Naming of Neil

If you are coming by from Kelly's Korner, welcome

I had always wanted to post about naming Neil. When I was pregnant, I had a girl name all picked out. I really had no idea what I would name a boy. We had some criteria. One was I wanted a name with a meaning something along the lines of God gave, answered prayer, gift from God etc. Another criteria we both had was the name needed to be Indo-Western. Since we are Indians, we did not want a completely western name which our family back home could in no way identify. These days a lot of my family does put names like that for their kids, but this was what we wished. On the other hand, we did not want to put a completely Indian name that no one here (including myself) could say. Say Dhanangjaya - for my life, I can't say this name. :) and I am betting most of you can't either.

Nathaniel was on my list for a name as it means "Gift of God" Although I liked it, it wasn't quite right for a whole name for us. At that time, my friend visited me and she suggested Neel. Neel in my language means the color Blue. At that moment inspiration struck and I started liking a variation of that - Niel (short for Nathaniel). I looked up Niel at babycenter.com and guess what I found? "Gift of God" So Niel it was. We never quite decided on a middle name until I gave birth.

My parents prayed for me to get pregnant and I was getting frustrated with all the delays and waiting. With all the issues I was facing, combined with the doctors verdict I had all but given up hopes of being a mom by October 2008. Then one day my dad called me and said that while he was praying he got a very strong sense that I am going to be pregnant before 2008 drew to a close. I laughed like Sarah (maybe I should have named him Issac!) becasue did not the doctor say that it was not going to happen given all the circumstances? But my dad had heard from the Great Physician. After all the failed treatments, I got pregnant on our own in November. We found out on our fourth wedding anniversary, December 24th. And when I talked to my dad he reminded me of God's faithfulness and also told me that I was going to have a boy. Way before the boy/girl parts were formed in my womb even.

When the ultrasound revealed a boy, I guess I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted hid middle name to be my dad's name, but I never consciously thought about it. His last name was going to be my husband's family name so he gets that legacy from there. Also, although I wanted him to be Niel, we figured that would create a lot of confusion with the spelling, so we named him Neil. To me Neil or Niel he is God's gift to us. So anyway that is how he ended up with

Neil Kuruvilla *Last Name*

Cure for Ills

If you are feeling slightly down today, here is something to bring a smile to your face.

Enjoy!

Baby Outfit Daddy Style

I asked the dear husband to get baby ready to go out.

Here is the result

1.A 12 month onesie too big for him
2.Yellow bib for a blue outfit
3.Purple socks
4.And the crowning glory? Socks for mittens...

The upside is baby doesn't care. Then again he wouldn't care if I put a Cindrella outfit and a tiara on him.

I think I should be just grateful for a Daddy who helps out with the baby.

Writing thank you notes is not something I did as a child. But I love it a lot now. There is something really sweet about sitting down and writing a note and also receiving one in the mail. I have of course made slip ups especially to couple of people while I was recovering from delivery. I even wrote them, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Lost, vanished, disappeared without trace. And now it has been 3 months!

Speaking of thankfulness, I wanted to write about two gifts we received for Neil since they were super special.

One was from a lady who attends my sister's church. I don't know her at all, but she apparently does from when she saw me ONCE 6 years ago!!! So when she heard from my sister that I had a baby, she bought these two cute outfits and a set of wash clothes and sent it. How sweet is that?

I LOVE it that it is a onesie and a pant and not a shirt and pant since that exposes their little tummies and backs. And it has "Here comes trouble" on his butt :)


And this one with a little coat? How sweet? It is perfect for the occasional cold Sunday here in FL.

I sent her a thank you note and she told my sister that she gives gifts to many many people and this was the first time someone sent a thank you note!

A while back, before baby was born, I was researching options on baby transportation. I was not planning on buying a stroller immediately. For one thing, I wasn't thinking of taking him out anywhere soon after birth. Plus, we have a convertible car seat that we could not use on top of the stroller. I looked at Maya wraps and slings, but they were putting more pressure on one side of the shoulder and I knew I would give up on that soon.

