Isabelle's 3 week Birthday!

Today, Isabelle is 3 weeks old (12/21/09). During the first week of her life, I couldn't really see past it... and now we've already had her in our lives for 3 weeks!

During this time, we've shared many wonderful moments with her that will live in our memories forever... all the hugs and kisses, her adorable and amusing face expressions, all the many firsts...her first smile, her first bath, her first grabbing onto our fingers and many more. We love holding her... in our arms, over the shoulder while burping her, on our chest as she curls her feet up and assumes the fetal position... she's such a sweetheart.

She still hiccups as much as she did when she was in the tummy... and she has really mature neck movement already. She has started to maintain eye contact and can follow objects for a few seconds. She is so cute when she's nursing... she makes the most adorable faces and purses her little sweet lips.

But of course, with all the good, comes a little of the not so good moments... long sleepless nights, clusterfeeding, and the poopy messy diapers to clean up :) Everyday is different... some days better than others. Such is life with a newborn.

First week Birthday (12/7/09)...Grandma got her a little piece of cake to celebrate :)


Second week Birthday (12/14/09):


Third week Birthday (12/21/09):

The wait is over... Isabelle is finally here

The new love in our life is finally here...

Isabelle Siona D'Mello arrived on November 30, 2009 at 3:58pm CST at St. David's North Austin Medical Center. She was 6 pounds 14 ounces, 20 inches tall and just perfect! As cliche as it sounds... words can't describe how we felt when she entered this world. We felt relieved, overwhelmed, proud and unconditional love all at the same time...

Our time in the hospital is a blur... we checked in Nov 30 around 7:30am and I was ready to be induced by 8:30 or 9am. Once the pitocin started dripping, it didn't take long for the contractions to start. I'm uncertain what the timeline was, but it was within an hour. They started out mild, and then grew quite intense... I used breathing techniques and various positions (and a lot of hand holding with Sheldon and Mom) to get thru the contractions but then hit a point where it was almost unbearable. At that point, I gave in and asked for an epidural... and it was in the nick of time since the pain started to get much worse after that. After I finally got the epidural and they checked me, it turns out that I was fully dilated and ready to push! Wow, things were moving much quicker than I had imagined in my head. I think it was around 2:45 or 3pm. So after about an hour of pushing, Isabelle made her entrance... or outrance. I couldn't believe the hard part of the delivery was over so quickly... in my head, I had prepped myself to hunker in for a long day and night of labor. Shel was my rock through out the labor... he didn't flinch at any of the gross or painful stuff :) Much better than mom, who started to get really sad and sickly when I was pushing. She said she couldn't stand to see me in pain... even though I wasn't feeling much pain at that point due to the epidural. Anyway, so everyone told her she should leave the room to prevent her from fainting.

Isabelle was quickly whisked away to be cleaned and weighed and all the stuff they usually do. Shel watched in amazement and gave me updates on what was happening, while I was getting cleaned up myself. I had a 2nd degree tear, but Dr. Cutler said it was only the skin, not the tissues that tore. Either way, with the epidural, still in my system, I didn't feel much pain as I was getting stitched up.

I was finally able to hold her shortly after... by that time Mom had come back into the room as well. It felt unreal to be holding my baby girl for the first time. To think that just a short while ago she was inside me was crazy. I didn't think she'd so obviously look like either one of us, but she most certainly had a lot of Shel's features... the nose and eyes were the most prominent. Of course, she was puffy and her head was odd shaped like most newborns are. Anyway, there was a lot going on in the room... Shel calling and emailing the good news out to friends and family... my Mom doing the same... the nurses doing their thing and I was just lying there wondering what was next. When things settled down a bit, they whisked the baby to the nursery to run tests, give her shots and clean her up some more. Shel went with them... and we wouldn't see them again for a few hours after that. Thankfully Mom was with me so I wasn't alone.



They moved me into a post delivery room and I ordered food and tried to rest before the baby came back from the nursery. El and Valerie came to visit and soon after, Shel returned with Isabelle. After some gushing over little Izzy, it was time for her first breastfeeding session... which didn't go too well, but they say the first few days are the hardest and I just need to hang in there.



