Birth of a Miracle - III : Shock of Life

Period: 16 November, 1968
Location: Tiruchendur, Tamilnadu, India

The body of the child was lying in wrapped clothes in the next room for the next hours. In about two hours after the birth, the doctor's wife (a non-medical person), came down to see Mrs. Rose and the child. I had told you that the family of Mr. Rathna knew the doctor's family well. Since the hospital was functioning in the ground floor of the house of the doctor, it was easy for the lady to come and see Mrs. Rose. Also because it was a courtesy visit, as the child was "still born", as the doctor had informed her.

She was accompanied by a nurse. They spent few minutes with Mrs. Rose who was recovering, and was deeply tired. The nurse and the doctor's wife moved to see the child --more as a point of giving consolation to the family. While there, the doctor's wife asked the nurse if they had given any shock to the child. The nurse said, "No". The lady said, "I have read that electric shock can sometime bring life back, if there is some life left. Why don't you get a wire? Let us check!". Since this small sized hospital did not have any of the modern equipment, even of that time, they found a wire with naked end on either side as their tool. 

Now it was getting bizarre. They checked once more to confirm that there was no heartbeat or breathing signs of the child. This was in conformity with what Dr. Moses had told them. The doctor's wife told the nurse. "You keep one end of the wire on the child'd body. I shall keep another end into the plug, and I shall switch it on for a second, and switch off. Let's keep an eye on the child. If there is some life, we will know!"

So, this bizarre experiment of these two ladies started. The nurse kept one end of the wire on the child. The doctor's wife put the other side into the plug, and had her hands on the switch. Both were holding their breath! The child was lying on a bed under their observation for this shock....or electrocution? There was fear...suspense...worry...concern.... Both their eyes were on the child. The doctor's wife started counting, "One... Two.... Three.... ON... OFF... "Kadavuley!" (Oh, my God!) both shouted, as they had seen the little finger of the left hand of the child shaking for a second at the time when the electricity was switched on! They both shouted, "The child is alive, the child is alive!" The nurse ran up to call the doctor. The old man came down, and as he was hearing of this experiment, he checked the baby. There was very feeble heartbeat, and the child was struggling to breathe. He asked the child to be put on Oxygen, and it was given three injections within minutes. Further, it was wrapped in wool, and was kept so under medical observation for three days. 

By the third day, the child was better, and the mother too. After three more days, they left the hospital in good health. Mr. Rathna and Mrs. Rose thought of this as nothing short of a miracle. This is something not heard of! They got the child baptized immediately at the local Church following their Christian faith with the name, "Puthumai", which in Tamil means - "miracle", or "newness". 

Birth of a Miracle - II : The Birth Pangs

Period: 1968

Location: Southern Tamilnadu, India

Dr. Moses was kind of family doctor Mr. Rathna's family, and was famous along with Dr. Balakrishnan - both of whom had set up clinic in their own house. Mr. Rathna used to bring homemade palm jaggary as gift for both these doctors occasionally. Only the people with some emergency or with some money went to them. Other wise the government hospital at the temple town of Tiruchendur was good enough. 

After doing the preliminary checks, the doctor mentioned, "It is going to be very difficult. She needs regular checks. I am not too sure, if the child will survive. Let us hope." He prescribed some medicines. Remember that in those days no USG was available (except in Britain, and only in 70s, it moved to major part of Europe and the America). So, it all depended on what Mrs. Rose felt about the baby and what the doctor's hands felt!

The months slowly moved through the summer of 1968. A relative stayed at Mr. Rathna's home to support Mrs. Rose, and their daughter who was now in 8th Grade shared some additional works. It was also the season for tapping palm trees for the juice to be converted into jaggary.  The village had a very unique style of living. During the palm tapping season (usually between April - late September / first week of October - latest) they lived in thatched houses outside the village, close to the palm trees that were taken mostly against paying a fixed amount each year against each tree to the St. Jospeh's Charity Institute that owned them. Only a few families had large swathe of land that also had the trees. As the season was waning, soon, it was time to shift back to the house in the village. 

The regular checks and medication had kept Mrs. Rose in somewhat good shape. The last of the tests done in early November of 1968 wasn't a good news for the family. Dr. Moses said, "It looks like we may have a big struggle ahead. Be prepared for it. Have Mrs. Rose admitted on 15 Nov, if there's no labor pain by then. We shall see what happens. Rest is up to God!"

