Thursday, June 16, 2005
Life as we know it
It's been about three months now and life as Trish and I know it, has changed.
Tricia, my woman, my wife, my friend is carring our child. Contrary to what people might think, it did not take any time for the thought to sink in, that we are now going to be parents. We had been thinking about it for a couple of months, but as soon as we decided to try, whammo! Two things have become very clear. Trish is like the fields of Punjab... extremely fertile and I am like home made moonshine... very potent. Crass but true. :-P
So almost 3 months have passed and we have told almost all our friends about this. Everybody is still shocked that Tricia married an ass like me and now this hit them like a bombshell. But seriously, they are all very happy. Most of them had been slyly asking about this for a while now. In fact one of my dad's friend came over to our place, about 6 months back and preached about how we need to quickly start bearing babies since our biological clock is ticking away. I said nothing to him on two counts; a) He had been drinking for a while. b) Read a)
I am waiting for Trish to put on the weight and have her belly show. She is a petite woman, who is very fit. She has continued to work out. Only, she has quit the serious cardio workouts and has stuck to walking. The swimming pool's filter is broken so no swimming for a while. We have been using the gym at my dad's new place since it is quite nice and best of all, free. :) I am also trying to keep fit and eat well. Doing this while travelling is a little difficult. But, my solution is playing squash on the weekends when I am back in town. So, I'm playing about twice a week now.
What we think is, just cause we are now expecting a child does not mean we shall lower our level of fitness. Tricia wants to be as fit as possible during her pregnancy. Now, we understand that her body will change with all the hormones and she might never be the same as before, but such is life isn't it.
This brings me to two incidents:
We have a friend (I use the term friend quite loosely here). They had been trying to have a baby for a while and had not been successful. They went in and did an IVF. The wife was so concerned about gaining weight that she would not eat. Her baby stopped growing and there was a possibility that her baby might expire inutero. So she was taken to the hospital and forced to eat and put on drips, when she was 7 months pregnant. At this point I think she needed a psychiatrist more than anything else. Well she went back home and stopped eating again. Well, end of the story, she delivered her baby girl 8 weeks premature. I am scared to think how the baby will survive and any complications the baby might have if she does survive. This just sickens me to the pit of my stomach. I don't think I can look her in the eye anymore and not shudder in revulsion.
Second incident. A good friend told me that he was going out with another friend of his on a "double date". I was a little confused. See, my friend is single, that was not the part the confused me. The other is this older guy who is married and has a 6 year old kid. He was the one who initiated the date and my friend was just along for the ride. This older guy has a trusting wife at home who he never spends time with or bothers to take out with him since she embarasses him. Why? Well, since she is "old" and has put on some weight. He is quite active and exercises regularly to stay fit. Does he encourage his wife? Nope. He not only goes on dates, he also takes these women to secluded locations to get to know them intimately. Fine... he is having fun, but he is putting himself at risk of getting diseased and carrying those to his bed and his child. Very irresponsible. He is another one who makes my bile rise.
But, though I don't want to preach, these attitudes affect me immensely. I feel sad that people don't make themselves accountable for their actions. And it makes me sadder that innocents are bulldozed enroute.
At the same time, I am thrilled to bits that the love of my life and I have created life. I will do what I can to make my child's path into this world easy, but I will not insulate and leave my child on an "island" where he/she is not aware of the real world. I will try to be a better man. Both for my child and my wife.
Tricia, my woman, my wife, my friend is carring our child. Contrary to what people might think, it did not take any time for the thought to sink in, that we are now going to be parents. We had been thinking about it for a couple of months, but as soon as we decided to try, whammo! Two things have become very clear. Trish is like the fields of Punjab... extremely fertile and I am like home made moonshine... very potent. Crass but true. :-P
So almost 3 months have passed and we have told almost all our friends about this. Everybody is still shocked that Tricia married an ass like me and now this hit them like a bombshell. But seriously, they are all very happy. Most of them had been slyly asking about this for a while now. In fact one of my dad's friend came over to our place, about 6 months back and preached about how we need to quickly start bearing babies since our biological clock is ticking away. I said nothing to him on two counts; a) He had been drinking for a while. b) Read a)
I am waiting for Trish to put on the weight and have her belly show. She is a petite woman, who is very fit. She has continued to work out. Only, she has quit the serious cardio workouts and has stuck to walking. The swimming pool's filter is broken so no swimming for a while. We have been using the gym at my dad's new place since it is quite nice and best of all, free. :) I am also trying to keep fit and eat well. Doing this while travelling is a little difficult. But, my solution is playing squash on the weekends when I am back in town. So, I'm playing about twice a week now.
What we think is, just cause we are now expecting a child does not mean we shall lower our level of fitness. Tricia wants to be as fit as possible during her pregnancy. Now, we understand that her body will change with all the hormones and she might never be the same as before, but such is life isn't it.
This brings me to two incidents:
We have a friend (I use the term friend quite loosely here). They had been trying to have a baby for a while and had not been successful. They went in and did an IVF. The wife was so concerned about gaining weight that she would not eat. Her baby stopped growing and there was a possibility that her baby might expire inutero. So she was taken to the hospital and forced to eat and put on drips, when she was 7 months pregnant. At this point I think she needed a psychiatrist more than anything else. Well she went back home and stopped eating again. Well, end of the story, she delivered her baby girl 8 weeks premature. I am scared to think how the baby will survive and any complications the baby might have if she does survive. This just sickens me to the pit of my stomach. I don't think I can look her in the eye anymore and not shudder in revulsion.
Second incident. A good friend told me that he was going out with another friend of his on a "double date". I was a little confused. See, my friend is single, that was not the part the confused me. The other is this older guy who is married and has a 6 year old kid. He was the one who initiated the date and my friend was just along for the ride. This older guy has a trusting wife at home who he never spends time with or bothers to take out with him since she embarasses him. Why? Well, since she is "old" and has put on some weight. He is quite active and exercises regularly to stay fit. Does he encourage his wife? Nope. He not only goes on dates, he also takes these women to secluded locations to get to know them intimately. Fine... he is having fun, but he is putting himself at risk of getting diseased and carrying those to his bed and his child. Very irresponsible. He is another one who makes my bile rise.
But, though I don't want to preach, these attitudes affect me immensely. I feel sad that people don't make themselves accountable for their actions. And it makes me sadder that innocents are bulldozed enroute.
At the same time, I am thrilled to bits that the love of my life and I have created life. I will do what I can to make my child's path into this world easy, but I will not insulate and leave my child on an "island" where he/she is not aware of the real world. I will try to be a better man. Both for my child and my wife.
