March
8, 2017
Two months had gone by since my arrival in India and I was
looking forward to the birth of my second daughter, due on March 11, 2017. The
transition in itself was a series of answered prayers (You can read it here).We had
already chosen a name for her. The hospital bag was packed so we could go to
the hospital anytime during the week. I had made a prayer list for my pregnancy
and delivery. I had prayed for a short labour, an hour max with no pain and no
epidural. I had prayed for a quick recovery because in the previous delivery I
was unable to get out of bed for a month post-delivery because of a huge tear.
I had also prayed for my husband to make it to my hometown just in time for the
arrival of the newborn. My first answer to prayer came when the gestational
diabetes that showed up during my first pregnancy did not show up during the
second.
My husband landed in India from the US on March 5th. He visited us and travelled to his hometown to meet his parents and sister. He was to reach my place at 8 PM. Around 2 pm on March 8th, I started feeling mild contractions. They were faint, almost unnoticeable, but my instincts as a mother-to-be told me that things might progress quickly. I calmly informed my parents, who had just left for work, that they might need to return home sooner than expected. I downloaded an app that recorded my contractions. I knew it was time to head to the hospital once the contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart.
After my parents returned at around 7 pm , the plan was to pick up my husband from the train station and then drop me at the hospital on the way to check for false labour (since the contractions were not painful and only mild). Knowing that I will be gone for three days, I gave my older daughter a good hairbath at 7 pm, re-checked my hospital bag and off we went to the train station. Although my mom was convinced that the baby might make her grand entrance soon , my dad was certain that there was no rush. After all, I was walking and talking normally, showing no overt signs of labor.
We were so glad to see my husband at the train station at 9 pm. On our way back, My Mom and I got down at the hospital while my dad, husband and my three year old headed home. I walked to the labour ward and told the nurse I was having contractions. I was allowed into the labour room and an intern who came by looked at me and said ," No, you're not having contractions". I just smiled. My mom rang up my doctor, a family friend, who was on her way home from another city. She instructed another doctor to check on me and guess what? I was already 6 cms dilated!
They quickly attached me to a monitor. And the contractions were getting closer and more intense. In half an hour, Amy was pushing her way out of my body (I must admit that the last five minutes had me in excruciating pain) and my doctor was right on time to receive her. The doctor had rushed to the hospital for the delivery and Amy was born at 10:50 pm on 8th March, on International women's day!
Our God is indeed a prayer answering God!
