N0NYE

Nonye had been stuck in this nightmare for hours now. Every scrap of perseverance left in her seemed to have taken flight, leaving her at fate’s mercy.
Heaven knew she couldn’t keep up anymore with the pace of pain surrounding her.

The pain engulfing her body heightened with each passing second.
This must be hell, she gaped. For what better description could she tag the pain she was feeling?

Not that she found her way to hell before. But drifting along the biblical and hearsay analogy she had garnered, it was a fiery furnace filled with harsh teeth gnashing—a picture of her present delivery experience! She squinted as she lowered her head on the bed.

“Ah!” she moaned. It felt like demons were set at work within her, trying to rip out her insides. She imagined a hot butter knife filed in between her stomach to scrape out its content. It felt like a trillion needles continued to prick her constantly.

“You can do this!” the Scottish midwife-nurse said with much enthusiasm.

“Just a few more pushes and your baby will be here,” she reassured her with a harmless smile curling up in the corner of her lips.

Bams, her husband rubbed her hand lovingly. “Yes, babe… You can do this. Our champ will soon be here.”

Nonye’s spewed venom at the sound of Bams’ consolation. “Is this man alright?” she flipped out. What champ was he talking about? Did he mean the devil’s incarnate ripping her insides out right that moment?

Bams could be such a dim-wit at times, and right this moment in the room, Nonye thought he was the biggest the world could have.

"Baby, you can do this, you are a strong woman," he innocently carried on as he patted her hand.

Nonye had a hard time understanding the sheer nonsense Bams was spilling out of his mouth. What did he mean by she could do it? She couldn't do anything.

"Ñgå àmã gi ãkå ñti!” Her smooth igbo accent permeated the room before she echoed in English, “I will slap this man oh. Let him just say any more gibberish about being strong again, I will summon the gods of our fathers heavily on him.”

“Sorry, Madam,” the nurse tried to calm Nonye’s nerves.

Nonye gritted her teeth. All she wanted was for the agonizing to stop, right here, right now. She sniffed, tears pricking her eyes. It felt like she was trying to push a watermelon from a hole the size of a lemon or better still, the proverbial camel through the needle's eyes. An impossibility in her opinion.
Yet, there she was on the hospital bed trying to push through the pain.

Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead, and Bams wiped it with a handkerchief he had been holding. She would have thought of his action as loving in any other situation but now, it just annoyed her.

A contraction gripped her and she screamed. It took her back in time to her secondary school days. She had always thought the pains inflicted by her physics teacher's horsewhip on her back was the worst pain she had ever experienced.
However, right this moment, with each passing minute, second and nanosecond, she was being shown another kind of agony that surpassed those given by Mr. Koromonise's horsewhip.

Getting pregnant barely eight months into her marriage wasn't her plan and she definitely didn't imagine herself in this battlefield of labour, at least not anytime soon.

What fashion model allowed a baby to ruin her career, especially when she had just gotten to her peak? No one expected that from her. Not her, Nonye Pearl Kashimawo nee Emenike.

Even if heaven was raining babies, she wondered why it had to get to her too. She knew people who were desperate to have protruding bellies for nine months with the baggage that came with it.

Her friend, Deziri, was one of such people and yet, the rain of babies hadn't gotten to her. Nonye was interested in more modelling and endorsement deals, not babies.

She wondered why the contraceptive pills she took hadn't done its job. Why didn't I use the intrauterine system or a contraceptive ring instead? she thought regretfully.


Another contraction hit her and she grabbed Bams' cloth with both hands. She knew he hated having wrinkles on his cloth but she didn't care about that, she just wanted the baby out.

Surely, her village people had met with her haters in the industry and conspired against her. The evil plan her enemy had fashioned against her was prospering. That was the only explanation for the hell she was going through.

She obeyed the nurse's encouragement of push and did so with all her strength. When a newborn's wail filled the room, she let out a long breath of relief and settled her aching back on the bed.

"Baby, you did it. We did it! Our Champ is here," Bams gripped her left hand tightly.

"We? It's me. Just me. I was the one that did all the work!" was what Nonye wanted to say. However, relief overshadowed her anger and instead, she said, "Really?"

"Yes, Mrs. Kash, congratulations," the midwife answered with a smile, pronouncing her name as 'Cash'

"Mr. Kash, if you don't mind, it's time for you to clamp the baby from its placenta."

A smile lit his face. "Of course. I've been waiting to do that for the past nine months." He marched victoriously to the nurse's side, collected the clamp scissors and carefully executed the deed he had been called to perform.

As the wailing of the baby grew louder, tears slid out of Bams eyes.

Nonye watched the emotions displayed on his face through lidded eyes and a small smile broke on her lips. She could see his lips forming the words 'I'm a father' over and over again.

"Mr, Kash, I will have to take the baby for tests."

"No qualms, but I'll like his mum to have a little peek of him first."

Nonye found herself nodding. Even though the child had caused her pain, she felt curiousity welling up in her to see his face.

"You mean you want the mother and child to have kangaroo care moment together?"

"Kangaroo what?" Bams asked, his confusion mirroring Nonye's.

The nurse smiled. "Don't worry, I'll demonstrate it instead." She carried the baby and gently placed it on Nonye's chest.

"Oh... Indeed, it's kangaroo care." Bams smiled sheepishly and moved closer to Nonye and the child.
"See our Champ. He is here...our son is finally here."

"Yes," Nonye slurred. The world around her was spinning in circles and she wondered why.

The little intruder was out so the nightmare was supposed to be over, instead, the world around her blurred.

She heard voices around her as if it was coming from miles away for her, then, she blacked out.

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