“He can't cry because of the tubes, but his eyes fill with tears and he pulls at the tubes. As his father, I feel like he is telling me to take him home, away from pain.” - Ravi, the baby's father.
Ravi and Kalyani's baby has a compression in his lung. It has led to a severe pneumonia infection. Despite being hospitalised for over 20 days, the infection has still not abated. His parents are at their wits' end – they don't know what else to do to save their only child.
The baby's life began with a clubfoot and much worse
Ravi and Kalyani worked together as home-care nurses and had a love marriage. Kalyani had a normal pregnancy but their baby was born with a clubfoot. Working in the medical field, they both knew that it was an easily curable affliction. But a clubfoot was only the beginning of the baby's illnesses.“Fourth day after his birth, the doctors said that his lungs were making an unnatural sound. When we got him tested, they found multiple holes in his heart. It is common in babies. We were told he would get better in time – and he did. The holes were shrinking in size.” - Ravi
The baby has deadly pneumonia – he needs treatment to survive
The holes in the baby's heart got smaller – but he was still not healthy. His malformed heart was pressing on his lungs. The heart sent a lot of blood into his lungs – and soon he developed a wheezing cough. Terrified for their small baby – the heartbroken parents rushed him to the hospital again.“We had been taking him to the hospital – and we have been preparing for a heart surgery. Things got bad so fast. He started breathing hard – so hard that his ribs would come up when he sucked in air. His weak, wheezing cough is the most painful sound for us.” – Ravi.
Their baby may be sick – but they know he wants to live
“He was very active. His hands were always out to grasp what is in front of him. When someone spoke to him, he made sounds and sometimes even imitated their tone. Now also, when he is awake he still makes sounds and calls us from the ventilator. We know he wants to live. We want him to live – we haven't even named him yet.” - Ravi.
Ravi hasn't gone to work in the last one month because he is scared of what might happen in his absence. Kalyani, who stayed with the baby day and night at home – can't stand to see him in this much distress. These harried parents have no family support in this difficult time due to their decision to be with each other.