Life over the next couple of days in the hospital was strange and surreal. I felt relieved since we had lots of help around, but I also wanted to get the heck out of there asap. Our room was a decent size, but started to feel cramped after a while. Thankfully we only spent 2 nights there. The first night we were there, Isabelle decided she didn't want to sleep that night, so Shel got his first taste of the sleepless nights ahead. The nurse told him to take care of the baby while I slept for a few hours, and Izzy decided to keep Daddy awake for a couple of hours... he had to take her out into the hall and walk around with her the entire time...



Early on day 2, Isabelle was in the nursery for a while, where the pediatrician noticed a few alarming things. She came to our room to tell us that Izzy had to be taken to the NICU for observation. When she first told me, I started crying... Shel was taking the news decently well and was consoling me. As soon as the pediatrician left, Shel started getting really emotional and that lasted the whole day for both of us. Izzy spent the whole day in the NICU and it was really stressful for us. She was so uncomfortable there... and the poor thing was so hungry but it was hard to nurse her there. We were so relieved when they released her from the NICU and finally have her back in our room that evening. Turns out they didn't observe anything interesting there and just told us to keep an eye out for abnormal behavior.

Anyway, day 2 sucked overall.. we were so exhausted and drained emotionally. I was also feeling a ton of pressure to breastfeed her... we had to eventually give her a little formula since the poor darling was so hungry. Day 3 was better and we were happy to hear that we'd be getting released that day. By 4pm that day (Wednesday December 2) we were home... and then we wondered what to do next :)



Since then we've tried to settle into some kind of routine... though there is no regularity with a newborn. The first week was really hard, but things got better in the 2nd week and even better the 3rd week. Having my Mom here with us was immensely helpful. She was there to keep us fed and take care of the baby when we really needed to get some rest. She was great!

So, here we are now, three weeks after Isabelle entered our lives... We love her to pieces. Sometimes we just stare at her and can't believe how adorable she is... then inevitably she starts crying about something or another. She keeps us on our toes, and it's hard to find much time for ourselves these days, but we're enjoying our new roles in life... Mommy and Daddy.

The Wating Game

I'm 38 weeks and 2 days now and the waiting game begins... When oh when will baby arrive? Here are some guesses:

Nikki: Nov 16
Mai (Shel's grandma): Nov 18
Shel: Nov 19
Valerie: Nov 20
Mathias mam (Shel's uncle): Nov 21
El: Nov 22
Shel's mom: Nov 25
Nikki's mom: Nov 26 (My actual due date)
Shel's dad: Nov 27
Nikki's dad, Hetal and Sapna: Nov 29


Hopefully I don't go past my due date.... if I do, my doctor scheduled an induction on Nov 30, and I really don't want to do that.

In the mean time, we're getting the nest ready. Today we worked on the baby's room a bit more and I'm happy to report it's practically done. We just need to hang some art on the walls and at some point down the line add a book shelf. We also need to put a chair in, but not needed right now. Anyway, here's the room now, after installing curtains, and some narrow shelves:

Nursery

We decided a while ago to keep the nursery decor low key and not too kiddish... and though we're not done with it yet, we've got all the basics done and hope to add the finishing touches over the next week.

Here's the progression of the room so far...

First thing to go in was the crib... Here's Shel (aka baby daddy) putting it together on 8/29:


Here's the finished product... I was so excited to finally have a crib in the room. It took some getting used to, but for a few days, I would just stand in the doorway and admire it every time I passed by the room and got a glimpse of it :)


Next came the bedding on 10/6... I couldn't decided whether to go with a girly theme or a neutral theme... with Shel's help we ended up with a neutral theme :) I really like the bedding we picked out:


The room was getting packed with all the baby things we had started to accumulate from our baby showers and things we bought. Here's a shot of the chaos on 11/3... and this wasn't even half of it... there were several other larger boxes and shopping bags tucked away in the closet and the corners of the room:


We also had a dresser by that time shown in the pic above, but moved to the center or the room.
On 11/3 we added some wall art. Here's Shel starting on the hand painted mural:



Just kidding... we are not that talented.. we used a wall decal. It's not a sticker so looks more like it's hand painted, but it's kinda obviously not :)



And... tada:


It wasn't completely done, but it got really late, so we called it a night and finished it up just yesterday (11/8). We also painted some floating shelves black the weekend before last to match the other furniture and hung them up yesterday.

