👶 PANDEMIC BUNDLE OF JOY 👼

  

Ivy Evelyn Narayan, the creme de la creme of the Covid-19 pandemic, a daughter/

granddaughter/sister/cousin. Ivy my grand niece, arrived in April at the height of lock down in Malaysia. 

       Ivy arrived at a time when even driving out to buy groceries was an ordeal with a zillion SOPs to follow - ONLY heads-of-household were allowed to shop, ONLY ONE person per car and police check-points sprouted like mushrooms. MASKS were so much in demand, they became rare commodities.

     SANITISE, SANITISE and SANITISE (including the groceries) AGAIN. The nightmare of having to stretch food to last for more meals was real. ALAMAK, with further worries of adding diapers, milk, bottles, medications etc, to the grocery list, this must have been a stressful experience for the family.

     Hospitals were suddenly baffled and in a panic about delivering babies. 

This chaos surfaced after an earlier delivery from a covid-19-positive mother who did not truthfully declare her movements. As such, nurses and the obstetrician involved in the delivery were put on 2-weeks quarantine immediately. All areas in the hospital where the mother was placed were sanitised and closed.  It caused much inconvenience to the public.

    Thus, new SOPs were introduced. It became mandatory for ALL parents-to-be to get Covid-19 tests before "babies pop from the ovens." Depending on the results returning as positive or negative, it was necessary for mother and baby to be quarantined in specific centres, and daddies in self-isolation at home for two weeks. Thus, instead of the excitement of anticipating  the birth of a child, parents-to-be were confused, jittery, nervous, anxious, edgy and just damn worried.

                Ivy's arrival was so different from Saha's, Sonia and Roshan's first daughter.  The pandemic did not allow for any fanfare or streams of visitors into the ward with balloons and gifts. No family members were allowed to accompany or visit. 

             "Waaah, I wanna go back in and arrive with more pomp and splendor after the pandemic."

       Sonia and Roshan, like all parents-to-be checked into the hospital and checked out straight for home with their new bundle of Ivy. A lovely name for a lovely girl. Thank goodness, Sonia and Roshan did not get too creative with baby names.

All went well 

and Ivy arrived home to Sasha

 who took her duty as "BIG" sister very seriously. 

Ivy blooming along at seven months.

Sasha giving Thory a hug.  

"SOMEBODY SAVE ME, this girl's got a mighty strong wrestler's rear CHOKE."