To Hear a Heart Beat

My close friend Nani went through a difficult ordeal two weaks ago when she was hospitalised with stomach cramps. The doctors discovered she had dengue, and she was pregnant. They suspected an ectopic pregnancy and when they opened her up (in the operating theatre of course), they discovered in shock that it was a burst appendix. So bad was the shape of the appendix that her blood was badly infected, and her chances of survival was reduced to 50-50. She spent three days in ICU and Alhamdulillah, she got better and recovered. The most unbelievable thing is that she was still pregnant at the end of all that. This is her fifth pregnancy. She's had one child before this, and three miscarriages.

But as usual the world is full of experts of all sorts as countless uncles and aunties appear to give her advice on how she needs to abort the baby because it is pretty much a sure thing that the baby is harmed in some way after all that ordeal. The "best" advice is to "get rid of it now, because, really.. why should you be in such hurry to have another baby when you're still so young?" because "you never know if the baby will be normal".

After weeks of moping around, this morning she had a scan on the 7-week fetus. They'd been waiting for this scan in anticipation because this scan was supposed to show the fetus' heart beating.

As I was cooking lunch, an upset Nani rang, convinced that the fetus is growing smaller, not bigger. And they could not hear the heartbeat.

I called my obgyn clinic (KJMC; Dr. Fatima Najla), fed Gibran his lunch, put him down for a nap, fetched Nani from her house (where 2 year-old Arfan excitedly watched me pull up in front of the gate because he was convinced he was coming along), and went down to the clinic to be squeezed into Dr. Fatima's busy schedule.

Suspense as the doctor squirted the ultrasound gel to begin the scanning process.

And I couldn't help letting out a loud whoop as I saw a small, pulsating dot on the screen.

The doctor turned on the audio and the sound of the fast, beating heart beats were the most beautiful thing I'd heard all week.

We were told that there is little to do but wait and see if the baby survives past 12 weeks. I pray the baby will survive.

Being blessed with a child is nothing short of a miracle :)

The best thing is that as I listened to the sound of heartbeats emitting from a fetus measuring a mere 1.66 cm, I realised that it should not matter if we will or will not be blessed with more children.

Because God has given me one such miracle to hold in my arms every night. So I have been blesssed :)


My miracle, with Shamel and Arfan (Nani's son).