Ramadan starting and the weekend activities
First of all I want to thank Sobia for her Blog Hopping post. I’m so glad you are enjoying my blog and I will definitely provide some insight on the challenges here being pregnant, adjusting and who knows what else!! It’s a heck of a ride here!
I want to thank everyone else again for their nice comments. I read each and every one of them and I really appreciate it.
Ok, it’s time to go over the weekend activities here. Ramadan Mubarak to any of my Muslim readers!! Tuesday night Shakil’s grandmother came back to Pakistan. She had been out of the country. Now this is something that I’m not quite accustomed to - Shakil and I were just sitting watching t.v. or something and there’s a phone call. The phone call was to let us know that grandmother was coming in and that we all needed to meet her at the airport. Me, Shakil, MIL, FIL and BIL headed out to the airport to meet her. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that a good part of the family heads out the airport to meet someone. I really don’t think it happens too much in the U.S. Am I wrong? I know when I last spent 5 mos here in Pak – when I returned to the states it was my Mom and bro waiting for me. I would have been kind of shocked to see my whole family there including some extended family. I just don’t think it’s that common and I admire them doing that here. That’s fantastic.
After the greeting at the airport we all headed over to Shak’s grandparents house. There were several relatives there and most eyes were on the t.v. debating on when Ramadan was going to start. After hearing lots of chatting and chatting I came to the assumption that it wasn’t going to start on Wednesday or maybe it was Shak who told me that it was going to be on Thursday – heck if I know. All I know is that I’m not fasting. Shakil is fasting and he is not religious at all - the only reason he’s doing so is because of his mother. She loves to be on his ass about prayer and other religious activities. It’s always gotten on my nerves because Shakil is a grown man at 33 yrs old and doesn’t need someone telling him when to pray, etc. Ok – yes – be nice Tara. Ughhh, it’s just always gotten to me.
So Ramadan started here on Thursday and bright and early at 4 a.m. – who comes knocking on our bedroom door???? MIL!!! I heard the knocking and I thought, “You have GOT to be kidding me”!! Then if you don’t pay attention to MIL’s knocking she’ll start saying “Shakeeeeeeeel, Shakeeeeeeeel”!! It cracks me up when she starts wailing out his name. Shak finally awakens and tells her something and she appears to be satisfied. He’s done really well. He gets up at 4 a.m. and then goes to eat. I’m usually hungry at 5 a.m. every damn morning and have to get up as well to shovel down some cereal or something. My baby-to-be seems to think it’s time to eat at 5 a.m. everyday.
Oh and I went to the doctor on Thursday. I was sooooo nervous about going. I just didn’t know what to expect and I just knew that this doctor wouldn’t be like my OB in anyway and then I was worried about how sanitary things would be, etc. So Shakil took me Thursday evening. I had a 5:30 p.m. appt. We pull up to the clinic and from the outside it seemed really nice and I thought “ok, this shouldn’t be too bad – but what about the inside? That’s the question”!! We walked inside and there was a normal reception desk where a man was playing receptionist – not used to seeing that but hey - ok! Off to the left there was the waiting room behind some glass doors. We walk in to have a seat and it felt great in there – they were using a/c!!! It looked just like a typical waiting room you might find in the U.S. We filled out a little questionnaire thingy and then about 5 minutes later – I was called to go back. Ok the nervousness started up again because I had no idea what the rooms were going to look like. The nurse, medical asst, whatever she was weighed me and of course Shakil had to stand over and watch while I was weighed. She took me into the room and clicked on the a/c! Yippeeeeeee!! That room was feeling great too. The nurse took my BP and then she left while we waited for the OB. I looked around the room and it was very nice and very clean. I was impressed!! Not what I had expected - I was very skeptical just because of my E.R. experience with food poisoning when I was here earlier this year.
The OB came in the room and from the moment he walked in I knew he seemed nice. He proceeded to do the Doppler on me and Shakil got to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the 1st time! That was priceless when I looked over to him and he was smiling. Baby has a nice strong heartbeat and the doc could hear her moving around while he was doing the Doppler. So baby seems to be doing just fine!! I’ll be 22 weeks this Thursday and I go back to see this OB in about 2 weeks and I’ll also be having another ultrasound to screen for anomalies, etc.
So all in all the trip to the OB went great. He is a very thorough doctor and he really took his time with me, etc. I actually like him better than my OB in the U.S. He got his M.D. in the U.S. and even practiced there for over 20 years. He is up to speed on everything and is well aware of my Rh negativity – which makes me feel very good. I feel my baby-to-be is in good hands.
My first iftar here in Pak was last night. Now I’m not fasting since I’m pregnant but I sure do participate in the yummy food eating! MIL prepared some Dal Gosht, Chicken Tikka, a dish with onions, tomatoes, chick peas, coriander and some masala – served cold which tasted great. There was fresh naan, samosas, pakoras and jellibee (sp?) I was soooo full after devouring many of these items. I can’t eat the goat – I just haven’t gotten used to that yet after seeing them slaughtered last Eid. I’m trying to get over it.
Tonight I had iftar with just FIL, BIL and MIL since Shakil is at work. She made Chicken Manchurian with some fantastic rice and I’m so full right now. Just hoping she doesn’t come with more food in a couple of hours – I know how she operates but I’m gonna have to turn her down.
In the morning when Shakil gets home from work we’re going to go for a walk in the park – that’ll be at 5:30 a.m. Yikes!! The doc advised that I try to get at least 30 minutes of walking in daily.
Until later…
Bye for now.
I want to thank everyone else again for their nice comments. I read each and every one of them and I really appreciate it.