After a bit of clean up, here's what the nursery looks like now:








We still have to work on it, but happy with the progress so far :) We never could decide on a paint color for the room, so we decided to stick with the beige color we already had on the walls... which means we have to bring in color in other ways... art, maybe some curtains, etc. Should be fun to see what we come up with.

Baby Showers in Austin

How lucky can a girl be? Over the last few weeks, I had not one, but two baby showers... add that to the shower my parents threw us in Houston, and we've had three total! We are very fortunate for these blessings and totally feel the love with this pregnancy.

Shower #2 was thrown by Khona, Neena, Hema and Nicole and hosted at Hema and Mahesh's house on 10/17/09. The food, decor and atmosphere were perfect... they did a wonderful job. Thanks to them and all of our friends who were able to make it! Swapna and Amit flew in from San Fransisco and Anu drove down from Ft. Worth. Everyone else were Austinites. The games were not the typical baby shower games, and one involved beer bottles, which I got a lot of questions about from my family... "why are you holding a beer bottle? hmmm?". Anyway, we had a fabulous shower!

























Shower #3 was a surprise shower for me... it was thrown by the ladies of the ICA (Indian
Catholic Association) on 10/25/09. Shel was in on the surprise, and I was genuinely shocked when what I thought was a small dinner party at Elsa's house turned out to be something entirely different. I looked totally casual, even though Shel tried to hint at me to dress up a bit more... I was like, "why? it's just dinner"... anyway, I should have paid closer attention. We had a great time... those ladies are pros at throwing showers... everyone pitched in for the potluck style dinner. The games were quick but fun, and the gift opening was a mad rush since it was a Sunday evening and everyone had to get home to rest up for the upcoming week.
































All in all... our three showers were great... all different and all fun in their own ways!

Week 37 complete... Full term!

Wow, I can't believe how fast time has flown! I am offically full term as of 11/5/09, meaning it's safe for baby to join us in the real world now. So, the waiting game begins! She can come anytime now, which is scary...but exciting I guess. Shel and I wanted to take bets on when D-day will be ... any takers? He thinks it'll be a week before my due date (11/26), and I really hope so since that would mean that my doctor won't be on vacation and will most likely deliver the baby. If it happens over the Thanksgiving holidays we'll get whoever is on call, and I really don't want that. So, we'll see what happens.

I've been feeling really tired lately... I'm trying to take it easy, but it's been hard since I have lots of loose ends to tie up. Also, Shel's cousin , Keith, is visiting us this week and it's been great, but takes a toll. Hopefully Shel and I can knock out some final "todos" this weekend and then I can look forward to plopping myself on the couch for the next couple of weeks ;-)

My doctor has been worried that I haven't gained much weight, so we did another ultrasound last week... this time we got some shots of baby's face... it's so cute. Shel wasn't there unfortunately since he had his Spanish class at that time, but when he saw the pics he was a bit scared at the images... ultrasounds don't do the babies justice, since their noses look squished and the eyes look sunken, but I thought it was cute. I also saw her moving her mouth... she's practicing her breathing I assume. I can't believe we're going to see our baby any day now!

So, to make my doctor happy, and to take advantage of my last few weeks of pregnancy, I have decided to go wild on a bit of junk food :) I bought some brownie bites and have been indulging myself over the last couple of days. In general, I'm surprised that my appetite has magically grown this week... I have probably gained 2-3 pounds, but it's all for a good cause. :)

Thoughts at 34 weeks...

Today I stopped by Pei Wei on my way home from yoga class to pick up some lunch.... and as I was sitting there waiting for my order, I thought, wow, pregnancy really makes me less self conscious. There I was, sitting all by myself among all of these professionals dressed in business clothes, in my yoga pants and tank top, my belly out to there and looking less than fabulous. But, who cares, I thought? Pre-pregnancy, that would bother me to the point where I probably would not have stopped in at all during the lunch rush looking the way I was. But now, I could care less. Hopefully that carries over after pregnancy.

Things have been pretty busy lately... doctor's appointments have gotten more frequent, last week Shel and I were both spending time on the ICA Taste of India event, and Shel is still doing some post work on that... let's see, what else? We've also been busy with the rental house.. trying to find tenants before Nov, and yesterday we may have actually found some great potentials who we're starting to process the application for. We also have to get the roof replaced on our house (from the hail storm way back in the spring) so I've been dealing with getting that squared away.

