers, water and kisses before the lights went out. It would occasionally let N fall asleep near me.
So that first night Deepti was in the hospital was a battle. I managed to convince her to sleep but she stayed asleep for only 40 minutes and woke crying. My mum was alone to face the tears. Three times N woke before midnight. When I got home after Sarva's birth, at 2am, N was up, singing in bed and mum was asleep.
N finally slept that night at 3am and then woke at 6am meaning three hours of proper sleep in the whole night. Surely she couldn't sustain that, could she?
I'm happy to report that she could. Friday night was particularly painful. Deepti was discharged within 24 hours of birth and N went into freak out mode. Every time Sarva cried, N cried louder. Every time N cried, S cried louder. Duelling banjos if you like. They could not be in the same room together. I have no idea how we survived that night, but once again, N was deprived of sleep.
N then picked up a mouth ulcer, bad breath and possible hand foot and mouth virus. Sigh. We've been under a fair whack of pressure.
Deepti now sleeps in a separate room with S in a bassinette next to her and N sleeps in the bed with me. Substitution. From four or five wake ups per night and milk and Panadol, within 7 days its down to a wake up or two that are easily subdued by pulling N close to me. No milk either.
Deepti's feeling lonely though, she misses having N close to her in the bed and I do understand. I think kids sleeping on their own is cool and works great for some people, but within a week, I'm pretty happy that N grabs my hand whilst I'm sleeping to help her go back to bed.
28 July 2010
Sarva!
Struggling to comprehend the last week of action, I'm going to itemize it.
Deepti went into a semi-labour without real contractions on Wednesday night last week (21 July 2010). We were asked to come to the hospital and wait for a check-up. You are going to give birth tomorrow. Those seven words were scary. At 38 weeks, who does that? Be at the hospital at 7:30 am and we'll start work. More scary words. The main memories of N's birth are how long it took and how exhausted we were at the end. And I didn't have to give birth. Nurses spoke of the odds of it being finished by 3:30pm on Thursday.
Sandringham Hospital's fairly quiet these days, amazed it is still open for maternity. Most of the Bayside set have private health insurance and insist on Cabrini I guess. Sandy's a bit run down, but cheerful and friendly. Miles apart from Monash. Deepti was the only expecting mum and she had a mid-wife and two trainee mid-wives looking after her. Sweet. At Monash I had to make the tea for Deepti; at Sandringham, the mid-wives made the tea. Even sweeter. I repeatedly got in the way of the multiple attendants.
Now, without contractions and a room full of mid-wives makes for little real action. The day sort of meandered along and let me underline meandered. (Actually can't in the blogging tool used). I popped out at 10am to see how mum and N were going at Gecko, then came home, played with N and then to swimming and then back home. Back to Deepti around 12:30, still nothing. Back home for a while to check on N around 4pm and then back at 6pm.
We took N to the hospital in the evening to help ease anxieties (Deepti and N) but it was like when the little boy met ET the first time. N looked through Deepti, at all the machines, and tubes and monitors and didn't rush to her, a silent acknowledgement that whoa, something's happening but not sure what. I expected tears and screaming when it was time to leave but with a wistful gaze through Deepti, N departed unmoved.
Meander. What a way to describe the day. At midnight, I was expecting to be told to go home and come back tomorrow morning. The day stopped meandering once it was over.
The nurse then said, your boy's coming in the hour. A small snip and out he popped. 12:37 am, 23 July 2010.
Emotionally, nothing in this world compares to the birth of Naina and Sarva.
When N met S
Deepti went into a semi-labour without real contractions on Wednesday night last week (21 July 2010). We were asked to come to the hospital and wait for a check-up. You are going to give birth tomorrow. Those seven words were scary. At 38 weeks, who does that? Be at the hospital at 7:30 am and we'll start work. More scary words. The main memories of N's birth are how long it took and how exhausted we were at the end. And I didn't have to give birth. Nurses spoke of the odds of it being finished by 3:30pm on Thursday.
