Former fashion-stylistturned- stay-at-home mum, Priya Kochhar, has taken to motherhood with the rather powerful outlook of going back to the basics when it comes to raising her beautiful daughter, Taarini
BY CHARLENE FLANAGAN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANEGA BAWA
RELATIONSHIPS are all about striking a balance and for parents Priya and Rajat Kochhar, there couldn’t be a more supportive and balanced dynamic they could have imagined. Their marriage is the perfect harmony of two individual personalities that absolutely shine through in each other. “Everyone calls us ‘the power couple’, and we totally believe it! I would like to believe that Rajat’s dynamism and my vivaciousness, somehow manage to create an impact on people everywhere we go,” she admits.
In fact, it was these very personalities that made them fall for each other. “Rajat and I met in the mountains of Himachal, where I hail from. When we first met, he was there to set up a factory for his family business. Fate chose to bring us together, and right from the start, we got along famously. After a year of dating, our families met and and decided to get us married,” she gushes.
THE FAMILY WAY
When it came to starting a family, Priya was fortunate that Rajat had the same idea. “One day, Rajat said to me, ‘Let’s have a baby’ and I said, ‘Yes, let’s’. It was as simple as that. Usually in most marriages, it takes a lot of convincing when only one partner is ready to have a child. Usually, the husband is not ready and the wife has to explain and coax him into agreeing. And this is not an easy topic to convince anyone on; it could take months or even years before one of them relents. Thankfully, this was not the case with us and we both were on the same page at the same time,” she says with a broad smile.
Soon after they were in agreement, Priya began preparing her body for conception. “Since I knew that my husband wanted a child as much as I did, it really made me have a happy pregnancy. Once we decided that we wanted to go ahead with this, I started prepping my body by improving my diet and consulted a reputed and extremely loved gynecologist, Dr Urvashi Sehgal of Phoenix Hospital, Delhi, who prescribed some necessary vitamins and nutrients before I actually conceived.”
Priya was away at her parents’ house when she suspected that she might be expecting. “My period was delayed and since I didn’t have a home pregnancy kit, and wasn’t really keen on going out to get one, I put off confirming my suspicion till I got back to Delhi. I remember it was a Sunday when I got home and checked. My husband was at home and I told him immediately, although, I have to admit that I took the test three times before telling him that he was going to be a father!” she laughs. “Rajat and I were ecstatic. Of course, my mother-in-law rushed me to Dr Urvashi to get her to confirm the pregnancy.”
PREGNANCY & DELIVERY
Priya, being the fit and active person she is, had an absolutely smooth pregnancy. “My pregnancy was a breeze. This was my first pregnancy, and I have to admit I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. I had only heard stories of crazy nausea, vomiting, hospitalisation, water retention, swelling, back pain and what not! So I was expecting, at the very least, to experience some of it, if not all. I was a bit surprised when my pregnancy kept progressing without the appearance of any of these symptoms,” she says. If that was only all, Priya was clearly one of the lucky few to only carry in her belly. “I only gained weight in my belly and hardly on any other part of my body. My belly was also unusually tiny. In fact, at my baby shower, my friends and family had to do a double take, just to make sure I was really carrying. Over the nine months of my pregnancy, I gained a healthy weight of nine kilos. I am glad that my routine and healthy habits helped me stay fit,” she says.
As a way to stay active, Priya enrolled in some pregnancy fitness classes, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment there. “I joined Antenatal Yoga and fitness class which by far was the best thing I would say about my pregnancy. It was called Zaazen Wellness and is a part of Phoenix Hospital itself. The classes taught me that pregnancy is not only about resting and pigging out. It’s also important to stay active and fit, for the health and well-being of you and your baby. I was always bursting with energy,” she says.
For Priya, the nine months she carried Taarini was perhaps one of the most wonderful experiences for her. She was healthy, happy and couldn’t ask for more. When it was time for Taarini to be born, Priya figured childbirth would also be as smooth as her pregnancy. Well, life is funny and she was in for a surprise.
“I was in my 41st week of pregnancy with no signs of going into labour. I figured that after completing the full term, Taarini would be ready to greet us. When I passed my due date, my family began to get anxious and we opted to induce labour. I was in active labour for three days but still wasn’t dilating enough. We even burst the water bag, but Taarini just wasn’t ready to come out. At the end of the third day we took a call to opt for a C-section because we didn’t want to distress the baby. So at 11 p.m that night, I was wheeled into the delivery room, and 20 minutes later, we welcome our beautiful baby girl,” she recalls.
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