Krishna - Avatar

the draft of this post was written when I was 8 months pregnant...now my daughter is 8 months old....and I did not get time to edit and post it since then...

It was Krishna's (see photo below) birthday last month i.e.Janamashthami and I received a truckload of blessings from elders. 'S' (my preggie friend I've mentioned before) was also swamped with blessings and got a baby Krishna calender as a bonus!

The only problem I had with these blessings was the assumption that Krishna has nothing else to do in this world but be born as my son!!

and WHY ONLY as a SON!! WHY NOT as a DAUGHTER???

A well-meaning mausi blessed me saying 'murli bajate hue Krishna Bhagwaan aayenge tumhare ghar' (meaning Krishna will be born to you playing his flute)...Now, how on earth am I going to accomplish the task of giving birth to a baby as well as a flute.....Please send in your suggestions..

Plus, I also have a 50-50 possibility of having a daughter - this doesn't occur to people in our son-obsessed country when they bless pregnant women (remember age old blessings like shat-putravati bhav meaning may you have 100 sons - there is no parallel blessing for having a 100 daughters)!!

Don't these people know that the sex of the baby is decided quite instantly after having successful sex for the purpose...and not even a million blessings in the coming months can change the chromosomal design. Brush up your school biology lessons people!! high time!! and wish for the family's health, wealth and wisdom instead..

ok...Let me get on with my friend's story...

Her mom had come to help around the household... For S it meant - good bye to privacy/ decision making/etc...From what to eat through the day...to sleeping postures to political affiliations ( :-D kidding), aunty had ever-ready advice for S.

Let's fast forward to the Janamashthami weekend...Aunty was doing her usual meddling around in the kitchen while S was watching TV. Suddenly the television screen went blank. S looked up to see her mom standing there with hands on her waist staring accusingly at her (imagine a strict primary school teacher who has just caught a toddler drawing on the wall with crayons- that kind of expression)...

Aunty had switched off the TV...you want to know WHY?? 

Because S was watching 'Avatar'!!! For those of you like me and S who could not catch this Oscar nominated movie on the big screen, this Janamashthami weekend came as a pleasant surprise as the film was shown on Star Movies and repeatedly telecast at least 8 times- so you couldn't miss it! BUT, HER MOTHER PROHIBITED HER FROM WATCHING EVEN A TRAILER OF IT

'But Why?', you all must be wondering. Well, Aunty's take on the issue was very scientific - she said, 'yeh kya hain -poonch vaale ajeeb neele neele aadhe jaanvar aadhe insaan - isko dekh ke bachche par galat asar padega' (meaning: what are these weird blue-blue creatures with a tail- half human- half animal- seeing this will be bad for the baby).


(James Cameron will have a fit if he hears this description of the graceful beings his highly-paid design team had created!!) 


S was really pissed when she called me and I gave her really good (I think) arguments to convince aunty...

First idea: I suggested that she should tell aunty that the baby doesn't have X-ray vision so she needn't worry about the bad effect - this idea flopped miserably when S was asked to shut up and listen to some bhajans.


Second Idea: I told S to strongly fight for her right and she did - 'thousands of pregnant women all over the world have seen this movie mummy...you think all their babies have been affected/ deformed...what a ridiculous thi....' of course before she could finish her very emotional outburst, aunty snapped, 'those thousands of women are not my daughters so I don't care!!' 


hmmmmmmmmm...that really was like a final warning from aunty and Avatar had already been shown thrice...we had 5 more chances of convincing aunty


Third/ fourth/Fifth Ideas: Bribery; threats and pleading...all were stonewalled. S called me up, exhausted after the effort and said that aunty had insisted that she watch Ramayan with her and that is what she was going to do....


A bell started ringing in my head!!! She was going to watch Ramayan!! HELLO!! EXCUSE ME!! I was appalled at the double standards of the whole issue... I told S to remind aunty that Ramayan had Hanuman ji who also has a poonch (tail) and  the entire vaanar sena had tails and monkey faces. I asked her to point at the Krishna calender and ask aunty, 'Mummy do you think this is normal skin colour?? Please put on your glasses and see carefully- this colour is 'blue'!!'  And while on this topic, I asked her to rub it in really well- to show aunty images of Ram- blue; Shiv- blue; Vishnu- blue!! Brahma with 4 heads and Durga with 12 hands and Ganesha with elephant head ... ....phew!!!

