What Actually Happens On The Day Of Giving Birth
By: Michael Ranjitsingh
Tags: Courage, Inspiration, God, Labour, Birth

Upon reaching the hospital I parked at the birthing carpark and found that the paymachine wasn’t working. The parking ticket was the only payment I needed to make that day and it turned out that God had taken care of that also. I waited till Binu’s next contraction finished and we made our way into the hospital. A lady interviewed us asking if we had any Covid symptoms. ‘Seriously! My wife is in labour!’ I wanted to shout at her. But we patiently answered the questions and were let inside. The midwife had arranged a room and asked us to come upstairs. We took the lift up between contractions.

Our midwife rushed to meet us. Upon seeing Binu’s smiling, calm countenance, she lost her temper thinking it was a false alarm and that Binu had not gone into established labour. I impressed upon her that Binu did have strong contractions that became milder only during our car journey. She blamed our anxiety as the reason and told us she would check and send us home if there was still plenty of time to go.

Now I was fuming, but decided mentally that we were not going home before birth whatever happened. I knew Binu was close to giving birth in a few hours. Binu was praying fervently that her pain and contractions would increase. She calmly told me that it was okay if we have to go home and wait there till the intensity of contractions increased. My respect and awe for my wife soared even further. We went into the room and Binu was given the hospital dress to wear. She went into the toilet. A nurse came and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I ordered a piece of chocolate cake and a cup of hot tea. Even though I had doubts if I could eat then, I figured we would stay for a few hours so it would come in handy then.

As Binu came back and laid down on the bed, the midwife said she would check the dilation and it would be painful. I remembered the checking process in the afternoon and Binu crying. Would I be able to handle that again? Then God gave me a thought. ‘Binu needs you’. I held on to that one thought and asked her to hold my hand tightly. With one hand she inhaled the gas (which was a pain management tool) and I held her other hand. I kept praising her and encouraging her as the midwife’s hand went in and I felt her writhing in pain. The gas definitely helped but I encouraged her more and more with each scream, telling her that everything would be alright and that the pain would subside. The midwife finished and her face was in stunned disbelief as she realized how strong my wife was in dealing with the pain. Binu was more than 6cm dilated. The midwife then said she would try breaking the waters. We braced for more pain and I told Binu how amazing she was. To our utter amazement, the water was already broken!

I do believe that God works miracles but to see him so evidently at work at such a testing time truly blew my mind.

I cheered and kissed Binu as the contractions went up another notch. At that time, the midwife and I glanced at the heart rate monitor fitted on Binu which displayed the baby’s heart rate. The sound was ominous and in a matter of minutes it disappeared. My heart almost stopped as the instant of ecstasy turned to shock. The only thought running through my mind then was ‘keep Binu calm’. I talked to her casually about how everything was fine but in the background the midwife was flustered and making calls for the specialists to come over at once. Both Binu and I were praying to God. As I turned Binu towards me, the heart rate monitor flickered again! The midwife rushed over overjoyed and we realized that the baby had simply changed positions so tilting Binu helped achieve the heart rate. I smiled. God was clearly here. I could sense his presence all over the situation. This was going to be awesome.

In a matter of minutes, the midwife realized that Binu had jumped to 10cm dilation! She stated the fact loudly and started preparing for delivery. She made a quick call to Debbie who came inside with a large smile. They told Binu not to push as they got some materials ready. As the pain ramped up, I kept muttering to Binu about how God is in control and how everything is going to be so smooth. I realized that breathing deeply had a positive impact so asked her to breathe and focus on that. In. Out. In. Out. As I mentioned the words I rocked back and forth. When they knew baby was ready, the midwives shouted ‘push’ and I joined in too adrenaline coursing through my veins.