It’s a no brainer that India boasts of the all too skewed up sex ratio. With such a patriarchal society like ours, every house wants a boy. Well, every house, except for my hubby’s. Their’s is a small family comprising of two uncles, four cousin and two brothers. A total of ten men (including DH & FIL) in a combined family of fifteen. This lopsided figure started turning for the better when ladies came in as spouses. However, it was safe to say that if India primarily had more boys than girls, I think my new family had a very major part to play.
Baby no.11:
So it didn’t come as a surprise that everyone prayed hard for a girl when the first of our cousins got pregnant (As they all had when the aunts in the family were expecting, but we know how that turned out!). Oh how badly everyone wanted a girl. Everyone’s hopes soared high, and excited talks prevailed in every house. Counting minutes to D Day for when the lil angel would make ‘her’ appearance. The lady of the hour was finally wheeled into the hospital as the family stood with waited breath… On Feb 15th 2011, a beautiful baby was delivered. A beautiful baby boy. And no matter how the family felt about another boy joining the jing bang, celebrations rolled out to welcome the new arrival. After all, what really mattered was that both mother and baby were healthy, right?
Baby no.12:
Three years on, my hubby and I announced our big news. This was now also a time of family group chats on Whatsapp. As the family got bigger and mostly living away from one another, the minute to minute update of food, clothes, jokes, ‘Goodmornings’ and ‘Goodnights’ ensured everyone stayed closely connected. And no matter how far my delivery date was, the excited talks on having a girl had already begun. Not a day went by when ‘we hope it’s a girl’ line wasn’t brought up. Few weeks down the line, another cousin got pregnant. The family was bursting with happiness. 2 girls maybe?? Were we both finally going to break the jinx? Bets were made, praying was made mandatory, and a conversation which went something like this ensued every other day:
“So how many girls in your house Dee?”
“Your parents had 2 girls”
“Your sister also had 2 girls”
“So isn’t it true that most of your cousins are girls?”
Everything that hinted at how high the chances were to have a girl in the family, thanks to me, was discussed. In a weird way, I felt the pressure that women in a patriarchal society feel, except that we had the gender in reverse. And before you get all judgmental about my hubby’s family, you should know that everything was always said in jest, and the pressures from such jokes n teases were more in my head than in actuality. But even so, I felt it.
Feb 16th 2015 arrived all too quickly. I was finally wheeled into labor room, and in a matter of hours, delivered our beautiful baby. A beautiful baby boy! The count of boys just went up to 12. But no matter how disappointed the family must’ve been, I was congratulated with full fervor. After all, the baby and I were both healthy.
Another baby:
Few weeks on, the other cousin was wheeled into the delivery room. Now all eyes and attention was on them. Were the prayers finally going to be answered? Was the jinx finally going to be broken? We all waited and waited and waited for the big news. On 24th April 2015, the cousin delivered a beautiful baby. A beautiful and gorgeous baby girl!!! Can I possibly explain how ecstatic the family was? Probably not. Let’s just say, they were happy and relieved (And that all phone lines jammed from Mumbai to Muscat and Whatsapp just crashed!). It was now possible to welcome baby girls into the clan. Needless to say, everything pink was drummed out and the whole family was finally going to get a lil angel to spoil <3
My boy is now 3 months old, and I love him no less than I would have a girl. He’s perfect. But something my dad said the day he was born, makes me smile each day….
“Now I won’t feel outnumbered in a family of girls. MY supporter is here 🙂 ”.
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