It’s 3:53am…day 2…tending to Tishe. Been a while I had such experience. Although some how this is different.

Two days back, just getting settled at work, having not been there for some days; I got a call from wifey…”I think my water just broke“…did u hear me?…(screaming now) my water just broke”…dazed and surprised, I dashed to my car and zoomed off.. okay I dint really zoom off…cos the roads are quite bad so it took me a while to get to my street..

I quickly searched on Google “my water broke” wanting to know the next necessary step to take…driving fast like I was furious…dodging pot holes and water – some website said we have to deliver baby in 24hrs to prevent infection.- okay now I’m good. I slowed down a bit as I took the curve through my gate. I got to the door and saw wifey just chilling; with a smile on her face asking where I’m rushing to. Babe we need to get to the hospital I said, we’ve got 24hrs like Jack Bauer (okay that was pun intended….he he he)…I carried the bag and hurried to the car, while wifey just waltzed by. Then I zoomed off (hmmm…I really should stop saying this- one can’t really zoom off on roads that are bad you know) to the hospital. it’s 2:15pm Monday 4th May, 2015. We got to the hospital and caught up with the doctor before he left his office with intentions to travel to ilorin. Then he explained to us the process of the “water breaking cycle” and why we need to make sure we induce labour before infection sets. I had a brief chat with him and concluded on delivery bills and asked him to get on with it.

2:47pm – Contractions has set in. I missed Ini’s delivery so I made sure I was going to be around for this one. Something I would later regret.

3:17pm – Contractions are getting longer and painful. I see the pain in the face of wifey. Her beautiful face stricken with fear and tears. I tried to hold her hands but she’ll rather I not touch her. It’s hers to bear she said. I acknowledged the strength she had at that moment. Have mercy on me lord!..she cried out again…as any set of contractions went by…my heart was excruciating with pain as I stood there helplessly looking at my queen.

3:42pm – the doctor came and observed her a bit. He said when it’s 4:42pm we’ll start counting number of contractions in 10mins. WHAT!!! I screamed. You mean we have to do this for another hour? He smiled and left. I took a quick glance at my wife as I missed a brief smile on her face(that kinda smile you give when you envisage what’s to come). I just looked at her and she assured me that all will be well.

I picked up my phone; trying to get lost in it so I won’t see the reality around me. I’ve missed some calls. Minister Joy had tried to reach me.

AaaaaaaaaRrrrrrgh!…Wifey screamed again..as her voice brought me back to reality. now I couldn’t bear it any longer. I couldn’t wait and see my wife suffer in pain. I went to hold her. I told her all is well. God will see her through this. I encouraged her and reminded her about the Hebrew women.

3:56 pm Jeez I said as I checked my watch again and saw that it wasn’t 4pm yet…we still have a long way to go. I’ve seen wifey in several moods before. Sober, smiling, angry, loving, happy, sad…just mention it. but this look on her face is raging delirious. It was like she was loosing it. She splashed water all over her face and her and screamed as a huge contraction came through…now my heart couldn’t take it anymore. Now the tears will definitely come rolling. Surprisingly it didn’t. that was odd. Tears coming from my eyes was a normal affair for me. But somehow something held the tears back. No, this is not a time for that. I had to be strong for wifey. For my unborn child. I calmed wifey down and whispered words of encouragement to her ears. She held me as we went through it together.

4:45pm it’s past time nurse. Get the doctor I said. The matron looked at me and said. No uncle. When it’s time we’ll know. Now it’s time for us to count her contractions. After that we can tell when she’s ready to enter the theatre.

Then we started counting, as my heart beat raised faster when ever the contractions set in. It was already ten minutes from my phone but the nurse said it’s just six minutes on hers.

I want to Poo. Wifey said finally, as she broke the silence in the room. The nurse pointed towards the toilet as my wife just walked past her and headed towards the labour theatre not minding what was going through the mind of the inexperienced nurse.

Quickly I sent a text message to Minister Joy… and followed her downstairs as she gave a very loud shout…aaaaaaaarrrrrrrhhhhhh!…

The whole hospital was quiet. All of a sudden I saw the doctor and nurses running towards her.

Take her to the theatre immediately. She’s fully dilated. Get the tools from the autoclave; I need suction pumps, are my delivery tools set…the doctor raised his voice as he yelled out other instructions to the nurses.

Finally, this is it. Wifey’s gonna be through with this pain. I stood by as I watched her. Everything was happening so fast.

Stop screaming madam and use your strength to push now!..when I say push just push and don’t scream okay…the doctor said again…unaware that I was there…and that was it. With one push Oluwatishe Alexis Adepitan came out crying.

That was music to my ears.

See as she’s crying like her mother; the doctor joked with us as he left the room for the nurses to clean her up. I looked at wifey as she smiled back at me. Welldone darling. I said as I went back upstairs. Now the tears flowed freely. There was silence everywhere…all I heard was the cries of my baby girl….Tishe.. Wifey is fine, Tishe is fine. All is well. I smiled and picked up the phone as I sent a message to Minister Joy.

Written by Adeshina Adepitan