Longest night of my life

After the longest night of my life, I long for longest sleep.

— Paresh Godhwani (@Par_God) April 1, 2021

I have never been up the whole night doing a tense job. Whether there are exams, assignments to submit or when something is not well in life, nothing keeps me awake all night. I have stayed up for playing cricket, playing video games and doing all the fun stuff. Even when I lost someone close to me, he/she never kept me up the whole night. This was the status till 31st March 2021.

On 31st March, I should have been working on the account closing work in the office but instead, gynecologist told, “Aaj hi admit ho jao. Abhi bhi 50% chances hain normal delivery ke.” We were in the middle of ninth month and due date was in the third week of April. The reason for not waiting till April mid was, the fluid in the body was reducing a centimeter every day. According to the doc, if it went down to 3-4 cms then normal delivery will not be possible.

Medicine

Doctor prepared my wife for the pain as the labour was going to be long in this type of delivery. She was ready to bear the pain. As the doctor gave her the injection, she was told that the pain will be bearable. First 4-5 hours after injection, she was not allowed to even drink the water. Pain was bearable for her in first few hours. Nurses were coming to check her once every hour. As she started drinking liquid, she started vomiting. Along with vomiting, she was facing an acid attack. And due to acidity, she was spitting blood. Medicine was showing the adverse effect on her body.

Doctor’s visit in the evening

After checking the effect of medicine, she asked her to push every now and then as the baby had started his downward journey. After finishing her round, Doctor assured me that medicine is doing its job even though it is having some adverse effects. She said it increases the chances of normal delivery but the final decision will be taken in the morning. For time being, my wife had to bear the pain. Till evening, she was doing great managing the pain well. I heard the heartbeat of my future child and came home to get dinner. Due to covid protocols, I got the letter from maternity home for emergency visits at night.

Night

As I reached the hospital with dinner, the pain was getting unbearable for her. She had dinner and came out of a room for a walk. “How long I have to bear this?,” She kept her head on my shoulder. “You have done really well so far. Tolerate it for some more time,” I tried to encourage her. I got the feeling that pain is getting better off her and she needs the mental strength to bear that.

At 11 p.m., I asked the nurse about the delivery so that I can prepare her. Nurse said she will deliver by the morning. My wife heard that and started pushing as per the instructions given by the nurse. Till 12:30 a.m., she showed a great will against the pain. After that, she started getting mentally exhausted. “She might deliver by 4:30 or 5:00 a.m.,” nurse after checking the heartbeat and the position of the child. Along with that, nurse advised my wife to sleep. The pain was so much that it was not possible for her to sleep. I started encouraging her and she listened to me for an hour or so.

From 12:30 a.m., I started counting every single minute. 4:30 was the target time. My one eye was on the clock and my other eye was on my wife. She was constantly remembering God with teary eyes. I kept motivating her by holding her hand. She was not allowed to drink even water more than 100 ml. By 2:00 a.m., I had no words to motivate her. She was 50% mentally exhausted. I called the nurse and stepped out of the room until she checked my wife. After the check-up, nurse updated me that the progress is great and the child has come way down.

After the nurse left, wife tried to push. She did it two to three times but then she gave up. She kept taking the name of god with her dried lips and I kept checking the clock. After holding her till 4:30 a.m., I asked nurse to call the doctor as the time of delivery has come. “Doctor will come but the baby has not come down at desired position yet. We will shift her to the operation theatre at 5:30 a.m.,” nurse after checking her. By 5:30 a.m., my wife was completely exhausted mentally as well as physically.

I lost my cool, “How long will she bear this kind of pain? When will the delivery happen?” I yelled at nurse. “Time of delivery will be informed by the doctor only and If she can’t bear the pain then you should go for painless delivery.” Nurse replied in a calming tone. The doctor’s visit was scheduled at 10:00 a.m. and my wife was not in a condition to wait for another four and a half hours just for a check-up. So I told the nurse that we want to go for painless delivery. Nurse immediately called the anesthetic and he arrived by 6:00 a.m.

Gynec accompanied the anesthetic and the process of painless delivery began. Before beginning that process, Gynec informed, “as per the progress, delivery will happen after 2:00 p.m.”

After getting the word from the doctor, I felt it was a good decision to go for a painless delivery. Only reason I was not in favour of painless delivery was the consequences of anesthesia on the body after the delivery. The current condition of my wife got better off me. I couldn’t see her in that condition and her pain was beyond my imagination.

Before this, I had only read that a woman bears the pain of 20 broken bones while giving birth to a child. I observed it that night. Anesthesia worked and my wife relief from the pain by 6:30. After 6:30, I realised that a new day and a new month has begun.

As soon as she got relief from the pain, I came home, took nap for couple of hours and rushed to the hospital again. The relief was temporary as the anesthesia stopped working after 11:30 a.m. and things got out of the hands. My wife was not able to process the pain. The anesthetic was called again, he consulted the condition with Gynec. Gynec came and checked the situation and confidently said, “everything is fine. If you can’t see her in that condition then let my nurses take of her.” Doctor’s confidence assured us that we are in good hands.

Nurses shifted my wife in the operation theatre and finally Yuvraj was born around 2:30 p.m.

During that night, I realised that I don’t have the power to go through even 10% of what my wife is going through.