Sandringham Hospital's fairly quiet these days, amazed it is still open for maternity. Most of the Bayside set have private health insurance and insist on Cabrini I guess. Sandy's a bit run down, but cheerful and friendly. Miles apart from Monash. Deepti was the only expecting mum and she had a mid-wife and two trainee mid-wives looking after her. Sweet. At Monash I had to make the tea for Deepti; at Sandringham, the mid-wives made the tea. Even sweeter. I repeatedly got in the way of the multiple attendants.
Now, without contractions and a room full of mid-wives makes for little real action. The day sort of meandered along and let me underline meandered. (Actually can't in the blogging tool used). I popped out at 10am to see how mum and N were going at Gecko, then came home, played with N and then to swimming and then back home. Back to Deepti around 12:30, still nothing. Back home for a while to check on N around 4pm and then back at 6pm.
We took N to the hospital in the evening to help ease anxieties (Deepti and N) but it was like when the little boy met ET the first time. N looked through Deepti, at all the machines, and tubes and monitors and didn't rush to her, a silent acknowledgement that whoa, something's happening but not sure what. I expected tears and screaming when it was time to leave but with a wistful gaze through Deepti, N departed unmoved.
Meander. What a way to describe the day. At midnight, I was expecting to be told to go home and come back tomorrow morning. The day stopped meandering once it was over.
The nurse then said, your boy's coming in the hour. A small snip and out he popped. 12:37 am, 23 July 2010.
Emotionally, nothing in this world compares to the birth of Naina and Sarva.
When N met S23 July 2010
21 July 2010
01 July 2010
Gymbaroo
Long videos from Gymbaroo. Naina attended two terms of Gymbaroo at Cheltenham. For N, the general excitability and screaming we noticed in October, November and December was channelled into jumping and better concentration spans by end of first term and hand eye coordination skills by the end of the second term.
Love the pirouette with belly flop.
It can all get a bit too hard.
Love the pirouette with belly flop.
It can all get a bit too hard.
Bus trips and June
For most of June, we were car-less. In fact the car was getting repaired for eight weeks. Eight weeks.
The first four weeks, I had a friend's car, which meant the routine wasn't shattered, broken. The routines were all similar. Then the friend's car had to be returned and it was public transport, everywhere. Inconvenient with Deepti being 7 months.
Somehow though, it just became good fun. Monday to Friday would be on the bus at 8:17, 8:30 train, 8:55 tram and at my desk at 9:30. And then walking back in the dark, invigorated but tired from the train station. Public transport all the way adds about 15 minutes each way to the travel time but reduces the stress.
Weekends were more fun; N loves bus rides, train rides, tram rides, even if it is just the novelty of seeing the world through big windows and not being strapped in. We'd do pointless things, like take an hour to get South Yarra just for Pacific Seafood House's average Saturday lunch. N loved the live fish though. We even did chips and hot chocolate in a fancy Sth Yarra restaurant that we'd never normally visit.
Getting the car back has been a hard adjustment. I long for long walks and I can feel the tightness returning. I deliberately got off the tram one stop early today, just to walk that extra while. We've been run off our feet catching up with eight weeks of missed shopping. And we haven't even got to Chadstone.
The first four weeks, I had a friend's car, which meant the routine wasn't shattered, broken. The routines were all similar. Then the friend's car had to be returned and it was public transport, everywhere. Inconvenient with Deepti being 7 months.
Somehow though, it just became good fun. Monday to Friday would be on the bus at 8:17, 8:30 train, 8:55 tram and at my desk at 9:30. And then walking back in the dark, invigorated but tired from the train station. Public transport all the way adds about 15 minutes each way to the travel time but reduces the stress.
Weekends were more fun; N loves bus rides, train rides, tram rides, even if it is just the novelty of seeing the world through big windows and not being strapped in. We'd do pointless things, like take an hour to get South Yarra just for Pacific Seafood House's average Saturday lunch. N loved the live fish though. We even did chips and hot chocolate in a fancy Sth Yarra restaurant that we'd never normally visit.
Getting the car back has been a hard adjustment. I long for long walks and I can feel the tightness returning. I deliberately got off the tram one stop early today, just to walk that extra while. We've been run off our feet catching up with eight weeks of missed shopping. And we haven't even got to Chadstone.
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