My Journey So Far…

So last November I found out I was pregnant. It was truly the most ecstatic I had ever felt. The joy of that surprise was like none other – irreplaceably singular and overwhelming.

Fast forward to a few weeks, what with the doctors’ visits done and phone calls to family and friends made, there was a gradual and then heavy bombardment of a list of to-do’s and don’ts from everyone I knew. Tough to ignore or run away from, I decided to wade through it and make later make my own decisions, in consultation with my OB.

Here is my little list of a few things that helped me (and still continue to) cope and deal with my pregnancy:

1. Enjoy this time to the fullest. It is really like none other and it is all about you and your baby. I cannot stress on that enough. Do what and as you feel like. These are literally the last few free months you have to yourself and for yourself. Make the most of this time. Your life is going to change in ways you cannot imagine, comprehend or anticipate. Watch that movie(s), get that pedicure, visit the salon everyday for a new blowout if you must, sleep and sleep some more – do whatever floats your boat basically! This time is NEVER coming back!
2. A million people will have a million things to say from the get-go. Use your own better judgment and intuition to sift the relevant from the irrelevant. Learn to ignore. There’s no need to get into a verbal massacring of each other (trust me, I was tempted all along!) but try and not get riled up by it. People love to advise and you need to keep your cool. Ignorance truly is bliss.
3. Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise well. I cannot stress enough on it but these are so essential to help you carry a healthy mind, body and soul through those crucial nine months and after. Be watchful of what you eat, take as much rest as possible and do get some exercise – be it just walking around the park, prenatal yoga or swimming. It has really helped me so far and from what I’ve heard and read, there are fewer complications on D-day.
4. It is very easy to get psyched out considering the amount of information that’s available to us online and in books. Read if you must, but consult your doctor if there is something truly bothering you. Know that every one is made differently and everyone’s body reacts differently to different circumstances. What you read online is other people’s experiences but the scenarios may be completely different. Carry a list of questions for your doctor on your next visit. Remember, your body knows what it has to do. Let your intuitions guide you. Give your mind a backseat!
5. Spend this time with your partner as much as you can. Cherish these last few blissful months of togetherness. You really won’t know how these months will fly! Make the most of them!
6. As far as baby shopping goes, it is so easy to get tempted with sooooo much around, be it online or otherwise! Don’t go crazy and overboard with buying everything yourself. Only a few essentials for the baby will do for now and then buy things as you go along. Your doctor or OB will give you a list of things to buy for you and your baby and it makes sense to stick to it at least for the first few weeks.
7. Last but not the least, I was told from many that having pets at home is absolutely a no-no for an expectant mother and the baby for the first three years of her life. Well, do not listen to such people and if possible, delete them from your life! You do not want such negativity around. I can honestly say that for someone who neither works nor has too many friends around, my beagles (Isis and Django) gave me the company and relief that I needed to get through this pregnancy. Since my husband travels a lot, my dogs have truly been my best companions that have helped me sail through my pregnancy so far. In fact I feel that thanks to them, I didn’t fall sick even for a day and my general immunity was better than ever. Of course you’ve got to take care that they don’t jump and all that, but that’s about it. Kids growing up in a house full of animals and numerous benefits and no (sane) doctor has ever been heard discouraging people from giving up their animals once they get pregnant.

So these are my two cents on my journey so far. I am currently in my eighth month of pregnancy and due August. Looking forward to adding much more to this list and sharing even more experiences of life hereafter!

 

🙂

Musings

Life has it’s own mysterious ways of talking to us. These talks do not come in the form of words or speeches.  They are doled out in the form of events. Sometimes pleasant which mostly go ignored and taken for granted. And more often than not as the unpleasant ones. Warning signals. Red flags. Whatever you might want to call it. and they are there all around us Only if one pays heed to them and treats them like Life’s way of talking to us will one truly understand the true meaning and the what and whys of it. 

 

The question is what makes us ignore these signs? Why do we feel we are bigger than the universe? Why would we ignore such an integral, basic and probably the most important part of existence? I feel the point isn’t about who is bigger or has the upper hand. The point lies in the fact that we need to be one with the universe. Life. Existence. God. Name it whatever. These events aren’t meant to belittled. They are meant to be seen as awakenings. 

