by Vina Fenty
"Oh, Shit!! How are you, not howling?"
"You think? It feels like someone is sawing my insides with a ...ahh, fucking shiiiit! Are you going to fucking move or what?" she keeled over in pain, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins was a truckload.
I started to shout for her mother as I ran around the room, gathering our hospital bag. I was happy for Tejiri's mother's foresight, which had her moving to a room closer to ours as the pregnancy had progressed. Her parents soon burst into the room, and we managed to get her into something decent.
At the hospital, I was frantic and rude as the nurses seemed like they were on codeine or something.
"My wife is in labor, damn it," I screamed at the hospital lobby, and they finally turned to me.
"Calm down, Ma'am, we are bringing her a wheelchair right away," one of the nurses said.
I went back to Tejiri as she mounted a wheelchair. I heard her saying to the nurses, "please do whatever she asks, my wife is a little loco, and she might just raze this place to the ground if she feels like I'm in trouble."
I didn't find it funny that she was playful when something this serious was happening. We were led to our private ward, which was decorated to our taste, soothing sounds played from the speakers, and it looked nothing like a hospital room except for the equipment beeping in the background.
"Only one person can be with us, ma'am, so I assume it's you?" our doctor taking the delivery asked.
"Of course, yes. Mum, Dad, wish us luck," I said as they left us alone.
I had tears in my eyes by this time as I watched my wife howling in pain.
The nurses handed me my scrubs, and I donned it quickly before returning to my wife's side.
"Oh, Jesus! I am so stupid, Amara, tell them to give me the epidural, please," Tejiri said, crying.
I knew that it was too late now to do it, so I just held her hands and counted with her, "baby, it would be over soon. I'm so sorry."
"That is easy for you to say, this shit hurts like a bitch. Ahh, oh God, I can't take it, just fucking rip this baby out of me, take it out," she screamed as she almost jumped out the bed.
I was sweating profusely as tears rolled down my eyes, I was so scared, I didn't know what to do, but I had to be strong for her, I couldn't let her see my weakness. The nurses encouraged her and brought ice packs for us.
Soon the doctor came in again to check the contractions and dilation as he said, "you are doing so great Tejiri, just a little more and you are ready. Don't push till I tell you to okay? It's close now, this would soon be over."
I soothed her, cleaned her brows, talked to her, and generally blabbed back and forth, "you are so strong, baby, and I know you can do this, I love you so much, and I'm sorry."
She held my hand tighter as she looked up at me through her pain.
"Babe, why are you crying? Did I make you cry, I'm sorry that I can't be as strong as I thought I would be, please don't cry," Tejiri said softly to me through her pain and my heart melted into a puddle.
She was such an angel, and I fell harder in love with her with each passing minute. I rubbed off my tears and dropped a dozen kisses on her face.
"Don't say that you're doing so great, you're so strong. I love you so much," I said, wiping her brow as then, a more significant contraction tore through her, leaving her writhing in pain.
It was then that I regretted ever bringing up the idea of a child, what was I thinking? To survive gunshots and then kill my wife by asking her to do something this dangerous. If anything happened to Tejiri, it would be my fault.
"God, please, I beg you, don't take her away from me, help me," I said.
I wanted to sit in a corner and cry, but I had to be strong. I couldn't let her see my weakness again.
Our son finally came by 3:45 am with a loud cry that suggested that he had a good pair of lungs. He was the most beautiful thing ever. I wanted to be mad at him, but once he was placed in my arms, all my annoyance left, and the only thing that remained was pure bliss.
I was still staring at him when the doctor called my attention, "Mrs. Akpore, while waiting for the placenta, I discovered that there might still be another baby."
"What!" Tejiri and I said in unison, although hers was weaker.
Thirty minutes later, a healthy baby girl that had evaded scanning was placed in my other hand as my wife was stitched up and cleaned.
"I know I said I would breastfeed, but that was before I knew they were two. My love, you did great. Thank You!" I said, dropping a kiss on her cheeks.
I had started the process of getting my body ready to breastfeed for many months now as I had begun inducing lactation through medical and natural methods. My milk had started coming for weeks now. Tejiri seemed to enjoy the process of coaxing milk from my breast with her mouth, and with time, I had started to produce just enough to breastfeed our baby.
"I know I did great, I didn't even scream or cry."
We both laughed as I ignored that sentence for the time, and it was our first laugh in hours.
"How do they look?" she asked curiously.
"Erm, like babies? Here, breastfeed her, it creates a bond."
"If I am going to breastfeed anyone, it should be the boy with the soft, innocent mouth and not her, she looks so much like you, and we both know what you do with breasts. Hand him over," Tejiri said with a tiny laugh that I joined in albeit tearfully.
I was so happy as I cried tears of joy knowing that it was over and that Tejiri's terrible sense of humor was back. I handed the bundle to her while she tried and failed many times before finally getting the hang of it.
The baby immediately latched on to her breast, and she started to scream again, "this isn't a baby, this is an adult! It hurts!"
"Sorry, baby, it would get better," I said as I whipped out my breasts for my sweet baby girl to suckle.
It didn't hurt like hers as I have had more time to prepare.
She nodded sadly as the baby kept suckling her. She finally took a look at the baby, and I felt the tears before I saw them.
"Awww, he's so perfect," she cooed.
A few minutes later, I handed over the girl, and she handed the boy to me as we pondered on what to name them.
She gave them back to me as she finally slumped on the bed in exhaustion.
"We'll figure that out later, seeing as we can't seem to agree on any name," she said tiredly, and I agreed.
We had time to fight and argue over more names.
It took about three nurses to wrest the babies out of my grip. I didn't ever want to let them go, and I had never felt a love so strong and raw before other than with Tejiri. They were taken to the neonatal ward for all the necessary checks after they were tagged.
We were moved to our recovery suite some minutes later, and Tejiri's parents brought us food.
When they opened the door, I saw two other people behind them, and when they were revealed, it was my parents.
"Mum, Dad!" I said in surprise.
My mother rushed towards me and held me tight.
"It doesn't matter what you are, who you love, Amara, you are my daughter, and I almost lost you once because of my stupidity, and I have a choice now, and I chose you. Amara, I am sorry, please forgive me."
My dad joined in the hug as we cried and reconciled. I mouthed a 'thank you' to Tejiri's parents, I knew they were responsible for flying my parents down from Nigeria.
I asked them all out later in the guise of going to shop for the other twin that we hadn't budgeted for, and when they left, I climbed into bed with my wife.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"Oddly, I feel happy, it was worth seeing your expression when you saw the babies, I just feel a little jealous at the way you look at them, and my coochie hurts like hell despite the pain relief. Did you see it when the babies were crowning?"
"Yes, and it was still so beautiful. More so because I knew what it meant to see our baby's head. Sorry about the pain, once we get home, I know a ho
me remedy that can help. I love you so much, come here." I said, holding her to my chest.
We snuggled till she fell into an exhausted sleep. I watched her lovingly as I realized that we were a miracle and not a mistake. It didn't matter what anyone thought, Tejiri and I were perfect, and with the coming of Oghenetega and Oghenejiro, we were always going to be an absolute miracle.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vina Fenty is a Nigerian based writer who has always had beautiful stories in her head. She loves to read, write, and spend time with her significant other. She hates the laws against same-sex unions in Nigeria, which is punishable by fourteen years, but by writing queer stories of loving and losing, she hopes that the world can finally hear the stories of gay people who have to hide their sexualities.
She loves to hear from readers and can be reached with;[email protected]
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