Kim and Navin are in town for a couple of days, well in Temple most of the day house hunting, but are staying with us, so it's been nice to have them around. Can't believe they're actually moving to Temple! Will be nice having them close by.

Then this weekend is our baby shower and Swap, Amit and Anu will be coming from out of town. We're excited about the shower and spending time with friends. Anyway, so, it's been busy busy busy. Better than being bored out of my mind :)

Other than that, my due date is rapidly approaching... am getting anxious and nervous. We finally have the crib, matress and bedding all done, but nothing else in the nursery... still need a dresser and shelves, and just general decorating... I need to finish the little art project I started for it as well.

32 weeks... 8 more to go! woohoo!

This week I'll have completed 32 weeks... I can't believe how time has flown by and that we're almost to that finish line. It was hard to see it at 12 weeks when I was dog sick every day... but now, I'm getting really excited about seeing her in just 8 weeks (give or take)!

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I might miss being pregnant once I have the baby... strange, I know, but as a pregnant women, you really do get treated wonderfully. Everyone is nice to me and is concerned about my welfare (though most of it is for the baby :) )... especially Shel... he's always telling me not to lift this or that and not to do to much work or walking around. So cute... will never get that again from him... until the next pregnancy of course :)

There are other benefits, of course... like the prenatal vitamins that I take are doing wonders for my hair and nails! Truly... I haven't had such strong and healthy looking nails in years and my hair is fuller and stronger than it has been in a looong time. And, speaking less superficially, there is a general euphoric state that I'm in quite often (well, in the 2nd and third tri mostly). It's not every day, and sometimes it doesn't stick around that long, but it's there and feels great!

But, over all, I will be happy to say good bye to this pregnancy phase... All the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. I am uncomfortable much of the day and through out the night. I've developed SPD (Symphsis pubis disorder) which causes a lot of pain in the pelvic region... when I walk alot, get up from a seated position or even just roll over in bed. I won't miss that at all!
Also, I still have aversions to food... it's very flaky... some days I can't stand spicy food, other days I can't stand bland food... and most days I can't eat garlicy food, which I usually love. I also eat mostly vegetarian food these days, which is a good thing, I think, but sometime I lack protein in my diet. I also love fruit and veggies these days, which I usually do, but it's more than ever... and I hope that part of it continues after pregnancy. I also still feel nausea sometimes and get a feeling like I want to throw up now and then... though luckily it's very rare that I have these days.

But, most of all, getting past the pregnancy phase means that we'll finally have "her" with us.... which is going to be amazing! I never thought my motherly instincts will kick in, but maybe they're starting to... slowly but surely. I keep day dreaming about what it's going to be like once we have her... will she be a screamer or a quite one? What/who will she look like? Will I bond with her as much as I know she'll bond with Shel? ha ha... It's silly, I know, but can't help but think of these things.

Before the big arrival though, we still have much to do... We still haven't decorated her room, or bought a dresser, or picked out a name! Not having a name picked that we both love makes me nervous... I just hope and pray that we find just the right name for her by the time we need it.

I'm nervous about the labor/delivery part of it all... We went to our lamaze class last Saturday and it gave us a lot of information, but also kinda made Shel more stressed about it in a way. For me, I had mixed feelings... it scared me a little, but then it also made me feel more stronger about the process and my ability to get through it, possibly without an epidural. I never considered that before, but now, I think I'll really try to hold off on the epidural as much as possible and see how far I can get. Says me now... we'll see how I feel when I'm in the moment :)

In other baby updates... I can report that baby is moving around a lot these days! She shifts and rolls and kicks and punches. It's entertaining, but painful at times. I've gotten used to it, but sometimes I still have to stop what I'm doing to let her finish her thang and then go back to my task. At times, my entire tummy can be seen shifting... and sometimes it's powerful enough to shake me a little. :) She's a ball of energy in there. She's also hiccuped a few times... and has been doing it more lately. It's so cute... I've tried to get a video of the movements, but so far I haven't been able to capture the moments. One of these days I'll catch her in the act ;-)

Traditional baby shower in Houston

My parents hosted a traditional Hindu baby shower for us in Houston over the weekend (9/19/09 .. in my 31st week) and though I was a bit reluctant to have it, I ended up having a great time! I went to Houston a couple of days early and Shel joined us the day before the shower. I had family fly in for the occasion, which was great since I hadn't seen them all for over a year...especially Anila masi who we hadn't seen for 4 years! Cute little Zaira (niece) was a joy to have around and play with... she and Priya bonded well by the end of the weekend. They were so sweet to observe together.

