Becoming Riaan's Mom

I had a bumpy pregnancy to say the least. Between one month of bed rest, infinite detailed fetal scans and a dozen throwing up sessions, 9 months flew by in the blink of an eye. People are kinder to pregnant women I realized. Doors were opened faster, chairs were vacated immediately and people just moved out of my path in general, whereby making me feel like a predatory baby whale who may or may not eat all the other fishes on it's path.

My gynaecologist warned me about the possibility of a C-Section, she even narrowed in on a potential delivery date and briefed my family on the admission procedures followed by the hospital. But time, tide and my Riaan wait for none. He overheard our conversation from my womb, let out one sadistic baby-chuckle and decided to pop out one week prior to the decided delivery date.

I woke up at 4am on the 8th of January with a feeling of discomfort. I had a dull, constant pain in my abdomen that refused to go away by 8am. My water had broken and I had no idea. I expected something more dramatic to happen. Cue the scene from Sex and the City 2 where Charlotte screams at Mr Big, "I curse the day you were born" and her water breaks.

My mother rushed me to the hospital without telling me I was in labour, in an attempt to not scare me. By 9am, my doctor and her volley of assistants began trickling in and declared I was in labour. I was rushed to the labour room by 10am and by 12.15pm, my champion made his squishy, squealy appearance. The last two hours of labour were worse than the exorcism of Emily Rose. I was denied an epidural which worsened my grunting, writhing state. I slapped a nurse, clawed a doctor's shoulder blade off and bit my mother's hand. 

The very first sentence that flew out of my mouth when I learnt I had a son was, "Now don't go fall in love with a chudail". My child is almost a month old now. My crazy, territorial, mommy hormones have settled down a little.  Just a little. 

I can safely say, no promotions, salary hikes, gold medals, awards or accolades can match up to the feeling of being a mom. He is my best creation/achievement till date. I'm proud to be his mother. And I know he'll love me just the way I am.