Blue and White!!

the Avatar look was inspired by figures from Hindu mythology

S, like a good friend followed my advice and told aunty not to be racist and that she had no right to judge people by skin colour; facial features and presence or absence of tails etc..

All in vain....as aunty then used the oldest weapon in the world that can win all battles - tears!!! She put on a miserable expression of shock; sadness; anger- all mixed up. Now, S wanted to tell aunty that such a distorted face of the grandmother would definitely affect the child but checked herself just in time to be saved from being washed away in tears..and said, 'OK Mummy...I won't see it'...(the main reason being that the last and eighth repeat telecast was already half way through)



So S started reading a book...grew bored after reading seven and a half lines...went to check on aunty's mood...

Aunty was watching TV with full concentration (established by her half-open mouth and eyes glued to screen). The tears had vanished as if they had never come. 

On the screen was a woman with a vamp-like smile...wearing bright red lipstick; multi- layered make-up; thick swathes of purple eye liner on the eyelids and thicker swathes of a green one under the eyes...fake eyelashes reaching her chin; fake hair mounted on the top of her head like an inverted ice cream cone....

S instinctively and immediately looked away from the screen...afraid that the sight may affect the baby badly!!!!
At that very moment, aunty patted the sofa next to her and said 'aao baitho yeh dekho...bada hi interesting plot hai!!' (come sit..see this - it has a very interesting plot!!)   :-)

What an Idea Woody Allen Sir ji

Isn't it brilliant- had to add this in the blog!!

The event of pregnancy

One of my close friends is doing her PhD fieldwork for which she is conducting surveys in certain backward regions of our country and meeting really poor families...She couldn't decide whether to be sad seeing their helplessness and misery or happy perceiving their wonderful aspirations/dreams.

She happened to call me up on one of the days when she was 'sad' and I was telling her about an expensive test I had to undergo to assess the development of the foetus (my baby). She said pointedly...'you know, for women like us, pregnancy is an event - a huge event - but for many women who have 6-7 kids on an average it becomes a non-event...and they also have to slog through all their pregnancies as they don't have any way out'. (by 'women like us', she meant educated women who can opt for a late pregnancy and can afford all expensive care/tests etc. that is available)

Well, I agree and disagree with her - I think getting pregnant is a huge event for any woman even if it is for the hundredth time  - every time it leads to a gigantic change in her life albeit in the form of a tiny baby. But I do agree that for most women in our country, pregnancy comes and goes with so many responsibilities and burdens that they cannot pay special attention to 'being pregnant'.

Have you ever asked your mothers/ aunts/ friends' mothers about the time when they were pregnant? I made that mistake unknowingly at first and knowingly afterwards just to hear some fun stories...though each of them were a comparative analysis of how easy it is for us and how difficult it was for them...sometimes I wanted to retaliate with a smart remark like 'times have changed aunty'....or make a face showing my disapproval of this comparison......but then one can always adjust one's facial expressions for beloved aunties....:-)

Their stories were all about having to wash clothes; cook food for a family of 20 (an average calculated from all stories that I heard); clean and sweep house; take care of other children of family (not only their own); have the delivery at home and not spending so much money on thousands of tests like me!!! what did I have to do? REST...REST...REST and then TEST...TEST...TEST...and write a silly blog during my pregnancy...I guess, I am just plain lucky - if being stuck on the third floor; or having nightmares before every blood test; or having almost all complications a pregnant woman can have can be called lucky.

These very moms and aunties insist that their daughters etc. have every available test done - as they can afford it (and basically because such tests have been discovered now and weren't there in their times). So if I had put my foot down that I wanted to do housework and go to office during pregnancy and not get any tests done (like they did), it is these very same moms/aunties that would have kicked me on the behind and told me to shut-up and do what the doctor says. So, the crux is to smilingly listen to all the stories in which each one will glorify her own 'event' of pregnancy...and save some juicy pieces to pass on to your own daughter/ daughter-in-law when they get a hundred more tests done when they become pregnant.. (or may-be by that time a single WONDER-TEST will be discovered which will be able to tell you all about the baby...oh how I wish I could be born then... as right now my arms and wrists have a perforated appearance owing to the hundreds of blood(y) tests.)

I think every woman has her own share of pregnancy problems....and her store of experiences gets replenished every time she gets preggie, so by the time she is pregnant for a third or fourth time she can easily treat the pregnancy as a 'non-event'. She would already know (most of the times) what to do when something goes wrong and wouldn't panic like the first time - An 'oh! I puked twice - what to do?' kind of panic!

