Runaway maid subplot — Good news? — Part 4
Continuing this saga of our maid, who used to stay and work with us for years, who suddenly decided to run away for “love”. 🤭
This is a subplot — I am a helpless observer who has no say on what goes on in the story, so, let’s experience it, just as I did.
Quick Context Setup
If you haven’t read through, part 1, part 2, and part 3, you should; it gives you the necessary emotional attachment that is required to stay along with our main character but in case you are busy, here is a quick 3 liner about what happened.
She was present during child delivery in a remote village - under very poor conditions. Then leaving her eduction, ran away from us to get married, and got herself pregnant without planning admist uncertain financial condition.
Part 3 left us at the end of December 2021, after which we had strictly told her to refuse all work and focus on herself and the child.
Alright, let’s keep going!
Around early January 2022, she started getting calls from her family to return to the village, as they can better take care of her there rather than in the city.
Somehow, this time, she displayed the wisdom to go to the hospital, do all necessary checkups and get all the necessary medications before moving back to her village to live in her husband's home.
She called my mother, once she was there and settled, and after talking about all the medications that she has received. She horrifyingly told us that:
Her mother in law is suggesting to not take medications, as the medicines will make the child grow larger and healthier; hence, the delivery will be difficult. Claiming, that the child can be nursed back to health later.
My mother went to her usual frenzy — explaining how dumb of an idea that was, and told her to move to a village with medical facilities nearby.
Yes, she had hiked 4 hours to her husband’s village, 7–8 months pregnant — which did not have any medical facilities, instead of the families moving to a place where medical facilities are easily available.
Thankfully, she moved to another village with a medical facility within walking distance. It seems that the experience from part 1 paid off. 🤣
She was also given an expected date of 19 Feb 2022 and was told to come to the facility in case of any event.
A minor time skip
It’s mid-Jan 2022 now, and the Omicron variant was the hottest thing in the city. Practically everyone had tested positive, including my family and during this time, we could not pay any attention to what happened with her, but since she was in the village, she was spared from the variant, as the whole fiasco was mostly in the city.
For added context, like India, Nepal also bans the gender determination of a child, because female foeticide is common in this region, we are only told the overall health of the baby.
The date of birth
We were so occupied by the variant, and other pressing matters, that we had forgotten about this, so let’s jump to 19 Feb 2022 — around 10 am we get a call from her, that she had successfully delivered a healthy baby girl! 🎉
Her health was also pretty stable and she was back in the city!
Hold on, this didn’t make sense, she moved to a village near her family with medical facilities, how did she reach the city?
So, this was what had happened: she had been admitted to the facility 2 days ago as she underwent a lot of pain, but could not give birth. The staff was not confident to give her any kind of anesthetic as they didn’t want to introduce any kind of complications. So after 2 days of trying, they decided that she should be moved to the city for better help.
In the ambulance — on the way to Kathmandu is exactly when she gave birth to the child, where probably the ambulance staff and her mother & her sister assisted during the birth.
Back to 10 am on the birth date: it was a public holiday, ( Nepalese election day ) and her hospital is on the route for a parade on that day…, so we tried to reach her as soon as possible but we got delayed.
The plot thickens
My parents reached the hospital around 1 pm with basic baby supplies, and to give blessings, but the story takes a turn.
If you haven’t already noticed from the picture, the hospital was ridiculously empty. They only saw her husband there, who refused to speak a single word to them and left the room as soon as they entered. After taking some pictures, they noticed that there is no one nearby.
To investigate this, my father got up, left the room, and started calling her family members :
The first call went to her brother, who replied that he will not speak with her, because of her marriage to that guy. He said that they are against that family's practice of arranging rituals in others' houses and charging exorbitant rates for them. He swiftly apologized and hung up.
He decided to try one more family member and tried to call her mother, who was actually in the ambulance with her — did she leave the room for lunch?
He called her, only to realize that she had already left for the village, and is halfway there. My father tried to reason with her, telling her that raising a child isn’t an easy task, and her support would mean a lot to the child. But she refused, saying that if her in-laws are nearby a fight would break out. 🤦♀️
Shocked at the current situation, my father went back to the room.
Meanwhile, my mother was still with her chatting her up, and had brought some food along. She ate the food rather quickly, almost as if she was starving.
She also probed asking where her mother & sister were? If they had left for lunch or another event?
After realizing the situation, as usual, she started to talk loudly in panic 🤣. She started probing further and found out that both families are bitter.
That’s when my father returned to the room, asking her about the logistics, as to what arrangements are made for the night’s stay? It’s about 2 pm, and she told them that she plans to return to the village (4 hrs drive + 4 hrs hike).
After explaining how stupid that idea was — about hiking in the dark, in the winter, with a child that was born less than 24 hours ago. She agreed to stay in the city for a day. Then my father asked, which car they had hired to return? Only to get a reply that they were opting for the most crowded public to return home.
If my mother wasn’t panicked enough — this set her off even more. Which prompted her to stay behind in the city for at least 15 more days before returning to the village with the child.
My father asked her if she could contact her brother to pick her up? She was blissfully unaware that her relations had degraded. She replied, “He hasn’t picked up my calls for months. He must be really busy — let him be”.
That’s when the husband came back into the room with a nurse, who said that her husband has finished off the paperwork & they are free to leave now — she is being discharged.
My parents helped her to pack and left, knowing that they will leave for the village the moment they left the hospital.
So, a quick list of her problems:
- Newborn child
- Uncertain financial condition — neither of them has a stable income
- Even more family drama
- Incomplete education
Well, the only thing that we can do — is watching from the sidelines, and hope that the story takes a good turn. We haven’t contacted her since the hospital visit, they will most likely return to the village to raise the child.
You know that if there’s any drama, you’re going to get a part 5.🤭
I hope that nothing eventful happens so that I do not have to write part 5.