Priya's 8th birthday was on Friday, 9/18/09 so we had a little Mexican fiesta for her. Sadhna mami served up her famous Chimichanga's and I whipped up some pina coladas (virgin ofcourse). The cake Hetal got for Pri had a princess theme and was topped with a tiara and wand, which Hetal gave to Zaira after the cake was cut and became her favorite accessories for much of the weekend! She got to be a princess for a few days :)


The baby shower went off without a hitch and we enjoyed it. My parents worked really hard on the party, and it is much appreciated! Hetal, Nayan, all my aunts and cousins were a huge help as well... they all worked many hours to throw us a great shower. Shel and Mayu did a great job decorating and running the games, which were a bit chaotic (to be expected at a Gujarati event), but fun! The ceremony itself (which Shel and I both had to participate in) took longer than we expected (about 2 hours), since the pundit did his best to explain the rituals to us in English as he went along, vs. just speed talking in Sanskrit. It was helpful to know what we were doing :) Only drawback was that Shel, not being accustomed to sitting Indian style on the floor, was pretty uncomfortable and his legs fell asleep! LOL

I had a great time and especially enjoyed time spent with the family!

More pictures from the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/niketa9551/BabyShowerInHouston?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfZqobsgev_1QE&feat=directlink

Catchup Post

I've been a bit busy (and lazy) to post anything for the last few weeks, so here's a catch up post...

The weekend of Shel's birthday we had 3.5 house guests... luckily they all came on different days, otherwise, would have been hard to juggle. First Navin stayed with us Friday night (Aug 14) since he was in Temple for an interview at the hospital there. We took him out to downtown to see what small city night life is about (compared to Philly, Austin is small)... first happy hour at Cuba Libre then out to some of the bars on 6th street which was fun. Unfortunately, if Navin and Kim move to TX, they'll be living in Temple, so we gave him a taste of something he can't really have. But, on the bright side, they'd only be an hour or so away.

We celebrated Shel's birthday twice... so lucky yaar...first on Saturday (Aug 15) and then a small family dinner on Sunday (Aug 16), his real birthday! Navin left Saturday morning and then that afternoon, Shel's school buddy from India, Vishnu, came in. That night, we hit downtown again (yea, we're real party animals), this time dinner at Taverna with El, Valerie and several of our friends, and then just chilled at a wine bar on 4th. We called it quits around 12:45 am... early for some, but I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking it out for that long :)

Vishnu left early Sunday morning and then Hetal & Pri came in that afternoon! Oddly, we hardly have any guests all year and then boom 3 in one weekend. It was fun though.
That day, Nicole and Mike also came out for a visit for Shel's bday since they couldn't make it out the night before. We got a chance to play with Kate and Lara which was fun. Kate seemed to like playing with Priya... was pretty cute to watch them.




Later that evening, we cooked up a storm for the birthday boy. He made some Kafreal chicken with potato disks, and shrimp chilli fry ... I made some green beans and pulao. Yea I know, I made the birthday boy cook, but he makes really good Karfreal and chilli fry :) El and Valerie joined us for dinner, and brought a yummy chocolate cake for dessert. We ate well that night... a little too well...


















Hetal and Pri stayed for a few days. I got a chance to visit our kiddie pool for the first time, since Priya insisted on going everyday they were here. She took some swimming classes earlier this summer and they're paying off as she was able to swim... though only short distances. Anyway, it was fun having them around. They left on Wednesday (Aug 25).


That was the end of our guest spree... Next house guests will be for our baby shower in Oct.



Other randoms...

> Saw the movie Julie & Julia with Neena and Nicole... movie was good... didn't realize it was based on a real story until the credits started to roll. Meryl Streep was great... I had no idea Julia Child had such a bold and charming personality....she seemed so dull in her late years.


