Chapter 8
Bani walked, albeit painfully so, into the NICU and looked at all the tiny babies in their incubators. Some of them were bandaged, their eyes covered with cloth so as not to injure the sensitive tissue. They were all so…sick looking. It was depressing, upsetting…
And where her son was.
"Can I help you ma'am?" one of the young nurses asked as she brushed past Bani, stopping at a nearby crib to take care of a baby in need of some assistance, most of the babies in the area being fed by tubes.
"My son is in here," Bani replied, her throat finally feeling better after all the screaming she did, but still she choked on a sob. "Krishna…Jai Walia."
"Oh! The little man!" the nurse grinned. "He's over there! You should be proud…that little guy is quite a fighter."
Bani grinned. "So was his daddy," she headed towards his crib. He was the only baby not connected to ninety machines. "Can you tell me what all this means?"
"No, but I can," a doctor appeared beside her. "Mrs. Walia, I'm Vijay Kumar; I've been given your son's case."
"Dr. Kumar," she smiled slightly.
He grinned back. "Krishna is actually doing rather well. His lungs are fully operational; he's responding to stimuli and we have a feeling you'll be able to feed him. We want to observe him for a few days, make sure everything is really as well as it appears and then we'll let you take him home."
"Can I hold him?" she asked, looking at her little boy in the plastic cage.
"Let's have you put some special scrubs on first," he led her into another room and had one of the nurses prepare her to hold her son. They placed her in scrubs and then put a cap on her head, tucking all her hair beneath it.
The nurse pointed to her ring. "You'll have to take your wedding band off…"
Bani looked down at the ring. "I…I can't."
"I'm sorry ma'am…" the nurse stuck her hand out.
Dr. Kumar put his hand over Bani's. "Make an exception."
"Fine," she stomped off, leaving them to tend to her other babies.
Dr. Kumar sighed. "Come on; let's get that son of yours in your arms."
"Thank you," she gave him a weak smile. "You don't know how much I appreciate this," she added, settling in the rocking chair he motioned to.
He shut down the machines and then carefully removed little Krishna from his incubator. "Ready?"
Bani nodded. "Yes."
He gently placed Krishna in her arms. "Meet your son."
Bani started to cry. "He's so tiny," she sobbed, holding him gently with one arm and holding his tiny fist in her hand. "Oh…is he supposed to be this little?"
"Well, to be honest, he's two pounds underweight. He should be at least five pounds, though we prefer babies being around six. He needs to gain weight before he can go home."
Bani sighed. "Can…can I have some time alone with him?"
"Sure, if you have any questions or problems, I'll be over there," he motioned to a crib containing a shaken baby case. "Time for her meds," he walked away.
Bani lifted her son's hand to her lips, placing a gentle kiss to the tightly closed fist. "How are you sweetie?" she asked, looking at her tiny son. "There are so many people waiting to see you. Anu di is having a coronary because she can't bring in her giant teddy bear," she smirked. "And Pushkar uncle and Ranveer uncle are really ready to freak out. They're both threatening to sue the stork," a tear rolled down her cheek. "Bilo daadi is out there too, she can't wait to see you again and so is Yukti aunty, mommy's closest friend, and Sahil uncle, if he doesn't stop flirting with all the nurses, the hospital might put a restraining order against him. Can you believe there are so many who are waiting to see you?"
Her son still slept in her arms, not knowing what was going on around him.
"You're probably wondering about your daddy," Bani sighed, looking up at the ceiling for guidance. "He's not here anymore…not physically," she looked back at her son and put a finger over his heart. "He's in here though. Your daddy was a very special man, Krishna. He worked very hard to protect your mommy. I only wish it would have been me to go and not him," she kissed her son's head. "But then we wouldn't have you."
"Ready to try and feed your son?" Dr. Kumar's voice came from behind her.
"Do you think he's hungry?" Bani asked, rubbing her son's belly gently.
"Sure. Preemies tend not to cry when they are hungry, especially since their lungs can be weaker. Would you like me to get you a female nurse to assist?"
Bani nodded. "I'm afraid I don't know much about babies."
"That's all right," he waved over a nurse. "This is Vidya. She's the head NICU nurse and our resident expert on breast feeding."
"I've raised eight," she chuckled.
"Yes and they're beautiful," he smiled at Vidya. "All right, I'll leave you ladies alone," he left.
"So, what's the little tot's name?" Vidya asked, looking for the empty crib and the chart.
"Krishna, Krishna Jai Walia."
"Woah, that's quite a mouth full," Vidya smirked, grabbing his chart and jotting down the time and some other information. "All right, Mrs. Wal…wait, Jais' wife?" she realized.
Bani nodded.
"Oh, my husband used to work for him. I'm sorry about his…"
"We all are," Bani sighed. "But he gave me our beautiful son who I think is getting hungry," she motioned to the fist in his mouth, which he was contently sucking on.
"Oh yes, sorry," Vidya replied. She then went about instructing Bani on how to hold the baby and feed him.
"Looks like he got the hang of it himself," Vidya smiled. "He is hungry…"
"What happens if he falls asleep?" Bani asked, looking up at her.
"Then you stroke his cheek or start removing him, he'll perk back up if he's hungry."
"And how can I tell when he's not?"
"He'll let you know himself," Vidya replied. "Right now, be happy if he feeds for four or five minutes. Most newborns will eat past that, but preemies tend to fill up faster."