 

The fact remains that we aren’t separate entities. The universe is us and we are the universe and it is this oneness that binds us. Holds us. Keeps us together and stable. The moment we lose sight of that, we are faced with challenging times that deter us from the path. The stability goes away and instability sets in. And then we sit and wonder and get upset and complain and blame and it goes on and on…

 

Why can’t we instead stop and think that there has to be a bigger reason, a bigger Will that is unfolding right in front of our eyes through such happenings and we are – blind and blinkered – and completely absolutely utterly foolish enough to be ignoring them. Turning our ever so trained blind eye yet again. 

 

There has to come a point when the blinkers need to be taken off. The time is now. Or rather not now. The time was YESTERDAY so let’s try and catch up. Let’s get one with the Universe. Let’s surrender to that great and mighty Will. Let’s experience that joy that comes with that surrender. Let’s stop complaining and start being grateful. Let’s use our senses more and our minds less. Let our eyes see and our hands touch and heart feel… Let’s get led by the most comforting hand there is. Let’s give our ignorance a step back and let’s develop the understanding to know the difference. 

 

Let’s take each event as a learning experience. Let’s learn. Let’s not ignore…

 

Let’s….

 

 

 

 

June 9th 2014 

Writer’s Block – II

Much progress has not been made since my large (original) post here. What is it about writing that I find so ineffably difficult? Maybe not difficult per se, but something always eludes me. Is it lack of inspiration? May be I am not putting myself “out there” enough to BE inspired and overwhelmed with an experience or a moment of epiphany to actually make me sit down and document it. 

My head also wrings me constantly to understand that this might just be sheer indolence, procrastination and an attitude bordering towards constantly making simple things so complicated in my head that I constantly put them away and not do them – the plague of our times, I tell you!

To be honest, I started this blog as a final act of desperation to get away from the constant din of my head. This was supposed to be an outlet to the multiple (….) that my head keeps spinning. When finally I couldn’t take it (and obviously monologues with friends on the subject didn’t end up helping) I turned to writing. 

However, I am now realizing that it isn’t as simple and perfunctory as I thought it would be. One really has to, and for lack of a better word, meditate upon the problem at hand and really put oneself down right to it and focus. Some people are naturally gifted. Like everybody cannot sing. I mean, sing, of course, they can, but how well is always relative. I doubt it’s similar with writing though. Being able to right well or not is one thing, but what happens when you just get stuck and simply cannot forge yourself ahead? What are you supposed to do then? Give up, abandon and retreat?! 

The only solution to the conundrum, I feel, and like any other, can only be continued efforts. So what if they leave you in vain after? The fact that there has been a considerable piece written by you is encouraging enough to make you come back for more. And who knows, the next Wilde or Woolfe might be in the making… 

No Coward Soul Is Mine – Emily Bronte

Something I’d read ages ago…

No Coward Soul Is Mine

by Emily Bronte

No coward soul is mine,

No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:

I see Heaven’s glories shine,

And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

O God within my breast,

Almighty, ever-present Deity!

Life—that in me has rest,

As I—undying Life—have power in thee!

Vain are the thousand creeds

That move men’s hearts: unutterably vain;

Worthless as withered weeds,

Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,

To waken doubt in one

Holding so fast by thine infinity;

So surely anchored on

The stedfast rock of immortality.

With wide-embracing love

Thy spirit animates eternal years,

Pervades and broods above,

Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.

Though earth and man were gone,

And suns and universes ceased to be,

And Thou were left alone,

Every existence would exist in Thee.

There is not room for Death,

Nor atom that his might could render void:

Thou—THOU art Being and Breath,

And what THOU art may never be destroyed.

Writer’s Block – I

This is my very first step to some writing after years and years of unsuccessful attempts, procrastinating, dillydallying and even some self-loathing for never being able to get down to it! So here I am – finally – putting my mental scribbles into a somewhat permanent form (considering how after a point in time Twitter didn’t feel completely adequate – no offence!)

I read. I love to read. I also loathe myself on not being able to do enough of it. But on an average, I keep myself sufficiently entertained by various posts on almost everything under the sun from people on the internet. And least to say, it leaves me completely clueless and bewildered on how effortless they seem when here I am, always angling for a bit towards penning things down, but finally getting caught up by self-created walls for expression. 

Doesn’t take much though, does it? Just a few clicks here and there, and here I am, typing away. 

Well, to THAT, some continuance and better judgments in life! 🙂