These lyrics use to have a very different meaning than they
do know, as Reena just gave birth to our second daughter. A few details:
Name: Maliya Reena Parekh
Pronunciation of Maliya:
muh-lee-yuh
Meaning of Maliya:
Strong and Beautiful
Date/Time of Birth:
September 6, 2012, at 10:48 pm
Birth Weight: 6 lbs,
8 ozs.
Birth Height: 18.75
inches
It’s a bit strange to be living with Reena, Anaiya and
Maliya…who am I going to watch sports with?
But I am loving it. You can
already tell that Maliya is going to follow in Anaiya’s footsteps in terms of
being a very sweet daughter.
If you remember, when Reena gave birth to Anaiya, it
happened very quickly…4 hours and 24 minutes from first contraction to delivery
(see the following link for a reminder: http://www.theparekhstory.com/2010/10/4-hours-24-minutes_04.html). This time around, we weren’t sure what to
expect, so we decided to go to the hospital at the first sign of labor. I’m not exactly sure on the timing, but I think
this time it took about 4 hours.
Around 6:30 pm: Reena was sitting on the couch and I was working when Reena had some pains in her hips. She wasn't sure if they were contractions or just simply a pain. It got me thinking that delivery could happen that night, so I quickly started sending emails to clients to give them a heads-up.
Around 7:30 pm: Reena started feeling contractions. Anaiya was already asleep, so we each decided to get refreshed by having a quick shower and change clothes. Last time with Anaiya, Reena washed and straightened her hair, which made for an interesting experience (straightening hair in between contractions), so this time we made the showers quick. I also packed my bag and got things ready, just in case we needed to head out soon.
Around 8:15 pm: We went downstairs to have dinner with Reena's parents, who were in town to help with Anaiya when we went to the hospital. We did not tell them about the contractions, as they would immediately get worried, so we just ate our dinner and counted the time between contractions.
Around 8:45 pm: We knew that we would need to go to the hospital soon, but contractions were more than 10 minutes apart, so we thought it was too soon. At the same time, we remembered how quickly things progressed last time. As I did not want to deliver my new child in my car, we decided to call the doctor when the contractions were about 9 minutes apart. Typically they would have said it's too soon to come in, but when Reena explained the rapid delivery that occurred with Anaiya, the on-call doctor suggested we come to the hospital to get checked. We loaded the car and headed to the hospital.
Around 9:30 pm: We got to the hospital and checked-in. Like last time, we were hoping Reena had progressed enough so that they didn't send us home, and luckily she did. Unlike last time when she was already 10 cm when we arrived, she was only 6 cm and could have elected to receive drugs to ease the pain, but Reena decided for the moment to try to get through it without any pain killers...although she did tell the nurses that she may change her mind.
Around 10:00 pm: It took some time to get settled in the hospital room. The contractions had progressed from being 9 minutes apart to being 2 to 4 minutes apart, and she was now 8 cm. The nurses were surprised that she was electing to go through delivery without drugs...in fact, one nurse made a sarcastic laugh when she heard that Reena was denying drugs, obviously thinking that Reena would soon change her mind. When the contractions did occur, Reena somehow got through them while continuing to joke around with the nurses.
10:25 pm: Reena's water had not broken, so we elected to manually break it so the delivery would progress even faster. I didn't know how much faster it could go, as we had only been at the hospital for about an hour and in the room for about 30 minutes, but I guess faster is better (at least in this case, which is a bit ironic). The nurses called the OB to break the water.
10:40 pm: The OB asked one last time if Reena wanted some drugs. Reena thought about it, but she decided to continue without them. Right as the OB was about to break the water, Reena had a contraction and her water naturally broke. As soon as that happened, the OB thought the baby would be here in the next 20 or 30 minutes. However, Reena's contractions became much more powerful and painful almost immediately, and you could tell there was a hint of regret for not taking any drugs. But Reena bore down and got through them. Almost immediately, she wanted to push, and push she did.
10:48 pm: Maliya was born. It happened so quickly. I was giving Reena updates on the baby's status, from seeing the head to 1/2 the head being out to the whole head being visible. We didn't know the sex of the baby, so we were all anxiously waiting to see (or not see) signs of the gender. The OB gave me the privilege of making the announcement. Since only me and a friend (Seema) had predicted a girl (including all the nurses), everyone was shocked. But I was thrilled to have another baby girl.
