Abhay Jha is 1-month New!

As far as I remember, I have always been fond of babies and have been equally loved by them too (as far as my understanding goes!)! I am sure you know of those guys who tend to play/interact with any young baby; yeah I am one of those categories! I enjoy every opportunity I get when I get to spend time with babies and have been doing that for so many years!

And thanks to my 2 lovely nieces – Nandini & Samyukta I also got somewhat experienced in first-hand handling of babies! They are my lifelines and have a very special place in my heart; and yeah that space is booked forever by them!

We came to know that we are going to be parents in May 2013 and since then the excitement, countdown and the hooplah started! I just could not wait for our baby to arrive…being the hyper impatient person I am, 9 months were too long a wait for me! But the ever so patient, calm, collected Bandita was the calming force for the full duration of 9 months! No wonder we complement each other so perfectly…

Bandita was so chilled out during the 9 months…I had heard horror stories from my friends about how their wives transformed during this period but Bandita never threw any tantrums or over-reacted! We even travelled to Cyprus for 8 days in August 2013 when she was 4 months pregnant and even better – we also went for a 6 kms mountain trek! I had also heard about all those food cravings of expecting mothers but the only craving she had was of the ever-so-humble Vada Pao and that too in the 8^th month! It was so easy for me to fulfil this particular craving as the shop which serves real awesome VPs here is right next door to our Flat building! Big Thanks to Bandita for being such a sport all the way through! I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

It was around 1:30 AM and I had just finished watching the brilliant movie “Shahid” and Bandita told me “we need to go to the hospital, looks like the TIME has come”! And all of us got really excited! We had already got our Baby and Mother bags ready so within 10 minutes we were ready to leave for the Hospital! I, Bandita and her sister Madhumita reached there Hospital in no time and she got admitted and then the endless wait started! Our baby was in no mood to arrive quickly and kept us on the tenterhooks for the next 12 hours! Yes full 12 hours! Bandita got really exhausted and frustrated by the end of it and our Doctor decided to hit the OT for the C-Section delivery!

But wait…the fun, excitement and anxiety didn’t end here! Madhu’s flight to Australia via Abu Dhabi was scheduled at 4:30 PM and she had to leave for the airport to avoid missing her flight! So amidst all the excitement she left....I felt so sad for her as the timing got mixed up so perfectly or should I say imperfectly…so while she was on her way to the Airport, our baby was getting ready to hit the World!

And after all the waiting, travelling, shopping, making all the Hospital visits and the excitement since May 2013, Bandita delivered our baby boy “Abhay Jha” on Saturday 11-Jan-2014 at 2:15 PM in the afternoon at the Al Seef Hospital here in Kuwait! See even Abhay loves the weekends that he wanted to make his grand entry on a Saturday! Like father like son you see!

The first emotion/feeling which came to my mind when I saw him coming out of the OT in that crib was of extreme excitement and that strange feeling “he can’t be my baby”; now don’t over-react and read why before making any sort of conclusions! When he was born he was so fair I got confused for obvious reasons! I thought maybe the nurses handed me the wrong baby! But it couldn’t have happened as there was only one operation happening in the OT when Abhay was born! And then I held him in my arms and he looked at me with his drooping eyes! That peace my friends just can’t be described in words!

My friends who are Fathers already had told me the same thing in the past but this feeling can be best experienced oneself and just cant be compared to words I have heard! After all Abhay is the only creation I have (yeah yeah a co-creation with Bandita, but you get the hang right!)…I haven’t created, designed or made anything from scratch so far in my life so I can safely claim Abhay to be my first (and hopefully not the last) creation!

Abhay means Fearless in English and hope he can live up to his name meaning! His dad that is me was been one of the most afraid kids of all time! When I was young our washroom was outside our house and going to the loo in the nights was the most harrowing experience for me and almost all the times I had to beg my brother to accompany me & he always used to act pricey! Many more incidents of me being so fearful have happened in the past and I am sincerely hoping that Abhay would reverse this trend for me!

Loads of our friends came to visit us in the Hospital and got us a lot of gifts too! Lovely memories of those fun moments!

And this last one month has been one of the most amazing experiences for us and I have had a fair share of amazing experiences in my life so this really means much more than just special for me!

Just the joy of holding Abhay in my arms, soothing & calming him when he is crying, talking to him when he is cranky, changing his diapers, cleaning him and reading all those articles on the internet to make myself a well-equipped father…this one month has taught me a lot and I have learnt so many new things…damn exciting all of them!

