Anniversary Special: “The Junior”

Anniversary day special story

Any wait is always troublesome. And if it is for the arrival of the new born… it becomes excruciating!

They all had become extremely impatient since the start of the April month. It was after all the ninth month of her pregnancy. Her sister would jump with a ‘Chaley Kya?’ conclusion at every ‘aah’ and ‘ooh’ cry she let out. But the time was not there yet. They had been monitoring her pregnancy week by week. They had read in several websites and books about the likely hood of the delivery after 36 weeks of pregnancy. They all hoped she was one of the few cases. But junior had different ideas… and so did god!

Walking around with the belly twice her size was becoming an extremely painful task for her. Add to that she had lot of restrictions on movement, on going out, on making sort of public appearances. Moreover he was away, they were in different cities. In fact there were times when she hoped pregnancy was just a couple of weeks affair. Spending almost a year of your life in a completely monitored and restricted way was too much for a free bird like her. She remembered the first one and half months, which went oblivious to the pregnancy till she missed her periods. Then the next 15 days for coming to the pregnancy terms and convincing him, next few weeks battling with the nausea and mood changes. Then the few days spent in the hospital due to complications… and the first day when she felt the movement! Whenever she felt sad or was bored of the pregnancy, the junior kicked or caressed her from the inside. It reminded her of the beautiful life inside her, who was waiting to come out and sink in her embrace. And then all her fears would vanish immediately.

Each day of her pregnancy from there on had a story to tell. The movements, the sonography, the blessings, the ‘khatirdari’, the instructions, the visits from him, the long drives with him, the planning, some more instructions, the anxiety and then the long wait in the last month. Every thing had been special. Now that she had survived the special and gruelling 8 and a half months, it all boiled down to the final few days before the junior will be in their hands. Every morning started with a call to him and then the discussion on how has it been today, since last night. Then they would have a discussion on when should he plan for his paternity leave. And then the discussion would turn futile… because they were not sure.

Finally on a day when he received an email reading ‘Your baby is now 38 weeks old’, he decided that it was a time to go. Normally a guy would have hoped to receive a call that his wife has been hospitalized and that he should be rushing by her side. But he wanted to be there when it happened and actually wanted himself to take her to hospital. So he decided to camp with her and booked his tickets in advance. He thought it would be easier for him to wait for junior sitting side by side with her. But he was wrong. If waiting for a phone call was difficult, waiting for her to cry out loud in labour pains was next to impossible. At each dawn he hoped today was the day and at each dusk he patted her belly to remind junior that the birth could happen at night as well. His dad was ready. The junior only had to oblige.

In the last month of pregnancy, her doctor had advised her to visit the clinic for check ups every week. 38th week had ended. The possible due date was at the end of the 39th week. So they knew that this could possibly be their second last visit for routine check ups. During the visit, the doctor’s diagnosis surprised them all. She told them that the baby’s head was already fixed in the cervix. She was already in her early labour pains and it was only a matter of couple of days now. In fact, doctor was surprised to know that she didn’t feel all that pain. The doctor advised her to get admitted by the evening.

The rest of the day at the family household went at packing, repacking and gathering stuff they were required to take to the hospital. The excitement level surged to such a level that couple of relatives and neighbours joined in the preparations. Finally when the time came to leave for the hospital, it looked as if the couple was departing for moon and a procession had come for their send off. And despite her father’s insistence that only two people join them, half of the procession still ended up at the hospital by night. Every one was concerned with what facilities the hospital had, what room was given to her and importantly, when were they going to deliver the baby. Finally the sisters intervened and the crowd was dispersed at around 11pm. Only one person was to stay back with her and he volunteered. He was not prepared to miss even a minute of it… and he didn’t by not sleeping the entire night.

Courtesy the injections, her contractions had started in the night itself. But they were very irregular and turning out to be troublesome for both of them. They had to call the medical officer more than once to see if it was time. And every time she said they’d have to wait. Minutes became hours and the wait just refused to cease until it was 10:30 in the morning. Her sister and mother, who had come earlier with the breakfast, were leaving for home again wondering what was taking so long. And the junior was probably wondering why were other people wondering. Probably because he hadn’t seen his father yet. Finally at 10:30 the medical office came for another round of check up and decided that it was time for her to shift to the labour room. Finally, he thought.

He was super excited, and super nervous and super whatever word that could describe his anxiety. First thing he did was call her mother. ‘Use andar le gaye hai. Mujhe kuchh samajh nahi aa raha. Mujhe jane nahi diya. Aap log jaldi aa jao’ He cursed the Indian hospitals for not allowing the husband inside. ‘Waha US mein to jane dete hai. Husband ko permit karne mein kya problem hai?’ He argued. ‘Sir hum samajh sakte hai. Par waha 4 aur ladies bhi hai. Unki delivery bhi honi hai. Sorry sir par aapko bahar rukna hoga’. So what do a person do when a person is tense, excited and waiting for some thing special? He did exactly that… paraded the entire waiting area to and fro. That was probably the hardest time ever for him. He was later joined by her family and some members of the procession. 10:30 became 11, then 12 then 1 and them little over 2 when the doctor came out.

“Haan madam ke saath kaun hai?” He ran!

“Haan ji badhai ho… ladka hua hai. Normal delivery thi… koi complication nahi.”

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh… woo hooooo. Hello Daddy? It’s a boy! Congratulations… wow. Thanks doctor. Its an amazing feeling. I cant express how it is.

His happiness knew no bounds. The cheers were followed by series of phone calls, series of thanks giving prayers and a dash to the nearest mithaiwala. The doctor had told that they will bring the junior out after an hour or so. By the time he returned from receiving a barrage of calls and distributing the sweets, junior had already arrived in the room. Her mother stepped up and held it up to him. His eyes were still closed. But I think junior recognised his father’s voice. And he said, “Ieeaayyyyaaaaiii…” as if he was saying, “Daddy… I’m here. Where is my gift?”