2016 Summer filled with events

This summer has been filled with so many events. Here is a highlight of few of the many events from this summer. 

Joe's Wedding

One of the major and important events was my youngest brothers wedding which happened to be the last wedding in my family.  It was a well organized happy wedding.  It happened to be on June 12, just three weeks after I gave birth to my baby Mary.  I was well prepared and planned from before pregnancy to be ready to run around before and during the wedding.  By God's grace I was able to do everything just like I wanted to with a 3 week old in my hand.  We had planned a surprise family dance for my brother.  I started practicing the dance one week after my delivery.  It was fun at the same time difficult for my body since I had just gone through labor.  But at the end everything came together and we had such a great time surprising my brother and his wife with our dance.  

It was a beautiful wedding with many people, especially family members coming from all over the world.  I can't believe my little brother is married.  I happened to be the bridesmaid at the wedding which made it more fun and joyful.  I had to go several times in between the wedding ceremony to feed the baby lol.   

Family outing

A week after the wedding my whole family went out to the city to celebrate our family reunion. My Mary got to go to the city at one month old.  Isn't she one smart lucky girl!! I was little worried about taking a newborn to the city but she did perfectly fine.  We blocked out the second floor of the Mcdonalds in the city just for us to hang out and eat.  It was a great time.  It happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary that day so we got to cut a cake and celebrate it with everyone.
 

Family reunion in our backyard

Our family is spread all across the world.  We don't get to hang out together very often.  Last time we hung out was two years ago as a whole family.  So this time since both my brothers came for the wedding from India and Singapore, we tried our best to make the most out of it by coming together few times.  We had BBQ in our backyard which gave some time to reunite with my family members.

My parents with the youngest two grandchildren.  Mary (one month old  and Thomas two months old)

Visit to St Therese's Shrine

We went with my oldest brother and family to the St. Therese's shrine before they left for Singapore after their short vacation here.  It is spiritually uplifting to be at this place.  They have an exhibit there of St Therese.  We got to spent some time in prayer and learned more about the saint from the exhibit.  A very beautiful experience.

St Thomas Feast Day

 St Thomas feast day is huge in our Syro Malabar church since he is our founding father.  We all wear our best traditional Indian clothes on this day and we have the longest mass which is concluded with a procession around the neighborhood with colorful traditional umbrellas and bands.  We feel like we went back to our homeland Kerala (state in India).  A proud moment for an Easter Syro Malabar Catholic.

Birth of Mary Sony Thevalakara

After a very long wait our little girl was born on May 19th at 6:00pm.  She was 10 days past due.  Being the third pregnancy we were so sure that she will come early or on time but God has other plans.  It was a very impatient and tiring 10 days.  I never felt this way for the other two pregnancies which were both 7 days past due.  This was the longest though.  

My doctor asked me to get admitted if the baby hasn't started on its own by the 10th day.  And so on the 19th of May early morning myself and Sony left to the hospital.  I was not at all thrilled about getting induced and prayed much for a natural labor.  They induced me around 9 in the morning and the pain was bearable until 1:00pm.  After that the pain medication was increased to 20 units.  The nurses were saying everyone has a magic number when they start really feeling the pain and it is unbearable.  Well my number was 20.  The smiling picture you see right below is around 12:00pm.  Once it hit 20 units I was in real pain.  Those who have gone through labor pain know what I mean.  When I say real pain it was that excruciating pain, I did not know how to go through the rest of the hours.  I kept offering mercy chaplets and hail marys as much as I could in between my contractions.  I did not take epidural for any of my previous labor and so I refused to take it this time also.  Around 4pm I prayed and cried and begged to God to make this faster since I did not have any bit of energy in me to carry on.  This is a good time I always try to remember the passion of Christ and the pain he endured.  The only time I can ever feel a 10% of the pain my Lord might have gone through.  I tried to offer up each contraction for the many who had asked for my prayers, my own intentions and my family members.  

I remember around 5 pm doctor checked me and said I am only 4 to 5 cm dilated and so they increased my Petocin to 22 units.  Contractions have been every minute apart with almost 1 to 11/2 minutes duration.  The Lord always provides the tools to help when one is going through so much pain.  My tool this time was this young nurse who was helping me during my labor.  She was catholic and was an excellent nurse who really helped me to do some exercises and different positions which really made my labor progress faster in those last hours.  After doctor checked me at 5 and told me I still have a long way to go my hopes and my strength diminished so low that I could not even imagine another minute going through this pain.  The option of taking the epidural passed through my mind several times.  At that moment I remember commanding Jesus that He better get the baby come out in the next hour or so, I was blackmailing him with many things lol.. Anyways I think God truly heard me and by 5:45 I was fully dilated and baby came out at 6pm.  

I couldn't thank the Lord enough for this lovely little girl who just came into our family.  She took my breath away for a moment.  Her very alert face just looked at me for a moment as if she knew me.  That moment of meeting your child for the first time is just magical and mysterious.  The miracle of life!!

And then came 'The Siblings' =D  They were excited and thrilled to meet their new sister.  George was expecting for a brother but when he found out that it was a girl he was completely okay.  They looked at the baby and were just amazed.  They had many questions.

After the baby excitement was over, they finally gained back the excitement in playing in my bed.  Wasn't it such a fun idea to be in bed with me and play with the remote to make the bed go up and down??  LOL...  My children!!  Sometimes they are crazy haha and I just go along with their craziness.

Here is my big girl.  She was 8lbs and 10oz.  She was huge.  She is by far my biggest baby.  George was 7.1 and Anna was 7.11.  Somehow to me she did not look like a newborn.  She seemed to be understanding everything that was going on there and was very alert from the moment she came out.

Finally home..ahh!! Home sweet home! :)  It is such a joy to bring each child home from the hospital after the birth for the first time.  The home were they will spend the rest of their life, going through each stages of growth.  She is going to show us who she really is in the next months to come.  She is soon going to join the George and Anna group.  They are going to spend so much time together.  I can't wait to see and experience this little one.

My dear Mary, you are so precious to us.  You are loved by each one of us.  George and Anna has not really left your side since we brought you home.  Sometimes I wish they would leave you alone but they love you so much.  And now that you are three months old I can tell how much you love their company.  You wait for them to be awake and hear their loud chatter in the house.  Your face brightens up the moment your brother and sister come do their talking, singing, playing etc.

You are so loved Mary.  Your mamma and pappa feel so blessed to have you.  You are a gift from heaven above and we cherish you to every bit.  May God watch over you and protect you.

40 weeks, Past due and still waiting

This being the third pregnancy one would assume that the baby would either come early or at least on time.  However, I have very special babies who just love to hang in their in my tummy as long as they can.  Today I am 3 days past my due date and still no signs of labor.  I do have minor contractions and doctor said I am 3 cms dilated and 80% effaced at me last appointment.  I guess that doesn't mean anything since I am still here pregnant lol

Anyways, I was able to capture some last week pregnancy pictures.  On mother's day I really wanted to take some pictures with my divine mother, our Lady.  It was a beautiful day and all the mothers got roses and a special blessing from the priest.  

We are still eagerly waiting  to meet this new person and transition into a 5 member family.  I know everything is going to change and most likely get upside down, our routines, schedules etc. But the joy and peace a new life brings trespasses all other worries.

Both my babies asleep haha

These days I don't get to do a lot of things with them and I see them spend a lot of time together on their own. Big brother is explaining the passion book to his little sister.

Pictures from this morning when my parents came to check upon me.

Hope the baby comes before I blog again!! Pray for me :))