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I ask the nurse to let me see the boy. She assures me with a smile that he is with his father, and they will only allow me to go after a couple of hours. After a C-section, they had to wait for me to completely recover from the anaesthesia. In pain and feeling dizzy, I waited. As I am wheeled out from the OT, hubby is there to hold my hand. I am taken to my room and get to hold him in my arms for the first time. My first interaction with him was hazy. I still recall his luscious lips that won my heart at first glance. Tiny hands over his eyes, his lips beckoned, and I could not wait to see him in person. This was at my full-term ultrasound. Just a few days later surrounded by a battery of people on the Operation Theatre table, alone and knocked out by the general anaesthesia, I have blurred images of happiness all around. Someone thrusts something in my face, screaming, “It’s a boy!” I remember the “boy” part registering along with a teeny regret at the boy not being a girl. Wheeled out later, the boy was gone. I found that my throat hurt, and my voice made no sense to me. I seemed to be floating away from my body and lurking somewhere near the ceiling.
Can words describe what I felt when holding that tiny baby, my perfect creation in my arms? The baby staring back at me with luminous eyes. His 4-year-old brother holds his granny’s hands. He is so happy to have his own little companion. He is impatient to hold him. And, then at night while being dropped home with granny by dad, the elder brother christens his younger brother “Gautam.” Just a wonderful name that coincidentally means the same as his own name Siddharth, a wonderful precursor of the things to come including umpteen mischievous escapades!
This shy child of mine is so different from his elder brother. I always find this fact amazing and amusing. Shy to Sid’s gregarious nature, more inclined to creative pursuits to his brother’s academic mind; the siblings complement each other perfectly. Gautam will do anything and go anywhere as long as Sid accompanies him, not mom, not dad :). Amidst their incessant yelling and quarrelling, the fun and the camaraderie they share is something that warms my heart. All the hard work and pain has been totally worth it. This is how Gautam came into our lives on 5thSeptember 2006. And, what an amazing moment that was!
This time around, both parents had been there and had done that. The struggles were of a different kind this time. Just like the first time, it was hubby and I who held the fort. Managing a tiny baby and another toddler was not easy, but we did it one day at a time, interspersed as each day was with happiness and tears. The picture taking was not as crazy as it was with the first child but the joy of each tiny moment was no less. Gautam has enriched the life of each one of us. The parents are not obsessed with their one child, and the elder son has a playmate, a companion, a friend and a brother for life.
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| Partners in mischief! |
Perceptive to the core, this little one is sometimes even able to read what is on my mind. Blessed with an analytical mind and eyes that we call “binoculars,” he is a beautiful child. And, he has a family that is wrapped around his little finger ;-). Naughty as hell, he gets away with bullying his indulgent brother and sometimes parents as well. Don’t get fooled by his quiet ways; he is a dynamite no less :). But one blessed with such a loving heart, his day ends with “I love you” and he leaves the school mouthing “I love you” to his parents!
He turns an year older on Teacher’s Day tomorrow; here’s wishing this little fellow a very Happy Birthday!
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