Sometimes multiple pregnancies and lots of kids steal the importance that could have been given to one or two. Then, the 'event of pregnancy' may become a mere occurrence...as normal as changing of seasons..and related to this, I want to tell you all a story:

'Once upon a time, in the year 1612, a teenage prince of a vast and great kingdom married a ravishingly beautiful teenage girl. He eventually became King and had a number of wives...but all his attention was riveted on this particular wife who he made his main queen and partner....and never let her out of his sight.... he was madly in love with her....so much so that she accompanied him to all the wars and battles he was fighting to expand his kingdom. She was not literally fighting in the battles but used to wait in the army camp for her king to return. People say that their's was a perfect marriage built on deepest love...and when she died in 1631 at the age of 38, the prince  went into two years of mourning. In fact historians have recorded how his hair and beard turned grey overnight due to grief and how tears kept flowing non-stop from his eyes...He finally paid  a great tribute to his best friend and beloved wife - he had a mausoleum built to house her remains...and mind you not an ordinary one............He had the Taj Mahal built in her remembrance...'

The Taj Mahal - image from Google images

So, you all know now that this is the story of  Shah Jahan and his queen Mumtaz Mahal. Those of you dabbing their eyes with their hankies and sniffling on hearing this tragic love story, there are many more people like you who glorify the Taj Mahal as a symbol of true love...etc etc but I think otherwise...presenting my thoughts in bullets so that they pass through thick skulls and mushy brains :-)

• Mumtaz Mahal was just 38 when she died and she had already mothered 14 children and had had at least a dozen miscarriages (historians dispute over the number of miscarriages but the 14 births are recorded)!!
• She was married to Shah Jahan in 1612 and died in 1631...so they were married for 19 years out of which she was pregnant for FOURTEEN years and had some miscarriages also!!
• She was not the only wife to Shah Jahan...There were many others.
• She accompanied Shah Jahan to his battlefields and on almost all of these occasions she was pregnant.
• She died in one such battle camp while giving birth to her fourteenth child.
• Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal - an architectural marvel in her memory.

So, my argument is whether this was Shah Jahan's love or his selfishness/eccentricity? Agreed..that he loved her deeply..but sometimes loving means thinking of the other's comfort...not taking her with you on the battlefield when she is pregnant and specially when you have  luxurious palaces back home in Agra and Delhi..

I am sure the other queens were more than happy not to be loved soooo much by the king...as they got to enjoy royal comforts while the perpetually pregnant Mumtaz bore children as well as risks to life in battle camps. No wonder, 7 of the 14 children died at an early age (what a pity!).

This is the great love people have written about...where the guy wants the woman next to him at all times (read 'great love') so that he could make out with her whenever the opportunity - 'oh! the soldiers are taking a water break..let me go and make Mumtaz pregnant!! oh!! but I can't do that because her waters are breaking!!!!'                                                            
                                                                                                                                     photo of Mumtaz from wikipaedia

Jokes at the expense of the poor woman aside...but what else explains this lunacy? I'm sure Mumtaz was also bonkers, not protesting...If Shah Jahan had multiple wives, he could have had a rotation schedule...and could have given Mumtaz some break and taken other queens with him to some battles but NO...he loved her too much to leave her in the comfort of a palace.

Yes Yes...I know some of you will come up with the argument that there were no condoms at that time and contraceptives were banned by religion.......but common sense was not banned na?? They could have taken a break of a year here and a year there....and Mumtaz would have lived a longer, healthier and more fulfilling life...................but then we wouldn't have had the Taj Mahal... (Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son later in life...if Mumtaz would be alive...I'm sure Shah Jahan would have insisted that she accompany him to the prison too!! and of course that would have meant no Taj Mahal)..

So, I don't know whether Mumtaz considered each of her pregnancies to be an 'event' but she was definitely the one  behind one of the most marvellous events in India's history- the creation of the Taj Mahal..

Don't you wish that Men could be pregnant too?

NO - I did not forget the blogger password - nor did my labour start before time...I just became a full time mom to a toddler...my sister's daughter!!


The whole day passes in a blink...no time to blog....


Finally after almost a month's break - I am back....and my news is that the labour pains/ water break/ other alarms can go off any time for me now- my bag is ready but I am not!! Excited about having reached so close to finish line but also nervous that this finish line alternates as a 'start' line for a new phase in life!!!


