Nov 24th 2005 - After

The nurses wiped you clean and used some sort of stuff to take out the liquidy stuff from your nose and mouth, so that you can breathe easily. They put two clamps on the umbilical cord and asked me to cut in between. It was scary. I was worried that I might cut or poke you somewhere! But I did it anyway. It felt like cutting some rubbery thing. Then they laid you on Amma’s chest. It was so cool. I scrambled to get the camera and started filming. Your legs were little blue. But otherwise you were doing fine. Amma was quite enervated but very happy. Everybody was saying that you were very cute. Everybody congratulated Amma for doing a fantastic job. She pushed relentlessly, the nurses said, unusual for mothers that have taken epidural!

A nurse put some tags on you and then on Amma and Appa. Then they took you outside to weigh you. You were 7.1 pounds and 19 inches long. Cedric called 10 minutes after you were born. He was quite elated. He conveyed the message to chithi and Mama.

It is wonderful. It is really nice to have you around!!!

Nov 24th 2005 - Thanksgiving Baby!!!

Around 5 am, the nurses said that your head was visible. Amma started pushing hard, but you would not come out any further. The nurses had asked the duty doctor, Mrs Mcbride to come. Then the nurses asked me to take a look at your head. Some 4 cm of your head was visible. It had a bulge to it. And so, it made an impression, that all your head was only 4 cm diameter. It didnt seem proportionally right. But, what do we know!
Amma was still pushing, and the nurses said that they had to use the vacuum thing to take the baby out. But amma thought that the vacuum pump will hurt you and started pushing vigorously. The situation was quite serious, and since I was engrossed in it too, I had completely forgotten about taking pictures or video. Once I realized this, I could not take out the camera right away, asking myself, whether it was the right time, or if it would be ok, etc.
At one point, your head started coming out, and the nurses had to ask amma, to take it easy, till the doctor arrived. Doctor arrived. They put a cloth over ammas chest to place you. Then they pulled the medical cart closer to Amma, and encircled amma around her foot. The doctor asked whether I wanted to cut the cord. Amma replied yes, in a hurry, thinking I might run away!!! Amma pushed more. And kept trying. Suddenly. The doctor took a scalpel. Or scissors. And cut Amma before I could protest. I thought she could have waited a little longer. Then the doctor grabbed your head and pulled you out. You slid comfortably and glided out. You were sticky and cute! Your head size was not small, but just right and I realised the doctor could have been just right too in deciding not to wait! It was 5.23 am.

Nov 24th 2005 - Pushing

Around 4 pm the nurses said it was time to push. Amma was all set and started pushing. Myself and Athai were stading on amma's both sides, and the nurses were helping amma to push. None of the technics we were taught at the Lamaze class was useful. the nurses asked amma to take rest in between, and then started pushing again. It went on for some time. Amma didnt feel much pain during this time. She just had the sensation of contraction or something. I took her word for it. As for as I am concerned, everything, so far, has been perfect timing. Thanksgiving baby, et al!
After some time, the nurses said they could feel the baby's head. Amma pushed more. Then one nurse said that baby could be facing up!!! (they had a medical term for it, which I forget... it would have been more fun to include such terms here!!!) Baby facing up will make it very difficult for amma (and you) and so I started worrying about complications. Then another set of nurses came and they checked amma again, threw away the disposable gloves, and checked again and threw away more gloves. They were wondering whether it was your nose or ear. Amma was worried that they would poke into your eyes. At this point, you should have been worrying too...all your life amma and appa would tease / scold for having come out facing up!!!
However, another nurse came and said that your are facing down. I started doubting the qualification of these nurses... (because of Thanksgiving holiday most of the nurses were on vacation!)

Nov 23rd 2005 - Epidural

Noe of us had eaten that night. I went downstairs and had some burger. Athai didnt want anything. I guess she wanted to fast or something. However, I brought some salad for her and she ate it so fast!!!
Amma started asking for epidural eversince the doctor told us she was 4 cm. They checked amma's blood to check if they had to wait some more time to give epidural. The anesthetist came and prepared amma. It was a really long needle (3 inches/ 8 cm) He didnt allow us to witness him administering the epidural.
Amma got very comfy after the injection and for the first time she smiled today. We were still watching the contractions on the monitor. Every half an hour, nurses came and checked amma. I slept on and off on the rocking chair. Amma got bored and called Chithie to talk to her. Cedric kept calling every 30 minutes to know about the progress. Mamma also called.

