BATTLE OF THE SEXES

After several hours through the night in the theatre, she finally gave birth to a bouncing baby boy (though babies never really bounce) in the early hours of the morning. Dr Nwoha who was a relative and also their family doctor came out smiling to her husband who stayed back waiting on her as it was their first child. He announced to Mr Michael that his wife delivered safely without any problem. Even though he didn’t have money to foot the bill, he was extremely glad that he had a son. A son to carry on his name after his death. What manner of man would want his name dead with him? I am yet to find that that man – not in Africa!

Later that evening, he brought his wife and the newborn home to a compound full of excited neighbours who awaited their arrival. They walked into their one room apartment where they moved in from a previous two bedroom flat... The boy grew and when it was time for school, there was not so much money to finance his education but they tried anyway.

She became pregnant again when their son was four years old. They were not richer than they were the previous years, but Mr Michael was hopeful and he anticipated to balance the equation in his family. Months rolled by and her tummy grew bigger. She started a small scale business in buying fabrics from Aba to sell in a shop she rented very close to her house in Port Harcourt. On the day she went into labour, she journeyed a thousand miles to the hospital where she birthed her first child. This is because the doctor who doubles as a relative would accept to be paid later after delivery and maybe in instalments too. It had become a routine because somehow, there have not always been money mapped out to pay the hospital bills.

Thank God! She had a safe delivery – another boy. The doctor called her husband who showed up late in the evening unlike when she had their first child. He wasn’t really happy. He wanted a girl child this time, so he wondered why he should show her love and care when she couldn’t give him what he wanted. Their arrival wasn’t as glorious as the first. Her loving husband suddenly became a stranger and refused to help her out with anything, so that when they got home, she went into the kitchen to make herself the usual pepper soup prepared for nursing mothers. She felt dejected and resolved to stop having babies.

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Their boys grew strong and healthy and were both enrolled in school. Her business thrived and she was able to pay their school fees when her husband said he had no money. The situation didn’t stop them from copulating but because of the state of things and her seeming new role as breadwinner of the family, she started using contraceptives to prevent another pregnancy. But Mr Michael wouldn’t have that – he wanted another child – a girl precisely. He called up her aunt (mother figure) to lay complain about his wife’s refusal to conceive again.

Her second son was barely two years old when she conceived for the third time. She had heed to her Aunt’s advice and let him do it. As she entered her second trimester, her husband requested for a scan to ascertain the sex of the baby. She was hesitant at first but eventually shifted her stand. Isn’t he her husband? The man of her life and the father of her unborn child? The scan was done and the doctor informed them that they were going to have a boy. On hearing this, Mr Michael became furious and left the hospital without his wife. She returned home feeling sad and regretful, she would change the result to make him happy, but then, she can't do anything about it. Despite her condition, she still made regular trips to Aba to keep her business going. It then dawned on her that she was all alone. No mother, no brother and no husband! Mr Michael became unavailable and rained abuses on her and her inability to conceive a female child at a slightest opportunity.

Nine months passed and the baby didn’t arrive. She kept feeling her tummy every now and then to make sure the baby was still alive and also frequented the hospital to ask the doctor why it took longer than the anticipated date of delivery. While her husband continued in his unavailability in her life, she thought about how babies who were not really wanted died in the womb before delivery. Very early in the morning two weeks later, she was in labour with her vulva dilating and contracting. She called on their neighbour who had a car and he drove her to the hospital. Labour continued until 11PM when she delivered the baby boy.

Mr Michael has refused to visit his wife and new son child at the hospital. When asked 'why?' he said "I need a child [girl] that would liberate me from this poverty and not one to continue in it'.