Ok, it’s time to go over the weekend activities here. Ramadan Mubarak to any of my Muslim readers!! Tuesday night Shakil’s grandmother came back to Pakistan. She had been out of the country. Now this is something that I’m not quite accustomed to - Shakil and I were just sitting watching t.v. or something and there’s a phone call. The phone call was to let us know that grandmother was coming in and that we all needed to meet her at the airport. Me, Shakil, MIL, FIL and BIL headed out to the airport to meet her. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that a good part of the family heads out the airport to meet someone. I really don’t think it happens too much in the U.S. Am I wrong? I know when I last spent 5 mos here in Pak – when I returned to the states it was my Mom and bro waiting for me. I would have been kind of shocked to see my whole family there including some extended family. I just don’t think it’s that common and I admire them doing that here. That’s fantastic.
After the greeting at the airport we all headed over to Shak’s grandparents house. There were several relatives there and most eyes were on the t.v. debating on when Ramadan was going to start. After hearing lots of chatting and chatting I came to the assumption that it wasn’t going to start on Wednesday or maybe it was Shak who told me that it was going to be on Thursday – heck if I know. All I know is that I’m not fasting. Shakil is fasting and he is not religious at all - the only reason he’s doing so is because of his mother. She loves to be on his ass about prayer and other religious activities. It’s always gotten on my nerves because Shakil is a grown man at 33 yrs old and doesn’t need someone telling him when to pray, etc. Ok – yes – be nice Tara. Ughhh, it’s just always gotten to me.
So Ramadan started here on Thursday and bright and early at 4 a.m. – who comes knocking on our bedroom door???? MIL!!! I heard the knocking and I thought, “You have GOT to be kidding me”!! Then if you don’t pay attention to MIL’s knocking she’ll start saying “Shakeeeeeeeel, Shakeeeeeeeel”!! It cracks me up when she starts wailing out his name. Shak finally awakens and tells her something and she appears to be satisfied. He’s done really well. He gets up at 4 a.m. and then goes to eat. I’m usually hungry at 5 a.m. every damn morning and have to get up as well to shovel down some cereal or something. My baby-to-be seems to think it’s time to eat at 5 a.m. everyday.
Oh and I went to the doctor on Thursday. I was sooooo nervous about going. I just didn’t know what to expect and I just knew that this doctor wouldn’t be like my OB in anyway and then I was worried about how sanitary things would be, etc. So Shakil took me Thursday evening. I had a 5:30 p.m. appt. We pull up to the clinic and from the outside it seemed really nice and I thought “ok, this shouldn’t be too bad – but what about the inside? That’s the question”!! We walked inside and there was a normal reception desk where a man was playing receptionist – not used to seeing that but hey - ok! Off to the left there was the waiting room behind some glass doors. We walk in to have a seat and it felt great in there – they were using a/c!!! It looked just like a typical waiting room you might find in the U.S. We filled out a little questionnaire thingy and then about 5 minutes later – I was called to go back. Ok the nervousness started up again because I had no idea what the rooms were going to look like. The nurse, medical asst, whatever she was weighed me and of course Shakil had to stand over and watch while I was weighed. She took me into the room and clicked on the a/c! Yippeeeeeee!! That room was feeling great too. The nurse took my BP and then she left while we waited for the OB. I looked around the room and it was very nice and very clean. I was impressed!! Not what I had expected - I was very skeptical just because of my E.R. experience with food poisoning when I was here earlier this year.
The OB came in the room and from the moment he walked in I knew he seemed nice. He proceeded to do the Doppler on me and Shakil got to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the 1st time! That was priceless when I looked over to him and he was smiling. Baby has a nice strong heartbeat and the doc could hear her moving around while he was doing the Doppler. So baby seems to be doing just fine!! I’ll be 22 weeks this Thursday and I go back to see this OB in about 2 weeks and I’ll also be having another ultrasound to screen for anomalies, etc.
So all in all the trip to the OB went great. He is a very thorough doctor and he really took his time with me, etc. I actually like him better than my OB in the U.S. He got his M.D. in the U.S. and even practiced there for over 20 years. He is up to speed on everything and is well aware of my Rh negativity – which makes me feel very good. I feel my baby-to-be is in good hands.
My first iftar here in Pak was last night. Now I’m not fasting since I’m pregnant but I sure do participate in the yummy food eating! MIL prepared some Dal Gosht, Chicken Tikka, a dish with onions, tomatoes, chick peas, coriander and some masala – served cold which tasted great. There was fresh naan, samosas, pakoras and jellibee (sp?) I was soooo full after devouring many of these items. I can’t eat the goat – I just haven’t gotten used to that yet after seeing them slaughtered last Eid. I’m trying to get over it.
Tonight I had iftar with just FIL, BIL and MIL since Shakil is at work. She made Chicken Manchurian with some fantastic rice and I’m so full right now. Just hoping she doesn’t come with more food in a couple of hours – I know how she operates but I’m gonna have to turn her down.
In the morning when Shakil gets home from work we’re going to go for a walk in the park – that’ll be at 5:30 a.m. Yikes!! The doc advised that I try to get at least 30 minutes of walking in daily.
Until later…
Bye for now.
posted by Tara at 9:34 AM
4 Comments:
glad to hear you and baby are doing well. Yay about Shak hearing the heartbeat and also for finding a good doctor..i know you were worried about that. Soooo happy for you sis...
Tara, so glad you are happy with everything. Atleast your mil isn't banging and yelling "jillie karow" (hurry up and do it!) while she bangs. That was my mil's specialty. ha ha
Tara, hope your family and you are all good after the earthquake. Please let us know.
salaams tara!!! so happy ur drs appt went well!!! miss ya girl!!! was busy with baby but now trying to catch up in cyberworld :)
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