Thursday, September 24, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Mumbai Connection
We were lucky over the past few months to see some of our friends from Mumbai. Wow, this is an old post!.. and yes the blog has been dormant for quite a while...
Actually it's a wonder the pics haven't faded they are so old... Bad bloggers are we..
Megan dropped in for a flying visit, 20 weeks pregnant and below is a pic of Lif and Sharon at Jesse's (Megan and Jason's son) christening a few months back. Don't mind Alex in the background... it was midstrength beer...
Ash blew through at christmas
Vidi, Darren and their beautiful daughter Taasha were in Adelaide for New Years and it was great to see them.
Actually it's a wonder the pics haven't faded they are so old... Bad bloggers are we..
Megan dropped in for a flying visit, 20 weeks pregnant and below is a pic of Lif and Sharon at Jesse's (Megan and Jason's son) christening a few months back. Don't mind Alex in the background... it was midstrength beer...
Ash blew through at christmas
Vidi, Darren and their beautiful daughter Taasha were in Adelaide for New Years and it was great to see them.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
INTRODUCING OUR MADE IN INDIA BABY....
He came almost 3 weeks early. I was in denial during labour, I still hadn’t finished reading the instruction books & I had a baby shower to have, the new section of the Mater Mothers hospital was to open in a few days, not to mention our shipment of 60 boxes from India was to arrive.
After a day and a half of contractions (which I still didn't believe were real contractions) we went to the hospital early in the morning of Wed 28 May. It was confirmed by a midwife I was in labour and 4cm dilated, so off to the Birth Suite we went. My waters hadn’t broken and the Doctor had told the midwife that they would break them asap, the midwife was quite happy for it to be left a little bit, knowing we wanted to keep the birth as natural as possible. We used the fact that Mark had to race home and get, (or finish packing..) my labour bag to delay the process.
By 7 cm dilated, the midwife did another cervix check, holding a big look crochet hook ready now to break my waters. She hesitated and said she thought she felt a foot or a hand instead of the head. I needed a scan quickly. The scan determined what we hoped wasn’t true, our baby was breech, an emergency Cesarean was needed.
Our midwife explained, although she understood our wishes for a natural birth, this was pretty serious. We were incredibly disappointed, the last scan in India showed a breech bub, but all the check up’s here confirmed – abdominally - that the head was in position. The scan showed one little leg ready to be pushed out first and the other over the shoulder, it could have meant he suffocated and I could have been torn to shreds, much better to come out bum first if delivering a breech baby.
A few tears, but it wasn’t long when the disappointed was overshadowed by pure joy.
Before I knew it, I was being wheeled away, brought into a room with bright lights and a lot of – young people – with one older man. Mark disappeared and came back looking as though he was on the set of Gray’s Anatomy (with the other young funky doctors). I had another contraction before receiving an epidural then another final one. I remember thinking this is the last one I’ll have for this little baby, how sad. Nick Cave & James were playing throughout which was lovely and now our baby has his own Ipod playlist.
In 20 minutes from the time we were told the need for a Caesar, I was being cut, and the baby was being lifted out. It felt as though someone was washing up in my stomach, no pain just lots of movement. The baby was lifted out, as the screen was lowered, Mark took photo’s as it was announced he was a boy. The whole process was totally surreal, a total out of body experience. He was snatched away and taken by the pediatrician and his team, Mark was taken in too and took more photo’s , but soon came out to enjoy our first few moments with our baby together.
It is so surreal, I can't believe how much love one can feel for this squirmy little being. This is our purpose - so hurry up everyone and give Alex some playmates.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Farewell India
I start by writing a thank you to my hubby, I’ve enjoyed Marks Mumbai Madness and only wish I made the time to add more entries.….I’ve been one slack bum on it, or rather put my energy into work and not into something personally meaningful, that will create everlasting memories.
One of many personal lessons learnt over here.
It’s our last day in Bombay. We came not knowing what adventure lay ahead and it’s hard to imagine the new road ahead. We may be moving back into the same house, the same street, the same suburb, the same city, but we bring with us a ‘made in India’ addition. Our lives will never be the same again and I’m so excited.
