(Ashwin's message about the birth of their daughter...)
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son.
And so loved He His children that He gave us a beautiful daughter. She's still nameless, but Baby Louie Ramji was born at 12:30pm on Thursday, 13 September, weighing in at six pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 19 inches. Charis is resting (as much as can be expected) at Arcadia Methodist and will be released on Saturday.
The baby's birth was truly a testimony to God's greatness. Being two weeks past due, our doctor was telling us that if nothing happened by today, he would have to induce. We tried everything natural in the books to kickstart labor, but nothing worked. On Wednesday morning, shortly after I arrived at work, I took 15 minutes to pray and beg the Lord to give us the natural birth that we so desperately wanted. Minutes after I returned to my desk, Charis messaged me to let me know that her water had broken. I took her to the doctor's office, where he instructed us to go to the hospital since he was concerned about the baby's vitals. At the hospital, the baby looked fine, so we spent the entire day again trying to kickstart labor to no avail. The doctor arrived at 6pm and instructed the nurse to start a pitocin drip if nothing had happened within a few hours. This concerned me since I knew that pitocin inevitably leads to an epidural, which inevitably leads to a c-section. The doctor agreed to start very low and increase very slowly so as not to stress the baby. We continued to pray and pray ... and pray. At 8:45pm the nurse started the pitocin. Charis started to experience very mild contractions early on. As the pitocin was increased, the contractions became stronger and got to the point of being almost unbearable, which is not surprising. Over the hours the nurses and doctors would check her, and each time they were quite surprised to see that Charis was dilating very quickly despite the low pitocin levels. Being farther along than she could have imagined strengthened Charis' resolve. In the morning the doctor arrived and told us that the time had come to take more drastic measures ( e.g. c-section) since the baby had been without water for too long. But when she realized that Charis was 6cm dilated, she decided to continue the pitocin instead. By noon Charis started feeling the urge to push - the nurses checked her and found her to be at 8-9cm. They figured this urge was not real but said she could push anyway. They felt she was still hours from delivery. So Charis pushed, and within minutes our doula and I saw the top of the baby's head. We called the nurses back in - of course they did not believe that she could be that far along, but at the next urge they agreed the baby was ready to crown. They called the doctor in, and the baby was born at 12:30 ... NATURALLY.
Praise God that both Charis and the baby are well, and the baby is already feeding and (um) doing its business. Our Lord gave us what we wanted in a way we could never have imagined. Every time I leave to run an errand or get something that we need, I race back to the hospital so I could be with my wife and daughter, who are living, breathing testimonies of God's greatness. Charis and my daughter (yes, she'll have a name soon) are my heroes. They both fought valiantly to do together what no man thought was possible - a natural birth almost 30 hours after the water broke. Every time the nurses thought the baby was distressed, a quick adjustment revealed that she was still going strong. My heart broke every time I heard Charis' cries, but like the loving mother she is, at the end of each contraction she turned to look at the monitor to make sure the baby was still fine, then broke down in my arms to cry. I love both of them so much, and my admiration for their fortitude and strength is endless. They are my inspirations in this world, in this life.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
To Him be the glory, forever and ever. Amen!
In Christ,
Ashwin
1 comment:
(Ashwin's explanation of the name they chose...)
Thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes. We are back home
now and adapting to being a family of three (well, two and 1/16h!).
We had a short list of names, but couldn't decide even after the baby
was born. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, we were still
looking through a book of Hebrew and English names. Charis found the
name Aviya, which means "God is my father," and for us, signified
the Lord's faithfulness in blessing us with this child. Many of you
may know how we have struggled to conceive, and faced numerous
difficulties including an early miscarriage. No other name could
have said so much in five little letters. Her middle name was a bit
easier - "Charis" means "grace" in biblical Greek. God is truly her
father and this beautiful little girl is indeed a demonstration of
His grace. Please pray that we will be worthy of this calling!
Blessings,
Ashwin and Charis
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