OK...enough about me...now some serious discussion on why men should be pregnant too!!!


Through this post, I would like to present to you the most sensitive males in the world  - sea horses, pipe fish, sea dragons... (No...please don't pick up your phones to call me up to check my mental well-being). Actually, sea horses, pipe fish and sea dragons are the only creatures in the world where the males of the species gets pregnant!! What a blissful state of affairs for the sea mares, the female pipe fish and the she-sea-dragons!!
(I have already started praying to be born as a beautiful (female) leafy sea dragon or sea horse in my next life)... 

  

sea horse

So as a sexy sea-mare in my next life, once we (my sea horse and I) decide to have babies, the only thing I would have to do is to go and lay eggs in my partner's pouch. The eggs will get fertilized in the pouch and babies will grow in Daddy's tummy till they are smart enough to come out and face the world after many weeks!! Not only this - to make me deposit my eggs in his pouch, my sea horse will have to compete with other horses to make himself most attractive  for me!

leafy sea dragon

He will flash bright colours at me...change from yellow to pink to orange...just to please me and then....if I am pleased enough, we will perform a courtship dance that will last for several hours...spiralling up and down the water...before I deposit my eggs in him. Phew! that would be some extensive foreplay!! When gestation ends, the sea horse would have contractions (similar to labour but more like sneezing - if you click the link- you can see a video of this - only if you are interested in seeing a sea horse in labour and delivery) and tiny babies will emerge from the pouch!! Beautiful story!!

green pipefish

Okay!!! I know some of you want me to get over my National Geographic documentary mode...So coming back to the present reality...I am actually a pregnant human woman (is that even correct English??)!! How I wish there was some kind of biologically viable pregnancy sharing mechanism between me and my husband.. for e.g. if only he could be pregnant for one trimester! I am not saying this only because I want my pregnancy woes to be shared (that too of course!)...I also want him to feel the amazement.. the pure delight and wonder that I feel sometimes (one has to write such statements to add pathos to the story!!). I feel, men have not been given a fair deal in this respect..Some of the sensitive ones (like my husband) feel left out and don't know how to compensate for not being able to get pregnant..

It was while I was thinking about this unfair world and sea horses, that I noticed that my husband  was also showing some pregnancy-like symptoms such as bouts of moodiness and depression and was dreaming weird dreams..In fact he also developed some skin rash and had to visit a dermatologist. And I had thought that this is the only time in my life when I had the exclusive right to be the centre of everybody's attention!! The thoughts that crossed my mind were primarily 'if he has so many 'nakhras' and is exhibiting half the symptoms- he might as well be pregnant for half the time!!' Then a friend came and asked whether my hubby was experiencing 'phantom pregnancy symptoms'...Mere toe kaan khade ho gaye (literal translation in English is  'my ears stood up'!!). What 'phantom'??? Why not 'real'...I thought this must be a gimmick created by the male world..just to be part of the 'exclusive preggie club' that is only for women..


So, as usual, I started elaborate research on this topic - 'male pregnancy'. The crux, I present here:


I thought I could find some actual/scientific technique to share my pregnancy with my husband but all I found was mushy/squishy stuff about 'how husbands could be supportive during their wives' pregnancies'; 'what daddy-to-be should be doing' etc..(that doesn't even get close to being pregnant) and I also realized that if there was even a trace of such a technique available anywhere in the world, every woman under the sky would have known about it.

But, it soon got more interesting - I came across a website that is monitoring the pregnancy of a man - a Mr. Lee Mingwei who voluntarily became pregnant and you can find his ultrasounds/ daily diary/ BP etc. on this website.  It seems authentic -there is a hospital/ real doctors involved and this guy has been interviewed by Oprah!! But then I came across an article that said this was a hoax (hoax!! to fool whom?? and I am interested in knowing how they manufactured a hoax Oprah show?) 

