Sasha Bel Chhabra

Our baby girl was born on May 23rd. She’s five days old. Her name is Sasha Bel and she is sweet and precious and adorable. She is much more mellow than her brother was when he was first born. She’s pretty much always sleeping. She smiles in her sleep all the time. When she does cry, she sounds like a duck.

This is her.

Kate started experiencing contractions early last week. They were irregular, often strong and mostly short lived. By midweek, they had stopped altogether. After we saw the doctor on Friday, they started up again. This time they were stronger and more regular. The doctor told us she was 3 cm dilated and that we’d likely be having a baby that night or the next day.

So we decided to go see Star Trek.

Figured it would be a good diversion from the contractions and probably one the last times we’d be able to see a movie in a while. Sweet movie, but those of you who have seen it would probably agree that the first scene is precisely NOT what a woman in labor should be watching. Kate was not happy and found the movie to be louder and more stressful than she would’ve preferred, being in labor and all, but ultimately gave it a hearty thumbs up.

I drew her a bath when we came home. The contractions continued regularly. While in the bath, she felt a need to push and it was then we decided to head over to the hospital. We were both very calm and deliberative as we prepared our things. Almost as if we had just done this a year ago. 

We got to the hospital around 10:30  and she was at 4 cm. We settled into our labor and delivery room, Kate got her medicine and we waited..And waited. And waited some more. We tried to get some sleep, but we were anxious and I found it difficult to sleep on a thin, hard couch with no pillow. It was a long night.

By morning, she was only at 6 cm. Baby was doing great but had not moved down too far. Kate’s doctor showed up at around 9 and broke her water. As soon as he did, Kate began to rapidly dilate and the baby’s head was suddenly visible. 

It’s happening now. I grab a leg and the nurse grabs another and I tell Kate to push. One push and her head comes out. I continue to cheer on my beautiful and strong wife. One more push bubs. She gives it all she’s got, and the rest of our baby girl slithers out. 

And just like that, we had a daughter.

My friend Omar aptly described my perspective on our second baby in two years. Less romanticized but just as amazing, overwhelming and beautiful.

Bodhi is adapting well to having a baby sister. He is such a good kid. Such a pleasure to be around. So happy. He kisses his sister and shows us her nose, her mouth and her ears. Then he shows us his own. 

The past year, hanging out with Bodhi alone, and together as a family has been the best of my life. I am so excited to have a beautiful baby girl join us on all our adventures. In her first five days, she’s already made it out to Willard Park and the Tilden Little Farm. If she’d ever wake up for once, I’m sure she’d have a blast with us.

But I’m certainly not complaining.