| Third Time In The Labour Room |
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| Written by Sylvester Ojenagbon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 23 January 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I love my wife. Yes, I am proud to say that anywhere and she knows it. But going to the labour room with her has never been my idea of showing her how much I love her. The reason is not far-fetched: I was more than scared about what goes on in that place, until I got married. Even now, I am not too certain that I am not scared of what goes on in that place; not even after taking a tortuous journey with my wife into that place called labour room, not once, not twice, but thrice. Somehow, I cannot stop wondering how I have survived it these three times. Knowing how every child of mine was born was one thing I greatly desired as a young man. The problem was, the stories I heard about some women taking it out on their husbands in the labour room - with some almost losing a finger, an ear lobe and some other thing - did not encourage me to entertain the thought of going there with my wife. The trauma women go through during childbirth, I heard, was out of this world. Then I got married. And what was my wife’s greatest desire? To have me beside her, not only in the labour room, but also in the delivery room every time she wanted to have a child. Although it was a very tough request to grant, I granted it all the same. As my wife would say, “Just do it for love.” And I did. Or rather, I have done…these three times. I remember when I rushed her to the hospital to have our first child. She had started having labour pains, and her mother and I were right on hand to do everything that was needful. I just could not stand it when, out of her obvious deep pains and agony, she was almost bringing down the walls of the labour room. Nothing anybody said seemed to get past her ear lobes. If only I could bear some of the pains for her! But all I could do was pray. As one hour turned to two, and two to three and on and on till the eight hour, I became really worried. She had to be induced at some point because, according to the doctor, her contractions were on the mild side. Then her pains and howling intensified. When eventually she was wheeled into the delivery room, I was too scared to go in with her. I only peeped every now and then to be sure she was all right. I had the boldness to join her only after she was delivered of our first daughter. Her joy, after all said and done, was that she saw me in the delivery room every time she needed to. For our second child, I decided I was going to stand by her all the way. Although the doctors refused to consent to her request because of the stress she put her mother and I through the first time, she insisted she would not make it if I was not there. So, reluctantly, her request was granted. And I was all alone with her as her mother did not want to go through the emotional anguish she went through the first time. She chose instead to stay at home with our first child. The fact that my wife wanted me in the delivery room did not stop her from asking me to walk out at some point. And what was my offence? Daring to ask her to listen to the doctor’s instructions. The same doctor who had said he would not allow me into the room asked her, to be sure, if she wanted me out. “Yes,” she said. “He should get out.” It took some divine intervention for her to allow me to remain. The good thing is that there was no biting; there was no use of any dangerous weapon. I had actually told her after our first child that I would accept it if she chose not to have another child. After all the stress she went through, I would have been really crazy to expect her to go through it a second time. But her main concern was that nobody around us would understand. After all, I am an only son. So, came the second child - also a girl. Now, my wife had been told by medical experts, six months after our wedding, that she could never have a child. Hers, they said, was an extreme case of hormonal imbalance. But the same day she was given that report at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), she went for the Fruit of the Womb Class in our church. According to her, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya (of blessed memory) prayed for her with so much zest and prophesied intermittently to her womb. It was as if someone told her what the doctors had told my wife earlier that day. But nobody did as only my wife and I knew about it. In fact, I heard about it only few minutes before that meeting. The interesting thing was that about a month later, my wife was confirmed pregnant. She did not take any medication; she did not go to see any doctor until she knew she was pregnant. The truth is, when we were getting married,
my wife and I could not agree on the number of children we would have. While
she wanted three, I wanted just two. The only thing that was certain was that
if we did not have two children, we would have three. It is therefore no wonder
that yesterday, I had to step once again into the labour room. And this time,
the experience was much more traumatic than the previous two. She had been in
labour for four days without making any serious progress. As a last resort, and
contrary to her earlier stance, she asked to be induced yesterday morning. And
what we thought was going to take four or five hours ended up taking nine. My
wife took a risky and unexpected step when she realised drips were being set up
for her to augment the earlier inducement. She was already exhausted, and so
was the baby. She could therefore not imagine how she was going to go through
it all. Then she mustered all the strength she could and screamed so much until
the baby came out right on her bed. It was a big risk, but thank God it worked. Honestly, I do not understand how my wife has coped these past years with three pregnancies. But staying with her all through these periods, especially in the labour and delivery rooms, has made me appreciate her, my mother and women generally more. My greatest desire though is that this is the last time I would have to go into the labour room. We have had two children; now we have three. I just hope everybody is happy…I sincerely hope so! Please join me in welcoming the latest
addition to the Ojenagbon family: a baby boy! Both mother and child are doing great.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 April 2008 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Robot| 23.01.2008 11:17