A Baby Really Does Bring a Family Together

Manish and I have been married for a while now, and we certainly felt like a family unit. However, having Sonali makes this bond even stronger, and I feel like we're even more of a family now. It's a very special feeling that's really hard to explain.


Sonali is also the reason my parents and sister were at our place for Diwali. My mom got here just in time for Sonali's birth and my dad came a few days later. My sister had planned on being here Diwali weekend as it was just a few days after the baby was due. There is no way I could have convinced everyone to come here for Diwali without the baby! This was the first Diwali I'd spent with my parents and sister since 1996.


Here are a few pictures from Diwali. You can see a few more pictures here.

As an added bonus, we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday as a family. Sonali's first outing was to a Jain temple in Milpitas followed by dinner at CPK for her grandfather's birthday. A couple of pictures are below, and the rest can be seen here.

All in all, it's difficult to imagine that a mere 4 weeks ago, it was just Manish and me enjoying our "unencumbered" life. We went out as we pleased - four days before she was born, we were out until 1 a.m. at a birthday party for a couple of friends. I also did not have to plan for the baby's every meal (breastfeeding is certainly an interesting phase!). Since then, we've had a house full of family. Even now, with my sister and dad back in their respective homes, we still have my mom here - and the four of us have settled into our own new pace of life. All of us also exchange several text messages a day, usually with a picture or two of the baby.

I wouldn't trade this life for the one we had before. I guess we've entered a new phase!

How is daddy going to go back to work?

Manish is planning to go back to work on Wednesday. I'm not sure how he's going to spend the whole day away from his darling daughter!

Welcome to the World, Sonali

It was a typical Wednesday morning -- well, as typical as 4am can be at almost 39 weeks pregnant. Manish woke up with Minal tossing and turning in bed. This time, though, the discomfort didn't go away, and we realized that we might be meeting our baby soon.  

We labored at home for many hours, making slow and steady progress. At around 2pm, things accelerated sharply, producing the nice hockey stick curve investors like to see. As the fast-paced action continued, we realized it would be wise to make our way hospital (though with a slightly different tone at the time - through contractions every other minute, Minal clearly ordered Manish to get into the car immediately). So, the mad dash to the hospital commenced, in hopes that we'd avoid delivering a baby in the car (despite how much fun that seems in sitcoms). Thankfully, we made it in time, and mere minutes after we got into the delivery room, Minal's water broke. The hospital room could best be described as organized chaos and about half an hour later, we met our bundle of joy for the first time.

The box score:

Name: Sonali Mili Sambhu
Time: 4:39pm PDT on October 24th, 2012 (just in time for game 1, Tigers v. Giants)
Weight: 7 lbs, 1 oz
Length: 18 inches

According to the Hindu calendar, Sonali was born on Dusshera - the day that Ram defeated Ravana and also the day that the Goddess Durga defeated the demon king, Mahisasura. It is the day that celebrates the victory of good over evil all over the country. Clearly, we have low expectations of her ;)

It's been a memorable first week for us.  Here's a glimpse of it...

A few more pictures here -- https://picasaweb.google.com/minalandmanish/WelcomeSonali