Pride and Pregnancy

And there goes the tooth paste, tooth brush and baby diapers…the hospital bag is packed, I am ready! With the D-Day around the corner, I’m suddenly all into nesting syndrome. Researchers suggest that a sudden urge to clean, pack and set stage to welcome a new member to the family is an indication of an imminent labour. If that is scientifically true, I am ready to go into labour right away. In my 37th week of pregnancy, my baby is now officially considered full-term. All that is left for the little one to do in the next few days is to relax, put on weight and practice skills it would need for the real world. Archery and cavalry can wait; I’m talking about blinking and breathing necessities. My tummy is round and ripe like a water-melon ready to burst open. So am I!


I cannot believe that nine months have gone by since I first got to know that I was pregnant. Looking back, I am surprised at my own transition both physically and mentally. I was honestly scared in the beginning. Happy yes but definitely scared at the prospect of being a mom. I had my anxieties and worries about surviving nine months of pregnancy and that is without mentioning all my doubts about labour and me making a mom material. But here I am today, near the finish line, talking and cooing to my tummy, waiting ever so eagerly for my baby’s arrival. When and how did it happen?


I should give the credit to my baby inside me, to the tiny miracle that grew and made me grow along. For those who know me, know pretty well of my energy sprouts and restlessness in staying put at one place. Given that, I am hardly the candidate to take gentle steps and great care during the first trimester. Perhaps that is why it took me nearly two months to become aware that I was carrying, in spite of a little nausea. When I met another lady yesterday who was suffering from intense first trimester morning sickness, I touched wood a hundred times for being blessed with a smooth beginning with minimal discomfort. With all my monkey activities, my baby just held on patiently.


Come the second trimester, I was on an eating spree, craving for cakes and candies at odd hours. My husband who was used to seeing me skipping breakfast and nibbling food before pregnancy was taken aback at my capacity to attack full square meals, in addition to the numerous intermediate snacks. At one point, it seemed like all I did during the day was to eat, eat and eat more. And the happiest part is, when you are pregnant, you don’t have to worry about dieting. Eat all the protein and fat and it’s absorbed by your body in a jiffy. Second trimester is really the honeymoon period of pregnancy. Hormones helped a pregnancy glow and I was all jubilant. Apart from the increased energy levels and eating addiction, this is the time when I first started bonding with my baby. Feeling the first kicks and the little movements is so heavenly that I involuntarily started connecting with my baby and talking to him or her aloud.


By the time I moved into my third trimester, I was properly showing. Not too prominent as I’ve seen in many women, but still I did look like I had swallowed a basket ball. Friends who had seen me thin during college times and initial career days were longing to see my blown up frame. I surely did disappoint them when I sent them my picture. One of the sure comments, “Girl! When you are pregnant, you are expected to round up from head to toe but you are just pregnant at your belly!” Ha ha! Didn’t I tell you that my baby has been taking care of me throughout? It just kept me a small mummy with a small tummy while taking care of itself and coming out with flying colors at every pre-natal checkup. Except for a little insomnia during the nights, which is the time my baby chooses to move around inside and play with me, I had been spared of any swollen feet condition or water retention.


I really do owe it to my baby a lot. Infact, I do call it my destiny baby. It was the baby that decided when to come inside me, without my husband or me doing any planning towards it. Ever since, it has been keeping me and itself healthy, knowing that we have little support from our respective families to devote special care or attention. My mom would surely be surprised to see me eating all the green vegetables that I had always shunned away all these years. Twice a week potato fry is now just two weeks once, replaced with veggies whose names I last came across in my first standard vegetable chart. Till date, at 37th week of gestation, I still go around the city sitting on the pillion of my husband’s two wheeler, making my neighbors nervous, knowing that for a baby who has seen worse adventures, this wouldn’t be least inconvenient. When I am busy or occupied with guests at home, my baby remains quiet like an angel. And when I am done and relaxed, it seeks my attention with prominent bumps, making me smile. As I see my husband talking to my tummy and my baby’s responding movements inside me, I can feel my family.


All these little things summed up in making me feel more motherly with every passing day. I admit that I had been a lousy mother and I really feel its time I make up for it. I promised myself to take good care of the little one, just as it has been taking care of me all the while. As days are closing in, my baby has coached me enough with mothering instincts that I am not scared anymore. Hey! I am not even really scared of the delivery like I had been a few months ago. Be it a normal delivery or a C-Section, I’m prepared as long as the baby is hale and healthy. A baby who knew its way in would surely know the best way out. I am just ready!