Nov 23rd 2005 - point of no return

At 8 pm, we decided to go to the hospital, just for a spin. Athai has been helping amma. We packed our stuff and left. At the hospital, they asked us lot of questions and made us fill lot of forms and made amma really angry. She was so angry, I was worried that you would come out anytime!!! Amma filled the forms amid contractions and tears!
After some time, a nurse checked amma and said 2 cm dilation. Amma felt really bad..."after all these contractions, it has only dilated 1 cm more..." After 15 minutes, another doctor, who had apparently very small tiny fingers came, and said it was 4 cm. Amma gave a huge sigh...thinking that she didnt have to go through the ordeal of going back home amidst contractions.
The doctors got busy. They put amma on drips. They added some antibiotics. And attached some sensors over amma's belly to check your heartbeat and amma's contractions. It was real fun to listen to your fast hearbeat...and interesting to watch amma's contractions graphed like Mahendra Dhoni's run rate... (however we still maintained a very serious facade, so that, amma does not get angry with us!!!)

Nov 23rd 2005 - the beginning

Today is wednesday. Tomorrow is thanksgiving. Appa has a conference scheduled from Sunday. You gotta be born today!!!
Went to the doctors today morning. Dr Kumari checked amma and said that she is only 1cm dilated. She also said that you may be born in a couple of days or after a week or 10 days!!! Amma has been working quite hard; climbing steps; eating spicy food; except jumping on the trampoline...
Then I told the doctor that I might have to go to the conference and asked her whether it was ok...Doctor said it was but she became v angry.
Back at home, amma had lot of pain and kept calling me at office. Since, today is the last day before the thanksgiving holidays, I was very busy. Came home at 4:45 pm. Amma was really in pain. She was walking around the house every 4 minutes like a kutty potta poonai. I timed her contractions with a watch...it was every 5 minutes for 45 secs...The doctors had asked us not to come too early lest they send us back!!! Doctors want contractions of 60 second durations!
Amma was in tears and wanted to go to the hospital.

Scan result

We just returned from a scan visit. Your scan came out fine. Seems you weigh around 7 pounds which is very good. This time too they confirmed that you were a girl. But you are quite a character! You do not like it when the sonographer put her equipment on my tummy and you kept trying to escape to the other side. I always thought that you must be having a tough time lying cramped up in my tummy. Today though in the scan, you looked so cozy and comfortable that you do not look like coming out anytime now :(

Granma and I have finished decorating your room. Your Pappa though has not yet fixed the car seat!!!!

Make Haste

Hm...There are proverbs in tamil that go something like "Aakka poruthavanukku aara porukkalaiyaam" [The one who made the food can't wait for it to cool down]. Seeing that this anxiety is much bigger than the other one about hunger, I wonder why there isn't any proverb on the anxiety surrounding the baby's birth. Or is there?

Yes Chantel (Pavalan?), Even I am anxiously holding on to my mobile phone expecting news about your mom every minute. Come quickly..."

-Cedric Mama

Doctor visit 14th Nov

We had another visit with the doc, this Mon. The doctor checked mamma and said that Chantal is not in any hurry to come out. Your pappa is a clever man. He told the doctor that granma was very anxious to see the ultra sound.By the way, granma was nowhere in the picture. She was sitting outside, not wanting to come into the room and over crowd it.

Anyway, having said that, he got his way and has actually scheduled an ultra sound, the next week. But he desperately needs you to come out. Only if you come out can he go to Florida to attend a seminar! So please come out!!!!

Baby Shower

Some of the good friends at Church gave a spectacular baby shower for you on the 6th of Nov. There were all kinds of diapers and clothes and all the stuff you require. They had a game, where they measured amma's belly with a toilet tissue roll and everybody else guessed the size of the belly. The person who right guessed the belly size won a small prize. It was good fun. Treena came to the baby shower as well and gave a whole bunch of stuff. She has promised to get stuff for you even when you get bigger. So keep her in mind if you want something!!!!

I picked up some stuff from the baby shower to decorate your room.Lets see how things go!

Doctor Visit - Nov 7th

Yesterday we visited the hospital again. We were hoping that the doctor would do an Ultra sound. But she didnt. She also said that she may not do it al all, unless there is an emergency. Amma wanted to see a pic of you. I wanted to make sure you are a girl!
Doctor also checked amma and said that you would not be born for another week! (Looks like you get excited whenever the doctor checks you! yesterday you were pushing amma's belly too much while the doctor counted your heart beat!) Amma is getting really big. She gained 8 pounds in 2 weeks. Lets hope she comes back to normal in the future. Amma also wants you to be born as early as possible. But it looks like we have to wait for some time.

surprise from appa

Appa can sometimes be the sweetest guy on plannet earth. He actually offered to drop us at St Louis mills. Granma and amma had a nice day shopping and just doing stuff we enjoy. Amma had her nails done etc. Of course, amma got Chantel some mittens.
Duane uncle sent you a diaper bin. Hopefully, Chantel learns to wean out of the diaper pretty soon.Lets see....., but it might be difficult to do that with all the cold weather and warm clothes you will have on you.
Jones periappa and Kelly periamma sent you some clothes. They are your Jeya annan and Jeevan annan's. They also sent you a music mobile, which I hope you will enjoy.
I guess thats it for now.