We went to Barister Coffee, for our morning coffee this morning and took our coffee’s with the papers to the beach. Such a familiar thing to do, but we’ve never done it here. We were soon surrounded by kids with babies begging, it never ceases to break your heart, but somehow we now are hardened in our response and the time it takes to forget them. (We did give them Rs55 and the dregs of our coffee cups – Mark even made the little fella put the cups in the bin – a sight I’ve NEVER seen in this filthy place, he deserved Rs100!).
It’s been an amazing adventure and it really does make you appreciate the country we come from. To all Aussie’s who expect they’re owed something from the government, from society, from family - you need to get on a plane & experience India. See what true hardship is, and see the incredible innate human instinct of survival and need to strive for betterment for the future for their offspring. I’m not in favour of the Indian government ignoring these poor souls, but it does show how welfare can dilute this human instinct.
It still astounds me to see the basket weavers or flower stringers, smiling as they work on the road and pavement. They actually live on the same pavement, some of them have made their homes in the massive pipes, sit across from the railway near Dada – a scene I will never forget. They cook, bring up their babies, work, sleep and shit in absolute mess & poverty – yet they converse, laugh, sing and have no trouble whatsoever at procreating.
Today, we successfully found Katherine, our lovely non stop talking maid, a new home of employment. She’s loving life at the moment with all the goodies she’s keeping from us, although she’s genuinely upset that we’re leaving. We even received a call from our other little girl, Renuka to say bye from Israel and may have found her husband Roshan a job driving for Kaisa & Apurv. I swear, you could make a successful business out of passing around good house staff. I wonder if this will sound strange to us soon, but it’s so normal at the moment.
So I say a sad farewell to the place that captured our hearts and souls. A happy farewell to the same place that drove us insanely mad with it’s hypocrisy, noise and traffic. We’ll miss you India, your heartbeat that now pulses in our veins and can’t wait to come back.
One of many personal lessons learnt over here.
It’s our last day in Bombay. We came not knowing what adventure lay ahead and it’s hard to imagine the new road ahead. We may be moving back into the same house, the same street, the same suburb, the same city, but we bring with us a ‘made in India’ addition. Our lives will never be the same again and I’m so excited.
We went to Barister Coffee, for our morning coffee this morning and took our coffee’s with the papers to the beach. Such a familiar thing to do, but we’ve never done it here. We were soon surrounded by kids with babies begging, it never ceases to break your heart, but somehow we now are hardened in our response and the time it takes to forget them. (We did give them Rs55 and the dregs of our coffee cups – Mark even made the little fella put the cups in the bin – a sight I’ve NEVER seen in this filthy place, he deserved Rs100!).
It’s been an amazing adventure and it really does make you appreciate the country we come from. To all Aussie’s who expect they’re owed something from the government, from society, from family - you need to get on a plane & experience India. See what true hardship is, and see the incredible innate human instinct of survival and need to strive for betterment for the future for their offspring. I’m not in favour of the Indian government ignoring these poor souls, but it does show how welfare can dilute this human instinct.
It still astounds me to see the basket weavers or flower stringers, smiling as they work on the road and pavement. They actually live on the same pavement, some of them have made their homes in the massive pipes, sit across from the railway near Dada – a scene I will never forget. They cook, bring up their babies, work, sleep and shit in absolute mess & poverty – yet they converse, laugh, sing and have no trouble whatsoever at procreating.
Today, we successfully found Katherine, our lovely non stop talking maid, a new home of employment. She’s loving life at the moment with all the goodies she’s keeping from us, although she’s genuinely upset that we’re leaving. We even received a call from our other little girl, Renuka to say bye from Israel and may have found her husband Roshan a job driving for Kaisa & Apurv. I swear, you could make a successful business out of passing around good house staff. I wonder if this will sound strange to us soon, but it’s so normal at the moment.
So I say a sad farewell to the place that captured our hearts and souls. A happy farewell to the same place that drove us insanely mad with it’s hypocrisy, noise and traffic. We’ll miss you India, your heartbeat that now pulses in our veins and can’t wait to come back.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Pics from the Rick
Last night was our last trip in a Mumbai rickshaw for some time... we had to take some self pics from the back just one last time...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Quote...
"To accomplish great things, we must,
not only act, but also dream;
not only plan, but also believe."
- Anatole France
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