Introducing... our son, Akhtar Avatara

We are happy to share with you that our first son had been born in Bangkok on 20 December 2005. He is a healthy baby boy, weighed 4,005 kg and 53 cm long. It was quite a journey, with 14 hours of labour and a bit of tensity in between.

Actually the birth was quite tricky. I got my water broke at 4 AM and off we went rushing to the hospital when everyone else was still snoozing. Greeted by the emergency room nurses, and within seconds we were ushered to the delivery room. At first we opted for water birth, but the baby was too big, therefore I had to give up the plan. However I got the opportunity to soak in the warm birth pool for pain relieve purpose though, it was quite a pleasant experience.

Anyway the contraction didn't get intense and painful before midday. After the fifth cm opening it got really painful, and at 6.39 in the evening the baby was delivered. I was very grateful that I didn't opt for a cesarean (C-section, as they call it), because the thrill for having the baby handed over to you for the first time - fresh from the womb - is priceless!

We named the baby Akhtar Avatara --> Akhtar is Arabic for "lucky" and "star", whereas Avatara is Hindi, which means "offspring". (In fact Avatara is the name my parents prepared for me when they thought that I would be a baby boy - the sonogram read my gender incorrectly). So by naming him that, we hope that he'll be an offspring that brings good luck and be as bright as the star (amen!).