After five beautiful years with my daughter, I was in operating room again, ready to bring my second borne into this bittersweet world.
He was borne at fifteen hundred hours, as the day was exhausting into soothing twilight... An anesthesist friend brought him to me, as I lay in OT table. I noticed his nose, similar to mine. I smiled. My pediatrician husband then took charge of the baby.
I was taken to postoperative room for the night. Two patients were already there, I was placed on the third bed. I was well acquainted with pain, from my previous caesarian section. As a doctor, I also knew I could comfortably rely on analgesics. However, other two ladies were winching, carefully fidgeting, so that any movement wouldn't throb their raw wounds.
Midnight passed. I was dozing off to sedative-induced drowsy sleep, when a wheeler rolled in. It carried a teenage newmom, after emergency operation. Her babygirl was put to her side. Some hospitals bring baby to mother's side immediately after operation, while others wait 24hours.
As the newborn started crying out of hunger, her mother didn't seem keen to feed her. At first, I thought it was probably because of pain and apprehension immediately atfer operation. Her mother in law was summoned for help. It was then, that I was astonished beyond words. Both women started cursing the newborn. They were so upset that it was a girlchild. They called her names, in harsh cruel offensive language. Mother-in-law angrily vanished out of the room into the darkness, blabbering all the while..... I sank in my bed in horrid disbelief. I found it brutal, close to barbarious. But it was kind of routine for caretaking nurses and obstetric staffs. They didn't react.
The baby was still howling, unaware of the harrowing cruel world she just came into. All she wanted... was her mom's suckle and granny's snuggle or her father rocking her to sleep.... :(
Nursing staff fetched the father in, hoping he could assist the new mom. This first time father was just a boy, perhaps in his late teens. He gently asked his wife to feed the child, but she started ranting again, vehemently. He seemed more level headed than both the ladies. He sat silently for few minutes. It seemed he wanted to help but had no idea what nursing or breastfeeding meant. Their first born was wailing all the time. But her mom was deafmuted to maternal emotions. After few requests, he gave up attempts of coaxing his wife and walked out of the room.
Meanwhile, baby seemed exhausted from crying. Her shrill screams became whimpers and then periodic sobs. Morning was less than hours away when she sobbed herself to sleep.
As the dawn pierced the gloomy dark night, bringing in pale yellow rays through the curtains, I woke up. To my surprise, my fellow mate was feeding her child. Even the granny had mellowed down a bit. She was spreading the light meal hospital allowed for the patient. It was as if the soft morning breeze had lightened their hearts. I understood they had finally amicably accepted the birth of a girl child. Then I heard the teenage mom talk to her child, a hint of tenderness in her voice. Love had sprouted amid the bitterness, anxiety and laments....
My heart crushed for them all. They were mere victims of a mindset, of social preference for a male child.
