GLOBETROTTING WITH HARI

We have embarked on an ambitious journey. R and I with the 4.5 month old who has a mind of his own and already refuses to listen or reason. Spanning 6 days with travel almost everyday and 3 temples, it’s new territory. Travelling as a family with my parents and brother has always been memorable, hassle free and fun. But what I didn’t take too seriously is the amount of planning that goes into hassle free fun travel. R hasn’t travelled much by car and as of now BabyH is not averse to it but he doesn’t know how to handle the cramped space yet. Which is why we decided to limit our travel to approximately 250km per day. Everyone thinks we are crazy for taking so many stops and not covering a larger distance but where would the fun be in that? R is cranky, baby H is cranky which in turn means I am irritated. What does that amount to? A recipe for disaster.
Anyway getting back to the point, this is Baby H’s 4th trip but oh boy! Is it different from the rest! He’s grown bigger in size and in age which means he is more awake and wants more entertainment. We were armed with his car seat for travel safety, his baby carrier for temple safety and lots of toys and patience for a fun time.

DAY -1 (9th May 2025)

Mumbai - Satara (263km - 05:00)

We left Mumbai early on the 9th at 6:30am and headed to Satara. Our first stop was the food mall just after we crossed Lonavala at around 8:45am. I had a misal pav while R had a classic cold coffee from McD. Baby H just chilled and took in the new and different sights and sounds. After that we were back in the car. It was at this point that things went completely downhill. Baby H started howling. After a lot of cajoling he went to sleep. When he woke up the crying continued. This was when I realised that he needed a diaper change.

We stopped en-route to realise it was no ordinary diaper but a poopy diaper. Once changed we had the happy baby back. We reached Satara at about 12:00pm. We were booked at The Fern Residency, but they didn’t have a room for us as their check in time was 01:00pm. It’s peak summer in India. Temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius at times but at that moment it rained like it was the monsoon. Temperatures cooled down instantly and that made baby H happy. He doesn’t seem to be someone who likes the heat. We decided to head to Kanase punjabi dhaba for a meal of the local mutton curry, the cashew curry and jowar bhakri with refreshing Solkadi.

After we were done we headed back to the hotel checked ourselves in and hit the bed faster than anyone could say good night. But once we woke up we were quite refreshed. We headed into the city to buy some kandi pedhe which are the speciality of Satara. We went to Rajpurohit which is near the hotel and the quality of the sweets is good there. They also have other snack items to purchase.
We called it a night by eating dinner in our room. Mutton sukka, roti and Hara bhara kebab. All in all a good first day of a memorable trip.

Until next time… Adios Amigo.

REBIRTH

When I sat down to write this post I wasn't too sure if I wanted to write this. Would anyone be interested?
But then I thought why not! It will serve Baby H a good memory.

Baby H was born on the 17th day of the last month of the English Calendar.  Everyone says, "The mother is reborn when she gives birth". This is the story of his birth. The days leading up to the 17th were happy and full of joy. R and I had just celebrated our birthdays and were quite juvenile in our happiness of not having to share our birthday.  

Let's start at the beginning. We checked in, into the hospital bright and early on the 17th. We had left home at 630 am after a quick tea brekkie for me as I was to be on a liquid only diet for 12 hours and almost empty stomach. Getting a room wasn't too much of a hassle and the hospital staff was quite kind. What did work in our favour was that we had come when I was not in labour and it was early before the hustle bustle of the day set in. 

Before we met Baby H

Once we had settled in, the nurse came by to insert an IV line and to take a blood sample for some preliminary tests. On doctors orders we also had to check the fetal heart rate using a special device. I had to press a button every time I felt a kick. The most unpleasant thing they did was give me an enema.  By now it was almost 1000am and it was time for the doc to stop by. The plan was to induce me as Baby H was growing bigger day by day and the doc felt that a natural delivery was the safest course of action for us. Just as we were wondering what to do, our doctor came and there was a flurry of activity. They were attaching a saline bottle to my IV and the fetal heart monitoring needed to be done again. 

She was quite happy with everything and induced me then. Right after that the wait began. The wait for food more than anything else. The nutritionist dropped by and decided that dal water and a juice was my diet for the day. R decided to go home for lunch as mama had come. We talked for a bit. By then R was back and mama decided to go home rest for a bit and be back in the evening. 

R and I decided to play a game of uno to pass the time and then we took a nap. In the meantime I had had a bowl of dal water and was waiting to see when my juice would come. By the time it was 0400pm R had gotten bored of sitting in the room. He suggested we take a walk outside in the corridor. I wasn't feeling any pain apart from some minor back pain here and there which mama had dismissed as nothing because "You will know when its a contraction, this is nothing!"

We began our walk with a slight discomfort for me but nothing serious. Mama was also back and we were waiting on the doctor who was going to come and check on me at 0430pm. After 10 mins of walking my lazy self got bored and we decided to come back and relax! we had just entered the room when I felt a shooting pain down my back. I paused and look down to see and feel a gush of water. I immediately exclaimed that there was water and everyone jumped into action. R did initially think that I was joking and took a minute to go and call the nurse, inspite of me shouting for him to call the nurse. As luck would have it, just as the nurse was called the doctor walked in. 

I was assisted onto the bed and it was found that I was already 7cm dilated. I was swiftly wheeled into the O.T. It is nothing like a Grey's Anatomy O.T scene, People are Talking loudly. Everyone is everywhere. There is order in their chaos. I remember asking for water and the doctor just asking me to push. In all honesty I don't remember how long all this happened for, but the next thing I know there was a mass on my stomach and the doctor did crack some joke that I most definitely did not get. 

Baby H had arrived. 

First photograph with H

He was whisked away to get checked. My first vivid memory of him is looking to my left and seeing his black eyes staring at me. Its a scene I hope I never forget. His jet black eyes staring deep into my soul. It was surreal. He was weighed and things settled down a bit. It was now my turn to crack jokes. All the training and information that I had gotten from Grey's Anatomy was put into full use. I remember being quite concerned about the fact that he hadn't cried too much. I told the doc to crosscheck and count all the gauze they had used. I asked all the questions I had about the OT.  What they said I don't remember now.

After a long time I was wheeled into the recovery room and Baby H was placed next to me. R, came in and saw his son for the first time. My mama came in and saw me first, her baby. It warms my heart to know that she came looking for me.  In turn everyone else came in. After sometime both of us were shifted to our room and thats when it sort of struck me that H was here, forever. 

Until we meet again  💚