Seemantham & later

Disclaimer: There are certain Hindu traditional customs which I am going to mention in a little detailed manner in this post. This would serve as a record for me

My Seemantham was fixed on 19th September 2010. All preparations & shopping were done and I was packing things into the suitcase to take to the chathram. That was when we got this phone call. One of S's cousins was blessed with a baby boy (1st child in our gothram in the 4th generation!!!) on 16th Sep. So we had 10 day vriddhi and were not supposed to perform any function then. So, all arrangements right from chatharam, sastrigal to maalai, catering etc had to be postponed. I was terribly upset, because we had distributed invitations to all and everything was ready to take off. Then we had to call each and everyone to inform that Seemantham had been postponed to 17th October. Thankfully, the same chathram & sastrigal were free on that day too. We did not get good feedback about the caterer whom we had fixed earlier. So, we shifted to our usual aasthana caterer for the new date and fortunately he was also available too. Apart from the mental agony, we did incur a loss on the amount spent for chathram and advance given for caterer. Everyone consoled me saying, whatever dhrishti we had has been removed by this postponement. I consoled myself saying "This is only because of a happy news. Everything is for good and something much better is awaiting".

By God's grace, Seemantham on 17th October 2010 was a grand success. Everything went on very well and everyone was extremely content. Both me and S are special and close to everyone's heart on both my side and his side. So this function put them all in high spirits and they wanted to show their happiness in some way or the other. My mom bought me a pair of bangles, my athai presented me another pair, chithi gifted yaanai mudi modhiram and my mil got a necklace for me.

Udhaga shanthi was done the previous day evening at home. Naandhi, Pumsuvanam (Mooku pizhiyardhu), Seemantham (parting of vagidu) and Poochootal were performed on 17th in the mandapam. We had a slight hiccup when we reached the chathram on 16th night. We had booked 1 AC and 1 Non-AC room and were under the impression, we can take 2 more rooms on a need basis. But, the manager left even before we arrived and took away all the keys with him. The non-AC room they had given us was as good as a dingy store room. S called up the manager and there was a small argument between them and finally, the manager came back and opened 1 more AC & non-AC room. By then, all of my side relatives (including my dad, perimma, perippa, chithi and all) had slept in the hall itself. I felt so guilty. Sorry for the inconvenience folks!! Me, S, mom and bro took 1 AC room while all my sisters-in-law & MIL took the other AC room. Then my mom, perimma & chithi segregated the bangles according to size and numbers and by the time we hit the bed, it was close to 12.30 AM. I had swollen legs and not sure why, there was a terrible pain in the knee area when I got up to walk. Everyone was tensed as to how I would cope up the next day in the function. I thought probably because the bed was too hard, I was facing this problem. So pulled out a chair, sat on it and kept my legs on the bed and tried to catch sleep in sitting posture.

Around 12.45, the power went off. We thought it would come back in 10-15 mins, but it didn’t. Half an hour later, mom went down to check why the generator was not switched ON. That watchman did not have the generator room key and was too rude in his reply. Mom tried to reach the manger but he did not pick up the call. So, mom directly called up the owner and after numerous tries he lifted the phone. She explained him the situation and within 5 mins, the manager himself called up and said he is on the way to switch on the generator. Finally, the generator was switched on at 1.45. It was a lesson to us, to confirm who has what keys and we should place all such emergency requests at the time of booking itself.

Highlights of the show were certain sampradayams followed based on my dad's advice.

1. Atleast 7 sastrigals sincerely recited the powerful Udhaga shanti mantram

2. My dad had collected holy water from Cauvery, Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati (Triveni), Manasarovar, Rameswaram Kodi theertham (Courtesy - Friends and relatives) and abhishekam was performed with this water

3. Silver kinnam, pithalai Jala paathram and dhotis were given to 10 sastrigals for naandhi

4. Veena was recited and I (and in turn the baby in the womb) listened to it on the Seemantham day. Sankarambaranam and Kalyani are the important raagams to be played. Thanks a lot J, for making this happen

5. A male calf was brought and both me & S gave banana to it and caressed its tail

6. Narayaneeyam book was given as a Thank you gift to everyone

I went to my mom's house on 18th October and was going to office from there. Both mine and S's choice was always a girl. My mom and MIL's choice was a boy. Whenever S referred to the baby, he always said "MY DAUGHTER". In fact, S and MIL had a bet too :) But my face completely changed after Seemantham. I became darker, my face lost its usual charm and smartness and I started getting dark lines around my neck. Based on what I had seen with my friends and existing myth, I thought that it is going to be a boy and started preparing myself to accept it. But never had the courage to discuss this with S.

I went for my 3rd and final scan on 7th November 2010. Everything turned out to be normal. Both - my gynaec and the radiologist were happy with what they saw. After the scan, me, S and mom went to Naidu hall and I identified what all had to be bought for the kiddo and showed those sections to S, because he would be the one who will have to do the shopping at that time. With EDD on 26th November, I decided to take leave from 13th November which was 2 weeks before the due date. Mom had planned her leave from 18th. From 13th to 15th I was busy with washing and packing clothes for the hospital and cleaning the house and making it ready for the baby's arrival. After 15^th, the days moved on in snail’s pace. I didn’t know how to kill time and was showing my irritation to everyone at home. Later I  started writing Kandha sashti kavacham and also turned my attention towards SUDOKU which kind of kept me cool for sometime.

 I had my next check-up on 17th evening. That was when Dr.U said she was not happy with the baby's position. The head had just started turning, but not come down / fixed. However, she said there are 9 more days before EDD and so we can wait. She asked me to come again on 20th to see if the baby's position had changed positively. I was highly restless on these 2 days because of baby's position and it was boring to sit idly at home and the idle mind was working overtime as a devil’s workshop. At the back of my mind, there was a normal VS C-sec fight going on too. I always wanted a normal delivery but I wasn’t sure what was in store for me. If I sleep in the day, I had to spend sleepless nights. So I avoided the afternoon naps too. In the meantime, my mom consulted a homeo doctor, Dr.JD and got me some pills which would help in easily turning and fixing the baby's head. On 20th, there was no change in the baby's position. Head was somewhere in the left side. It was neither in longitudinal / breech / head down position. I was asked to come again on 22nd.

In between Kaarthigai Deepam came & went. My mom was a little tensed if the baby would be born in Rohini star. If the baby is a boy, there is a saying that “Rohini-la payyan porandha mama-ku aagaadhu” (If a boy baby is born in Rohini, it is not good for the maternal uncle because Lord Krishna born in Rohini killed his uncle Kamsa)But nothing happened. On 22^nd, Dr. U spent almost 8 mins to identify the heart beat. My BP shot up for the first time during pregnancy - 130/90. Doctor said that the baby’s heart beat was getting a little feeble and because the BP was also shooting up, it could be risky to wait further. She put me on Alpha Dopa and asked me to come the next day after breakfast and a juice, before lunch. She had made her decision - If the baby's position was the same next day, then we had to go for C-sec. She asked me to come prepared anyways to get admitted.