It was Wednesday night at 11pm. My wife had been complaining of headache but this wasn’t all that unusual. Earlier I had told her that she ought to get a bag packed just in case we she began labour early.  Too late. We had gone to bed but thank God my wife hadn’t gone to sleep yet!

Her water bag broke. Four and a half weeks before her due date. Without panic we decided it was time to call the Doctor and head to the hospital. After packing a few things we went out and caught a taxi over. We headed up to the labour ward and they started taking vitals. At first I thought the equipment was malfunctioning are improperly hooked up. Then I began to become scared.

Her blood pressure was around 194/125. And rapidly rising. After twenty minutes it read 209/137. I’d never seen such a high reading before in my life. I laughingly told Cassandra that if she didn’t relax a bit they’d bring in a cat for her to pet and calm down (she hates cats) but inside I was quite worried.

The Doctor arrived and quickly sussed out what was going on. Medicine was given to bring the pressure under control and we learned that if we hadn’t come in we probably would have lost the baby and possibly Cassandra as well. She was experiencing Pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome.

If little Cassia hadn’t kicked a hole in the sac, Cassandra’s water bag wouldn’t have broken and we wouldn’t have gone to the hospital. Her previous check-up had been fine and we weren’t scheduled to go in again for another ten days.

Our Doctor said Cassandra needed to go in for an immediate Caesarean Section procedure. Now.

Less than three hours after her water bag broke our new little girl Cassia Hope was born 1.8kg/4lbs. She needs to be in the Neonatal ICU for two weeks to gain enough weight to go home. But I thank God that both my wife and new child are alive and healthy!

I’ve just had a VERY strong reminder of what we should all remember is important. Our families are priceless and we ought to be thankful for every moment we have together with them.