a few more weeks.. and..

india's batting was dismal and even a valiant fight back with their mercurial bowling couldn't thwart a well deserved pakistan win last sunday. but, i presume this is a blessing in disguise for india. surely, they cannot play like this if they are to win against the mighty australians – who are touring india this october. bear in mind, australia has not won against india in 30 years, on indian soil that is - a lot of pride at stake surely. during this cricket championship, all my predictions have been smacked silly. i predicted india to win against pakistan, pakistan to win against west indies and australia to win against england. unerringly the reverse happened on each instance, bloody bollocks !!

monica and i met up with the midwife on tuesday. we had all our apprehensions put to rest. evidently, this lady knows a lot and has seen many handsome & healthy babies successfully delivered under her supervision. she told us not to fret much about occasional vitamin/mineral deficiency in monica's food intake. we still do not know monica's blood group. we need to commence our parental classes soon. in 15 weeks approximately i will be a father. i am excitably nervous. i give too much thought to safety these days. imagine me coming to work, dock my laptop, sit in my chair and frantically search for seat belts !. yes, i am mortified when my colleague asks me what it is i am probing for – i certainly cannot say seat belts, can i ?

around this time, when the baby is growing at a frantic pace, a pregnant woman's back is supposed to ache. i hear that pregnant women could go for swimming to alleviate this a bit. sitting up straight – without legs crossed – is another option. monica is a bit concerned about pain & labour. i don't know what to say or advocate at the moment. admittedly, i am thinking more about the baby's safety than i am about monica's. i am sure monica does the same – caring more about the baby than herself. some of the options they suggest, which i am sure are tested time and again, are plainly difficult to visualise or digest. two days ago, i & monica had a dialogue about this and what ever it is i told pissed monica off barely a few minutes before she went off to bed. in the morning i informed her that we shouldn't worry too much about labour now. my uncle in australia, whom i admire much, once said the trick is to wait for it to come to you. it is true. in approximately 15 to 17 weeks, ready or not, our baby will make a grand entrance into this world. why bother now and worry about something that we know will happen ? i also drove a point: it can't be entirely unpleasant. monica's mom wouldn't have gone through it twice more if she had a difficult time delivering her first baby. at least for that day, monica seemed pacified.

we still have 4 to 5 appointments with the midwife – on a regular basis before delivery. we want to talk about all these pain killer options with the midwife. all in all, things look good at the moment. as shakespeare rightly said all's well that ends well.

i clasp my hands and pray !