First month

Tiredness lingered even after delivery, and by now, I realized what people were talking about – shamelessly take advantage of this period to rest yourself. On the other hand, I was desperate to take a step outside the house of my own after 9 months of bed rest to feel the breeze brushing against my skin. But it never happened because of customs.

Ooof… On the 10th day, I took a complete shower from head to toe as on the same day my stitch was removed, which took hardly a few minutes. I got Low Transverse Incision which healed well. Oh! How fresh I felt that day after the bath and removal of all those bandages from the lower abdomen.

For Aarush, his umbilical cord also fell off after 10 days; he lost his weight in the first 12 days. He got oral polio drops and one shot of BCG this month but didn’t cry almost – behaved very well with me outside the house and in front of the doctor.

After discharge from the hospital, it was tough to decide where to put our little one. Though baby cots, cradles, and moses baskets are widely available today in India. But, I strongly felt breastfeeding would be easier if he sleeps with me as I won’t have to get out of bed every time to feed. So, weighing the pros and cons, we made the decision together that he will sleep with us. Till date, he does sleep with us only. At night when he used to cry on and off mainly being hungry or wet – we felt our decision worked out best.

We truly spent hours staring at the little one cozily nested between us, observing his facial expressions while he snoozes - particularly grinning or making crying faces with his eyes closed and when he purses his lips is truly irresistible. At times we wondered was it a reality or a dream - with Aarush, we’ve created a home nest that brought incredible joys and of course not to mention sleepless nights. As soon as he used to wake up, he would stretch a lot. His tiny hands used to remain tightly clenched while awake. In the form of short naps, he used to sleep around 15-18 hrs. Whenever he was startled by a loud noise, he would thrust out his arms and legs and drew back them or start crying. Yet, he couldn’t focus on far-off objects and that too small ones.

Mostly, my mom used to take care of Aarush be it potty cleaning, massage, or giving a bath. His thamma (my MIL) was anxious to try her hand seeing his didu (my Mom) doing everything it was hard for her to resist. She also got a chance when didu was down with fever for 2-3 days. My dad and mother-in-law left after 15 days of his birth.

After 15 days, we appointed one maid who used to give him oil massage as well bath and thereafter wrap him tight in a cotton cloth just like a small parcel. Soon after, he used to have his milk and fall asleep for hours.

By then, I became a milk vending machine. Feeding every 2 -3 hrs was a bit troublesome …it took me quite a while to adjust to the same. Often for fun when I used to rub my finger to the corner of his mouth, he would immediately turn towards it for sucking – my mom used to scold me a lot for this action of mine.

On the 21st Day, we all went first to Kalibari at Vashi to offer puja (from this day onwards me and Aarush were supposed to go anywhere). There also he behaved very nicely, and the priest took him in his arms to give him blessings of Goddess Kali.

For Santanu, it was hard balancing work and home life. Along with me, he was learning to become fully trained, hands-on the nappy, changing, up-all-night which was definitely tiring. Big changeover at work, Long commute by locals - Obviously… it was a juggling act of enormous proportions. At the end of the month, Santanu had to leave for Bangalore on a week-long trip and missed the first-month milestone of Aarush.