A child gives birth to a mother

Been a crazy 12 hours. I was supposed to be in Pune right now at S's place enjoying my dark rum with half water half Coke. Things have a way of getting seriously tossed up. What's that saying - Man proposes and God... gives him a swift kick in the nuts saying "Na uh!"

Was up late watching season 3 of 24 till about 3am. Couple of hours later, I get woken up and we her rush to the hospital. Formalities are completed and me and Mum with her sister keep watch. Hours pass... She is in pain... its increasing by the hour. The pains are racking her body at regular intervals... increasing in their frequency and intensity. I sit in the room for as long as I can. She's breathing heavily, raggedly... sometimes deep breaths... sometimes shallow ones. She wants some medication to ease her suffering... Mum and Aunt hold her hand telling her it'll all be over soon.

I can't take it anymore. I leave the room and walk to the area near the elevators. Never have I felt this helpless... this impotent as a man. I can wish all I want to help her out but this is her thing. There's nothing anyone else can do in this situation. There are no tears flowing but I can hear them in her voice.

They wheel her off an hour later...

12:40pm

Doctor - "It was all very smooth... barely took any time at all... Congratulations! It's a boy. 3.45 kilos. Completely normal delivery."

Yup I became an uncle today. And not just in that annoying-kid-on-the-road-yelling-out-Uncle kinda way but a real honest-to-goodness uncle Uncle!

Dozens of calls made and lots of sms-es were sent off in minutes. And a few minutes later we see the lil tyke being paraded for the family for just a few seconds before he's whisked off to get cleaned up. Man newborn babies look ugl...er... weird.

They wheel my sis back into the room. She looks totally bombed. But besides the obvious exhaustion she's holding up fine. Been an absolute trooper thru almost the whole thing.

And now I must gear up to play the part of the cool (but slightly naughty) uncle. Yeah the one that his Mum will tell him to stay away from when he's old enough :D

Welcome to the family, kid.