Rita has high expectations for her pregnancy; she has gone to buy every baby thing that she needs, and she and her husband have prepared for this child because they have been childless for five years. So imagine their joy when the doctor told them that they were expecting. Her joy knows no bounds. But it was short-lived. She sat on the floor in her balcony; she can never forget the day her expectation was cut short. It was the kind of pain that settles in the chest, quiet but heavy. She had lost her baby at exactly four months. Nobody has ever prepared her for such emptiness, not in her mind or body.
The weeks after Rita lost her pregnancy, she became a shadow of herself. She pretends to be okay whenever people are around, but when she is alone, her eyes are always puffy from crying. Her husband, Ibinabo, tried everything to make her smile. He tried cooking her favorite dishes, taking her on vacations, and even praying for her most nights when he thought she was sleeping. But she was lost in her grief, which had become heavy like a duvet.
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What hurts her the most isn't only that she lost her baby but also the expectations she has already begun to build. She has pictured her baby kicking in her belly trying to find balance; she craving for different things that she has never eaten before; she imagines holding a tiny being crying; she imagines dancing with the baby in her arms. It was those imagination that she never got to experience that made her loss deep.
Many months have passed, and Rita didn't bother trying to have another child again. The fear of a life growing inside her and going away like the wind lived quietly inside of her. She has lost hope and dares not dream again. Life has landed her a heavy blow. Then one day while she was sitting out with a friend at her shop, she felt nauseous and strange, but she brushed it off. Even when her friend asks her if she is okay. She said yes, that it's malaria. But as the symptoms persisted, she refused to consider it as anything. Thinking it might be stress.
One day, her friend visited again and noticed the same thing.
"Don't you think you should go and check?” her friends said gently.
"Check for what? Rita feigned ignorance of what her friend was saying.
"You know what I am talking about “.
Rita shook her head. “No, I am not emotionally strong enough for any bad news".
When it was her time to rejoice, life didn't ask for her permission, but when a word is spoken, it sticks. Rita decided to use a test strip and check at home. Because a silent still voice has been whispering to her ears to check. When she ran the test, she closed her eyes, afraid of what the result would be. With a trembling hand, she finally opened one of her eyes to peep at the result; it was positive. She froze, and her heart raced with speed.
She didn't scream nor shout; she went to the bathtub to splash water on her face. To make sure she saw well and it was still positive there. After two weeks she gathered the courage to go to the hospital and check. She lay on the examination bed, eyes closed, fingers intertwined tightly. She didn't want her expectations to run ahead of her again.
The nurse touched her gently. “Let’s take a look, okay?”
Rita nodded, bracing herself.
The nurse couldn't believe what she was seeing on the screen; she tilted her head slowly and looked at Rita and then back at the screen, her lips curled up in a happy smile.
She asked her, “Would you like to take a look?
Rita breathed out and slowly opened her eyes and asked What? It's a negative abi. Is everything okay with me?
The nurse smiled broadly this time. "Everything is more than okay with you, and it is positive, but look at the screen well".
Rita stared at the screen in disbelief.
The nurse said, “Madam, you are carrying two babies; you are having twins.
For a moment Rita didn't say a word; she was just staring at the screen, tears dripping down her cheeks. She was having two heartbeats, not just one, but double miracles she wasn't expecting, growing inside of her without her notice, and moreover, she was five months gone.
She covers her mouth as her emotions reach their peak; it softens every old scar and pain inside of her. Her expectations have been met more than she had hoped for.
Images are ai generated.
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