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Jumoke looked small and vulnerable on the hospital bed. She couldn’t lay still as bouts of pain continually hit her from time to time. She’d shift from one end of the bed to the other, raise a leg, raise an arm or just do anything to curtail the pain. Her forehead shone with beads of sweat. Her pupils were dilated and stayed steady on her husband.
He was by her side, seated on a chair, holding her hand and looking into her face. He looked lost and helpless. In his mind, he wished he had the power to remove the pain from his wife. If only the pain could be transferred to him.
” How’s is it?” He asked for the uptenth time.
Jumoke hissed and turned her face away. Then, she remembered that Kola wasn’t the cause of her pain. She turned to him and said in a sharp tone. ” The pain is coming back with full force. I think the effect of the analgesic is wearing off. It’s like the pregnancy wants to come down no matter…” She felt another fierce pang of pain and squeezed her face tight.
Kola moved to sit beside her and declared. ” This baby will not come until the due time. God that gave it to us will keep it secure in your womb until the due time.”
” I like your faith,” Jumoke whispered. ” I also wish that this pregnancy will stay, but for the way I’m feeling. The pressure in my lower belly is so much. Jeeeesus!” She screamed. ” I feel like I’m going to burst.”
Jumoke had been on and off pain since she was brought to the hospital. She had been stabilized to an extent but the doctor clearly stated that the pregnancy wasn’t out of danger. Jumoke was at a risk of having a premature delivery. She was still draining amniotic fluid. It is not a good sign.
She had not as much as drop a leg down the hospital bed since she was wheeled into the ward. Everything including easing herself was done on the bed. The Doctor said she needed a complete bed rest.
Kelvin and Tosin had since gone home. They promised to return as soon as possible. Tosin will stay with Jumoke until she’s discharged home.
Jumoke is in a state of dilemma. She earnestly wanted her baby to live. She wanted to carry the pregnancy to term but her mind is telling her that it wouldn’t be. The doctor had categorically told her that the pain she’s having is contraction pain. It is supposed to come when her pregnancy is at term but the fall had triggered the sudden contractions. They’d done all they could to make the baby stay. They’d given her the necessary drugs and placed her on close monitoring. But who knows? The pregnancy might refuse to stay. If that be the case, the five- month-old foetus will not be able to survive outside the mother’s womb. All the organs especially the lungs were not fully developed. Maybe in a more developed world, something might be done like keeping the baby in an environment that’s a replica of the mother’s womb. But in a clime like ours that the health care system is less developed, nothing could be done than to allow the foetus go in peace and to console the parents.
Jumoke prayed to God to keep her baby there. She had built so.much dream around the pregnancy that she feared that she might have a mental breakdown if she lost it. She’d been seeing a cute baby girl in her dream since the first day that she knew that she was pregnant. She had held the baby in her arms to breastfeed her. She had loved and created a bond with the baby in her dream. Will God now disappoint her by snatching the joy away from her?
——–
Reverend Alhassan and his wife had been intimated about Jumoke’s state of health. They drove straight to the hospital and secured the car in the parking lot. Moving out of their car, Reverend sighted Deaconess Beatrice’s car a few metres away and tapped his wife.
” It seems Deaconess Beatrice is already here.” He pointed. ” That’s her car.”
” Maybe. But I called her yesterday and she said she’s out of town and will be away for a while.”
” If that be the case, what could her car be doing here?”
” Maybe she changed her mind or something.”
” Maybe.” Reverend shrugged. Deep within him and lately, he had been having a sort of uneasiness about Deaconess and had been praying for her. There were times that he almost concluded that she was either avoiding him or avoiding the church. There was a day they visited her house and the gateman had Insisted that she wasn’t around, even when he saw her car within the compound. Reverend concluded that Deaconess must have gone out without the car. Anyhow, he had not stopped praying for her.
Reverend and his wife were led to Jumoke’s hospital room. They met a distraught Kola. He narrated that Jumoke had been rushed into the delivery room. She was having strong contractions.
Kola wept like a baby as they awaited the outcome of whatever was happening in the delivery room. The Reverend and his wife advised him to hold unto God and his promises instead of crying for what has not happened. ” Pray,” Reverend said in a firm tone.
” I cannot pray. I can’t pray,” Kola said as he wept into his palms.
” You can’t pray? Why can’t you pray?” The pastor’s wife asked. ” It’s when we are not strong enough to pray that we ought to pray more.”
They were now at the entrance to the delivery room. Kola moved to and fro agitatedly. At one point, his phone rang and the caller ID showed Deaconess Beatrice. He refused the call. The phone rang again. Angrily, he switched off the phone and moved.
He dropped to the floor under a tree and covered his face.
Passerbys watched him and wondered at what was wrong with him. ” God are you punishing my wife for the sin I committed?” He asked. “She was not the one that sinned. Are you taking my baby because of what happened between me and Deaconess? God please have mercy. I want this baby. My wife wants this baby. Please don’t take this joy away from us. God let’s negotiate. I will do all that you want. I will confess all that…”
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. The pastor’s wife. Kola stood and wiped his palms down his face.
” The doctor wants to see you,” she said. Her eyeballs were red rimmed.
” Mummy what is it? How’s my wife?” He asked as he ran into the clinic. Pastor’s wife ran after him.
The Doctor’s word hit Kola like hail stone. ” I’m sorry but she lost the pregnancy.”
The Reverend held Kola on the shoulder. ” Be courageous. God that did this will give another pregnancy that will last till when due. You will carry your children. Your wife shall be fruitful.”
Kola felt the world turning and turning and turning round. He stood up from before the doctor. ” I need to go and see my wife. I need to comfort her.”
Reverend and his wife followed Kola as he rushed forward. He barged into the delivery room. Jumoke was still on the delivery couch. She wasn’t crying, but her eyeballs had an unhealthy glassy shine. Something lay on a wrapper beside her. The nurse was trying to pack it into a carton. Kola looked closely. It was an almost fully formed baby, Small and slimy. ” Our daughter,” he whispered.
Jumoke turned. And when she saw her husband, her dam broke. She bounced up and grabbed him. ” My baby. Where is my baby?” She touched her stomach. ” It’s flat. Kola where is my baby?” She screamed.
The attending nurse shook her head in pity as she tried to make Jumoke lie back on the couch. It was glaring that she was getting hysteric and might need to be sedated.
TO BE CONTINUED
Β©Bosede Fagbemi
Writing this episode wasn’t easy for me, especially with the fact that Jumoke ended up losing her pregnancy. I know that many people will not be happy with me.
When I told my children that the inspiration that I got for the story was that Jumoke’s pregnancy would go down, they were practically begging me not to make it that way.
Well, Life is not always a bed of roses. I pity Jumoke as if the story is real and she’s standing before me and weeping for her baby.
I asked myself in the afternoon. Did Jumoke lost her pregnancy because of Kola’s actions? Honestly I don’t know. There are some life happenings that we can’t just fathom the reason behind them.
I pray for all pregnant women, the Lord that made you conceive will bring you to term. You will not cast your young in Jesus name.
For families looking for the fruit of the womb, just like God did for Sarah, he will answer your prayers and cause you to smile in Jesus name. ( Amen)
