Must Read: My Teenage Mind (18+)

Episode 6 years ago

Must Read: My Teenage Mind (18+)

11 September 2013.

I woke up with a sharp pain in my lower abdomen.
I looked at the wall clock hanging in my room and it read 2:17am. I ran to the toilet thinking that I was pressed or something but nothing came out.
I came out to continue my sleep but each time I closed my eyes,the pain would return. I think it came every 20 minutes or less. I tossed on the bed. Nothing occurred to me that I was in labour.

I remained awake till 6am. I checked my phone but there was no airtime. I sent Vivian a call me back SMS and she called me immediately. I asked her to send me airtime that I needed to call my mum. She agreed and ended the call.

Thirty minutes later,I got no message so I went to my WhatsApp and sent my mum messages,telling her how I felt and my inability to sleep. God being merciful,mum called immediately. She asked me to pick the bag that was in her wardrobe (she had earlier brought out the ones that will be needed at the hospital) and rush to the hospital and that I should take my bath with hot water before leaving. She said she would drive down to Onitsha(from nsuka) immediately.

I did as she told me; took my bath with hot water and wore a gown. Someone who had seen me that morning with my bag would think I was travelling. I walked as slow as the pain would let me. I got to a tricycle(keke) stand and chartered one to the hospital. I got there and was lucky enough to pick number 2. The nurses knew what was wrong with me so they took my bag and asked me to be walking round the premises till it was Time to see the doctor.

As I walked round,the pain stopped so I went and sat down. I hated Raymond that moment. Not even a call or a text,I began to realise that life isn’t what we all think it is. I even began to know that love was just a word used to confuse timid girls like me. He didn’t even think about the problem I had saved him from by not mentioning his name.
If I had a knife then,I would have killed him and killed myself as well. …….. But who are we to make decisions? God uses a lot of experience to teach us lessons. I sat at the hospital reception with a lot of thoughts in my head. My mum arrived when the first patient went to see the doctor. She asked why I had not asked any of my street girls to accompany me but I told her that I wanted to be alone.

We were finally ushered into the doctors office.

He checked me and said it was labour but its starting as contraction. He inserted a white drug into my body and asked that I go to the labour room and wait till my water breaks. I got to the room and was surprised to see three other women and a teenage girl like me. In her own case, she was in labour but her mum kept shouting on her that she should die because of the shame she had brought their family. I looked at my mum and she smiled lovingly at me.

The nurses gave me a bed and asked that I UnCloth and tie only my wrapper,I shouldn’t even put on a pant. I undressed and sat down on my bed. Mum excused herself and went to buy me food which I ate and slept amidst wails from other women in the room.

I woke up with that same sharp pain but this time, it didn’t stop. The wall clock showed it was some minutes past five . My mum was sitting on the bed looking at me. I let out a scream and she held me,asking me not to cry,that if I do,I’ll continue to cry during each labour but if I stayed strong,that it will be easy for me the next time. The pain even increased as she said that. Next thing I knew,I was running Unclad in the room,beating my mum,praying and asking God to take my life. None of the women had given birth by that time.

Remembering my mum’s words,I swallowed my pain but didn’t stop hitting my mum. She endured them all,even rubbed my waist to help reduce the pains. I started having a discharge of blood and white mucus. The pain didn’t stop as well. I cried silently and wished for death to come as the pain was much and not stopping at all.