Rohit and his mother were sitting at the dining table having a cup of kadak chai. They just finished eating delicious aloo parathas lovingly prepared by his wife, Naina.
“Beta, it’s been two years since you got married. Don’t you think it’s time?” enquired Mummy as she raised her eyebrows.
Rohit slowly sipped his tea and gave his mother the look and said, “What’s the hurry?”
“Because it takes time. For some couples, it happens at the first go but for some, it can take years,” she replied distressfully.
“You need to speak to Naina, once you both agree, come and have a word with me. I don’t mean to nag you but please at least think about it,” she said.
Naina was in the kitchen. She just about finished clearing up as she overheard their conversation. She took one look at the clock and realized she was already getting late for work. She went to her bedroom to change. ‘This is not how I wanted this chapter to begin,’ she thought to herself as she quickly draped a beautiful green chiffon saree, threw on some makeup, got her things and left for the office.
Naina met her friend Shruti, during their morning break at the cafeteria.
“Heyy! We need to talk!” Naina insisted as her eyes widened and she grabbed her arm to come and take a seat.
“Ummm hi! Okkk!! Tell me what’s going on?” Shruti said slowly, giving her a weird look.
“You know, Rohit and I have been married for two years right,” Naina started
“Yea, you just celebrated your anniversary some time ago. So?” asked Shruti.
“I overheard MIL and Pati talking about us getting pregnant,” said Naina, looking freaked out.
Shruti started to laugh and said, “Welcome to the next phase of marriage! This is just the beginning. I don’t know if it’s some rule or something but people think that if you’ve been married over a year or two and you’re not a mom .. then it’s time to get pregnant!”
“But you’ve been married for four years and I don’t see you getting pregnant,” replied Naina.
“My story is different but let’s not get into that. Ok! Firstly, you need to calm down, breathe! It’s going to be ok. Just be frank when you speak to Rohit. But first of all, you need to decide if you are ready to have a baby.” said Shruti.
After a long busy day at the office, Naina kind of forgot about the whole getting pregnant conversation. She entered the house late in the evening and saw Mummy sitting on the sofa. Boom! It all came back to her head.
She couldn’t wait for Rohit to come home so they could talk.
A week later, they finally agreed that it was time for them to start a family. Rohit had a chat with Mummy and gave her the good news.
Mummy was delighted that she couldn’t wait to become a dadhi. She called out for Naina and told her to have a seat.
Mummy started explaining that the first child is always preferably a boy. She went on and on about different methods that need to be implemented to conceive a boy.
Naina sat in the corner of the bed thunderstruck. It was hard for her to digest the fact she was going to be pregnant and the next thing she had to deal with was which sex position they need to conceive, an alkaline diet, the Chinese calendar, and a lot more than all increase the chances of having a boy. She took one look at Rohit and then looked at her feet. Naina never uttered a word. She patiently listened to Mummy as she didn’t want to be disrespectful.
That night she confided in Rohit about her reaction towards the whole discussion. Naina was not too convinced about the whole idea but Rohit backed Mummy up.
“There is no harm in trying. We aren’t doing anything wrong,” said Rohit.
It was two against one. Naina finally agreed as Rohit spoke more about it.
When the time was right they started trying as per the set rules and regulations. Naina felt stressed when her husband was in the mood. But she went with the flow hoping she would conceive at the first go. But Mummy was right. Not everyone is that lucky.
Months went by, they both kept trying but never did they get lucky. Naina even met her gynaecologist. She got a check-up and everything seemed to be perfectly fine.
Rohit, on the other hand, felt helpless. Over the past couple of months, he became more determined to have a baby. He always loved kids and was getting restless. He would sit in the room and at times burst into tears wondering what was going wrong. He even got a couple of tests done but all the results were absolutely fine. Although he never confided in Naina how he was feeling about the whole situation.
Almost a year had gone by, It was their third anniversary. Naina wore a beautiful red dress. They were going out for dinner to celebrate. Rohit walked into the room and took one look at Naina. He was love-struck at how gorgeous his wife looked. She walked up to him and smiled and said, “let’s make it a night to remember!” And she kissed him on the cheek.
They started their celebrations and ordered a bottle of white wine. They both clinked their glasses and said, “to us.”
During dinner, Rohit confided in his better half how miserable he had been over the past year since they hadn’t yet conceived.
“Let’s just put it on hold for a few months,” said Naina. She and Rohit were not exactly on the same page. For Naina, she just left it all on God. ‘When the time is right it will happen,’ that was her whole concept of it from the beginning.
The wining and dining went on for some more time. They both had a great time. It was long due since they both hardly get to spend any quality time together.
Once they were home, Naina went to change. She looked through her drawer and thought to herself, ‘ let’s make love the normal way, without any strings attached.’ She immediately slipped into something more appropriate for the occasion, quickly opened her hair and dived under the sheet before Rohit came out of the bathroom. He looked at Naina. He could make out something was up because of her sheepish smile and the mischief in her eyes. They both definitely made their anniversary worthwhile.
For the next couple of months, they both decided to give the whole ‘trying phase’ a break.
After a good few months, Naina’s periods were late. That was not normal in her case. She decided to take a pregnancy test at home and finally saw two beautiful pink lines. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her hands started to tremble. It was too early to wake Rohit up but she couldn’t care less. She immediately woke him up and said, “Rohit! We’re pregnant!” For a second Rohit thought he was dreaming until he saw Naina flashing the pregnancy test in front of him. Reality struck him. Rohit was on cloud 9. He was practically jumping on the bed. But at the back of Naina’s mind, she thought of what Mummy would say.
As they both approached the rest of the family to share the good news but you could see the worry in Naina’s eyes.
Thankfully, Mummy was not upset that they didn’t implement what she had asked. She was just thrilled that it had finally happened. She had tears in her eyes as she tightly hugged Naina and congratulated the two of them. “It doesn't matter if it’s a girl or a boy, you both have waited long enough. I’m so happy for both of you,” she said as the tears of joy and hugging carried on.
Naina had a smooth pregnancy. Everyone was extremely helpful and pulled her through. Especially Mummy. She had become a go-to person for every minute thing. She was her right hand.
It was not long before they all saw the nurse walk out of the delivery room with a tiny baby wrapped up in a sterilized green sheet. She smiled at all of us and said, “Congratulations Sir! It’s a boy!”
Babies are made with love.
Not all planned pregnancies work… sometimes you just need to leave things in God’s hands. And consider yourself blessed.