Monday 20 April 2015

The 'Church' Girl- 2

Mrs George attended her ante-natal clinic regularly as such no hitch was observed throughout the nine months.Everything went smoothly. She was fortunate to escape the usual morning sickness and other funny ailments that accompanied pregnancy.

By the time she was in her third trimester, her husband had an official engagement which took him out of Lagos for three months.He had promised his wife to make himself available immediately she was in labour. "Sweetheart, I can't afford to miss the birth of our little angel" He announced excitedly. Hmm! I pray so darling, Mrs George replied grudgingly.

When the pregnancy was six months old, they went for an ultrasound to confirm the sex of their baby.They were both excited when the sonographer revealed the sex to be a female.Mrs George anticipated for a baby boy while her husband was indifferent, after all it was their first fruit.He wouldn't mind if it were a boy or girl.All he craved for were three children, two boys and a girl.So if the first were a girl, he believed strongly the next two kids would be boys. Although his wish never came to fruition.

It was a breezy morning on 10th February,1991 Mrs George had not slept since the previous day.She had felt some cramps and with the help of Mama she was quickly taken to the hospital. St Monica Specialist hospital in Surulere was where Mrs George registered for antenatal.Dr Benson was one of the obstetricians and he strictly recommended her to deliver there so he could monitor her closely.

Mama was the name her mother-in-law.She was fondly called Mama by all her children.She was in her early 60s.Mama and her husband had relocated back to cross river about five years ago after they both retired from the Federal Civil Service Secretariat, Ikoyi.

She had come to Lagos on the invitation of her son whom she loved to call Edikan- which means Victory in English. Mr George preferred to be called Victor but the mum refused to change.
Mama had not visited Lagos in the past 3 years since she relocated to Calabar with her husband .The last time she came was in 1988 when Adiaba, Mr George's younger sister who happened to be the first female daughter delivered a baby boy.Adiaba was also happily married in Lagos and she already had two gorgeous boys.

When Mr George broke the news of the pregnancy to his Mother, she was highly elated.She danced to her favourite Christain song."Mama was fairly educated so she communicated with her children in Efik, Pidgin or sometimes poor English; when she wanted to impress her children that she completed standard two.She excitedly yelled 'Sosongo Jesu!' three times accompaning it with her favourite Efik music "Abasi ayaya o Ayaya o Abasi ayaya o, Ayaya naa ndo " The song when translated  to English means 'My lord is so good.He’s so excellent'.
This had been her wish for all her four children .The four were married already . Edikan was the third while Adiaba was the last daughter as well as her only female child.

The labour process was smooth and Mrs George delivered a beautiful baby girl.The tiny baby weighed 2.5kg.Inspite of her low birth weight, the doctor confirmed she was a healthy baby , hence the weight did not matter.

Mr George went to the phone booth located in Kingsway complex on Sabongari road  in Kano to ring the hospital to find out if his wife had delivered ."Hello!Am I connected to St Monica's Hospital? "Yes please",the  sonorous voice at the receiver reponded calmy. "My name is Victor George and I had like to..."He did not finish the sentence before the receptionist recognised his name and gave the answer he anticipated to hear.
Mrs George was the only woman who delivered a baby that morning."Oh Mr George, congrats you are now a father to a pretty little angel."She announced joyously.

To be continued next week...

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