Our First Pregnancy

We sat on the brown bench at the health centre, which had visible signs of wear and tear. As usual, there was a long queue waiting to hear from the custodians of medical wisdom. Some were moaning in pain, others with less pain had taken quick trips to dreamland and drooled in the process. Some made annoying sounds with their mouths as they chewed on grains of boiled groundnuts (peanuts). Mothers kept restraining their curious toddlers from having their way.

As we continually positioned our behind on one end of the wooden seat, our patience drained down to two percent.A two hour wait was not a walk down a fancy park. We were one of the few people present who looked as though the clinic was a wrong destination. Our illness was not glaring. Clad in a chic jean dress and open-toe shoes, we waited impatiently for the results that will determine the rest of our life.

After a long wait, the names that were called began sounding like ours. “Che Ernestine! Manka’a Gladys! Eyong Benjamin!” we kept convulsing at the sound of these names as though someone was poking us in sensitive spots. But there was one name that didn’t sound like ours, “Keka Nicodemus!” Nah! We didn’t move a muscle at that one. Our ears instantly stopped playing pranks on us.

Finally our names resonated in the building, “Nchifor Precious!” we leaped like a frog and went to collect our results. The journey of forever had come to an end. We were eager to meet the doctor and know why our constant menstrual cramps had produced no blood.

We found our way to door number 2, quickly knocked and turned the knob. The doctor opened our old pink hospital book and said with a tone that spewed indifference, “So you’re pregnant” we nodded in affirmation. We thought she was going to give some medical advice on further steps to take. She rather added a cold “Okay” to her monologue.

She stared at us and her eyes clearly said, “you can now leave.” we picked our faux leather handbag and reached for the door. As we got home, we thought and thought and thought again.. We were lost in musings on our new status.

We scribbled a rough baby shopping list and stashed it into a frequently used handbag. We were filled with expectation.

Before we could fully assimilate our blissful pregnant state, the music turned into a war song. We woke up in the morning and the whole house was smelling. It was a stench we found difficult to endure. The kitchen was the worst place to be. The smell of previously cooked food that was usually a delight to inhale was an irritant to our nose and our throat.

When we went outside for fresh air, we got corrupted air. The warm clouded air in Douala was not helping in any way. Perfumes and grinding mills were enemies. We had many foes.

Then we began vomiting everything we ate. Nothing could sit in our stomach. Our once favourite meals were now in our black book. We hated garlic, ginger, onions, everything tasted like poison.

The worst of them all was groundnuts. The nuts, which we sometimes cooked with were now unpleasant to even behold. We didn’t want to see them, talk about them or hear about them. We mistakenly set eyes on them once and that resulted in a massive throw-up.

We could not apply body lotion on our skin because like everything else, it had an awful smell. Our skin was dry, our eyes were white, our jaw bones sunk in. This pregnancy thing began to look like a curse rather than a blessing.

We solicited help from our Mum who quickly left her numerous errands in Bamenda to come and pamper us. She made different kinds of bland food for us to eat. We threw up most, a little stayed down.

Though everyone said it was a normal part of pregnancy, we chose to seek medical help. We went to the hospital and was given an injection that took the nausea away. We rejoiced but not for long. The very next day, the nausea returned seven times stronger.

Thankfully, as we entered the second trimester of our pregnancy, morning sickness took a gradual walk out. We could finally sit back, relax, enjoy being pregnant and… shop!

We feel like rushing through the rest of this story. Okay, let us stop here and recuperate. Watch out for the rest of our first pregnancy story and the phenomenal birth!

Read the next part HERE!

Do you have anything to say about first pregnancies? Talk to us down there!