‘It takes so little to do something kind for someone else.’
A US woman in the throes of labour went above and beyond to help out another mum-to-be this week by officiating her marriage.
Sushma Dwivedi from New York was about to have her own baby at Weil Cornell Hospital in New York last week when her anaesthesiologist told her that a few rooms away, another woman in labour and her partner were desperately looking for someone to marry them.
“Their wedding plans went awry when her water broke,” she told LoveWhatMatters.
“Nobody can find the chaplain at the moment – probably because it’s after midnight in the middle of the week – so the staff is in mad dash mode to help.
Sushmas was ordained on the Internet several years ago and decided to step up.
There was just one problem – she’d already been given pain relief ahead of having to push.
“Clearly our stars have all aligned. The only catch: we’d have to move fast, because my epidural is kicking in and you know, labour.”
She says she saw the occasion as an opportunity to teach her as-yet unborn son a lesson.
“I was about to bring life into the world and I’ll be damned if this kid didn’t learn that when given the option, he should always choose love. It takes so little to do something kind for someone else.
“A little after midnight, a little loopy, I officiated a wedding in the middle of my hospital room for a beautiful couple.
“The team at Cornell turned it into a celebration – with flowers, a processional and even a reading! One of the nurses wrote a poem! Totally surreal, totally lovely.”
Job done, Sushmas coolly got back to the matter at hand and gave birth to baby boy.
“Four hours later, along came Nayan. Seven lbs, 6 ounces, 21 inches, head full of hair, first life lesson already enforced.
“I don’t think it will ever get better than this.”
