Short Story #3: Choices, if any.

6^th April 2016: Shraddha had butterflies in her stomach. Right after her 28^th birthday last week, she had skipped a period and she knew what it meant. She smiled as she held her Preg Kit result showing two small red lines. She has been planning this for a while now; it has been 3 years since she got married to Abhay.

She, excitedly, called her husband who was at work, ‘Abhay.. Guess what?’

‘Hmm-hmm?’,  Abhay replied, lost in some work, ‘Anything urgent, jaan?’

‘I’m pregnant.. I’m pregnant..’, she chirped happily while Abhay laughed in joy.

After 10 minutes of sweet nothings with loads of excitement, she hung up.

She wished she could meet her family doctor, who was away with her kids in the US for the vacation.

She logged on to Practo and surfed for gynaecologists close to where she lived.  Too many options, too hard to choose, she thought.

‘Umm..Andheri East.. Friday.. 6pm to 8 pm..’, she mumbled, as she read the profiles and reviews of the doctors, and went on to click a few more options to make her appointment.

She installed 4 different apps that would give her all the information about pregnancy, safety tips, nutrition advices, tests to be made, packages from hospitals for maternity services, shop for maternity wear and all that she would ever need for the next 9 months. 

She was very excited about this. She was going to be a mother.

6^th April 2016: Indira walked the 3 miles back home. She couldn’t work much today, it was exhausting her. She had been nauseous all morning, like she has been in the past 4 days. She could feel a little bump in her belly and she feared she knew what it was. The 21-year old was married for a little more than 3 months now, the exact three months when she hasn’t had her periods. She hoped it was normal, as she hadn’t had regular menstruation in two years now. Saves a lot of discomfort, she always thought.

She confided in her neighbour Pushpa about this, who listened patiently even as she dried the clothes on the wall one after another, shooing a cow away from there.

‘Pushpa didi..what do I do now?’, asked Indira, worriedly.

‘Don’t worry.. I’ll be going to the (District) hospital next month.. Come with me, we’ll meet the doctor’, assured Pushpa.

Indira told her husband and mother-in-law about it that evening.

She had to wait one whole month before she could meet a doctor and get it confirmed. She was anxious. She also knew that the nearest health facility (District Hospital) was over 120 km away. There was only one Prathmik Swasthya Kendra for the 62 neighbouring villages, and the centre didn’t have a doctor for 10 years now.

She wished she knew more about what she had to when pregnant. She wished she could go to her mother’s place (village) sooner than she should.  

‘We also had 8-9 kids.. we never went to hospital, we never had any tests done.. don’t get influenced by what others say..’, she could hear her mother-in-law crib.

A hundred thoughts ran in her mind. She remembered how a pregnant woman in her village recently had died waiting to deliver, because it took the ambulance 3 hours to reach her village. Of course, this is why most women delivered at home, she thought. 

She was scared. She was going to be a mother.