We Had Just Enough Light
Just the night before Reesha’s Birth
(Oct 31st, 2012), we were at the Jersey Medical Hospital.
Getting to a hospital was an experience of a kind, my car wouldn’t start coz
just a day ago it was 99.5% underwater during the Sandy Pradarshan and no
phones would work due to signal loss. I then wore my jacket and asked Papaji if
he would accompany me to Vikram’s house (my nearest friend and coincidently his
wife Shruti was also expecting a baby in the same week). From the balcony I saw
that it was too dangerous to head out as there were no lights on streets, roads
blocked by downed wires & fallen trees and some about to fall. I couldn’t
find my torch since we had just moved to a new house and things were still
unpacked. We stepped outside anyway and walked with whatever light that little
phone could produce. With a bit of trouble we managed to get to Vikram’s
apartment building, when I entered it was pitch black, I somehow reached the
stairs but couldn’t see a step, for a moment I wished my shoes had similar
sparkling lights that of my elder daughter’s shoes. I banged a couple of wrong
doors since I had lost the sense of direction in those dark corridors. Finally
one of the doors answered and luckily it was Vikram. It was a relief to see
someone and communicate. I asked him if he could drop me to hospital since
Trupti’s contractions have begun and they seemed pretty strong. He immediately
agreed and got ready. We rushed back to my place and packed the required
hospital stuff and asked Trupti to get ready. Even in so much pain she got
ready quickly and in no time we were heading towards the hospital. It was dark
since no street lights and traffic signals were working. For the first time in
US, I felt the US roads were so unsafe to drive though there were quite a few
Police and Fire vans policing around. In a moment we got stopped by a Cop, I
was wondering what a time to get a ticket, but I didn’t see Vikram breaking any
rules, in fact there were no rules that night. Officer walked towards our car
and said, “It’s a curfew here and you are not supposed to be on roads today,
where are you guys heading anyway?”, before even Vikram
could answer, Officer with his torch saw Trupti in pain, he immediately
realized and guided us with the safest route to get to the hospital.
We reached the
hospital and had a tough time finding a parking coz most of the parking was
taken by uprooted trees with few cars stuck under them. After entering the
hospital, it seemed like the janitor staff was on strike and hadn’t cleaned the
floors in ages, but then learnt that the hospital was also flooded with water
the day before and that explains the filth still lying around. Due to power loss, only one elevator was
working with few emergency lights that to powered on generators, we waited for
our turn to get in and then were directed to a common area where few other
pregnant women were already being diagnosed if they were in real labor. I was
wondering how the hell they are going to deliver a baby in this kind of
facility with such lighting, one wouldn’t recognize her own child. Any way
there was a last slot and luckily Trupti got in there and she was immediately
on a machine that detects the dilation. After an hour & half, nurse checked
her report and said, “Your wife is yet to dilate a lot more to be really
hospitalized so we can’t let you guys stay here”. I requested nurse that there
is no way I could go back home in this situation and moreover I will not be
able to get my friend to drop me again coz his wife is expecting anytime soon.
But then she said, “due to unavailability of enough rooms, we have to consider
patient with emergency conditions only” and then made it clear that since
Trupti’s last labor lasted almost more than 32 hrs, she may have a similar one
this time also and therefore we atleast have a couple days more to go for
delivery. Trupti shockingly said, “not again!” I was shocked too. I wouldn’t
let Trupti tolerate that even for couple hours and nurse says ‘couple days’, it
was unbelievable. I started doubting the Nurse professional abilities and also
if the damn machine was even legit. It reminded me that throughout the
pregnancy Trupti had been praying for only one thing, that this time her labor
should be a quick one. My heart sank for a moment and felt why Trupti has to go
through all this. We had no option but to head back home. Vikram dropped us
home at 1.35Am and left for his share of similar trauma.
