The Other Me by Rachael Aligbe
Episode 2
Mrs Okocha was in another ward, waiting to be delivered of her child. This wasn’t her first child. In fact, this was her fifth child. Her husband wasn’t delighted to hear the news because he had been struggling to feed six people and having another child was not an option. After their fourth child, he had warned her sternly not to become pregnant again because his business wasn’t booming like it used to and they needed to save up for the children’s education.
When she told him that she was pregnant, he had told her to get rid of it. She pleaded with him and assured him that after this fifth child, she’d do something about her womb. Well, he had to oblige. Ten minutes ago, her husband brought her to the hospital when her water broke. She was in the delivery room while he was in the waiting room, pacing up and down the room like this was their first child.
The time had come. Mrs. George had started experiencing labour pains. Two midwives came to attend to her. After about fifteen to twenty minutes, she was delivered of a baby boy. She had tears of joy; for the first time in her life, she had heard the cry of a baby – her own baby. While one midwife was cleaning her up, the other took the baby out to clean him up. She was given some drugs and a drip was infused. She soon slept off.
Some minutes later, Mrs Okocha was having labour pains and so she was attended to. Surprisingly, she was delivered of a baby and another baby – twins. She remembered her discussion with her husband and began to cry. The midwives thought it was tears of joy.