A Heart Stopping Moment

My wife and I got married in 1984. She got pregnant in 1986. We were living in a ground floor apartment(flat)in Kilpauk,Chennai.

One evening, electricity was cut off for the entire building. And when the power came back for the building,our flat alone did not get it. It was around 7pm. My neighbor suggested to take current from their house through an extension cord. Our apartment was a duplex. One bedroom was at a higher level with a balcony. It was dark. I asked my wife to come to the balcony. I threw the extension cord from outside. I asked her to catch it and plug it in our bedroom. She caught it and took it inside. And then…..

I heard a scream. It was my wife. I suddenly realized that I had connected the other side to a plug in our neighbor's house. The current was flowing. As it was dark, she tried to feel the knobs on the plug before she would plug it. She was shocked, literally and thrown a few feet distance. I ran inside the house. I saw her lying on the floor. I picked her up. The older lady and her son who was in his early 40s, our neighbors came running behind. I was trembling. My wife was alive. She was conscious. She was dazed. I picked her up and helped her to stand. We took her to the neighbor's house. She sat on a chair and the lady made coffee.Then my wife held my hand and said with fear….. "I can't feel the baby move". I felt weak in my legs. I rushed to take my yezdi(Java) bike. My neighbor stopped me and went to get an auto. My wife was working in Apollo as a duty doctor. Her Obstetrician was also in Apollo. We reached Apollo. She told the emergency room doctor of what happened. I called her OBGYN. She said she would come down. It was sunday I remember. They wheeled her to the examination room. I was in a daze. Didn't know what to expect. I was holding back my tears, confused- unable to guess what was happening in that room, feeling guilty for not thinking twice. The doctor who examined her spoke to her OBGYN and told me not to worry. The fetal heart was good. The movements came back. I was drained. We went back home that night. We kept awake checking often. We spent the next four months praying and hoping that the baby will not have any deficits. Nobody to tell or share. We were fearful of letting the elders know of what happened. We were scared. Then on March 24th 1987, my wife had a c section. The baby was big. 10.3 Lbs. My wife had gestational diabetes. Till my son grew into an adolescent, there were times I worried and kept second guessing. Now my son jokes about it. He blames me for all his problems!