The Final Countdown

The clock has started ticking and I have started counting down the days to the big day...the only thing is that with every day that goes by I feel the wait getting longer and longer and the days stretching beyond comfort. The weird thing about childbirth is, it is unique and nobody can predict the exact time when the child decides that it is time to get going!!! Nobody even knows what triggers the phenomenon. And here I am being forced to try out all the nuances of old wives' tales...drinking warm milk, walking, eating dry fruits, nuts and what not to somehow make the baby go...I wish it was as simple as telling the baby...alright, time to move your ass...!

Strange game this final intezaar. With every spasm of pain you look expectantly at the watch...and then when it does not reoccur...well it does not and instead of being relaxed you feel the old desperation seep in. And if the baby's little pranks are not enough your mind starts playing with you. By now I have thought of all the worst case scenarios when I would be in labor and stuck in jam, all alone...totally ignorant of it etc etc. In short, it has stretched to the point where I am plain bored of the wait...of looking for signs of labor...of trying to discern a simple muscular spasm and the supposedly excruciating contractions! When I asked my sister she smiled and asked me have I shouted out in pain yet and I repied ruefully that I haven't yet. And with the knowing gleam of been there, done that she smiled at me and she said...'You would scream. And when you do...everyone would know!"

So here's to the last week of this fascinating first voyage into the realms of motherhood...and no matter what I say...I am still counting...tick tok tick tok....