My Little Princess Maheena

It was a beautiful April morning that me and my wife discovered that we were going to be parents soon. When the home pregnancy test kit showed positive, my eyes almost popped out and I did not know how to react. The thoughts running through my head were mixed feelings of elation and a certain anxiousness about how things would turn out to be.

Then there were those regular visits to the Gynaec's clinic. Dr. Padma was known to us since a long time. I would always squeeze into her small examination room, to have a look at the Screen on the Ultrasound Scanner. She would smile at my eagerness.

The first time I saw my baby, she was just a dot on the screen and then one day I saw her heart beat on the same screen. I felt a strange emotion fill me up and I knew that I had a special relationship with that little insect trying to fly on the black & white screen (my baby's heart fluttering).

Soon the days turned to weeks and weeks to months as time chugged on, and me and my wife witnessed the miracle of life unfold before our eyes. During the time, we read numerous books and articles to update ourselves about the progress that our baby was making. We could then start to feel the baby move; initially like a fluttering in her stomach, then as weeks passed, we could trace her small hands and feet as they moved across my wife's belly.

Then in the ninth month when we visited the Gynaec, she told us that the baby is now due anytime and looking at the expression on my face she burst out laughing. I was in total panic. The ground beneath my feet had been swept away.
There was so many things to be done and so less time and then the reality actually dawned on me that now I was responsible for another life. Not that I was not prepared, but it still took the wind out of me. A new life was going to be dependent upon me; emotionally, physically, financially and in every other aspect. I WAS GOING TO BE A FATHER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me and wife decided that 13th December 2005 was going to be the date that we are going to have our baby. We got her admitted to the hospital on the 12th December 2005 and she was administered the hormones for inducing the labour. But even after 24 hours of induced labour, the dialation was not progressing beyond a point and then the nurses at the hospital asked for us to wait till the doctor came on her rounds, for understanding the further course of action.
Throughout the effort, my wife was really courageous and bore the pain cheerfully. She was very brave and I really admire her capacity to tolerate pain.

Soon enough the doctor came and told us that she would have to go in for a Cesarian "C- Section" in five minutes. My wife quickly took a shower and I grabbed the camera , loaded the film and refreshed the batteries, as we quietly went about preparing ourselves for that special moment in our lives. And soon I was standing beside the operation table, where my wife was being put through the preparatory steps for the cesarian.

Soon after that, the doctors were getting the baby out of a huge incision made on my wife's belly and then at 19:55 Indian Standard Time on 13th December 2005, my little princess Maheena was born.
The page to end one phase and to mark the beginning of the next phase of my life had been turned...

Today one and a half months later as I write this she is sleeping at home after her daily bath. She is a bundle of fun and a very sweet kid. I enjoy and look forward to going back home after work each day. As I hold her in my arms and as she reaches out to touch me and flashes a beautiful smile, all my concerns and fatigue from a hard day's work vanishes instantly.
When I look into her eyes and look at her innocent face, I know for sure....
"Life's is not gonna ever be the same again...". Suddenly it has become much more beautiful.