Bandita & Abhay got discharged from the Hospital on the 15^th of January and he was welcomed to our Kuwait Home with a short welcome ceremony by Bandita’s mother and then the tryst started…

He has been sleeping his way to glory since then…occasionally waking up for Milk and when he dumps! And during those moments giving us enough time to have fun with him! He hasn’t given many sleep less nights (as we were adequately forewarned) so far and we are hoping he keep repeating his good work in the future too!

We have used some new techniques contrary to what our parents & other elders have told us’ we have done them to ensure he sleeps well …more details here:

1. White Noise  - http://www.troublesometots.com/why-babies-love-white-noise/
1. We have downloaded an MP3 File in our iPad and play it on loop through the entire night – I can’t say if that’s the only reason he sleeps well with full surety but it has definitely helped since we started playing it!
2. Swaddling - http://www.pedsforparents.com/articles/3323.shtml
1. We have stopped doing it now as it restricts his leg movements now! But when we did it definitely relieved him!
3. Separate Bed for him - http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1904288,00.html
1. We wanted to give it a try and so far it has worked well for us! And yeah with Che’s Blessings!

He wakes up 2-3 times in the night; Bandita feeds him and I change his diaper and then he is back to his own sleep world! And thanks to his somewhat regular sleeping patterns we have even watched some movies together since his birth! Big thanks to Abhay for allowing us such small mercies!

We had a special infant photo shoot with Abhay on 20^th January 2014 which was taken by Kimberly Glass and the set of pics which she has sent are way too awesome! I can’t share all those pics right now as they are yet to be edited and we have been asked not to do so by Kimberly and I got to respect her request! You can see some of her work at http://www.kimberlyglassphotography.com/ . Plus the first and topmost photo of this BlogPost is one of the pics from that shoot!

The photo shoot went for 3 hours & Abhay was quiet all the way through! That is incredible considering he was just 10 days new that day! Yes, he didn’t cry even once! Yeah he dumped twice and soiled 2 of her carpets but except those 2 dumping adventures he was camera friendly throughout! And I must complement Kimberly for her impeccable preparations and the way she handled Abhay! Just like a thorough professional! Waiting to see the final results so badly! Just can’t wait now….

The biggest learning or rather I should say change of a behavioural pattern for me has been my sleeping habit! Before he was born if I used to wake up in the middle of the night it used to take me atleast 20-30 minutes before I used to go back to sleep and this has been the same since the last 20-25 years! But since he was born I can go off & on between waking up and sleeping such seamlessly it has surprised me a lot! And it is such a nice & welcome change for me! No more tossing & turning in the bed for me anymore!

My duties also include making the Formula Milk for him; that is a very short process though so I have never felt any pinch! Plus warming the bottle in the night is also a task I undertake many a times except when Bandita doesn’t disturb me and does that on her own in the night! See even she shows some mercy on me! Hail the merciful Bandita!

Abhay has already made 3 trips outside! Once to an Indian restaurant here named “Swad”, once to the Marina Beachside in the day and once to a Lebanese Restaurant named “Palm Palace”! And as always he has slept his way through and deciding not to disturb us and letting us enjoy our food and time thoroughly! As the weather here gets a bit warmer, we would be taking him out more regularly and exposing him to the outside world more so that he can get adjusted to it pretty quickly!

His first international travel trip is already planned! We would be gong to Kenya for a week in July, by that time he would be almost 7 months young and hopefully he stays fit & fine for that week…

Bandita’s parents were here for a month and they were such a big help for us! Her mother used to massage him everyday and that daily ritual has surely made him stronger and more agile! And her dad used to keep cooing him and walking with him in his arms across our home! Abhay used to enjoy those walks a lot! Plus their priceless knowledge was a big boon for us too…

Now my parents are here for a month and we are again gonna have a blast with this set of Grandparents! I am sure my Father (who is fond of kids just like me) is gonna spend his entire 30 days holding Abhay in his arms and talking to him endlessly! The way Abhay was staring at him yesterday when he first held him in his arms was so funny! He was like “who the hell is this old guy with a white beard”!

Our new life has just begun and we are damn excited for this new ride with our comrade Abhay! We would ensure this ride is smooth for him and has some bumps too which would make him a more resolute young boy and not the one who is used to luxuries just like his parents were brought up!

Thanks to God for making the journey such smooth so far and hope he continues blessing us & Abhay forever!

Big thanks to our families for making us what we are today and making us ready to become parents and hopefully good parents!

I also want to thank all my friends who wished and prayed for us; I must say that all those wishes made a big difference and helped us sail through! 

Till the time we meet again… 

Cheers to life… 

Till then ride safe and have safe sex… 

Hasta la Victoria Siempre…

Jai BoP…