Even babies didn’t miss it

Neha Talekar, a staff nurse in Jaslok Hospital, who is usually seen comforting expectant mothers, was in labour on Friday.

Neha Talekar, a staff nurse in Jaslok Hospital, who is usually seen comforting expectant mothers, was in labour on Friday.

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As the clock struck 11.11am on November 11, Talekar’s baby boy cried out for the first time after the doctors performed a Caesarean section on the mother at the Peddar Road hospital.

“We have been awaiting this day ever since we planned to have a baby earlier this year. After consulting our astrologer, we decided that even the time had to be accurate,” said Talekar, 29, who underwent a planned Caesarean on Friday.

Like Talekar, several pregnant women went under the knife on the unique palindrome sequence to deliver their children. While some deliveries were planned months in advance, a few others were decided overnight.

For the Janardhanans in Bhandup, the number ‘11’ now has an emotional connect. It took 11 years for the couple, who got married in 2000, to hold their baby girl in their arms.

“My wife was diagnosed with “unexplained infertility” a few years ago. After undergoing treatment, she conceived this year,” said Vinod Janardhanan, a merchant navy officer. “We did not pre-book the date, but it was a pleasant co-incidence,” he added.

With more than five planned caesarean deliveries on Friday, the waiting room outside the operation theatre of Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital in Powai was packed with different sets of anxious relatives throughout the day. “The rooms and operation slots were booked in advance because parents were very excited about the date,” said Dr Anita Soni, gynaecologist at the hospital, who operated on all the five pregnant mothers. “I usually have several operations lined on Fridays. This week, the feeling was different because nervousness was overpowered by excitement,” she added.