Trupti somehow made
herself to the bed and was moaning till 3.30am. Though I was sleepy I could
sense that she was breathing heavily and meditating, even though she was
suffering she calmly prayed. But then at around quarter to 4, her contraction
became severe. I woke-up and asked her if I should wake her Mom, she said, “No,
not now”. I simply massaged her lower back to soothe her; I had learnt a few
strokes in the birth classes during her last pregnancy. She then screamed
suddenly, “we need to go to hospital Rahul”. I was in shock again, how do I get
back to hospital. All my options were shut, no power, no communication, no
conveyance. I was thinking how the hell I should console her. I checked my cell
phone if I had signal, it said ‘No Service’. I called 911 to check if the call
goes through, it did not. I told Trupti,
“as per doctor the contractions may last for a while, so please wait till 6 and
I shall go and ask Vikram to drop us again”. She was again breathing heavily
with weird sounds this time. She managed herself out of the bed and I heard a
louder moan, I was really scared this time. I stopped whatever I was doing and
looked at the cell phone again to see if any luck and dialed 911 but got
‘Connection Failed’ again. I asked her if she wants to lie down in the hot
water tub, may be it will make the pain more bearable. She immediately said yes
and I did the initial arrangements. This was our first miracle that hot water was still working. Though there was no power, hot water seemed
to be flowing with no hiccups.
At around 5.30am she
lied down in the hot water tub and in few minutes her water ‘broke’. She almost
started yelling this time, I woke my mother-in-law and asked her to be with
Trupti, she immediately came to the bathroom and started consoling Trupti and praying
simultaneously. Since there was no light we switched on the Iphone light.
Though it didn’t provide clear view it was enough to sense all the fixtures in
the bathroom. I again checked my cell phone it was 5.39 and as usual was not
able to reach 911. I said I will go to Vikrma’s to see if he is awake and get
the car. Mummiji suggested not to go anywhere coz anything could happen. I was
in a bit of panicky situation and had no idea what should I do next. I also
started praying with stammering at its peak. I went to corner of my room where
I had sensed some hope of finding the signal; I started calling 911 every
couple seconds this time.
My father-in-law was
standing in a corner and praying. I looked at Reet, she was still sleeping,
this was unbelievable coz she would usually wake up even with the slight sound
of someone changing the sleeping position and here with so much of chaos and
screaming, she stayed undisturbed. This was our second miracle. If Reet had woken up, I can imagine the chaos
aggravating and would require a person full time to handle her coz she is
scared of dark and she would have not understood what was going on.
It was now 5.47am, I
kept trying 911 and Trupti screamed that she could now feel the baby. “Oh God..
How is that possible?” I asked myself. My heart was pounding heavily now, my
mind started banging with all sorts of questions, how is it possible to deliver
a baby at home, how do we stop the bleeding, how do we handle Trupti if she is
in extreme pain and how do we cut the cord, sanitize the baby, how do we know
if Trupti and the baby are doing alright etc. I went to the bathroom and looked
at Trupti, she was standing and was in extreme pain, I asked her, “why are you
not sitting”, she said, “I can’t, I am feeling like pushing and I can feel it”.
I then rushed back to my hopeful place to check if I could connect, it was
around 5.55am, I kept my phone on speaker and called 911 again. And then Trupti
shouted, “Rahuuul, I can feel the baby’s head”. My hands and legs stared
shivering this time, I shouted back, “no, you are just feeling that way, it
can’t be so soon, remember what nurse said”, though in my head I knew that
Trupti may be right, but somehow I was not able to accept that we were
delivering the baby in this way and also couldn’t believe how Nurse could be so
terribly wrong. I took a deep breath and prayed ‘Navakar Mantra’ again, I was
not able to concentrate, in fact I was complaining GOD “how could this happen
to me”, and believe it or not I heard a voice back asking, “Sir, how can we
help you”, I opened my eyes and saw that the phone had got connected, I told
the officer, “my wife is delivering a baby and the baby will be out in next few
minutes, could you please come fast”, the officer on the phone said, “I can’t
hear you Sir, could you please relax and say your address clearly”. Before I
could tell the address I heard Mummiji saying the baby is here. I heard the
baby crying. I turned back to my phone and saw that the call had already been
hung-up or may have got disconnected not sure, I checked the time it was
6.03am. I calmed down a bit and tried again, it did not connect. I suddenly
realized this was third miracle; the
phone had got connected just after the baby was born.
