Reflecting

I recalled the time when my daughter was about to deliver her baby. I normally switched off my cell-phone at night but left it on during that period. Then late at night on 2 November 2004 I heard the beep on the cell-phone that I had been waiting for. I woke up, read the message and informed my wife that they were on the way to the hospital. At last our first grandchild was about to be born! We were very excited and could hardly sleep.

The next morning the time seems to pass so slowly. I kept waiting for the phone to ring, eagerly waiting for the good news but it was not forthcoming. Many thoughts transpired like was it a difficult delivery, perhaps some problem cropped up or how was my daughter dealing with the delivery of her first child. The wait was agonizing. I could not call them as their cell-phone had to be switched off at the hospital. I felt hopeless. There was nothing I could do but wait. Silently I prayed for both mother and child. I prayed for my daughter's successful delivery. I was eagerly waiting to greet my first grandchild.

Finally my son-in-law called to inform that the baby came out into this world just after 1.30pm. So now I could go to the hospital to visit them. I could not wait. I had to go and so I went with my wife. When we arrived we could not find them in the ward. On making inquiries, we discovered that they were still in the delivery room, resting. In our eagerness we came too early! We were not allowed in the delivery room and had to wait until they were transferred to the room in the ward.

As my daughter needed rest, the baby was kept in the nursery room. My son-in-law took us there but for security reasons, we were not allowed inside. We had to stand outside a glass window and the nurse inside the nursery drew the curtain and there she was bundled with only the face exposed and sleeping peacefully. My first view of my grand-daughter! The joy and happiness flowed through me. At last I became a grandfather.