MIRACLE!

   

Sharnam

It's a true story which is full of drama, emotion, melodrama, tears of sorrow and happiness, about courage, fear, trust. Above all it's about a MIRACLE which changed lives of few and is shared here with a belief that readers will agree that there is something supernatural which we all identify as God in one form or the other. It is said that if a woman dies without giving birth then her life is worthless. The feeling of bringing someone on this earth, the pain one has to go through, the sensation of another life inside the body and fluctuation of emotions can only be understood by an expecting lady. 

My wife Payal was lucky to have her full family taking care of her during her pregnancy. Everything was normal till four and a half months! But one day, the family doctor informed Payal about the decrease in the amniotic fluid level inside the placenta which nourishes the baby. Decrease in amniotic fluid level is quite normal at the last stage of pregnancy but for Payal it started right at the middle of her pregnancy.

The doctor asked Payal to take leave from office for some days and take plenty of liquid. Even after doing so for about 15 days, there was hardly any improvement. Soon, things took a serious turn. When Payal went again for check up the doctor was very worried and immediately asked us to go to the Sonologist. We rushed for 3D sonography and the Sonologist said: "The fluid is zero so baby will not survive. Better luck next time!". We were shattered.

We went back to our doctor and she said the sonologist is correct but still we will take a try and will give treatment to Payal. Payal was admitted in the hospital for 3 days and some liquid was intravenously administered. But even this treatment failed! The fluid level remained static.  This incident was like the last knell in the coffin because the fetus dies if the fluid dries up and if the fetus dies inside the body then it can infect mother. And in case if the baby survives, the baby is born with serious deficiency. All hopes almost died. We took opinion of several other doctors and they all said the same thing: "Immediately go for medical termination of the fetus, else you will lose Payal too". Now everyone was concerned about Payal's life.

Finally, baby's medical termination date was determined as 26th July 2010. Payal was asked to stop all the medicines, 3 days before the termination. It was like taking out the ventilation of   our baby so that the fetus dies before they initiate the medical termination. These three days were the toughest dark days of our lives. During pregnancy Payal took only homemade food. However, she was so frustrated that she did not take any liquid during these three days and also ate junk food. 

Finally came the day of our baby's termination.....Only Payal will be able to express, the moment we left our home for termination in the middle of five month. Very painful, heart-breaking and ruthless moment had arrived. Me and Payal were inconsolable. But, the night before when we passed the sleepless night, I told Payal that miracles happen and it will happen in our life. 'If there is God, miracle will happen." 

That day, July 26th 2010, we will never forget. That was dreadful and also a day when we all realized the presence of God. Right before initiating the termination process, our doctor did Payal's sonography and she was stunned. She told us that baby's heart is still beating which she was unable to believe. She said she cannot initiate termination until the baby is alive. For us it was like our Baby is saying "I don't want to die". Our doctor immediately consulted her senior doctor and after their discussion they concluded that let Payal start her routine life. If the baby is not destined to see this world it will die. The doctor started Payal's medicines again. Payal was asked to go to clinic everyday to check baby's life status. 

After a week, our doctor received another surprise. This time the fluid level was more than before. Doctor told us that she has handled more than 1000 deliveries but has never seen a single case wherein the amniotic fluid increases after it dries up. 

Payal was given lot of medicines and she took all those bitter medicines without missing a single dose as if she was eating Panipuri, her favorite dish. She had to go through a very tough time mentally and physically.

Her due date was 8th December 2010 but due to all the problems, the doctor did her early deliver via C-Section. Finally, the apple of our eye, our son, Sharnam was born on 13th November 2010.

Just Born

Few hours old

This isn't the end of the story. New challenges and troubles were eagerly waiting for us. 

Sharnam was only about 2kg and looked very weak when he was born. Within few days we saw blood in his stool. His hemoglobin went down from 12% to 8% in 15 days. Sharnam was admitted in the hospital and was given Plasma. We had to go through "N" number of tests [Too long list to mention here] to know the cause of blood loss. 

Finally it was diagnosed that Sharnam caught the infection [Toxoplasma] that Payal had during her pregnancy. Because of this, he was allergic to Milk, Milk Protein and Soya Products. In India, no formula is available for babies who are allergic to both Milk and Soya.

Our Pediatrician gave us the name of hypoallergenic formula 'Similac Expert Care Alimentum' which is not available in India. We get it imported from USA. Some of our relatives and friends have helped us a lot in getting Similac from USA. I would like to thank all of them. Shanram still takes "Similac" along with other liquid food like soup and fruit juices.  He will continue to take this until he completes two years.

Sharnam is super cute, super active and a lovely kid. And his smile makes us feel that all troubles were just a price to be paid for having such a lovely baby. We are proud to have a son like Sharnam and we thank the almighty ad doctors of Ahmedabad for this priceless gift!