That first touch of a newborn baby on Day 1

Here’s a heartfelt short story on that feeling of the first touch of a newborn baby. It is an angelic touch indeed!

“A happy baby has shining eyes. It walks open hearted into the world and spreads magic.” ~ Sigrid Leo

09:55 AM | It was a usual Friday at work. The floor was bustling with activity and each cubicle was getting started with its onsite calls. We had already started feeling the vibe of the upcoming weekend. That’s exactly how Friday mornings feel in an IT office. The managers were doing the rounds just to keep an eye on who’s getting into the ODC at what time. Wish early birds to office, got some extra bonus or something. But no, coming early to work is just one of those workplace ethics which we try to adapt from foreign countries, but never really follow their concept of leaving early as well.

Wishful thinking, I must say!
 
10:00 AM | Amidst all the cacophony, I got up from my desk and walked towards the water cooler placed at the distant corner-most end of the floor.

In a typical IT work environment setup, this distance of 100m is probably the only source of physical activity during the day. So, the more trips to the water cooler, the healthier it is. While I was filling my bottle, my phone started ringing. It was my husband! His day was about to end in USA and he had just casually made a good-night call.

The first call of good news

10:15 AM | Meanwhile, I got a ‘call waiting’ notification, while chatting away with my husband. It blinked – “Yogesh calling”. Yogesh is a school friend who also works in the same office as mine. I wrapped up the call with my husband and walked back towards my desk wondering why Yogesh called. They were expecting a child anytime soon.

Is there an emergency? Was he not in office yet? Does he need any help? Is he stuck up with the procedure for cashless hospitalisation for his wife? A zillion thoughts had already crossed my mind.

10:20 AM | I gulped some water, settled down at my desk and logged in to my system. A notification on the intranet chat messenger blinked. The message was from Anushka, another friend at work. Her message read – “Come to my desk. RIGHT NOW.” I got up and walked to her cubicle immediately. She stood right there, grinning her heart away. And I was like – “What?! What was so urgent?” I was still imagining some sweets at her desk probably for which she might have called me. But what was the occasion?

She snapped me out of my virtual world and asked – “Did Yogesh call you?” I said, “Yes, he did. But I couldn’t speak with him.”
She said, “Congratulations! Officially, we are aunties now.” I was elated. My joy knew no bounds. Yogesh and his wife had just had a son, that morning. He’d called up to share that awesome piece of news with me.

10:40 AM | The best wishes poured in. We called up Yogesh and did all sorts of drama over phone. Basically, we were behaving like a bunch of school girls getting excited about their first outdoor picnic with friends. I took some time and let the feeling sink in. In my head, I was already holding the baby in my arms. Yes, that was a dream!

It was one of those childish dreams of experiencing the thrill of holding a newborn baby in my arms. How would it feel like?

11:15 AM | All the euphoria got mixed up with the heavy workload of an escalated project I was working in. Nothing affected me anymore. There was a strange sense of calm around me. The hands of the clock just refused to budge, while we waited until 3 PM to rush to meet his baby at the hospital.

12:15 PM | Anushka and me went to the food court to grab some lunch. Our lunch table topic was just the baby. How must he be looking like? How did the delivery go? How is the mom now? What must he be doing now? Will he be sleeping when we visit him? Will he cry if he sees so many strangers? Yes, yes! All silly amateur questions in my head all along.

On my way

3:00 PM | Anushka and me rushed out of our building, towards the office main gate. The auto-rickshaw we booked for the hospital had already arrived. On the way, I wanted to sneak in to the food court and grab some sweets. But then, we had to choose between buying sweets or hopping in to the only available mode of transport to reach on time. Obviously, we chose the latter. We’d waited for way too long to meet the baby now. Sweets can wait for someday later. We quickly hopped into the auto-rickshaw and sped towards the hospital.

3:15 PM | We got down at the obstetrics department of the hospital and rushed towards the reception. That’s when we realised that mobile network connectivity was almost negligible inside, and we could not contact Yogesh anymore. We waited at the lobby hoping that Yogesh would give us a call, since he knew that we were about to reach. But the call never happened. We even tried going outside and calling again and again, but all in vain.

3:30 PM | 15 minutes had passed already. We were losing our patience. That’s when I decided to enquire at the reception. I had never been to an obstetrics ward before. So, clearly we were fumbling with what needs to be done or not. We were not sure if patient’s information is given to outsiders or not.

With all the doubts running inside my head, I headed towards the reception desk and politely asked for the cabin number of Diksha Sharma (Yogesh’s wife). Pat came the reply – “Give me a minute, Ma’am. Yes, it’s 306 – 3rd floor to your left.” It was that simple! Amateur us!

3:35 PM | Anushka and me rushed to the 3rd floor and reached in front of cabin number 306. Just as we were about to knock, a swarm of relatives opened the door and giggled their way out. People had been visiting them since morning. No wonder, Yogesh was super busy! We were escorted inside and there he was – FINALLY!

3:45 PM | The baby lay cosy on his little cot. As soon as I entered the room, my eyes fell on him first and I walked towards Diksha. Felt like giving her a warm hug first. The new mom deserves all the attention as well. Sometimes, we tend to forget that.

That first touch of a newborn baby

3:50 PM | Then, I slowly walked towards the baby – a new life born just then and I could touch him right on Day 1! He was sleeping like a king. His hands and feet so tiny! I first touched his hands, fingers and then his nail. The nail was hardly the size of a drop. His skin felt like silk and he was so cosy.

I felt a huge rush of emotions surge from within. The feeling of that first touch was OVERWHELMING, to say the least.

Soon enough, Diksha’s mom asked me if I wanted to hold the baby in my arms. My heart raced with joy and said – “Yes! Yes! Yes!”. But I blurted in a rather poised tone – “I want to, but I’m not too sure if I can hold him. He’s so tiny and fragile.” She replied – “Don’t worry. It’s not that difficult. I’ll help you.”

I was both afraid and excited. I could feel the raging palpitations in my body. I tried hard to calm down and collect all my composure. I took a seat so that I could comfortably hold the baby in my arms. She put him in my arms and there he was! Sleeping away blissfully! He was hardly the size of half of my arm. And mind you, I am a relatively petite person with short limbs. The baby still felt so tiny in my thin trembling arms.

It was as if his touch had a calming effect on me.  I sat there, watching his eyes tightly shut and limbs moving in tiny strides. I could even hear an occasional whimper.

 That silky skin of a newborn baby in your arms, will touch your soul indeed. Time just froze, right then.

After this, I lost track of time. I fail to recollect what happened next, what else we chatted about and when we finally left. I held a newborn baby for the first time in my life and something touched my soul and changed it forever ever since.

This post is dedicated to a very dear friend and his lovely wife. Heartiest congratulations and best wishes for their little bundle of joy.