Our house, in the middle of our street!

On the 1 March we officially began renting our house and spent the day going around it checking everything and feeling generally excited.  Since packing our house up in Shanghai on the 12 December we had stayed in two serviced apartments and with family over Christmas, so we were all looking forward to more space and more of our things. 

        

Over the next few days the contents of our house in Shanghai arrived and slowly began to be unpacked.  We remained in the serviced apartment for a couple of days, but were desperate to be out so moved in amongst the chaos.

                                 

There were a few stressful moments, such as when Emily and I went to get the boys from school leaving Sam with instructions not to let the packers touch the kitchen.  I came home to the entire contents of the kitchen unpacked, half of it spread over the work surface and the other half randomly shoved in any cupboard.  Following my reaction, the unpackers fled the kitchen and then sent one brave man to assist me!! 

      

On the whole it all went well and there were some amusing moments when Sam and I were concerned about some damage to our leather sofas whereas the man was more worried about a chip in an old mug.  The one item of furniture we were worried about was the piano and it was a nervy few moments but they got it in in one piece.

                                   

The whole process has made us realise that we have accumulated too much 'stuff' and need to have a good clear out before we move on from India.  I never realised that William and Oliver owned so much.

      

Our house is in a compound similar to the one we were in in Shanghai.  It is unusual in Chennai to have compounds, although I suspect that many more will be built over the next few years.  Ours is a mix of expat and local families which is lovely.  On our street, we are the middle house and the boys are lucky enough to have three more children from their school in our street. 

       

As there is not much traffic they are able, when it's not too hot, to play outside with their friends.  It is the first time they have lived somewhere where this has been possible and needless to say they are really enjoying it! 

                                 

   

Introducing Emily Jasmine Hawkridge

On the 3 February I went to the hospital for my weekly appointment with my doctor.  We discussed birthing options and then she went to listen to the baby's heart.  That is when the day changed!  The heartbeat was very erratic and the doctor was concerned.  She decided to send me for another scan and then to a ward to have the heartbeat monitored for half an hour.  The scan was a bit of a stressful experience as firstly, they allowed another patient to sit in and secondly the sonographer said nothing to me at all!  When I got to the ward the nurses were lovely and got me hooked up.  However, half an hour became and hour and a half, listening to a wildly erratic heartbeat.  I'm not sure why it took longer, whether it was because the heartbeat was so erratic or because we were on Indian Stretched Time!

Eventually the doctor came to see me and said she wasn't happy and would like to do a caesarean as soon as possible.  I agreed and suddenly it was all systems go!  I called Sam and told him to go via the apartment to get the camera and my suitcase, school to get the boys and then get to me as quickly as he could!  He managed it pretty quickly considering Chennai traffic and the three of them arrived to find me all prepped and heading to theatre!  Sam settled the boys in the waiting room with food, games and the iPad and went to scrub in.  

Sam wasn't allowed in to the theatre until they had fully prepped me and were about to operate so he stood at the window in the door and waved at me.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to wave back as, bizarrely, they had strapped my wrists down with my arms fully stretched as if being crucified!!

During a Caesarian the anethatist usually tells you what is going on and manages things.  It seems that our anethatist was Mr Social in the theatre, chatting away to everyone.  Therefore, when I started retching it was down to the doctor to inform him!  However, he gave me something that made me feel so good I was able to forgive him!  Not long after, at 5.22pm, Emily was born.

 Both Sam and I were amazed at the amount of hair she had. They weighed her and cleaned her and showed her to me then whisked her off out of the room!  Sam quickly dashed off after her and, after being given something else by the anethatist, I slept for the remainder of the op!

Bearing in mind this all took the best part of two hours, William and Oliver were absolute stars waiting outside.  I half expected to see them pop up outside the door but they were very patient.  Obviously it wasn't ideal for them to be there but such was the nature of our situation. It actually worked out perfectly and as he followed Emily, Sam picked them up and they were able to meet their sister at a few minutes old.

By the time I was taken up to my room Sam, William and Oliver were having lots of cuddles and tucking in to pizza.

New beginnings

After packing up the house in Shanghai and saying our goodbyes we spent nearly three weeks in the UK sorting visas, having medicals, getting vaccinations, driving all over the place seeing family and celebrating Christmas and New Year.  Our flights to Chennai were finally booked for the 8 January and at just over 34 weeks pregnant I was cutting it fine.

Our flight went via Dubai which we were quite pleased about thinking it would be good to have time off the plane to stretch our legs.  However, due to delays on the first leg we ended up having to run through the airport to make the connection!

Chennai international airport was about as un-international as you can get.  It took quite a while to get through, firstly because I managed to fall over but luckily didn't trigger labour and, secondly we had to fill in about three landing cards each, an Ebola questionnaire and customs forms.  A good introduction to Indian bureaucracy.

Although it has been fifteen years since I was last in India, there was a definite familiarity as we left the airport.  We were met by two cars one of which took Sam and all the luggage and the other me and the boys.  As we waved Sam off I suddenly realised I had no phone and no idea where we were going.  Luckily the driver seemed to and we arrived safely at the serviced apartments.

Over the next week we settled in to our serviced apartment, visited the hospital and met my doctor, visited and enrolled the boys at a school and were taken round Chennai and lots of houses and apartments.  By the beginning of the second week the boys were in school, we had found a house and Sam started work again.  Most importantly we began to spot cows, much to William's and Oliver's relief!

On my birthday we found a lovely restaurant in a beautiful old house and grounds and had lunch. In the evening we ordered one of our now usual curries from the restaurant at our apartments.

We spent a fair amount of time at the pool on the roof of our apartment building.  Oliver and William have been in Asia too long as, despite the temperatures in the high 20s, they found the pool a bit cold.

To make us feel at home we even managed a 'back to school/work' afternoon tea and were very pleased that it cost half the price of the Shanghai equivalent and was in a hotel just as nice as the Peace Hotel.

The boys had a busy first couple of weeks at school with a trip and sports day which included a traditional sack race and an unusual picking up marbles with your feet event! We gradually began to settle in to a routine and await the arrival of the latest Hawkridge.