Blessings come in many forms. It came to me in the form of Umaima, my daughter.
I call her blessing because she came into my life at a time when stagnation had set in my life. Both me and Huma were working laboriously towards our living. Kaleem was 8 years old. Life had somehow turned into a routine and a mundane affair. I felt like a person who chases something which he doesn't know if he needs it at all but somehow couldn't stop running behind it. I needed a break but I didn't know this at that time.
One fine day Huma disclosed that she was expecting and that news set the ball rolling. The next nine months, we prepared for the change that life was going to bestow upon us.
I remember vividly each moment of that day when she was going through her labors. I was next to her witnessing her deal with patience and grace the agonizing pain that she was in.
We had left Kaleem at home with his play-station. In the hospital, couple of teachers from her block had come to see her.
I was sitting just outside the room waiting anxiously for the doctor or the nurse to come out and tell me about my wife and the baby when I heard the first cry of the baby. Few minutes later the doctor came out and told me that a girl child had been born. I asked the doctor how my wife was. She nodded in consent and said, ''Fine. The pediatrician is checking the baby.'' I grew curious by her last statement and waited for the pediatrician. The pediatrician called me in and gave me a hand written note addressed to another hospital seeking their assistance as it seemed the baby had swallowed some amniotic fluid during birth. I took the slip of paper and rushed to the ward where the baby was kept. I could see her lying bare in front of me while the nurses clothed her up. She was choking due to the fluid she had swallowed and I rushed to carry her up in my arms and bring her close to my chest and ran out of the hospital to cross the street to enter another hospital where I could get the required medical attention. In the mean time I saw that the baby's finger tips were turning blue which is an indication that she was not getting enough oxygen as her breathing had worsened. This troubled me no end. There was a long queue and it would take a long time before I got the registration done and the baby was attended. I feared for the worst and sought the assistance of the hospital staff to help pass through the queue as it was a matter of urgency and the routine documentation and other trivial matters could be dealt with once the baby is attended to. I entered the section where emergency cases are dealt with and noticed that my worries were far from over. I gave the note that the pediatrician had given me and tried to explain in whatever words I could express myself. The doctor refused to accept the baby and said that I have to come through proper channel and that they cannot touch the baby in the basis of that one note. I was also asked if I was the father of the baby. I got hold of the situation and told the doctor that I was ready to sign any document and declaration to exonerate the hospital in case of any unfortunate outcome. I made myself very clear and literally begged that the baby need to be attended and I am ready to do anything to see that she gets the immediate medical help that was needed. While I was talking to the doctor, I saw two nurses walk towards me and take the baby from my arms and provide her the required medical attention. They cleaned the oral passage of the baby and luckily within an hour's time I could see the baby breathing normally with no signs of any imminent danger or relapse.
The nurses gave back the baby to me and told me that she was just fine now. There were tears in my eyes while I thanked the two nurses and left the hospital as the other important matter on my mind was Huma as she was alone in there. I came back to Huma and kept the baby next to her but desisted from telling her about the harrowing time I had in the last two hours what with the clinical emergency the child had to go through. I told her she is fine and that I had taken the baby for a check-up to the pediatrician. The moment I kept the baby next to her, my eyes fell on the baby and all I could see was her radiant, serene and beautiful face, her eyes shut without any concern as she slept like a 'baby'. I kissed her forehead and then looking at Huma expressed a silent thanks.
That was the day my life changed because that day anything could've happened, along with with the baby's cries for survival was also my cry for help to my child struggling for life, which luckily came at the right time.
Today when I look back in time, I see only one thing, that nature blesses and treats every life equally. Yet we tend to discriminate those blessings by defying nature. Life, breathes.
I call her blessing because she came into my life at a time when stagnation had set in my life. Both me and Huma were working laboriously towards our living. Kaleem was 8 years old. Life had somehow turned into a routine and a mundane affair. I felt like a person who chases something which he doesn't know if he needs it at all but somehow couldn't stop running behind it. I needed a break but I didn't know this at that time.
One fine day Huma disclosed that she was expecting and that news set the ball rolling. The next nine months, we prepared for the change that life was going to bestow upon us.
I remember vividly each moment of that day when she was going through her labors. I was next to her witnessing her deal with patience and grace the agonizing pain that she was in.
We had left Kaleem at home with his play-station. In the hospital, couple of teachers from her block had come to see her.
I was sitting just outside the room waiting anxiously for the doctor or the nurse to come out and tell me about my wife and the baby when I heard the first cry of the baby. Few minutes later the doctor came out and told me that a girl child had been born. I asked the doctor how my wife was. She nodded in consent and said, ''Fine. The pediatrician is checking the baby.'' I grew curious by her last statement and waited for the pediatrician. The pediatrician called me in and gave me a hand written note addressed to another hospital seeking their assistance as it seemed the baby had swallowed some amniotic fluid during birth. I took the slip of paper and rushed to the ward where the baby was kept. I could see her lying bare in front of me while the nurses clothed her up. She was choking due to the fluid she had swallowed and I rushed to carry her up in my arms and bring her close to my chest and ran out of the hospital to cross the street to enter another hospital where I could get the required medical attention. In the mean time I saw that the baby's finger tips were turning blue which is an indication that she was not getting enough oxygen as her breathing had worsened. This troubled me no end. There was a long queue and it would take a long time before I got the registration done and the baby was attended. I feared for the worst and sought the assistance of the hospital staff to help pass through the queue as it was a matter of urgency and the routine documentation and other trivial matters could be dealt with once the baby is attended to. I entered the section where emergency cases are dealt with and noticed that my worries were far from over. I gave the note that the pediatrician had given me and tried to explain in whatever words I could express myself. The doctor refused to accept the baby and said that I have to come through proper channel and that they cannot touch the baby in the basis of that one note. I was also asked if I was the father of the baby. I got hold of the situation and told the doctor that I was ready to sign any document and declaration to exonerate the hospital in case of any unfortunate outcome. I made myself very clear and literally begged that the baby need to be attended and I am ready to do anything to see that she gets the immediate medical help that was needed. While I was talking to the doctor, I saw two nurses walk towards me and take the baby from my arms and provide her the required medical attention. They cleaned the oral passage of the baby and luckily within an hour's time I could see the baby breathing normally with no signs of any imminent danger or relapse.
The nurses gave back the baby to me and told me that she was just fine now. There were tears in my eyes while I thanked the two nurses and left the hospital as the other important matter on my mind was Huma as she was alone in there. I came back to Huma and kept the baby next to her but desisted from telling her about the harrowing time I had in the last two hours what with the clinical emergency the child had to go through. I told her she is fine and that I had taken the baby for a check-up to the pediatrician. The moment I kept the baby next to her, my eyes fell on the baby and all I could see was her radiant, serene and beautiful face, her eyes shut without any concern as she slept like a 'baby'. I kissed her forehead and then looking at Huma expressed a silent thanks.
That was the day my life changed because that day anything could've happened, along with with the baby's cries for survival was also my cry for help to my child struggling for life, which luckily came at the right time.
Today when I look back in time, I see only one thing, that nature blesses and treats every life equally. Yet we tend to discriminate those blessings by defying nature. Life, breathes.
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