Serena did a series on breastfeeding at that time and she had mentioned babywearing in that article as something she is passionate about. I emailed her to ask her opinions and she graciously replied to all my 127 questions. Then I searched her blog and read all she had written about baby wearing and then emailed her some more and finally decided that a mei tai was the best option for me. I was all set to buy one online when she said she will sew one for me!!! As a gift!!! That was so incredibly kind of her especially as we don't know in real life, I was just a complete stranger she met online.


We are so very grateful for that gift as it allowed us take him with us places without carrying a stroller (this fits in the diaper bag).


R loves it and finds it very easy and comfortable. I do have a threshold though. It does hurt me if I walk like 2 miles with it. And baby? He absolutely LOVES it. He loves looking at the world from inside it facing out. And when he sleeps, he loves facing me/hubby resting on us.



I love it that it frees my hands and I can do cleaning and some computer tasks while I have him on me. Just a bit of walking and he is out like a light.The only downside is that Neil throws a fit when we take him out of that.

Neil being our first baby has been the recipient of a truck load of gifts. We have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of things we have been blessed with. (and is still continuing to get!). My boss has been out due to an emergency surgery since I joined work and today he stopped by the office just to give me this!



Baby is trying to open it with his mouth like a little pup.

My darlin' punkin'

Because there are a lot of posts in my head and I have no time, here is a picture of my pumpkin during Halloween. Get ready for some gratuitous cuteness.

My hands

I love my hands a lot much. They are my bestest weapon. I use it to:

• Scratch onto my face when I get mad
  
• Scratch mommy's breast when I don't get enough inga
• Ball up into a fist and eat it
  
• Pull out my pachifier when mom and dad tries to cheat me into going to sleep when I don't want to.

That is why I hate it (but also love it) when Dad swaddles me so snug that it is hard to get my hands out. But I am really smart cos I still manage to do it and that is why he calls me handini (Houdini, get it?)

~Neil

Birth Story

I am not sure if anyone is interested, but I thought I will share my birth story anyway. At the very least, it will serve me as a detailed record of the day he was born.

My due date was August 26 and when I had my routine doctors appointment on the 21st, I was not the least bit dilated. Doc said if nothing happened by my due date, we would talk about getting something done. Anyway, Monday morning at 7:30 I got my first official contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a long time, but I knew instinctively that this was different. It wasn't very painful and I had another one at 7:50. It was 20 minutes apart and since I figured there was plenty of time, I didn't wake hubby. Then there was another at 8:10 and 8:30. By then, my parents had dressed and were ready to go to the hospital. Mom has a history of fast labors and she wanted me to get to the hospital fast. I was more inclined to wait a little more, but I finally woke R up and at 9, we headed to the hospital. We got there at 9:45 and by then, the contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes and lasted about 30-40 seconds. They put me in triage and a nurse checked me. I hated the nurse (and I usually love the nurses) they had at triage. Her name is Blair and at the end of our stay at triage, we named her "Blairwitch Project" She had the worst bedside manner and I had horrible bleeding ever from her cervical checks. I was terrified that she would be the nurse for labor, but thankfully there were other people at the L&D unit.

When they first checked me at 11:00 am, I was only dilated 0.5 cm! They asked us to go home. We had no plans of going home, so we waited at the hospital cafeteria and front lobby and finally went back at 3:30. When they checked me again, I was at 3 cm and 100% effaced and since I was really miserable by then, they decided to admit me. The doctor came and did an ultrasound and saw that he was posterior and a little transverse as well. She said that she was going to break my water and start the pitocin to speed up the labor. We neither agreed or disagreed and we had to wait another two hours before admitting me. By then, I was really getting miserable and unable to talk. Initially, we had resolved to wait until 6 cm to get the epidural. We figured that getting an epidural might slow down the progress of labor. But, at that point I was really in pain and yelling for the epidural.

