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Life is a Gift of the Lord Evaldas: I wanted a child so much. Being married for over a year, Nida and I started to dream about a baby more and more often. Soon the dream materialised - Nida conceived. At the beginning, everything went fluently. Naturally, a keen anticipation for the arrival of the first-born stirred up all kinds of emotions - joy was mixed with worry, faith with doubts, hope with helplessness, as so many unfamiliar things were about to happen. I made a firm decision to participate in the delivery and prayed for the baby to be so small that Nida wouldn't suffer much pain. We enjoyed talking to the child in the mother's womb - its lively reaction to our words, stroking and even light would make us very excited. First, we got absorbed in literature on pregnancy, then we enrolled in courses for to-be parents and regularly attended a clinic to listen to the baby's heartbeat. On top of all that was our excitement when we made an echogram and saw the baby moving, kicking, we were so amazed at its miniature hands and feet. Time flew. Nida started making arrangements for her maternity leave, while I started preparing a room for the new family member. Each day brought the big event closer. Pregnancy termination Nida: It was the sixth month. My face and later legs began swelling out. Everybody claimed that that was normal. After a while, I decided to check up at the therapist's as I could hardy move my legs. The therapist immediately called the hospital and reserved a place, registering me as a patient with kidney nephropathy. Tests revealed that my blood pressure was too high as for the 28th week of pregnancy. Next morning, I was transferred to another hospital, the pathology unit, because my state grew worse and I needed not only good specialists but also the state-of-the-art medical facilities should there be a need to terminate pregnancy. Right upon arrival to that hospital, I was referred for a surgical operation. I still didn't realise how serious my condition was and kept telling everybody that I was OK. I only insisted on being referred to a small ward without a TV set. The doctors repeated tests and diagnosed that liquids in my body were moving in the direction of the brains. Without delay, they started preparing me for a surgery. Evaldas: The day after Nida was referred to hospital, I called there to inquire about her state. The administrator explained that my wife had been transported to another hospital and, assuming that the news might be a bit of a shock for me, reassured that it had been done only willing to provide better conditions and care to my wife. During the lunch break, I rushed to the other hospital, where I was directed straight to the surgery room. The doctor explained that Nida needed an immediate surgery because irreversible processes with fatal consequences had started in her body. When I saw her, she was under narcosis and all shaking. I was totally shocked by the news the doctor broke before the surgery - he asked us to put up with the fact that the baby wouldn't live because it was too small to be delivered, while any delay of the surgery would be fatal for Nida. Birth of Laura Nida: The surgery was a success, but the new-born girl was not adapted to live outside the womb by herself, though she was developed enough already. Under normal conditions the baby would have stayed in my womb for another 12-14 weeks in order to become completely developed and to gain enough weight. The baby could neither breath nor move or eat by herself. She merely weighted 1,150 grams and was only 34 cm tall. As the lungs were not fully formed yet, oxygen tubes couldn't help her, so a substance stretching the lungs was directly fed to her organism. Normally one injection is enough but in Laura's case the doctors made repeated injections. Later we found out that one injection cost approximately as much as a car. Laura was connected to a life-support machine - she depended on it for breathing, eating and vitally important medicine. The doctor could not promise that Laura would live. So we could do no more but wait and hope… Evaldas: We did not have to wait long for miracles to happen. The first
one was when I saw that a sister in Christ was participating in the surgery.
This reinforced my faith. Nida's mother arrived to the hospital from Kaunas
as soon as she had got the news. Her heart went out for her daughter after
she had learned from the doctors that only one of the two - the baby or the
mother - would live. In my memory the surgery fused into one vague picture:
panic, rushing nurses, tiny miniature wrapped in a blanket. Nobody paid any
attention to me. Only when everything was over, I was told that the surgery
was successful and that I could see my wife before she was taken to the
intensive care unit. Nida: After the narcosis, my orientation in the real world was very lame.
Though I felt weak, I almost physically experienced God's love and mercy.
Because of that I had no fear of leaving this world. First days with the new-born Nida: When I saw Laura, her fragility scared me. I could only cry. My
husband taught me how to caress her without taking her out of the incubator
- he had been practising that for two weeks already. When she was strong
enough to be taken out, Evaldas would put her on his palm - so tiny was she.
In a week, Laura was transported to another hospital. This was her first and
a very difficult journey. I stayed with my baby and every evening cuddling
her at my breast taught her such basic reflexes as sucking and swallowing.
My heart rejoiced seeing that Laura was a quick learner. How Laura grew Nida: After two months, when Laura was supposed to be born, we all
returned home. By that time we had already learnt from our own practice many
things how to look after the baby. Once a month, however, we had to go to
hospital to make check-ups. |
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