Preeti
It was a regular day at college. Everything was going fine until suddenly in the middle of one lecture I felt the world spinning around me, and before I can process what was happening, I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was in Mother's chamber and one of the medical students was checking up on me. When she noticed that I have woken up, she gave me a smile before asking,
"How are you feeling Ma'am?"
"I'm quite alright. I actually have no idea what caused me dizziness which resulted in me falling unconscious." I told her.
"That's alright Ma'am, it happens. There need not necessarily be any reason to fainting while you're-" my dear husband barging inside cut her off. His eyes quickly yet crazily scanned the room before settling on me. He heaved a sigh looking at me before moving closer to me. He didn't even bother greeting mother before firing his questions at me and the poor student playing doctor on me.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked me before turning to the doctor, "Is she okay? Why would she suddenly faint like this? She even had breakfast. Is she dehydrated?" he mumbled the last one before focusing on me again, "I told you to drink more fluids. Look what happened." He continued to reprimand me not giving anyone a chance to speak. A soft giggle finally cut off his rant and we all turned to look at the student/doctor who has failed to contain her laugh. She blushed beautifully and innocently before speaking.
"Ma'am is perfectly fine Sir. In fact, she is more than fine," she said making us confused. Seeing that we were too confused to ask anything, she spoke further, "Ma'am is expecting Sir." She said taking me by surprise.
Mother moved forward congratulating me and we all turned to see my husband still looking confused as ever which made not only the student girl giggle again but Mother also shook her head seeing her smartest student acting dumb. They both left the cabin to go and tell my students about me being well while promising to keep the news hidden for now, giving me some privacy to deal with my husband.
"What are you staring at now? It is all because of you." I told him moving closer.
"Huh! What did I do? What is going on?" He finally asked still clueless to everything.
"We are going to be parents once again," I told him and he still did not understand. "Oh God! Seriously? Where have you left your brains today?" I asked getting irritated.
"Why are you getting angry? I don't know what I did to cause you to fall sick, but whatever it was, I'm really sorry okay." She said making me face palm.
"Oh my dear husband, I'm not sick." I told him taking his face between my palms. "I'm pregnant." I finally clarified to him in soft voice. He didn't react for a moment, but then I saw his eyes getting wet.
"What did you say?" He asked softly as if afraid to break the moment.
"I said you are going to be father. We are going to have a child. I am pregnant. We're pregnant." I told him again and this time he reacted by taking me in his embrace and swinging me around. I yelped and laughed before asking him to put me down as he was making me feel dizzy.
He placed me back on my feet and balanced me with his arms when I staggered not having recovered from the spin. He embraced me again and held me firmly.
"I can't tell you how happy I am Preeti. This is one of the best moments of my life." He started speaking softly. "When I received a call from Mother telling me that you have fainted, I felt like my world stopped spinning on its axis. I rushed here fearing the worst but it turns out that it was the best thing waiting for us to find it."
We stay in each other's embrace letting the warmth of each other help settle in the news and calm us. Our moment broke when Mother came back and we instantly moved away feeling shy. She gave us a warm smile and her blessings with strict instructions to take extra care from now on. She also assured my husband that she will make sure I'm well taken care of at SSL and would lessen my lectures to give me proper rest in between classes till the time comes for me to completely take a break from teaching or working altogether.
This pacified him a bit, but he still asked Mother to relieve me for the day, as he wanted to take me for a proper check up with a Gynaecologist. Mother Stacy allowed it and we moved to collect my things from SSL before moving home as the appointment we got on call was after a couple of hours.
***
After the doctor confirmed the pregnancy and told us that, we were already a month into it, I was prescribed the necessary prenatal vitamins and instructions to guide us through the whole process. We decided to visit our ancestral temple to get blessings before disclosing the news to anyone, even family. Luckily, I had the next day off due to it being a national holiday due to death anniversary of some freedom fighter, and he only had work that could be dealt with from home. He informed his assistant about being out for the day so he can transfer everything to his mail for him to finish at home later on. After we reached home and discussed on how to disclose the news to the family. We decided that we will invite them over for dinner and will prepare food in a way that it would scream "We Are Pregnant". Then we spent the day looking up ideas and in the evening, we went to shop stuff required to plan the dinner.
The plan was to get 'some' baby utensils to serve food in. I was planning to bake a few little cup cakes with the message 'I Am Coming written and serve it on baby plates decorated in small footprints or handprints. However, all that went out of the window when I entered the baby shop. I went all crazy and got not only plates but also every single baby utensil available to serve, that too with their counter big parts. I am soooo going to prepare double menu with small and big eatables of the same kind and serve them to everyone. I also got some other stuff like matching 'We Are Pregnant t-shirts which we are going to wear with a cover and disclose them after trying the food plan. I also got a baby Lord Krishna idol as an offering to give at the temple tomorrow while getting blessings. I just hope God blesses our little life.
By the time I was done, we were too tired to cook after reaching home. Therefore, we called Kiran to ask if she is okay with us getting food from outside and she said she will be staying the night as Suraj is working on some impromptu deal and thus keeping the legal team overnight and giving them a day off tomorrow. Therefore, the dinner was on Suraj. Thus, we just got ourselves some food and went home. By the time we finished dinner, we were ready to hit the bed and thus, slept peacefully in each other's embrace, still reeling in the news.
***
The next day we set off early after informing Suraj to keep Kiran with him for the day. We decided to postpone the dinner plan until the weekend so that everyone can join in without any trouble. Kiran texted us halfway through the journey towards the temple, that she will manage herself at home. She was already on her way home after Suraj left for a meeting informing her of us being out. She told us that she has also texted Suraj to let him know that she left and now is informing us. We decided to let her be knowing she must be tired and thus in need of the comfort of her own room to rest.
When we asked the priest to pray for us to thank the Gods for blessing us with a baby, he did the rituals. Then he replaced the baby Krishna idol at the temple with the one we offered and gave it to me instructing either to keep it on me at all times if possible or to keep it near where I sleep. He told me it would keep the environment round me positive and in retrospect, my baby healthy. It is said that environment around a pregnant woman affects one's health and in retrospect the health of the child nourishing from the mother.
We stayed at the temple for some time and then had our lunch in the 'Bhandara' organised at the temple. It is said that the best way to thank God is offer something to those in need or to offer food to as many as we can as food is a blessing. Therefore, we have organised a Bhandara, which is like an open buffet for everyone to eat as much as needed or wished; with only difference being that it is served with proper sitting arrangement. The food was arranged by the temple trust where we had informed in advance and paid for the expenses incurred. The food prepared at temples is usually the simplest as a large quantity is required to be prepared, but still it tastes better than most cuisines as it is a blessing from the Gods and the environment it is served in is the most positive one.
After everyone was satisfied with the lunch, we helped serve the trust staff that was taking care of serving everyone during the Bhandara and made sure they and the priests have had lunch properly and comfortably. Afterwards, we helped them with wrapping up the leftover work. Well my husband did since he didn't want me to work and I just sat around enjoying the nature spread around the place. Thereafter, we set off to return home.
***