Episode 26

Last updated on April 15th, 2023 at 09:18 am

“So, you did the naming ceremony the next day after returning from the hospital? Vic said.

“Yes o.” I was going to add that they made the plan without consulting me, which gave me no choice, but I remembered my new stance to make my marriage work and that included watching what I told anyone as that reflected the deeper thoughts I had about my marriage. I had apologized to Jude the night I spoke with mummy and woken him up to sex. I did not even know if I should be having sex yet, but I did it to show him I was ready to make things better.

“Alright. What’s his name?” Vic replied.

“Daniel.”

“Aww, baby Dan. How’s he doing?”

“Still sleeping. Sarah brought back Dimeji yesterday and she took care of him all through the ceremony, I was too busy to even have time for him.”

“Wow, just try and get a little rest. How’s Jude?”

“My husband is fine o, he really tried. He’s a good man, Vic. He cleared all the bills and still did the naming ceremony without grumbling.”

“That’s a lot of expense. He did well.”

Vic and I talked for about thirty minutes more before Dan woke up crying and I had to go.

“Talk to you later, baby girl.” Vic said.

“Bye hun,” I replied, a quick glance at Dimeji’s side and he was dutifully scattering everything on the side stool. I should clear that. Thankfully, Sarah said he now slept for two hours during the day without fail, I hoped he’d so I could get some sleep myself.

Dan was really crying when I entered the room. I yawned and carried him. The naming ceremony yesterday blew up and it dawned on me that Jude and mummy had actually called people for the party. Sarah was around, but she did not join the other wives. She stayed on one side with Dimeji, pressing her phone, looking so beautiful with a yellow boubou lace that I would have loved to steal from her.

I popped my breast out, put my nipple in Dan’s mouth and he sucked hungrily. I would need to eat more with the way this boy fed. He seems to have grown within the nine days of his birth. During the ceremony, mummy would not stop eyeing Sarah and grumbling. I know she did not want to make a scene if not she would have confronted Sarah. Sarah barely attended any family party and I felt bad for putting her through yesterday’s ordeal.

I called her immediately after Jude left for work today and apologized to her. I also thanked her; she really came through for me. I made a mental note to visit her soon. I was still settling in and would visit her after I got settled. I also needed to talk to Jude. I would like to put a stop to this pregnancy thing—it was not for me.

After a month of placating him and showing him that he made a good decision by marrying me, I would then talk to him about us putting a stop to child-bearing. It was hard trying to be a good wife to a husband that was cheating. If only we could go back to those months when he was sweet and my marriage seemed perfect.

I would try my best; I intended to consult YouTube and watch a video on how to make one special soup. I had a job to do and I would do it. My marriage was too new for me to just give up on it. I would never call Faith or meet her as my mum did, but I would make Jude so happy with me, he would not know what he needed from Faith again. I picked up my phone and sent him a message to check up on him and ended it with, ‘I love you.’

***

The doctor finally cleared me at our last visit. I did not know I had the weight on my shoulders still, I felt relieved as he told me and immediately called Sarah and Vic. Then I felt guilty that I did not think of Jude in my happiest moment. I shrugged off the emotion anyway, thanked the doctor, and left. On my way out, I saw Nurse Sade and I briefly searched myself to see what I was doing wrong before approaching her.

“Nurse Sade.” She turned to look at me, looking relaxed and unrushed as always.

“Mrs Lape. Nice to see you. Look at our boy already.” Nurse Sade might be strict, but she got her job done and I felt very warm towards her. Well, as long as I was eating and resting right. She was also reserved and did not talk much, even to other nurses.

“Right.”

“Look at him looking so gentle. Where is his elder brother?”

“I dropped him at Sarah’s, my sister-in-law.”

“Oh, that good woman.”

I knew she was never going to ask about my husband. I really wanted to tell her he was not entirely bad, but if I was honest, I knew Jude really did badly during that period. I would have to leave Nurse Sade with her convictions, I was the one married to Jude.

“Yes, she’s really good. We are leaving already, bye-bye.”

“Bye-bye, take care of yourself.”

I turned and left feeling a different type of way for the first time in months. I was struggling to put a finger on it. It must be an excess of good feelings. I probably had not gotten up to four hours of sleep in the past two days, but I felt refreshed right now. Now I could face losing this tummy that was taking forever to reduce.

***

If there was an award for how focused I’d been in the past few weeks trying to be a good wife, I should be the winner of that award. I was doing the work deliberately. Surprisingly, mummy had been calling and asking to see how things were going with my decision to be better for my marriage. Truly, if I was expecting Jude to warm up, I didn’t think I was anywhere close to that. 

I had been trying out different sex positions, I almost felt like I could act in an adult movie. I have also tried different meals; I might as well be a chef. I didn’t remember ever being this committed to any aspect of my life prior to this time. The other day, I got my nails fixed and could barely get any job done, after managing for about five days, I forcefully removed the nails. The hair I also made was still giving me a headache even after one week.

I had to laugh at myself the other day. This thing was not easy at all. I had been on a diet for some days, just a solid meal in the afternoon then black Lipton in the morning and night. After breastfeeding Dan all night long, I woke up feeling so dizzy, I drank about three cups of Lipton but I did not get better. I started shaking at some point and could not think straight. I was crying as I filled the kettle with water, waited for it to boil, and made eba. I was eating and crying, I could not see anybody, not even Dimeji that was looking at his mother to see if she was okay. 

After clearing the whole bowl of eba, I stopped crying and slept off there. I woke up to crusty fingers, the eba dried out on my fingertips. Then I started laughing. Vic surely had a good laugh when I told her. Anyway, the diet was off for now. Let my stomach be.

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