Reena was a rock star and (somehow) got through another delivery without any drugs. And the end-result in each case was a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
Around 7:30 pm: Reena started feeling contractions. Anaiya was already asleep, so we each decided to get refreshed by having a quick shower and change clothes. Last time with Anaiya, Reena washed and straightened her hair, which made for an interesting experience (straightening hair in between contractions), so this time we made the showers quick. I also packed my bag and got things ready, just in case we needed to head out soon.
Around 8:15 pm: We went downstairs to have dinner with Reena's parents, who were in town to help with Anaiya when we went to the hospital. We did not tell them about the contractions, as they would immediately get worried, so we just ate our dinner and counted the time between contractions.
Around 8:45 pm: We knew that we would need to go to the hospital soon, but contractions were more than 10 minutes apart, so we thought it was too soon. At the same time, we remembered how quickly things progressed last time. As I did not want to deliver my new child in my car, we decided to call the doctor when the contractions were about 9 minutes apart. Typically they would have said it's too soon to come in, but when Reena explained the rapid delivery that occurred with Anaiya, the on-call doctor suggested we come to the hospital to get checked. We loaded the car and headed to the hospital.
Around 9:30 pm: We got to the hospital and checked-in. Like last time, we were hoping Reena had progressed enough so that they didn't send us home, and luckily she did. Unlike last time when she was already 10 cm when we arrived, she was only 6 cm and could have elected to receive drugs to ease the pain, but Reena decided for the moment to try to get through it without any pain killers...although she did tell the nurses that she may change her mind.
Around 10:00 pm: It took some time to get settled in the hospital room. The contractions had progressed from being 9 minutes apart to being 2 to 4 minutes apart, and she was now 8 cm. The nurses were surprised that she was electing to go through delivery without drugs...in fact, one nurse made a sarcastic laugh when she heard that Reena was denying drugs, obviously thinking that Reena would soon change her mind. When the contractions did occur, Reena somehow got through them while continuing to joke around with the nurses.
10:25 pm: Reena's water had not broken, so we elected to manually break it so the delivery would progress even faster. I didn't know how much faster it could go, as we had only been at the hospital for about an hour and in the room for about 30 minutes, but I guess faster is better (at least in this case, which is a bit ironic). The nurses called the OB to break the water.
10:40 pm: The OB asked one last time if Reena wanted some drugs. Reena thought about it, but she decided to continue without them. Right as the OB was about to break the water, Reena had a contraction and her water naturally broke. As soon as that happened, the OB thought the baby would be here in the next 20 or 30 minutes. However, Reena's contractions became much more powerful and painful almost immediately, and you could tell there was a hint of regret for not taking any drugs. But Reena bore down and got through them. Almost immediately, she wanted to push, and push she did.
10:48 pm: Maliya was born. It happened so quickly. I was giving Reena updates on the baby's status, from seeing the head to 1/2 the head being out to the whole head being visible. We didn't know the sex of the baby, so we were all anxiously waiting to see (or not see) signs of the gender. The OB gave me the privilege of making the announcement. Since only me and a friend (Seema) had predicted a girl (including all the nurses), everyone was shocked. But I was thrilled to have another baby girl.
Reena was a rock star and (somehow) got through another delivery without any drugs. And the end-result in each case was a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
We had agreed a while back that if
the baby was a girl, her first name would be Maliya, but we couldn't agree on a middle name. I offered a compromise: If it’s a boy, the name would be Shay Amitabh
Parekh (I was really excited about this middle name), and if it’s a girl, the
middle name would be Reena. I was okay
with Reena as the middle name because Reena had put so much time, energy,
focus and devotion towards delivering a healthy child, so I felt it was only fair
(though I initially was pushing for Amit as the middle name). But when Maliya arrived, I had no second
thoughts and quickly announced Maliya Reena Parekh
to the world.
We have a ton of pictures and videos we’ll be posting in the
next few days, but I wanted to share this story and a few pictures as soon as I
could. Can’t wait for everyone to meet
Maliya.
And let us know who you think she looks like (as I can’t
tell).
yay! love the shout-out. glad i was on the right side of the 50/50 coin :)
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