Shweta Maushi comes visiting (Day 18)

I am a little owl-eyed from last night, so if you spot any grammatical mistakes, please feel free to ignore them.   (Tee hee!)

Contemplative

Last evening Shweta came visiting. For those of you who do not know who that is, Shweta is my best friend from childhood; something people call "chuddi-buddies". I don't remember a single incidence in my life when Shweta wasn't around. Except, maybe the three years that she was in boarding school, and the five years she was in KEM and I was at Kharghar, or after my marriage when she was doing her DNB in Goa, or when she moved to Delhi after her marriage. Hold the phone! She has been away almost half her life! Somehow still it just never felt as though she was away. We have never felt the distance hindering our friendship.

Aaaaaaaaaah!

Chhhhooooooooo!

Shweta is expecting too. She is due in late October. Last evening, when she came, she was positively flabbergasted. She took one look at baby's laundry and exclaimed, "So many clothes? Will I need these many clothes too?" All I could do was say "Yes!" and smile. Poor thing. She may be delivering babies on a day-to-day basis for a living, but she has no idea what she is about to get herself into. By evening itself yesterday, my baby had wee-d for about 10 times and pooped 3 times (Plus 5 times wee and 1 time poo in the dead of the night)

That apart, sometimes it appears as though my baby just cries for no reason. It is not a shrill cry of pain, or a cranky cry of hunger. It appears, incredibly, as though my baby is bored! A lot of websites support my statement, that infants often do cry just out of boredom. What boredom? How many malls did she visit when she was in my womb? How many fun activities did she do while she was cooped up in her cramped quarters? Unless you call kicking your mothers innards, or tickling her ribs (in a not-so-funny manner) as fun activities. Interestingly though, that appears to be the case. And for a first-time mother, it can often be pretty confusing. It was to me, when I was a first-time mother.

My dear friend does have a lot of people around to help her though. She is what I call, born with a silver-spoon. She has always been luckier, in most aspects of life. I think it has to do with her tenacious nature too. She never gives up, no matter what. I admire that quality about her. When she is convinced about something, it takes nothing less than breaking your head on a stone to convince her, and most of the times, even that doesn't work.

I had told her about umbilical cord stem cell banking. She is a doctor herself, she doesn't need to be told about the benefits. Yet, when it came to it, she stubbornly refused to do it, saying it was a waste of money! Knowing her better, I decided to leave the issue where it was, and not press further. She would understand in her own time. Yesterday, I just confirmed what I knew all along. I know my best friend. She has signed up for cord cell banking. Finally, in her own time, she understood its importance. Der aaye durust aaye.

Baby has had her bath. Time for me to sign out now. More pictures of day 18 today.