Seems so long ago...

I haven't been able to get to this space for a while, since my uncle hasn't been well, and all of us have been with him. He's better now, and I'm home today after several days of being in the hospital. I discovered Vir's mostly blank baby book that I've been meaning to fill up for a long time, and decided that now was as good a time as any. So, finally, I have it almost done except for the spaces for pictures that still need to go in there. I also discovered a diary I had written for him the first days after he was born. It felt really funny to go through it today, especially since I had written it in the voice of Vir. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it sounds fairly cheesy now. I'm sure Vir will have a laugh when he reads it when he's older. Here are a few entries from his first few days.

30th Jan 2007, 8:00 a.m: It's almost time for me to be out into the world. My mom, dad, nana, nani, aita, and koka are all here waiting. Well, nana is on the train on his way over. He will meet mum in hospital, where I plan to be born.

11:00 a.m: Mum is in hospital. The doctor is trying to decide whether to induce me to come out. Mom is praying that they do. I think she got pretty mad for a while there when the doctor said she might have to wait another week. Don't worry mum, I'm on my way.

12:30 p.m: They started the induction. This is going to be quite a ride!

11:35 p.m: I don't feel so good. Mum doesn't feel so good either. The doctor has decided to do an emergency C-section to bring me into the world. Mum is happy. Today is my dad's birthday so she's hoping I'm born today - then we can share our celebrations every year. I think God has slightly different plans though.

31st Jan 2007, 12:04 a.m: Wow! So this is what the world is like. I'm finally here. And that's my mum! "Open your eyes and meet your son" says the doctor to her. "Do you have a name for him?" "Yes," says my mom proudly, "his name is Vir."

12:15 a.m: The nurse has brought me out to meet my family. That's my dad! I know his voice. And these are all my grandparents. They seem pretty thrilled to see me. I don't have much time with them though...I have to go to a nursery tonight so mum can rest. I get to see them all in the morning. Yay!

11:00 a.m: Everyone came over - dad, nana, aita, and koka. They all made tonnes of cooing sounds at me and took a lot of pictures. Something tells me I should get used to this. Spent the rest of the day sleeping and waking up occasionally for some food. I got pretty hungry late at night and had to be given more of that artificial milk stuff. That doesn't taste as good but made me feel better.

A lot, and I mean a lot, of people came to see us in the evening. I seem to be pretty popular already. And I'm all of a day old!

2nd Feb, 2007, 11:a.m: Looks like I can go home today. The doc came in this morning and told mom she was all set to leave. I can't wait to see home...

4:00 p.m: All set. My dad brought the car to the front of the hospital and I stepped out, for the first time ever, into the world. It's a lovely day with a clear blue sky that I looked up at for the first time. I think I'm going to like this life.

5:30 p.m: I'm home! Everyone is here...even Baggdu. He's so excited to see mum that I don't think he's even noticed me. Aita has some prasad from a mandir she went to for me. She said a small prayer as we came in.

3rd Feb: I'm settling in well. I spent all evening yesterday and all of today just sleeping and eating really. Eating is proving to be a bit of a problem since I'm always hungry.

4th Feb 2007: Koka comes into my room once in a while to say hello. He loves to just watch me. I try to look back at him and wave my arms and hands a little bit for him. He loves that. All the grown ups seems endlessly entertained by the small things I do.

7th Feb 2007: I had my first outing today. I went to meet the doctor, who seemed nice until he pricked me with a sharp needle lots of times. He needed my blood for some tests. Mum and dad were around when he did that, and seemed quite worried. When mum told koka about this later, he said, "Don't worry. These are some lessons he's learning about life." What does he know?

8th Feb 2007: Aita and Koka have to go back to Guwahati. They don't want to but they have to. Maybe this is another one of those life's lessons Koka keeps talking about. He also has something else he likes to say..."the key to all this is positive thinking!"

9th Feb 2007: This morning, I had a photo session with aita and koka. Koka wanted some pictures with me - awake. That was the tough part. After several tries, mum managed to get one with me yawning, and one with my eyes open.

There are lots more from his first two months that are pretty cheesily entertaining. I'm just glad I have a record of all this...although I'll always remember what it felt like to finally have him and hold him, I had already forgotten some of the details in this diary and the early posts of this blog. After several busy and tense days, an afternoon spent remembering the early days of this brat was really refreshing! I'm back to this blog with renewed energy to record all the little things and big things that make life with Vir so great (and also excrutiatingly frustrating!)