Housefull!

Mommy blogger Parul Kakad, aka Mumbai Mummy, let’s us in on the secrets to raising her #xssmallmediumlarge army of mini-mes—patience, love, and a whole lotta’ happiness!

- Kriselle Fonseca

It really does take a village to raise kids, but what about raising a village itself?! Blogger Parul Hiren Kakad seems to have knocked that one right out of the park, something that certainly did not come easy to this mum of four. Her Instagram profile perfectly chronicles her mommyhood journey with her hands absolutely full, but the MumbaiMummy let us in on a side of her life, that hardly made it to her feed. After nine pregnancies and five miscarriages, Parul still finds herself going through a learning curve, as a mum, and as an individual too. Hear her story in her own words...

“My husband Hiren and I decided to get married when we were really young—I was 19 and still studying, while he was 23. We were both from different parts of the world—he was from Dubai, and I from Zambia, Africa. We were both alone in the city. But we were so in love, I honestly could not ignore the impending wedding bells!

“The two of us traveled together and immersed ourselves in our work. I opened restaurants in Australia with my younger brother Badri, shuttling every couple of months between Australia and India, while Hiren got into telecom and investments in properties. A year into our marriage, life dealt me the first blow. I was pregnant with our first child, when one day, all of a sudden, I had a severe stomach ache. It was only when we reached the hospital did I realize that I had miscarried. I was all of 20 then, and honestly, I don’t think it affected me much at that moment. But as I slowly began to understand what I went through, emotionally, it just got worse.

“Three years later, we conceived again. I was elated and planned an elaborate dinner to tell Hiren the good news. But he showed up an hour late, and was in high spirits! So I just handed him my test results and darted out. But he ran after me screaming “Are you serious? We’re having a baby?!” He was just as thrilled.