Page 119 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

She nibbled. “How’s the baby?”
“Not so good,” I said.
The medic wouldn’t come after even fifteen minutes. My mind raced as the baby groaned harder.
“Oops, why is Medic not coming?”
The medic came, but the cabbie didn’t.
“Where’s the cabbie?” I said, peeping through the glass. “Go call the cabbie, please.”
The medic returned with the cabbie. It took about fifteen minutes to arrive at Wangdicholing Hospital.
I groped after the medic with the baby in my arms through the dim entrance, and up the wooden stairs.
“Watch your steps, please,” said the medic.
I dodged the baby’s head.
Triage was in the second room, straight ahead. Two nurses were on the steel chairs, warming their
hands by the room heater.
“Emergency,” said the medic.
The fat nurse said, “Where’d you come from?”
“Mongar Hospital,” said the medic. “Where should we keep the baby?”
“Follow me,” she said.
We shuffled after her to the last room on the left.
“Over there. Keep the baby in the incubator.”
The medic placed the baby in the incubator and measured his abdomen girth. “Attend the baby. I’ll
come in the morning.”
“What’s the measurement?” I asked.
“Forty-four centimeters.”
“Forty-four centimeters?”
“He will be fine.”
Choki held her breath as the medic walked out of the door. “What’s happening?”
“Medic said the baby would be fine. You can sleep.”
“Are you sure?” she said, lying on the shawl I had spread on the floor.
“Yeah.”.
I curled up beside Choki and thought about it. “Forty-four centimeters? Can he make it to Thimphu?”
The baby cried. I brought him down and woke Choki. “Ama, feed the baby, please.”
She fed him milk, but the baby wouldn’t take it. He wailed. So, I rocked him, pacing around the room.
He again winced at 5:00 am. I got up and checked his abdomen. It had increased in its girth.
“Choki,” I said, tapping her shoulder. “I think I should inform the medic. The baby looks
deteriorated.”
“Go, but come fast,” she said.
I groped along the dark entrance and knocked on the door. The medic opened the door, rubbing his
eyes.
“The baby cried all night. You should come and examine him.”
He followed me and measured the baby’s abdomen. Forty–six cm was alarming.
“Let’s move. I will wake others,” he said.
We could start at half-past seven. Miles later, the baby shrieked.
“Oh, no!” I said. “He vomited. I don’t think he would make it to Thimphu. We are losing him.”
“No,” said the medic in his firm tone. “He will make it.”
“Driver, fast.”
The car jarred and screeched, but I didn’t care. My mind raced to reach the baby at Jigme Dorji
Wangchuck National Referral Hospital. We arrived at Nobding at noon. Lunch didn’t come to my mind,
only the ailing face of my baby did.
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