Mind – that’s where we need to be strong!

The mental aspect during this journey of motherhood is quite important. Every now and then there were instances of people around telling me how my mood swings, habits, food and attitude would impact the baby. Imagine how tough it is not to crib about Mumbai heat or gossip about Bollywood thinking it would affect the baby. You can’t control everything but you need to train your mind. 

With time speeding up its game, the doctor starting preparing us for the signs and symptoms we need to watch out for. Our Sonologist had mentioned us to be on guard from mid-August. Considering my case history, they were expecting for me to have an early arrival which could fall on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

We both were eager to see the baby in our hands. Friends and family told us to enjoy these last few days as once the baby arrives we will have our plates full and loads to do. Hmm!

We had our regular debates as to who will stay awake, who will change the nappies and who will sleep, etc between us. I guess a husband and wife just got more reasons to argue about something. Another Hmm!

With growing anxiety and restlessness; I wanted the delivery to happen soon. Mentally, somehow, I had a feeling the D-day is going to be 15^th September i.e the time I complete my 36 weeks. In our hearts, we were very happy if the child is born on Ganpati. Ganpati festival comes with lots of happiness and celebration since Bappa comes to our house for 1.5 days. Navratri was in the first week of October. So there was a constant discussion at home  – Ganpati or Navratri.

Following the rituals and traditions have their own importance- but for me a difficult thing to understand sometimes – especially during pregnancy. Don’t get me wrong I am a religious person but somewhere I found it a reason to be happy if the child is born during festival time as it would add to the charisma of the day and also, I love festivals. On the other hand, there was a concern; if the birth happens during these times the family won’t be able to celebrate the festival due to a ritual called as “Sutak” wherein, at least for 13 days you can’t light diya in the house. Now there are scientific and religious aspects to it but no one can have the power to decide the future.

Another piece of information which was shared with me was about my eating habits post delivery since my food eating habits would affect the child. My Mom scared me that you can only eat khichdi and no masalas at all. A lot of leg pulling also happened in this regard as I love spicy and yummy food. With a lot of food compromises already been made;  this additional rule annoyed me a lot. Mood swings I guess!

I kept me wondering, “Is life very easy for a Mom? Was it all the same when my mom went through her pregnancy? How did she manage to cope with all this?” My regard for all the mothers has increased multitudinous after going through this journey myself (a mental hug to all). As they say, its all in the mind. So I kept reminding myself to think positive and stay positive in all situations.

Previous Post ⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔⇔ Next Post