The heir, the spare and the who cares

Satya and I had been planning to go skiing and play with thick snow for quite some time and we took the opportunity during the New Year break to play with snow. After some discussions and considering the risks to our pregnancy, we decided to go to Biwako Valley, situated two hours away from home (via train). My last experience with thick snow and skiing was in Tsuruoka, Japan in 2008, when I visited Satya while he was studying in Japan whereas I was working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We arrived at the valley and was overwhelmed by the breathtaking view. I grew enthusiastic to see the snow-capped mountain and approached the ski resort as soon as I can to step on those powdery snow. We even entertained ourselves by bragging how proud our kid would be to see his/her parents so deterministic during their younger years.

Once we arrived at the resort, we learned that to play with snow, we have to take a huge cable car about 1000 meters up to the mountain. Since we arrived at about 4 pm and the resort closes at 5.30 pm, we agreed to go up the mountain, view and play with the snow for 15 minutes and get back down, not wanting to risk our pregnancy. Once we got on top, we couldn't contain ourselves with happiness as it was really beautiful and we were too excited to play with the snow. I made a snow angel for our baby and requested Satya to record the event as remembrance. I was exactly 5 months pregnant and my bulging tummy was visible in the video :) 

The weather grew colder and it became very windy, so we decided to head back. But the queue to get on the cable car was too long and it took us almost one hour to get on one. While waiting, we grew anxious and regretted every moment for taking the risk to get to that place while pregnant. Our initial plan was to stay for only 15 minutes but we didn't expect the waiting time for the cable car would prolong our stay. Finally, we got back home safely, ate a nutritious meal and had warm shower. I got into my cozy bed still anxious, hoping for my baby to move and kick for assurance. It was a sleepless night until at about 3.30 am, when I felt our baby kicked.

Feeling our baby move and kick is one of the most beautiful moment ever. At the very beginning, I would ask Satya to place his hand on my tummy and to experience my joy of feeling the baby move. But as the pregnancy progresses, we were able to see my abdomen bulging sharply whenever the baby kicks strongly. We started speaking and singing our silly songs to our baby, hoping he/she will respond by moving. I usually come up with some funny remarks about the baby's movements to acknowledge Satya about it. For instance, once I felt the kicks as if water were boiling inside my tummy, except it was the coolest and sweetest 'boiling effect' ever. Sometimes, I wonder how the baby moved to have caused the 'boiling effect'. Does it move its two legs, knees, hands and elbows and the same time?

Recently, we found a posting from Reddit depicting how some parents perceives their first born as the heir, the second child as the spare and the third one as redundant and as ‘who cares’. I have lost two girls (the so called heir and spare - which is so untrue as I love them both more than anything and would do anything to see them alive and happy in my arms); and our third baby from this pregnancy will be the most cared. For us, pregnancy is like a miracle and seeing a baby is like seeing a unicorn walking on earth. Here's hoping that our special little unicorn will prance healthily in due course escorted happily by two hopeful parents.