Hoaxes aside, I found out that some transgender males have given birth to babies (they had the necessary equipment- the female reproductive system that they made full use of). And, just because they are transgender, they got to cover pages of magazines and their interviews splashed across tabloids- WHAT ABOUT US- pregnant women - nobody came to interview me...In fact I kept waiting for a phone call for something related to pregnancy - at least some survey.. that also did not happen...:-(


My main discovery was the 'Couvade's Syndrome' and I quote from a website: 'Have you recently caught your husband sneaking your favorite pregnancy foods from the pantry? Is he suddenly just as emotional and nauseous as you? The reason may be Couvade Syndrome.' So that was what was happening to my husband - ahem!! sounds very elite- this Couvade's thing - as if it is some award!! It is so common that there are articles about it all over the internet and also on the BBC site - 'Men suffer from phantom pregnancy' 

In extreme cases of this syndrome, men have been known to have labour pains...and also gain weight around the middle till the 9th month like pregnant women!! Thank God, my husband was only feeling nauseous...otherwise one can only imagine the confusion in the labour room..nurses trying to figure out who is going to deliver - me or the husband...and doctors flabbergasted to see a man with a long beard...or rather a pregnant man with a long beard (we could leave out the beard as 'pregnant man' causes sufficient surprise but the beard adds to the confusion - imagine people looking at the tummy then at the beard then again at the tummy then up at the beard then down at the tummy then again at the beard then....OK OK I'll stop...those of you with good imagination must have got the picture... ;-) 

 


For people who are further interested in this concept of men being pregnant or other interesting ways of having children, I want to recommend some wonderful books to read...
The Pregnant King by Devdutt Pattanaik
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
The Ethan of Athos  by Lois McMaster Bujold
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

wonderful post by a fellow blogger and expecting mother

A must read for moms-to-be who want to go back to work after having the baby and will have to balance work and home with great effort...(and for their partners)!! Please click the link below...one of the moms interviewed is my friend Tulika..

http://anushayspoint.com/2011/08/24/moms-of-the-world-how-women-tackle-motherhood-its-myths/#more-2624

and a little laugh for my readers...another one from Randy Glasbergen: http://www.glasbergen.com/

Tring Tring!! 

Do babies want rich parents?

Very busy two weeks - that is why no blogging!! small Baby Shower happened (Gode bharai) with a 'pooja'...got no gifts except a new salwaar kurta (shapeless), some rice and dal and a coconut in my lap! I guess, like me nobody wants to over-do anything (after so many complications) till the baby is born ...so I had not sent out any invites to friends...

AND... I also got a trailer of 'how to bring up your child without losing your patience' as my sister happily left her 2 year old daughter with me for 3 days!! so that is why no blogging!! 3 days with a child have left me panting for breath!! (some of you must be smiling and mumbling 'picture abhi baaki hai mere dost')...I am sure those of you with smiles on their faces are the ones with children (some time back, some of you had told me-'blog away-you won't get any time afterwards..'). And I had bragged how I will prove you all wrong by writing even after the baby is born...Well- I take my words back....hats off to all you parents...THIS IA A F*#$@ing FULL TIME JOB!! 

But, will be back soon with a new chapter...till that time...something to ponder upon...

Do babies/ children want rich parents? I don't think babies really need rich parents...because I have seen children happiest when playing with an empty cardboard box or tearing a piece of newspaper....What riches are needed for these items?? I know, I know what some of you want to say....but I will not think about school admissions right now even if you pay me a million dollars!!

Mull on this pic posted by a friend on Facebook:

I hope these are not my baby's wishes - futile prayers - not happening (unless one of you is ready to pay me a million bucks to think about school admissions...then I'll be super-rich!!) (on second thoughts- make it a billion dollars - being preggie, I like big round figures!).

Well, the baby's prayers are not completely futile...(I have an idea) - These are my responses to the baby:

Dear Baby....You will make us 'rich' by being born to us (enriching our lives and all that)...We'll need 'super' powers to bring you up - does that suffice as 'super- rich'??

Dear Baby....We'll try to be 'Super' parents... and when you grow up- you can  take care of the 'Rich' part!!

I like the second one more...what say people?

Pregnant and getting KICKED!!

At some point in your lives, you all must have heard/seen a dog yelping in pain because somebody just kicked it on the side...
Today, through this post, I send my heartfelt sympathies to all the dogs out there who have experienced this ordeal -  Dear doggies, I know exactly how it feels - the only difference being that I can't run away from the kicks as they are coming from inside me!!!

I can classify my baby's movements into kicks, punches, boxes, jabs, head banging, hiccups and somersaults - my 'million dollar baby' (pun intended) seems to be extremely inspired by a combination of two gentlemen, Mr. Bruce Lee and Mr.Rocky Balboa.

My general response to this powerful thrashing I receive everyday is 'Ouch,' 'OUCH', 'OUCH,' 'OUCH' depending on the intensity of the jabs. I say 'ouch' so many times that I hope my baby is not assuming that this is his/her name...or may be the father's name...that mommy keeps yelling all the time!!

this is not me - but some mommy getting kicked real hard by her baby!