"How will he gain weight if he isn't eating?" Bani worried, looking down at her son.
"That's one of the hardest parts of being the mother of a NICU baby. You can't force them to eat and yet they can't gain weight if they don't eat. But trust me, he'll be out of here before you can count to ten."
"Thank you, Vidya."
"You're welcome. When he's done feeding, which means he refuses to eat even though he's awake, he might even turn away, just call over a nurse and they'll tuck him back in."
"Ok."
"Good luck, Mrs. Walia."
"Thank you Vidya," she watched the nurse leave before turning her attention back to her son. Tears began to freely roll down her cheeks. "Why did your daddy have to leave me alone, Krishna? I don't know if I can handle this…"
She sighed and closed her eyes, imagining that her husband was at her side, softly comforting her. Bani could hear his deep voice promise that he would see her through this.
Her only wish…
That he really would…
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Bani sat in the rocking chair, holding her son and looking around the NICU. Krishna had gained only a pound in the five days since his birth and Bani was finding it harder and harder to deal with being the mother of a preemie. She would come by every day and spend hours talking to her son, feeding him and praying with Mausi. But still, there wasn't much of a change. It was killing her to watch the other parents come in to be with their kids, some of them finally taking their children home.
In fact, two cribs over sat a mother and father, both in their blue scrubs, talking to their daughter, Simran, who was born nearly two months premature. Her mother cradled her close, singing her a lullaby, while her father kissed her head from time to time, promising that they couldn't wait to bring her home. Bani sighed. That's what she missed the most. Having Jai around to help her through this.
"Would you look at that, Krishna? Simran is growing leaps and bounds because of her daddy. You can't let a girl show you up, can you?" she looked down at her son, who seemed more interested in her gown then her speech. "Where is that Walia pride and stubbornness?"
She sniffled. Her first day at home without her son had involved cleaning. She scrubbed the entire nursery in case her son should be able to return home any time soon. The second day was spent here at the hospital, feeding and talking to him. Day three was more cleaning and hospital visits. But it was day four that she would always remember…
RING RING.
Bani groaned, looking over at the clock on her bedside table and sighing. Whoever was calling her at five am was going to get it and get it good! Grabbing the phone, Bani mumbled. "Hello?" and rolled on to her back.
"Mrs. Walia…Bani?" Dr. Kumar's voice was on the line.
"Yes?"
"We have a problem with Krishna…"
That was all he was able to say before Bani hung up the phone and grabbed her clothing. In record time she was dressed and at the NICU. She was tense and panicking, hardly in any condition to be driving, but she hadn't had a choice. Arriving at the hospital, Bani spotted four doctors inside examining her son. She shook with terror. What was going on?
"Bani?" Dr. Kumar's hand touched her shoulder.
She looked over and spotted Dr. Kumar. "Is…is he?"
"No, this morning he was having some problems breathing…"
"Is he all right now? Will he end up on a respirator like the others?"
"No, no we believe that it isn't serious enough for that. I'm sure everything will be fine. Krishna has been gaining weight steadily and he's been fine besides that. I'll step inside and see what their diagnosis is, all right?"
She nodded and closed her eyes. "Damn you Jai. Damn you for leaving me alone now!"
The doctors had found nothing wrong with Krishna. They poked and probed him for hours that day and not a single problem had been spotted. Bani was terrified to leave that night, but she did under the insistence of the hospital staff. Mausi had forced her to eat something and to go to bed, but that night Bani hadn't gotten much sleep and she awaited another phone call.
She shook her head. "All right, little man, here's the deal. You've been here five long days and Mommy has this beautiful nursery set up for you. She would really like you to come home and sleep init. So you've got to eat and gain weight and get all big and strong and then we'll get to go home."
The baby cooed and Bani sighed.
"Mrs. Walia, it's time to weight the little man," Vidya reached for the baby. Bani reluctantly released him. Every day they would weight the baby at the same exact time. They would mark it on his little chart and then give him back for a little while longer. The staff all promised that Bani's touch was doing wonders for her son.
"Preemies thrive on TLC, that's why we recommend visiting them and holding them as often as you can."
"Four pound, three ounces. He's gained his first full pound!" Vidya announced proudly. "One more pound to go!"
Bani smiled. "Hear that, Krishna? You're on the right track sweetheart!"
Vidya giggled and handed him back to Bani. "That's right. In no time he'll be home and with his loving family."
Bani kissed her son's head. "Just the way it should be. Then we can start to teach you about your Daddy. He would be so proud of you right now. He'd be so happy to know he had a son who he can teach about charming the ladies around him."
To be continued…
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Thank you all so much for the comments. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Truthfully, I was in absolutely no mood to write while Salman was in jail. 😭
I would like to thank all of you for your feedback on the last chapter because it was quiet tough to penn as many of my readers are mothers and to know that I've brought back happy memories for them, it means a lot. It was totally written based on seeing my friends giving birth or watching movies (Yes, such an inspiration, eh?) lol! I hope I did do justice.
I would like to mention again that any/all of the medical information could be totally wrong. I'm kinda just writing based on what I've heard/seen/watched. I do apologize if it's wrong. I haven't done any research on this chapter. So hopefully it won't be totally off lol!
Hope you all liked the update. Looking forward to your comments.
Anam
Arjun