On the scheduled day, Mrs. Rose was admitted for observation. Dr. Moses tested her and then called Mr. Rathna for a discussion. "We have a situation here. The child has low signs or nearly no sign of life. With the kind of available medical facility in this hospital, we can focus on either saving the life of the child or your wife. Let me know, how should we proceed. Attempt to save both may put both the lives at risk." Mr. Rathna responded, "Sir, you know that I have three children. So, kindly focus on saving my wife. It is fine if the child is not saved." The doctor asked  for Mr. Rathna to sign a bond as there was risk for the mother and child, so that the doctor or his clinic will not be held responsible. Mr. Rathna signed it. It was decided that there would be a Cesarean on 16th. 

On 16th morning, the C-section was done of Mrs. Rose. The baby was taken out. A boy. The child did not cry. There was no vital signs of life. No heart beat, no breathing. The nurses cleaned the baby. The doctor declared the baby dead. Mrs. Rose was shifted along with adequate flow of medicine and saline, and was being cared in a room. The baby was kept in a room beside hers so that the baby can be taken by the family for burial. 

Next on 16 May 2020 : Birth of a Miracle - III : Shock of Life

Birth of a Miracle - I : The Prelude

Not all miracles are events.

Some are born!

1964 - 1968

Location: Southern Tamilnadu, India

Those were the days when  laborers (all men) from the borders of Kerala came to our village in summer and work here to earn their living for 5 - 6 months, and migrated back. The exterior of our village was filled with palm trees. And the only job known to the people was making jaggary out of the juice tapped from the trees. The people of the village lived on little savings from the 5 - 6 months of earning during the summer when palm juice tapping was, and then fell on moneylenders and middlemen for the rest of the year, leading to a chain of poverty and woes. There was no doctor in the village. Several women were able mid-wifes, one of them was a beautiful lady, fondly called in the village - Rose or Rosammal.

Her husband, Mr. Rathna was into tapping palm juice, managing the workers and also was buying the jaggary (in Tamil language, karupatti), and would sell it off in Madurai, the big market. He also had salt business, as their home was hardly about 4 km from some of the large salt pans where saltwater from sea was cultivated, and pure white salt crystals were produced. He would buy them and send them to Madurai and few other cities by truck. I have heard that they had four warehouses (made of palm leaves - and so must be of about 4,000 sq.ft in all) where the jaggary used to be stored. The family was on top of business, and earning. Mr. Rathna (often known as TSR in the village with his initials of T and S) was also a very respected man for many reasons. One, he was a teetotaler in a village where most men were addicted to liquor. Even those who earned more, wasted more in it, and so, ended up poor each year. Second, he was known for his sense of judgement - any social dispute, at times even those that were in courts would come to him, and he would discuss with the parties in conflict, and help them resolve it; after all, there were more than one case every month in a village where drunken men and poor laborers roamed free. People from neighboring village sought his counsel and took him to their villages to solve disputes. Thirdly, his commitment to the Church as the village was a 100% Catholic one, and there were two churches. Mr. TSR was in several committees, contributed generously. The parish church was unfinished at that time, and the other was attached to a large charity institute that ran in the name of St. Joseph. Further, he was also part of a drama troupe, and would write script, and sang songs. Of speaking of his songs, people would stand anywhere to listen to his songs. (Until his death, he brought first prize in the village level competition that was annually held. But he never brought the prize; he would give it to the priest to be given to a poor family, or would give it to a poor family by himself.) His singing of songs from the top of palm trees at night, and people cycling or walking on the nearby road stopping to listen to his melodious songs was part of the folklore of the village.

The family of three children and the parents, was awaiting a turning point. After eight years of the last son, Rose miscarried in 1964, while the baby was 8 months in her womb. The pain was a lot for the family that valued life so much. One early morning in the Spring of 1968 (after 12 years after the last baby was born), she announced that she is carrying another baby. As they were planning to go to meet the doctor in few days, she had a dream. In the dream Rose saw a lady, beautifully dressed in white, gifting her a rosary. And she opened and saw that the rosary had two crosses, instead of one. She was shocked, and she asked the woman in dream: "Why have you given me a rosary with two crosses?", and the Lady responded, "I know that you can have it." The dream was over.

Next morning, as they were ready to leave to meet the doctor, she told TSR. "I saw Mother Mary in my dream last night. She gave a rosary with two crosses, and said that I can have it. I think, we are heading for some real trouble - which is going to be from two sides. I feel there is going to be more complication with this baby in my womb. And I don't know what is the other." The both discussed and reflected on it, as they went to the nearby town to meet the doctor. Incidentally, the doctor's name was, "Moses" - the valiant rescuer of the people of Israel.

Next: on 9 May: "Birth of a Miracle - II : The Birth Pangs"