My Grandmother uses every opportunity to tell me the story of my birth. I was born on 01-09-1998, feel free to do the maths, at the University Teaching Hospital, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria. She never forgets to mention how she got hit by a motorcycle (okada) right in front of the hospital I was born in when she was on her way back from our house which was just a few blocks away, because my mum had requested for pepper soup after my delivery. How odd!
As my Grandmother rushed back to the hospital with the packed plate of pepper soup, excited to see her newest granddaughter, she was in so much hurry and got involved in that accident that knocked he to the ground.
Miraculously, she was not hurt, she only had a little scratch on her left pinky finger. Also, the plate of pepper soup did not spill and was exactly the way she had packed it, only that it was laying on the ground still wrapped in the nylon she put it in. The only person that got injured was the motorcyclist and he wasn’t even wearing a helmet. He was taken away by the hospital security officials and was taken into the hospital for treatment, whatever happened to him after that is still a mystery.
Still In shock, my Grandmother was lifted off the ground with support from passers by, then one man whispered to her “na God get your life o, madam” and another said “na God save you” in Nigerian Pidgin English language. My Grandmother too worried to even respond, she rushed into the hospital dusting off her clothes and with the plate of pepper soup in her hands and eager to see her granddaughter.
There I was, laying peacefully with not a single problem in this world, she looked at me with so much joy, happiness and tears of joy , then, it downed on her that indeed she was just hit by a motorcycle and would have been badly hurt but that was not the case. My mother, still lying on the hospital bed asked my grandmother why the tears? Why was she staring at her granddaughter in deep thought? My Grandmother told her what had happened not too long ago. After listening to the story my mum decided to name me after that experience, she named me “Chinwendu” -a name from the eastern part of Nigeria, meaning God owns life. My Grandmother nodded in agreement because God indeed spared her life and she was alive and strong to see her new born granddaughter, at that moment she had a flashback of what those passers by had whispered to her after the accident, it was indeed God’s purpose.
God owns life! Yes he does, he owns my life (Chinwendu’m) because even my birth was also another miracle! When my mum went into labor and was rushed to the hospital, the doctor insisted that I will have to be delivered through caesarean section(SC) because they believe that was the safest option for both my mother and her baby.
They said I was not in a head down position for birth, in addition to that, they where worried of my heartbeat. It became an emergency and they had to start the operation as soon as possible.
As God would have it, the doctor made incisions in my mother’s abdomen and uterus and I was delivered. I came out alive!
Miraculously, my heart beat became normal, I was a healthy baby. Wouldn’t we all agree that was the hand work of God and he was showing off with me? God is indeed the giver of life, he gave me life even when things got difficult and in addition to that, he spared the life of my grandmother and that of my mother after what she went through to give birth to me.
Till date, my mother still have the scars from the incisions and anytime we have an argument she always reminds me of all she went through during my delivery and even go as far as showing me the scars, how annoying!
Unfortunately, my mum decided not to have more children and that put me in the position as the last born. She had just myself and my elder brother. My brother who is now an Engineer, married with a son and myself , a graduate with a degree in Public Health.
And for those wondering, yes, my grandmother is still alive and aging beautifully. She would be turning 80 years next year. God is truely the owner of life - Chinwendu!