Labor pains
I gave birth to my first child in the eleven.th grade at the age of 16. It was,unexpected.It was terrifying, and by far the most painful and dramatic experience I’ve had thusfar in my life. It all began one Wednesday morning. My English teacher had suffered aninjury and couldn't make it up the hill to campus, so we had class at her house. We werediscussing the introductory chapters of Ralph Ellison's InvisibleMan, when my stomachbegan bothering me. At first I thought it was just gas from the runny eggs I had eatenearlier so I tried to control the situation by shifting my position on her couch every fewminutes. But the discomfort persisted. Still, I attempted not to draw attention to myselfby standing up and pacing, as if to stretch my legs. But the pain continued to increase, so
I interrupted Ms. Moss and asked to use her restroom. After about 15 minutes, myteacher sent someone to check on me. Embarrassed by this point, I called out to myclassmate that I was, "Fine, just experiencing some intestinal difficulties."
The wallpaper in her bathroom was really tacky, and I studied its ugliness in detaildesperately trying to take my mind off the explosions occurring in my gut. I didn'tknow what to do at this point, but I did know that something was definitely wrong andthis was no ordinary stomachache. Finally my teacher knocked on the door. Ina sweetconcerned tone, she informed me that I had been in her bathroom for 35 minutes andthat she had already dismissed class. For a brief moment my embarrassment was ableto override the pain. I mustered up some strength and opened the door. She asked again what was wrong. "Oh, just a little stomachache." I lied. After assuring her that I'dbe all right, I waddled out of her front door and made my way up the hill. That's whenthe pain became unbearable. I felt like someone was stabbing me in the gut with arusted pitchfork. Writhing in pain I stumbled into the music building and convinced afaculty member to drive me to the infirmary. When I arrived at the infirmary, thereceptionist informed me that the doctor wasn't in and wouldn't be for another 20minutes. So she stuck me in an office and left me to agonize. Dr. Borland would arrive inless than 15 minutes, but that short time felt like a torturous life sentence.
I feverishly attempted to get myself into a comfortable position. I crouched over intothe fetal position like I did when I had stomachaches as a kid. That didn't help. I rolled onthe floor. I gritted my teeth. I punched the radiator. Anything to pass the time. But all thewhile, I was aware of that enormously painful thing kicking around in my abdomen. Idropped to the floor, beat the ground with my fist and actually ripped a leg off the deskin front of me. Finally the doctor arrived. She walked in the door, saw me on the floorand ran over to me. After helping me up, she performed a haphazard physical examinationsince I was writhing too much for her to really feel anything. She asked me a seriesof questions which I was in too much pain to answer succinctly. Realizing that my situation was beyond her medical capabilities, she hooked up an IV to my left arm andcalled an ambulance.
I remember very little of the ride to Lawrence General Hospital. Several voices mixedwith the siren and faded in and out of my consciousness. By now the abdominal holocaustoccurring in my gut had overwhelmed me. It had broken my spirit and I had no life left in my body to fight it anymore. A team of doctors performed several tests onme: drawing blood, testing reflexes, checking my pulse; I just lay there as they didthings to me. I was no longer in control of the body, of the person I had been for sixteenyears.
Soon they sent me upstairs to have some x-rays done, and that's when mv labor painsreturned with a vengeance. I jerked up into a crouched position on the gurney as they were transporting me down the hallway, and let out a yell of excruciating pain. Themuscles in my belly were spasming and I knew immediately that it was coming. Withthe help of two technicians, I hurried to the bathroom and stood over the toilet. I cringeto think of what people down the hallway must have thought as they heard my screaming.I grabbed the wall with one hand, one of the technicians with the other, and vulgarlysummoning my creator, I gave birth to this thing that had been growing insideme. Almost immediately I felt a sense of peace, as the muscles in my body relaxed.
I then asked one ofthe technicians what the hell just happened to me. He walked overto the toilet, looked inside, smiled and said, "Congratulations, you're the proud fatherof a 2 gram Kidney Stone."
© Oluwatoyin Ajose
5