“I think the babies are coming,” I managed to say as I was still feeling more pain. My
expected date of delivery (EDD) was not until about 3 weeks’ time but there I was, having
contractions at my own surprise party. I had woken up that morning thinking my day was
going to be boring and uneventful, instead it was turning out to be the complete opposite of
that.
All my friends were running around in confusion, they didn’t know what to do. Apparently
most of them had never been with a woman in labour before and even Chinedu who had
experienced what it was like didn’t have good stories to tell—at least from his last
experience. I could see fear in his eyes, he was probably scared of losing me to childbirth
like he lost his wife.
“Take me to the hospital!” I screamed in pain. I guess that helped to snap them into action
because they had been running around aimlessly until they heard my screaming. Chinedu
ran to get his car keys, Jumai offered to stay back to look after Sean, Chinedu’s friend went
to get the door, while Charly and Yemi helped me up and into the car. I must admit that if not
for the excruciating pain, I’d have been feeling like a VIP with everyone fussing over me.
Charly was using her scarf to fan me while Yemi kept wiping my face with a handkerchief
even though I wasn’t even sweating and we were sitting in an air-conditioned SUV. Normally
I would have done something to stop the madness but I was in too much pain, I just allowed
them to carry on while I explained to Chinedu and his friend about how to get to the hospital
where I had been booked.
We headed there immediately but unfortunately, as soon as we reached a major road, we
got caught in traffic. The thought of even having to sit in the car for a second longer made
the contractions feel ten times more painful when they came.
To make matters worse, Yemi kept rubbing my belly as if that was supposed to help. After
giving her a few dirty looks, she probably figured I wasn’t enjoying the intrusion into my body
privacy and took her hands off immediately.
About an hour later, we finally reached a point where there was no longer any traffic. I was
happy that we would soon reach the hospital but my joy didn’t last for long because we were
stopped for inspection by some road safety officials. Sometimes I really wonder what criteria
those guys use when stopping vehicles on the road, I always imagine they play a game of
“eeney meeney miney moe” and just jump out thinking to themselves “ahan! You’re going to
be our scapegoat today” when it lands on an unfortunate car.
Unfortunately for the officers, they had picked the wrong car to mess with that day.
READ ALSO :Old Enough Yet Unmarried – Episode 35
By the time I was done giving them a piece of my mind, they were apologising and wishing us a
safe journey.
Against all odds, we eventually got to the hospital. Yemi ran in to alert the nurses who
ordered a porter to wheel me into the delivery room immediately. Everyone was ordered to
stay out except for my husband and since I didn’t have one, I shouted for Chinedu to come in
with me. I could see the joy on his face at being called in as my husband. He immediately
ran and followed behind me into the labour room.
Yemi quickly ran in to give me a hug before they closed the doors, she whispered into my
ear saying, “I know you can do it Tess, be strong!” I just rolled my eyes and gave her the
“what brand of weed have you been smoking?” look. She and Charly had been so emotional
since my contractions started, they were acting like I was the first woman in the world to give
birth to twins. After she was done acting her drama, the nurse asked her to kindly excuse us
but not before I called out to her to help me bring my baby things from home. Luckily I’d been
preparing for this day for a while, I just didn’t know it was going to come so soon. I had my
babies’ clothes and all the things I needed for the delivery packed neatly in a small travel bag
at home. I called it the “delivery bag”. I think it’s a good idea for every pregnant woman to
have one packed at least 4 weeks ahead of her Expected Date of Delivery (EDD) because
you never know if your baby might decide to make a grand entrance by pulling a surprise
stunt on you.
I was given a hospital gown to change into and was told to lie on the bed while Chinedu sat
on a chair beside me trying to calm me down every time I felt contractions. The doctor came
in later to set up IV access on my hand and perform a vaginal examination on me. It felt so
weird being a patient instead of a doctor, I was used to being the one giving the instructions
and advice but here I was on the receiving end.
A vaginal examination is done to assess progress during labour—the doctor or midwife will
usually insert two gloved fingers into the vagina to assess the cervix (neck of the womb) to
determine its position, how much dilated (widened) and stretched it is, how far the baby has
moved down the birth canal and other necessary factors.
When the doctor was done with the examination, he told me I was 2 cm dilated, I wanted to
scream, “Just 2 cm after all this pain?” I didn’t even want to imagine what the pain would be
like by the time I was fully dilated.
Chinedu was such a sweetheart, he was doing everything he could to make me feel better,
rubbing my back when it hurt, kissing my forehead and giving me words of encouragement…
Unfortunately, none of it seemed to work and the pain got worse with each contraction. At
one point when he was consoling me saying “calm down dear, it will be over soon” I wanted
to scream at him and say “what do you know about giving birth?” Then I remembered he
was only doing me a favour by staying with me so I kept quiet and continued biting his
shoulders instead. Yes! I was biting his shoulders—don’t judge me, it was my own way of
coping with the pain.
A few hours and a couple of vaginal examinations later, the doctor came round to perform
yet another vaginal exam to check how my labour was progressing. From the look of things,
I didn’t seem to be progressing well even though by now my membranes had ruptured—this
is a process popularly known as “water breaking” to most women. It seemed my cervix had
failed to widen beyond 6 cm for too long, so he decided to augment the labour; to do this, he
placed me on an infusion containing a drug called oxytocin.
For your information, if your doctor ever tells you he wants to augment your labour, it simply
means he will stimulate your womb to make longer, more intense and frequent contractions
to help your labour progress.
I always hear patients complain that it’s really painful but like the saying goes, it’s he who
wears the shoes that knows where it hurts. The pain I felt after receiving the infusion was out
of this world. I now understood why all my pregnant patients hated me so much after I
placed them on it.
The next time the doctor checked me again, I still wasn’t progressing well. By then it was
already past midnight. He used a small device called sonic aid to check the heartbeat of my
babies and that was when we realised there was something terribly wrong. “What’s the
matter?” I asked him when I was finally able to catch my breath in between contractions.
“I’m afraid there seems to be signs of foetal distress, your babies might be in danger if we
don’t go in for a Caesarean section,” he informed me.
“Caesarean what?” I thought to myself, after all the labour pains I was still going to end up in
the theatre? I had assisted in hundreds of C-sections before then and I knew it wasn’t a
complicated procedure but I had to admit that I was still scared. The look on Chinedu’s face
didn’t help either, he looked terrified, anyone who saw him would have thought the doctor
had just said he was going to pluck my eyes out.
“I’m scared,” he whispered, looking at me with so much fear in his eyes. “Almost this same
time 2 years ago, I lost my wife during childbirth; I can’t bear to lose you too,” he said,
squeezing my hands. At that point, I could almost swear I saw tears in his eyes. “Isn’t there
anything you can do to help? Is there no other option?” he literally begged the doctor.
“This is the best option for the babies,” I quickly spoke up, interrupting him. “I’ll be fine,” I
assured him, even though deep down I wasn’t sure I would be. Different things were going
through my mind, what if the surgeon made a mistake and injured a nearby organ? What if I
bled too much? Worse still what if my babies didn’t make it? I tried to hide my fears but the
thoughts kept coming…
Find out what happens next…