Name of the Boy

Yesterday we searched for a boy name...in case you are a boy!!! We are not 100% sure yet. Hopefully, in the next ultrasound, things will be more clear! We have settled with Collin Pavalan for the time being. It didnt take much time at all. We might have finalized it in 30 minutes... mainly because we are 99% sure that it is Chantel!!!
Amma got a kullai for you on Saturday. She also bought some chocolates for Halloween kids. (Her plan is to distribute these same (left-over) chocolates, after your birth, if no kid comes to our house for halloween!) But I am planning to eat all the left over chocolates before you were born tho!

Long time

Today is thursday and amma did not write for a whole week. On Saturday(22nd Oct), amma and appa went on an eight hour class, to prepare for Chantel's arrival. Then, on Sunday, we went to Church etc. This has been a steady week so far and nothing out of the ordinary has happened so far. Appa's haircut still looks terrible!!!

Amma is increasingly finding it difficult to carry Chantal around in her tummy as Chantal is getting bigger by the week.

Lamaze Class

The Lamaze class was on October 23rd. It was from 8 in the morning to 4 in the evening. Grueling 8 hours!!! The lady told us about breaches, caesarean, forceps, and many more scary things. She also played some videos that were not funny!

We went on a tour of the hospital LDR rooms. Granma was concerned whether she would be allowed inside the recovery room, etc. There should not be any problem with that. Both the delivery and recovery rooms had extra chairs and space.

The cafeteria does not stock good food during the weekend. The pizza we bought is not edible at all. I guess you should take note of that and be born during a weekday!!!

doctor visit <

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had an appointment with the doctor. The doctor (Dr Vijaya Kumari) tried to check Chantal's heartbeat. Chantal was playing hide and seek and the doctor had a tough time making Chantal stay in one place!!! Then amma and granma went shopping. Appa is a bad shopper. Therefore amma is waiting for Chantal to grow up and window shop with amma :(

Birthday Dress

Yesterday Amma wanted to go shopping and got a scolding from appa (because appa didn’t want to go shopping on a week day!). However, appa had to go for a Haircut (the stylist really had a field day on appa’s hair!!!) and so dropped amma and granma at Famous Barr. Amma bought a nice pink dress for you, for your birthday. We hadn’t bought any good clothes for you yet…apart from the clothes gifts from mama and granma! Amma was very elated we bought this pink dress yesterday. (If you are a boy, I am supposed to run to Famous Barr and exchange for a yellow one!!!)

Amma also successfully registered you at the St John’s Hospital. The lady that registered you at St Johns admonished amma for not registering earlier! She recommended spanking. May be we will wait for you to come and then we can spank amma together!

Baby Shower - Indian Friends

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Ramakanth had talked to Appa about organizing a surprise baby shower for Amma on Sunday October 16th. I had given our house keys to him and we left to church at 10 am. When we came back around noon, Amma was actually "showered" with flower petals when she entered the house. The family room was decorated with lots of balloons, and multi colored sarees, flowers etc. It was very nice. And all these things they had done in 2 hours!!!

Amma cut a cake. We had a lovely pot luck lunch. Chantel also got some gifts and gift cards. We will try to get something she'd enjoy!

Saturday meeting - amma's

Chantel Yazhini
Saturday's meeting went on well. Granma made biriyani for 50 people. We did not have such a big vessel. So, granma had to make them in two vessels which came out very good, by God's grace. The meeting was a success and our house could accomodate a lot of people.
Dr Meinzen gave the message and what is more!!!! Appa is one of the committee members and he is having fun!
The prayer meeting got over on Saturday. It was a success. We had a good time. Granma made biriyani for 50 people and appa actually got to get out of his computer and help with the prayer meeting arrangements. The people who were gathered prayed for Chantal's safe arrival.

Tamil Meeting

Around 40 people came to the meeting. It was very hectic. Everything went well. We were too tired. There was a special prayer request for Chantel.

First Post

We have the first Tamil Christian meeting at our place today evening. Athai (granny) is making Biriyani upstairs and Amma is carrying you in her belly and is pretending to help Granny!!!
I am sitting downstairs and happily writing this...
Amma is saying that the belly has dropped!!! meaning that Chantel will be here in another month or so...(two weeks in advance... of the due date...November 23rd
Lets see...