They had not checked for dilation for a while figuring that I had a long way to go. At 6:00 pm, my water broke naturally and when they came and checked, they said I was completely dilated and it was too late for an epidural. Hubby got livid at this point since we had mentioned about the possibility of labor progressing fast and they had not taken that seriously. The main reason I had decided on an epidural was to avoid the "ring of fire." I had to calm him down since I didn't want to get the nurses back up at that point. Thankfully, another nurse came and checked and said I was at 9 cm and there was still time for an epidural. In spite of the pain, I felt good because I didn't feel as much of a wimp as I was actually in transition stage when I was moaning and groaning and not 4 or 6 cm as we thought I was.

But by the time the IV was in the system and the epidural took effect, it was time for pushing. Even with the epidural, I felt every contraction, and that helped with the pushing. I pushed for 45 minutes and they gave me rest for 1 hour and then again pushed for 45 minutes and finally he was born at 10:53 pm. I didn't need an episiotomy, but tore naturally. But, because he was in a transverse position, he had a hematoma when he was born. The size has reduced now, but the doctor says it will be 3 months before it completely goes away. He also had slight breathing problem and was taken away for observation immediately after birth, so I didn't get to hold him immediately.

I was in labor (including early labor) for almost 16 hours, but when I held him in my arms for the first time, all the pain and tiredness was just magically swept away! It is truly the best feeling in the world!!

I also should mention this as an aside:

When I was in the L&D room in a lot of pain and waiting for the epidural, hubby decided to figure out if I was in real labor or not. He asked me what 25 times 7 was. I answered 135 and then 165 before saying 175. He says that the fact that I actually multiplied in my mind was enough evidence for him that I was loopy and truly was in labor! Normally, I would just subtract 25 from 200.

They didn't teach this method of labor detection at Lamaze though.

The new normal

I had started writing my birth story a week back, but looks like the writing of the labor will take more time than the actual labor which was 15.5 hours. So stay tuned (or not) for the birth story full of excitement and intrigue coming to a blog near you. I could be finishing up that right now, but I don't feel like that. I just want to randomly write about stuff today, which, come to think of it is no different than any post I write here.

We are adjusting to the new normal here. When people say that a baby changes everything, boy, they are not kidding. I had to go to my office to pick up a package that came for me, and when I was walking up the stairs and getting into my room, it seemed surreal like I did all this a lifetime ago.

It is evening now and the house is quiet except for the dishwasher going on in the background. My child is on a life and death mission to double his weight in the next month, so he was nursing every hour in the morning. Now father and son are sleeping upstairs. I am downstairs in front of the computer. I know I am supposed to be sleeping when baby is sleeping, but somehow I don't feel like it even though I have been up half the night nursing, changing and rocking my baby to sleep. I am tired, but I am savoring this alone time right now.

Emotionally, it has been a crazy three weeks (more on that later) as well. I have been so thankful for the sisterhood of moms who called, emailed, and loved on me this time. Hubby is great, but he is not a woman and not a mom and so only up to a point did he *get* what I was going through. I will remember this time as the one in my life where logic and reason went for a trip and in their stead hormones came to party. I have never had PMS, and pregnancy hormones were nothing to write home about. The couple of meltdowns I had during pregnancy were over stuff I would have been upset anyway. So when the postpartum blues hit, it was so unexpected, I fell down in the middle of the road and got run over. I was crying a lot, there was stress over various things and physical recovery was slow. I still cry much easier than I used to, I hope that it will get better soon.

Baby sleeps right next to me and right now, he is most active in the night. So after feeding him, we lie next to each other and stare at each other. I look at him, trying to memorize every feature because he changes every single day. I sing to him "You are my sunshine" and put in his name instead of "only". Then I pray this blessing over him. Those are the most precious moments in my day. I thank God every day for our Nathaniel (gift from God- his name was derived from that) and I pray that we would raise him as God would have us raise him. Our attempts at parenting are sure to be pitiful at best, but God is faithful and his promises are steadfast.

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young

Isaiah 40:11

Introducing Neil

Blessed art thou O Lord Our God,
King of the Universe who has kept me alive
and sustained me and brought me to this
wonderful moment.

Baby Neil born August 24, 2009 6 lb 2 oz, 19.25 inches long.