Labor Ward

Traffic is at peak in chennai. Prawin wants to cross the road. No evidence of vehicles slowing down, he is peeping his horn for more than 15 minutes. He lost his patience just peeped in to the the traffic getting scolding from everyone on both sides of the road. Entered the hospital and looked for the parking garage. As usual parking lot was full. With all his tensions he rounded and rounded searching for a place to park his car. After 30 minutes luckily he got a place. Parked his vehicle with a deep breath and ran towards the reception to see the nurse and enquired about his wife’s condition. Yes, his wife is admitted in the hospital for her primi. All their relations are waiting outside the labor ward. He is the only person who can go inside the labor ward. He was with his wife all night and just went to take bath and got clothes for his wife.

He entered the labor ward. His wife was lying in the bed. Her screaming was hearing in the next floor. Sruthi was not able to bear the pain and was screaming with all her capacity. He went and stood behind her bed. Nurses were running here and there to do their own medical care. He doesn’t know what they were doing. He enquired about the doctor. “What doctor has not come yet? Are you mad?” he shouted at the nurse. The nurse replied cooly “Doctor would come only if we call her. She is attending OP”. He shouted again “Then call the doctor. What the hell are you doing” Another nurse replied little bit rudely “We are supposed to call her only when the crown comes out. It would take another few hours. Do you think you are the only patient here? There are many patients and the doctor has to take care each and every one like your wife” Mean while a duty doctor entered the room and enquired about the problem. She attended Shruti. Inserted the gloved hand inside her vagina and checked for the crown." It’s yet to come" She comforted Prawin that it would take at least 4- 6 hrs for the crowning. So please don’t worry. Better you relax and ask your parents to come. But he was not in a mood to go. He was just catching one of Shruthi’s hand and another hand comforting her temple. Shruti was not in this world. Her world is now full of pain and contractions of the uterus. She came to this world, only when the duty doctor said it would take 4- 6hrs for crowning. She shouted “what 4 hours just for crowning. I can’t wait anymore. When will my baby come out?” Nobody was listening her speech. Both her mother and Praveen was with her comforting her. She was asked to walk around the ward so that she will not feel the pain. She grasped Prawin arms and started walking. But she couldn’t bear the pain. Started biting, beating and yelling at Prawin. What a pity? Only husbands would realize the pain when his wife is admitted for delivery. The pain what shruti experiencing is just physical but what Prawin experiencing is purely mental. He doesn’t know what would happen. Though doctors have assured it would be a normal delivery but he was afraid of a C section. He couldn’t express his fear and pain to anyone. As a man he kept everything inside his mind but still he was sweating in an A.C room. Prawin’s parents comforted him but still he couldn’t control his anxiety. Seeing Shruti screaming and shouting of pain, tears were in the edge of his eyelids. No one noticed except his father. He just came and tapped his sons shoulder and said ‘Everything would be fine’.

Shruti’s father a bold guy never came near the ward. He doesn’t have guts to see his daughter in labor pain. Once he gathered all his will power to come and see Shruthi but he just waited for a second and asked Prawin to call him if there is any emergency and went back to the parking lot and sat in a slab under a tree . He closed his eyes and started praying for his loved one. Shruti’s father, supposed to be the strictest person of the family never made his child cry. When he noticed a single drop of tear in her eyes he would stop scolding her, in spite of whatever mistake she have done. That’s the reason why he agreed for her daughter’s love marriage though he is against love and intercaste marriage.

In the ward Shruti’s pain was increasing each and every second. She lost all her tolerance. After two hours her gynecologist came for ward rounds and checked her. Since Shruti was not able to bear the pain, she advised an epidural anesthesia and ordered the nurse to shift Shruti to main anesthesia room. After half an hour of anesthesia Shruti lost all pain. She was very comfortable in the bed. Only thing is she has to keep her legs wide open. Though she was not comfortable to keep her legs open in front of all nurses and anesthetist but she never cared that before her pain. Her uterine contractions and baby’s heartbeat was regularly monitored by the nurse. Time was running. It was already 3 pm. Shruthi was so tired and slept relaxedly for more than 4 hrs. When she got up it was 7pm. To her surprise she has not delivered yet. Nurses were screaming that they could see the crown. They called the doctor immediately. Anesthesia was stopped. She was asked to breathe nicely to expel the fetus out. Her pain started to aggravate but it was not intolerable. Doctor came after an hour after the call. She together with her team asked Shruthi to breathe vigorously to expel the fetus. Whatever Shruthi did it was in vain. At last the doctor with the use of vacuum pump pulled the fetus out.

Prawin who was allowed in the labor room was seeing all these drama going on. He couldn’t control his emotions and anxiety. He was about to scold the doctor or the nurse. But all bits of tensed movement disappeared when the baby was in the doctor’s hand. The baby was crying. Shruti had a deep breath hearing her little one cry. Prawin took his first breath only after seeing his son cry. Hearing the sound of the baby everyone waiting outside the labor ward shouted back in happiness. Shruti could hear them. Prawin and Shruti kissed their first love with full of relief and happiness. The first word Prawin spoke was that “The child’s nose is exactly like Shruti.” The child was shown to all the relatives waiting outside and taken for cleaning. Shruti’s big mother ran behind the nurse so that the child should not be exchanged with other children born that day. She doesn’t know that child and the mother has already been tagged for identification. Everyone was busy in the phone, calling their friends and relatives to inform the good news. Shruti was half conscious. She could hear everyone speaking happily and enjoying the moment. No one was caring her. Even her father was interested to see the little one and proudly speaking about his grandson’s looks.

She was shifted to her room. She blabbered unconsciously that “nobody is caring me, everyone is caring your grandchild” and slept. But one person was caring her. It was none other than Prawin.

And this is the happiest movement, a family can have and every one of us would undergo. All struggles they had till that minute would vanish like a dew drop. What a life? A half an hour ago no one was ready to smile. Now laughter fills the whole crowd. God is a person who is really to be appreciated for his creations. New birth, new life and new happiness with new responsibilities to make life much more interesting. Life has to move on…..

Dr.Suhanya Prasanna Kumar.

A Press of New thoughts.