Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Maithilee's Birth: some afterthoughts (Ashish)

Here is an excerpt from my recent email to a dear friend:

Maha did well, it took 9 hours of labor, after strong contractions started till birth. i was, of course there. It was quite scary to watch, frankly. ... she was shouting, breathing, humming, generally everything very well, so birthing was smoother. wish we could use hot water tub for 'water birthing', because hot water showers during labor made it much easier for Maha. We had one set up ready in our house, ultimately we just used it for a hot bath later on.
there was total bliss n exhaustion on Maha's face when Maithilee was finally kept at her chest. and, later on I held Maithilee too, she was the smallest bundle of warmth ever. It is such a surprise to hold a baby with its shallower-than-spoon-full breaths and louder-than-room-full of cries. And, she makes you run, jump, do things that you would not do otherwise. Man, i thought i had enough of poop with all kittens/ puppies in my life, but nope ! :-)


Maithilee would get Indian citizenship, the European laws do not grant citizenships by birth. if we stay for more than 5 years continuously, she can apply for citizenship, and she would get it...

we had lots of snow over week-end and it will continue over X'mas. so, Maha got to play with it, a little bit. tons of pics, of course. Maha even managed to fall on her bum once! Maithilee slept through two long rides during snow so far, damn...




On a related note: I always very much admired my women professors: having kids, taking care of them, then teach, have a PhD student, post-doc, then 2/3 grad students, and manage thrilling research. Now that I have a first-hand experience, my admiration has only grown. Ultimately, it is the 'fire in the belly' that pushes one, i have to ignite/ preserve it...

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