> Re: Pregnancy- I'm just wrapping up my 27th week and entering the last stretch... the 3rd trimester! Second tri had treated me pretty well, but lately I've started to feel not so great again. Just the usual symptoms like upset stomach, soreness, back aches, tiredness and such. Nothing major, but no fun. Also, I think I have something called SPD (symphsis pubis dysfunction)... basically, the pelvic region gets sore and hurts when I walk, get up from seated position, and even when I change positions in bed! I didn't know it was a condition, I just thought it was a normal part of pregnancy... anyway, you live and learn. I got the glucose screening done at this months checkup.. the first test came back abnormal so I went in for a 3 hour test yesterday, and just heard today that the tests came back normal. So, yay, no gestational diabetes!

The baby has been moving a lot lately. She's doing all sorts of kicks, and flips and somersaults.... yep, our little gymnast she is. Feels really wierd, but cool. I just wish I didn't get nauseous from it. I can even see my belly move at times when she kicks... she packs quite a punch. When Shel puts his hands on my belly, she stops... he's got the midas touch, so he thinks :)

With the growing baby, my belly is also expanding day by day. It's much bigger in the last week or so...

> We're starting to work on the nursery... but it's a slow process for us. We found some bedding and a crib, which we just got yesterday, and still need to put together. It's pretty short, so I'm worried that it won't be comfortable to get the baby in and out... we'll see. For the bedding, we listened to our practical sides, (or rather, Shel's practical side) and chose a neutral set... it's green, brown and beige, with some abstract patterns. Now, we have to find a dresser and accent pieces, and put the room together. Oh, and we have to paint the room. Also, we've decided to try and paint some original art for baby... we'll see if it comes to fruition.


Well, that's it for now. We still have lots to do in the last 3 months before the baby's here. Not just the nursery, but several little projects around the house. Pressure is on now :)

adventures in babysitting...

Last Friday night we baby sat for Nicole and Mike... we read a couple of bedtime stories to Kate (almost 2) before tucking her in. She's also getting to know us a bit more... we tried to teach her our names and though Nikki comes out like "wrackii" and Sheldon comes out like "shashu", she's on the right track :)

She apparently has made it a habit to sneak out of her room after bedtime these days, and so the streak continued. We caught her trying to sneak out a few times, and then she finally just gave up and stayed in her room, though she didn't fall asleep for a good 30-45 minutes. She's so cute!

Lara (4 mo.) was an angel... she woke up a few times but all it takes is to put her pacifier back in her mouth and off to sleep she goes. What a sweetie!


Hopefully our kids can be as good as these two were!

5th wedding anniversary

Shel and I celebrated our first milestone wedding anniversary (5 years) on Aug 6-7. Five years is a long time, but we've had a great ride! So many memories...

> getting through the wedding was a challenge in itself due to the two ceremonies and very different cultures we had to meld together

> buying a house and finally starting a life together under the same roof

> postponing our honeymoon due to hurricane Gustav in Sept 04!! I was not at all a happy camper when we had to cancel the trip the day we were supposed to fly out to Florida for our cruise... but luckily we got to finally make the trip in Feb 05

> working at the same company... I loved our lunches together

> making the big move to Austin... yee haw!

> taking our trips to fun places like Scotland, Wales, England, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and most recently to Italy. You are the best travel partner!

> Starting a family... can't wait to meet our little girl :)

> and the list could go on and on...

Shel, life with you over the last 5 years has been wonderful... here's to many many more! In September we'll have known each other for 12 years...can't believe we've known each other for over a decade! Love you hun :)

Our celebrations were low key... On Aug 6th, we went to dinner at The Belmont and dessert was waiting for us back at home... the giant cookie cake...yum!



On Aug 7th, Shel took the day off of work and we had a lazy morning sleeping in and then drove to Llano to the famous Cooper's bbq place. It was good, but wouldn't take a special trip out for that again... Rudy's has spoiled us. We stopped off to see Lake Buchanan on our way back, but with the low lake levels, it was a sad sight. We got back home that afternoon, tired and hot... just in time for a nap (for Nikki anyway).


That evening we spent some time prepping for our future with kids by babysitting for Nicole and Mike. More on that later...

And that's our anniversary in a nutshell :)