When I felt the baby move for the first time, it was ................. ( I am at a loss of words!). 'Mind-blowing'; 'magical', 'amazing' and 'awesome' all put together also cannot reach even close to that feeling... For the first time I felt confident about being pregnant....reassured that my baby must be fine as it is moving around...:-)...It was also my baby's first communication with me!! I felt connected to the baby and realized that I was nurturing a small little life within me...Whoever coined the phrase 'alive and kicking' must have been pregnant at that time!!

Of course, the initial movements (that start in the 5th month) are generally compared to butterflies fluttering inside your tummy...then gradually these flutters transform into earthquakes!! But, a couple of pregnant women I met at the doc's clinic told me that their babies moved rather softly inside them...I told them that their babies had great potential of becoming graceful ballet dancers... (and mine had the potential of inventing a new dance form in which you'll just have to thump your feet hard, do some head banging, thrash your fists in the air...the works - A rock star definitely!!)

When parents ask their children to sing a song or recite a poem in front of somebody, children never do it...they start behaving as of they are being spoken to in a foreign language!! Actually these same children, will fry their parents ears at home singing, reciting, screaming etc but in front of some Aunty and Uncle...they HAVE to appear as the dumbest creatures on earth!! (I'm sure most of you are familiar with this). My child has already learnt this trick!! Some of my friends and my husband have been seeing me squirming and swearing (mostly 'ouch') at every kick of the baby...but when I place their hands on my tummy...this baby becomes a complete Mahatma...all tranquil and peaceful... Not a flutter from her/him...complete silence....Serenity personified!!!! It has been really difficult for me to gather evidence and witnesses regarding the intensity and frequency of my baby's kicks!! You'll have to take my word for it though some people don't believe me...

One night I was trying to sleep..tossing and turning on the bed as usual...not able to doze off because of  the high level of activity happening inside me..I finally fell asleep in one posture - by spooning my hubby (hugging him from behind)...In the middle of the night, I was woken up by my husband. He said that he woke up because I was patting his back continuously as if I needed something urgently. I told him that I would shake him vigorously by the shoulders, or pull his hair or scream his name if there was any emergency...why in the world would I pat his back?? Then I shouted out with glee, 'that must have been the baby kicking!' But, he refused to believe me!!  He said he must have been dreaming...just IMAGINE!!!! For a long time, I was fuming at the unfairness of the whole situation...because he immediately went back to sleep and I was wide awake like an owl...felt like giving a nice tight kick to my fast asleep hubby (Whoever coined the phrase 'sleeping like a baby' was not talking about babies inside the wombs)!! These illustrations depict exactly how I felt...I really wanted him to know how it feels when somebody is 'POW-WOWING' punches inside you...(and also because I wanted him to feel the same amazement and delight)

good baby!!

I wish I could go on such a rampage. Mark Parisi has a wonderful collection of preggie cartoons: click here

I told my baby the next day that this kind of behaviour won't be tolerated etc..and I think s/he recognized the 'strict-mommy-tone'... and also felt some performance pressure!! Now, when Papa places his hand on the tummy, the kicks don't stop...(I do hope that the strict-mommy-tone works afterwards too...I don't want to promise chocolates or toys against recital of a poem...but who knows...it may come to that!!)

Also, after having complained so much, I suddenly felt good that I am not an elephant- imagine an elephant's baby kicking inside her and their gestation period is TWO YEARS!!!

Or for that matter..coming back to dogs....I am sending extra sympathies to the bitches (I strictly mean female dogs here) out there...they have to bear kicks of an entire litter inside them...and each of their babies has four feet!!!! The photo you see here is of 'Button' and her litter of 18!! and just a year ago she had given birth to 16!! ALL HATS that I had/have/will ever have OFF TO BUTTON!!!!

now you know what I mean 'litter'ally (photo taken from this website)

Feeling much better...sometimes- comparisons (however useless, unlikely or out of the world) do help!!

I am waiting for the time when I can again assign the normal meaning to 'feeling kicked' about something or 'getting the kicks' from something!!! And  I am sure that the first kick I'll get will be on seeing my baby (that will be a pretty huge kick for my husband too).... right now the wait is getting harder and so are the kicks!!

And for people who doubt my baby's kicking abilities (like my hubby)...I know exactly what I'll do to make them believe - see below:

so now you know how 'kicks' feel