MY PROMO-MENTORS WRITING CHALLENGE- DELIVERY GROUND

It was a cold night as it has just rained heavily in Ikoyi. I was all warmed up under my duvet in my room, sipping hot tea. I was home alone with my over sized mother. I would say over sized because she was heavily, I mean HEAVILY pregnant. My dad and other siblings had gone for a vigil, as it was also a Friday night. My mother had swollen feet so she couldn’t move well and her due date was somewhere around the corner. It was about ten pm, 2011, July 30 and I was about to have a sweet night rest. I was about 11 years.

I took the last sip of my tea and smiled to myself. I was too comfortable. Thinking about all the plates I washed and other chores I did, I deserved a good sleep at least. I closed my eyes for like ten minutes when my mother shouted my name from her room.
“EJURA!”

I heard and grumbled, turned to the other side. I heard her call again, this time desperately. I grumbled again, pounding my hand hard on the pillow like it was it's fault i was being called. I don’t know if you noticed but pregnant women were not nice, very edgy, emotionally harsh and would send any one available on sets of errands( sometimes they came like season films. They could be so dramatic and angry for little, almost no reason. I reluctantly stood up and shouted

“MAAAAAA!” I dragged my feet as I walked with a frown on my face.

“COME OH! QUICK PLEASE! I THINK SHE’S COMING!” I heard her scream after she managed to finish the sentence. My ears shot up. Did I hear her right? Did she mean she was in labour?
I immediately ran to her rescue like the superman I thought I was. I pushed her door open and found her gasping and squeezing the pillows. I rushed to her side.

“Run, call your dad and tell him. I’m DYING oh” I started running in confusion. I had never been in such a situation. She threw a pillow towards the direction I was running to and shouted;

“Where are you running to? My phone is at the other side of the bed charging” she managed to say breathing hard, writhing on the bed. I rushed there and tried to call my father. It rang twice and no answer,so I was trying to type a text.

“OH! What kind of man is this? Why isn’t he picking? Call the pastor let him…..” she creamed again. Fear gripped me.

“but mummy, the pastor will be prayin…..”

“shut up! Oya come here.” I rushed to her side.
I immediately noticed a slightly transparent liquid, spread on the bed. I gasped. I remembered when watching African magic, pregnant women who were about to deliver will say “my water just broke” I was excited to actually see it and a smile began to form on my face when I received a knock that stung my brain.

“I’m here, suffering in pain and you’re smiling?!” I rubbed the spot that had suffered the torture and frowned.

“OYA, rub my back, rub it well!” I rubbed as effectively as I could but it was not stopping the pain. She screamed in so much pain, I began to cry. I suddenly remembered a cartoon I watched where over the phone, they gave a husband, instructions on how to deliver his wife of their baby. Maybe I could help. I told my mum

“mummy, please breathe in and out” I panicked. Thank God she listened.

“ don’t push oh” I scratched my head with my other hand out of confusion. My mother was trying her best to keep calm. Her phone rang and I rushed to pick, thank goodness it was my dad.

“the water has broken oh!!” I was crying as I shouted it.

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“JESU CHRISTO!” he shouted over the phone and cut the call. I retuned back to my mother, this time, her legs were open, it looked like she was pushing. Still breathing hard, in and out. She asked me to check if she was bleeding.

“ME?” I was puzzled wondering what she meant.

“oh God!, that knock I gave you did not enter abi?”
Was she asking me to chook my head between her legs and check? The HORROR!

I obeyed and the next thing I saw horrified me. I saw a head, at the opening of her vagina! I screamed “blood of JESUS!” And backed away, tearing up. I thought my mommy was going to die. She was obviously still in pains. “mummy…….head! I saw head! Red head!” I sobbed, pointing to in between her legs. Lord! I was just eleven!
I knelt down and began to pray. I didn’t know what else to do. The baby was pushing its way out and she was trying to hold on. Just as I began to “pray in the spirit”, my dad rushed in with a female pastor. They both surrounded my mother and tried to help. Luck for us, the female pastor was a mid-wife.

It didn’t take long for my mother to deliver there, on the bed, with my eyes open, watching everything! I mean, I saw an actual delivery, not 3d. The baby came out with a thumb in her mouth, blood everywhere! The pastor smacked her twice before she began to cry. I watched my father as his expressions changed from tensed, to happy, then tensed again, then happy. My mother sighed, eyes closed.
We managed to clean her and the baby up, my siblings locked outside, pacing and praying.
“you should have seen your big sister in action!” I bragged to them hours later, when my mother and baby were taken to the hospital.

Today, Ajifah, as we named her will be turning 11 on the 31st of July. She still has a big head though.

Looks exactly like my mother and is super sweet. I decided to study medicine and specialize in gynecology and obstetrics ever since I “saved the day”. I became inspired and wanted to learn more and also deliver more babies.. That day, I would never forget. Today, I’m following the footsteps of my dreams.