Though Sarwary works 6 days / week for us, we usually like to give her one full weekend off per month. Until now, we’ve actually traveled at least one weekend / month and it’s worked out naturally. This month, however, with no trips planned, this weekend was designated as the weekend off. Sarwary and her sister, Shabana, decided that it would be a good day for us to go visit their new nephew, the now 24-day-old son of the youngest sister, Reshma. (Sarwary has a total of 5 sister and 2 brothers.)
Custom in India is for a woman to go home to her parents’ house for delivery. Reshma went home about two weeks before her due date, but then the baby took his time coming. Two and a half weeks after the due date, the doctor tried to induce labor, but when (after 24 hours) that still didn’t work, they had to do a C-section. Luckily, except for a little jaundice and an extended recovery in the hospital, the baby and mother are now fine. To give you a flavor of local attitudes, Sarwary’s quote when I asked about Reshma and the baby the day after delivery: “Madam, it is a boy. Everyone is happy and no problems.”
Reshma then stays with her parents for three months before returning to her husband’s family. Since the parents also live about a 10 minute walk from us, we went over to their house to meet the baby. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to find a well kept middle class house. They built the house 3 years ago on land they had owned for some time – they live on the first floor and rent out apartments on the second and third floors.
We spent about an hour playing with the baby (about all the baby and William could take) and then had a tasty lunch of chicken korma and rice which Shabana prepared. As always, entirely too much food was prepared for only two of us. And, as we expected might happen, the whole family left the room while we were eating. I had brought some oatmeal butterscotch cookies (using the last of my chips brought from the US!), which were a hit J.
The other good news of the day is that William *loved* the baby. He wanted to hold it, give it pats, and lie down with it when it went to sleep. He was very gentle and didn’t fuss too much when I explained the baby was too delicate for him to hold himself. He only became a little jealous when I was carrying the baby and not him! I think this bodes well for November.
PS – I keep calling Reshma’s son “the baby” because, also not uncommon in India, the baby doesn’t have a name yet.
Custom in India is for a woman to go home to her parents’ house for delivery. Reshma went home about two weeks before her due date, but then the baby took his time coming. Two and a half weeks after the due date, the doctor tried to induce labor, but when (after 24 hours) that still didn’t work, they had to do a C-section. Luckily, except for a little jaundice and an extended recovery in the hospital, the baby and mother are now fine. To give you a flavor of local attitudes, Sarwary’s quote when I asked about Reshma and the baby the day after delivery: “Madam, it is a boy. Everyone is happy and no problems.”
Reshma then stays with her parents for three months before returning to her husband’s family. Since the parents also live about a 10 minute walk from us, we went over to their house to meet the baby. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to find a well kept middle class house. They built the house 3 years ago on land they had owned for some time – they live on the first floor and rent out apartments on the second and third floors.
We spent about an hour playing with the baby (about all the baby and William could take) and then had a tasty lunch of chicken korma and rice which Shabana prepared. As always, entirely too much food was prepared for only two of us. And, as we expected might happen, the whole family left the room while we were eating. I had brought some oatmeal butterscotch cookies (using the last of my chips brought from the US!), which were a hit J.The other good news of the day is that William *loved* the baby. He wanted to hold it, give it pats, and lie down with it when it went to sleep. He was very gentle and didn’t fuss too much when I explained the baby was too delicate for him to hold himself. He only became a little jealous when I was carrying the baby and not him! I think this bodes well for November.
PS – I keep calling Reshma’s son “the baby” because, also not uncommon in India, the baby doesn’t have a name yet.
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