The Unwanted Wife (Published)

Chapter 4

The doctor's face had a shadow of pity on it as she replied, "I am sorry Mrs. Rajvansh. Nothing could be medically done to save a fetus until the pregnancy crosses twenty-eight-week mark."

"There are hormonal injections, aren't there? To stop miscarriage?" Kaveri Devi butted in.

"Progesterone shots, yes. They help avert chances of miscarriage but they cannot make the fetus's heart beat again."

"But what is the harm? Can we not just try it?" Kaveri Devi insisted.

"There is a dead fetus inside her body, Mrs. Rajvansh. Ethically and medically, I am not comfortable doing it.'

"What if I sign a waiver?" Niyati intercepted urgently. "I don't mind the side effects. I just want my baby."

The doctor sighed, looking at the two desperate women sitting in front of her, clutching each other like a lifeline. "The baby stopped growing sometime in the last week. The lower body aches you say you've been experiencing since the last two days is in all probability your body preparing to expel the inviable fetus, Mrs, Rajvansh. I am sorry I cannot do anything at this point but if it helps this is not uncommon."

Like hell, it helped! "But I have no bleeding," Niyati cried.

"It is just a matter of time, Mrs. Rajvansh. And even then, I would advise not to wait for it and get a D&C done. Keeping the inviable fetus in the body will harm you."

"I don't care. I am not letting you remove my baby from my body," Niyati said stubbornly. She looked at her mother-in-law and demanded, "I want a second opinion."

It was a long night. In spite of being in shock herself, Kaveri Devi took charge. While Niyati laid there praying and sobbing, Uday Rajvansh was summoned, and so were two other high-risk specialists - one from Delhi and one from Mumbai via chartered choppers. Within three hours both the doctors arrived, in Jaipur and to the same conclusion. Nothing could be done given fetus had no heartbeat. They repeated Niyati's original doctor's diagnosis that the baby died sometime in the last week and bleeding or no bleeding, Niyati had, in fact, miscarried.

Now numb with grief, the only question Niyati asked all three doctors was if stress could be the cause of... this? The answer was negative. Not at this stage. Stress could not affect the baby at this stage, only the mother, and mother was alright in this case. It was probably a chromosomal abnormality but more could only be said after an autopsy report. Even that was not always conclusive.

At four am the next morning, the dreaded bleeding commenced. Niyati was inconsolable. Kaveri Devi was deathly quiet. Uday Rajvansh was helpless. Nature had decided its course and there was nothing anyone could do.

Niyati entered the next day with an empty womb and a heart full of anguish. Her blood pressure shot up dangerously and so a sedative was administered. As her eyelids drooped she heard Uday Rajvansh pleading with his mother to take some rest. Kaveri Devi who had steadfastly sat beside Niyati all through the night, declined again.

A few moments later, one black empty vacuum absorbed the rest of her awareness.

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Three days later, Niyati sat beside Anthony uncle on the couch in Rajvansh Vilas's living room. Uday Rajvansh and Kaveri Devi sat on a couch opposite them. Both the women were dealing with their respective griefs in silence as the men talked. 

"It was God's will," Anthony D'silva said.

Niyati blinked back tears furiously. Kaveri Devi looked away despondently. Uday Rajvansh somberly replied, "Yes."