Our beautiful little GIRL arrived on July 4th, 2006 at 10:31am, an Independence Baby (poetic justice for Vikas), at a whopping 5 lbs 12 oz, and 19 inches!! (and she has already gained her birth weight back in one week!) You can see from the pictures how utterly beautiful she is. Sorry for the delay in the announcement - one reason is recovery (see birth story below), the other that we couldn't decide on her name (my virgo rising nature). after going through 80 million names (remember i thou... read more

so mom and i are sitting at indigo grill eating some yummy food (for some reason, i kept feeling like it would be the baby's last meal in utero) and i am sitting quietly, trying to see if baby is moving after eating the way it should. then i felt something really weird - but really light, like a period pain or baby doing some weird acrobatics down below. i also noted a lot of leakage, but it wasn't a steady flow.

about 12:30am i went to the bathroom and all of a sudden more liquid just c... read more

This past Sunday we were honored to be part of Joy and Eitan's Brit Milah for their twin boys, born on Father's Day! If I were to circumcise, I would definitely do it this way and not in a hospital - the entire ceremony was beautiful - lots of singing, praying and celebration - and they didn't cry very much at all. Joy was very brave!!

Vikas and I had the honor of carrying out the babies before the ceremony as "godparents' of sorts - that was really special for us. The boys were offic... read more

i got tired of being stressed out (since work is STILL not finished) and decided it was time for a beach break! to hell with all the housework, too. the water is over 70 degrees (very warm for san diego) - can we say Global Warming people??!! (btw, gore's movie is REALLY worth seeing, i thought he did a great job of balancing the grim truth with a bit of inspiration - and humor - made me really think about what i am bringing my baby into - but that's another looong post...)

i went to the... read more

It was Vikas's first father's day, though he tried to pretend otherwise...he feels like since the baby is still inside of me, that he's not really a daddy yet - but baby and I beg to differ :o)

We had a great time, went to Santee to celebrate Father's day with Papaji (Vikas's father) and the rest of the family - Papaji's eldest sister (Geeta Bhuaji) and her husband (Foofaji) are visiting the US for the first time - in their late 70s! they are gems, i wish they would be here to see the b... read more

at 36 weeks! Yay, thanks to Manoj we got a camera back! more pics to come. i just couldn't wait for a "photo shoot" so i took this one myself - pretty good aim, huh?

I can't believe I've only 4 weeks to go (from the looks of me, some people think i'm ready to pop anytime! I've gained about 40% of my body weight!) Let's hope for 4 weeks, i'm still working (so sick of it) and want a little chill & preparation time for me & baby before (s)he comes. i will stop working after next week, tha... read more

Happy Mother's Day! Hoping to show pictures of my now-in-33rd-week tummy, but still camera challenged. Today has been a very special day for me and baby (who appears to be doing somaursalts in my belly at the moment...) - I'm so excited to think of what's ahead, and oddly enough have been feeling excited even about the labor process (THAT sounds crazy, I know!) Maybe those hypnobirthing CDs are working...

In other news, I feel the need to slow down...back starting to ache a bit if I'm t... read more

Well, the sun blessed us and so did lots of other wonderful folks - thanks especially to Kirti, Derek, Joy, and of course my parents-in-law for a wonderful shower. Not to mention all our wonderful friends! It was a lot of fun, the food was amazing and so was the company. A bit bittersweet since many of my friends are leaving for internships or post-docs, some as early as next month! So there was a lot to celebrate and I'm really glad we all got together before everyone heads off to the ne... read more

I can't believe I forgot to credit Holden for all the picture taking at the SC Shower! He did so much, including taking about 160 pictures, including all the ones in my photo album! Here he is in a self-portait! Thank you Holden, you did a great job!!!

speaking of forgetting, i'm getting more and more reasons to NOT forget my calcium supplements. Turns out those horrid leg cramps I was getting were a result of not having enough free calcium in the body for my muscles, my doctor said. L... read more

The shower in South Carolina was fabulous! Thanks to Michele (my sis-in-law), my mom, and Arianna (my niece) and of course my brother Manoj, who put such a fun time together. Incredible food, flowers, company - the 50 or so guests were so sweet and well-wishing. Family came in from New York and Florida, it was so much fun (especially the 8-hour teenpathi poker game we played the day after)! During the shower, we played a game I took from the "Birthing from Within" book - I gave all the au... read more

Back from my conference in San Fran, and it was a great trip in terms of seeing many loved ones, but unfortunately caught an ear infection and got really bad allergies while I was there. First time really being sick since the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Decided to cancel my talk in Tucson next week, given that it's high allergy season there too and I would be jetting from there to South Carolina the next day. It's funny how I can feel my priorities shifting already! Sad to not give the t... read more

but these are fun anyway! my yoga teacher (and massage therapist!) asked me if I'd do some yoga poses for her prenatal yoga book. i never thought i'd be asked to model when 25lbs more my regular body weight (I'm about 120 now!) - here are a few choice photos (see more in my "photos" section) - in the anti-yoga spirit, i've chosen the most flattering ones (what was that about transcending the ego?) but as you can see, the showing of pregancy is all in the camera angles!