A Night to remember- Sonny Boy's Birth Story

I have often rambled enough to all my friends and office colleagues how difficult it is to raise a boy vs a girl. I will surely do a post on this considering the wide difference i see in my house. But here I wanted to begin with my son's birth story. His birth story is as interesting as his antics now and I had never imagined my second pregnancy to have such an eventful culmination.
Anyways, I was ( still am ) a full time working mother and being just 2.5 years into motherhood, I had much more on my plate than bask in the joy of being a mum again. Also may be since our first born is a daughter which we always wanted, we were more happy for her having a sibling than us reliving the joy of being parents again.
So there were no more searches on the internet, no reading of books, so much so that I ended up sharing the " good news" with family only post 6 months. I remember writing personal emails ( facebook had not yet caught on) to friends about how we were expecting our first child, managing month wise updates on picaasa or getting excited with baby shops in the malls.Nothing of this sort , this time.
Anyways, the nine months actually went in a jiffy. Got a promotion at work so had higher responsibilities, managed a holiday in Month 6 with my daughter all the way in Pondicherry. In fact since he was due in April , I was mostly in winter attire. So much so that only in early Feb, my colleagues starting noticing that I am on family way and almost fell off their chair when they came to know that its only 2 months away.
The exciting story begins around March. Firstly, our first maid went to her village to get married. She had been with us for 2.5 years and those of us who depend on housemaids would know that when the first one leaves, you think your whole world has come to a standstill. We were happy for her as he was moving on in life, sad at the thought of her not being around and absolutely horrified at the thought of a new person entering our house. So we did find a new person ! someone I could not connect to. Come March 15 and husband needs to travel for company off site down south- to a resort, a good 2 hrs away from the city. My sister decided to visit me. Again, since due date was good 3 weeks away, we were carrying on with our lives.
Coming closer, March 18 was a regular day for me. I was getting ready for office for a day packed with back to back meetings. Hugged my daughter , told my sister to instruct the maid and like a normal day left for office. I even visited the doc during the day who said we are good 2 weeks away at least. It was late by the time I reached home and I still remember we all feasted on idli sambhar, watched some music channels and went to sleep.
Its 2:00 AM and I start feeling some pain. Now I can tell with abundance confidence that previous memory of all child birth fades away the moment the baby comes. I tried very hard recalling whether this is the same I felt during my daughter's time but I just couldn't remember the thing. I started pacing up and down and then I thought let me time them- they were coming at 7 minutes apart. Now whatever I could remember of the book I read during my first born, I did remember you should be in a hospital if your contractions are that close apart. Immediately was the phone pulled out , dialled the husbands number, woke him up and explained the situation. I think he panicked ( though never admitted till date) and tried to reassure that this is a false alarm and I should not panic . Anyways, he called his friend and colleague who stays close by to come over and take me to the hospital which was a good 40 KM away in the main city ( I stay in the suburbs). The smart me thought what if its time so I woke my sister and the maid, ,dumped a dress which my daughter had outgrown ( a pinkish long T shirt ) and told this new maid ( who had no clue of the house) to hunt for new born stuff I had tucked away somewhere.
The colleague arrives. I pick up my bag , wallet and mobile and walk down to the car. " How are you" , he asks. " I am okay , just that the pain is increasing and now at 5 min apart". He almost jumped out of the car. " You know , I don't know how you are so comfortable sitting here , My wife would have driven me nuts in this situation " . I smiled shouting in my mind " who the hell is comfortable but in this situation, the least I make a fuss is better. All i can do is smile " . We enter the city. Now the hospital is located in some corner which both of us are not aware of. The gentleman driving me I could see knew NOTHING ! and in the middle of the night, whom can you get to ask for directions. When I saw that we have crossed one roundabout almost thrice, I told him "You wait and let me figure out the direction" . I told him to pull over near some autos, shouted typical us " bhaiya suniye" , woke up an auto guy, gave him 100Rs and told him to drive in front of us to the hospital and we will follow. The colleague looked at me and smiled " what an idea sirji"
So we enter the hospital. I enter the delivery centre. The doc-in-attendance post examination told me to get admitted then and there. Meanwhile, the pain increased and I needed to pace up and down to be at ease. In this whole thing, I called up husband who again I feel further panicked ( though never admitted this one as well). He again tried to reassure me that it will take sometime and mobilised the family resources available to reach the hospital as soon as possible. The nurse got the admission form, I flashed my credit card to do the initial deposit and also managed to have a small chat with the colleague who was waiting outside and by now had gone in a state of shock with what was happening. The time was 3:30- 4:00 AM - a hour and a half since it all began. My doctor arrived and this time I asked her to give me epidural ( which helps in easing out birth pains and last time she did not) and she turned to me and said- "Well , you are ready. We need to go for delivery" . Now was my turn to be in a state of shock and the nurse told me later that the colleague almost fainted as he initially drove me thinking I was going for a medical check up and not delivery.
Sharp at 4:26 AM arrived our boy. The shock I was in of these sudden turn of events did not allow me to register anything of his birth. All I remember is that the doc sat down next to me and said, "Hope you are okay. Its a Boy. I am feeling bad that you are all alone here. Would you like something" and I said, " Yes, a diet coke please" . This was even before I held my baby !
So came the boy. Husband told me later that just before my call to him, he was in the elevator from 12th floor to ground , he had Rajnikanth who took his hand out and said" Hello, I am Rajnikanth". The husband claims that he was so excited to being face to face with THE rajnikanth - He blurted out : My wife is about to deliver our second baby and if he happens to be a boy , I want him to be like you"
Now you know that the origin of all troubles that I complain about my son is not the poor son but the father !