Testimony: Ashlyn, a precious gift of God

14th Feb 2012. The most eventful day in my memory. It was valentines day, my birthday, in fact the first ever birthday with my parents in USA.The day supposed to be one of the best days of my life.

My wife Regen was carrying our second daughter, Ashlyn in her womb. We happened to had the 19th week ultra sound scanning scheduled on the same day. Me and Regen went to the hospital for ultra sound and we were really happy till that very moment. Our world drastically changed in 30 minutes time. After 10 minutes into scanning, the doctor mentioned that the baby's nasal born is not visible and there is a very high risk of Down's syndrome(Autism). He also mentioned that the baby has an abnormal kidney and most likely need a surgery once she is born. He was explaining all the challenges about autism and was trying to persuade us for further tests. I was sitting next to the ultra sound table, we locked our hands, looked at each other; we were in complete shock. We had a short discussion, and we took the courage to respond to the doctor that we are not going to do any tests on the baby or do an abortion, its the child that God given us and we are not going to harm her in anyways. Doctor took our signature that he explained all the risks on the observations. We were shattered; got into the car in the parking lot and we started crying for a while. We discussed and Regen took the decision to resign as teaching assistant job from the Montessori school where she was working. She resigned on the same day. She was not gaining enough weight during this pregnancy and baby was continue falling the growth rate from 59 percentile to an alarming 13 percentile and finally to a very abnormal level of 9 percentile. Regen undergone 19 ultra sounds in total and weekly checkups there after.

Due to visa constraints our parents couldn't be with us during the delivery. Our first child, Irene was born in India and we had a lot of dependency on them, specially since it was a c-section; we were used to their spoon feeding. There weren't many hospitals in Dallas that allow a normal delivery after a c-section. We wanted to have a normal delivery since the recovery was expected to be much more quicker. Fortunately our gynecologist allowed us to go for a normal delivery and also recommended a hospital which allows that. Delivery was very smooth and doctor was really surprised to see baby Ashlyn in her hand the third push itself!! Ashlyn weighed just 6 pounds, Doctor mentioned that since she was tiny the delivery was quick and smooth. She was perfectly normal, no abnormality found in her kidneys in the tests that followed. We got discharged from the hospital on the second day itself. Ashlyn gained weight and she was normal as per the growth curve within 15 days.

We received lots of help from our friends, they took care of us well till we get adjusted with the situation. They visited us, cooked for us, helped us with everything they could. They were the guardian angels that God sent for us.

God knew all these coming in our ways, so He already blessed us with an extremely 'mature' (she was just 3 that time) Irene as our first child. She was really obedient and was even ready to stay with our friends' s house while we were at hospital, ready to share the attention to the new born.

Ashlyn, a precious gift that brought us closer to the God and strengthen our bonds within the family, parents and with our friends. He heard our our prayers and provided us enough faith to go through this situation. We have an amazing god, who takes care of minute details. Mathew 11:28 Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest". He is  worthy of praise and worship. He paid it all for us. Thank you Jesus for transforming our life.

I am writing this testimony three years later since  I know the power of testimony much better now than ever before. The words are spirit and it activates faith in people and guide them in their walk of life. Encourage you to take steps in faith, however small it is. The unseen world is much more real, and it operates through faith and obedience in God. Thank for reading our testimony and God bless you.