I ran to the bathroom, couldn’t see anything
clearly but sensed that Trupti was holding the baby to her chest giving her
Skin-To-Skin. Trupti said, “The baby made herself way out and Mummy caught the
baby in her palm”. I asked, “Is the baby Ok”, with the mixed emotions of crying
and laughing she said, “Yes she is fine and she is beautiful”. My eyes were full and voice blocked, I so
much wanted to tell her that she is great and I am so proud of her, but
couldn’t say anything. I switched on my phone flash and looked clearly at the
baby, it was such a relief, though the baby was covered with the blood all over
and the cord was still hanging, she was making woowing sounds. Now I knew that
everything is going to be alright. I thanked GOD again and again. Her prayers were heard, the labor was really
quick and this was our forth miracle.
It was hard to believe that the Nurse and
her test observations proved wrong. My heart was still pounding heavily, but
this time out of happiness, it was an unbelievable feeling. Trupti again
clarified, “see I told you I could feel the Baby’s head”. I just smiled back at
her. I told her that the phone had got connected but couldn’t talk clearly,
will try again. I went back and tried connecting, to my surprise it got
connected again, this time the Officer said, “we got your address and the
paramedics is already on it way, it should be there in a few minutes”. They had
figured out my address, thanks to technology. I again went back to bathroom,
asked Mummiji to get Trupti’s hospital bag ready and the ambulance should be
here any time. I remember during the last delivery, Trupti’s Mom couldn’t see
her go through so much pain so she did not even enter the delivery room but
this time she had to deliver the baby herself. I wondered how God instilled so
much of strength and courage in her that moment. I looked at Reet she was still
sleeping soundly as if she already knew everything is going to be alright.
I heard the paramedic siren, I rushed towards the
main stairs and opened the door, it was cold and the view outside was
petrifying. There were 3 paramedic and 4
cop vehicles with powerful and bright lights. I had never seen so many of them
so close. The whole street was lit colorfully, it seemed like an occasion was
being celebrated. The paramedic guys came over and said, “this is so dark in
here, how did you guys pull this off”, I said, “We had just enough light,
Officer”. The officer raised his brows and began his procedures. He then
clipped the cord and checked the heartbeat of the baby, Reesha was doing fine.
He cleaned her up a bit and wrapped her in a blanket. She was put on an oxygen
mask. Trupti was still standing feeling week and dizzy. The officer diagnosed
Trupti and said we need to rush to hospital though he confirmed that everything
is OK. Trupti was laid down on stretcher and carried over to the ambulance. We
all got in and I was holding Reesha in my hands staring at her as if I had
never seen a baby before. She opened her eyes for a moment, I whispered “Thank
you”, she went back to sleep. I managed to click a photo of both Mom and
Daughter with my phone as a memory (attached the pic below). Within no time we
reached hospital and they parted all of us. Both mom and daughter were directed
to their respective wards and diagnosed individually. I was called in the room
where Trupti was admitted. I saw her on the bed and was happy that she didn’t have
to go through a long labor like the last one which had lasted 32 hrs. I hugged
her tightly. I said “You are the Best; I am very proud of you” and we both
cried together. Papaji had somehow managed to convince the officer to drop him
to hospital. I saw him outside Trupti’s ward room and he hugged me tightly. I
checked my phone; I saw that the phone battery had died, couldn’t see the time
this time, but what a perfect timing, I thought!
After the discharge from hospital, we still didn’t
have power at home for next few days, so we stayed over at our close friend’s
place i.e. at Lalith’s and Prashant’s. The time spent at their residence was
very relaxing and memorable. Around that time the phone service resumed back
and we got to know that Vikram and Shruti also had a baby girl (Annika) on the
same day when Reesha was born, this was another surprising event; no doubt the
whole journey was full of surprises. When I look back, everything seems so
dramatic but that is exactly how incidents occurred. However I try and analyze
the whole experience, I just cannot apply any science to justify how and why
things happened that way. People say, “It’s
just Grace!” The overall experience taught us that miracles do happen and one should
expect miracles, daily miracles.
This pic was clicked in the ambulance on the way to hospital.