A new born with a coil in hand

A baby born with a coil in his hand

Growing up I read and heard so many ridiculous and not entirely true stories of babies born with several marks on them,the legendary 666 mark, a saviour's name of their feet and what not,this story is completely different.

This coil I am going to talk about in this story is actually a contraceptive ring. Yes,a contraceptive coil,I call it coil because that is what everyone called it at that time.

In a ghetto area ,during the time that the Nigerian government just became democratic again,there was this face-me-i-slap-you building. In this tenanment house lived a young, healthy plump woman. Apart from the fact that she married a man way older than her,there was nothing very peculiar about her,she went about her daily activity unnoticed among several other tenants. Let's call this young woman Iya tunde.

Iya tunde had just one child and would always tell her friends/co-tenants that she would never have another baby for her old husband,she justified this decision with the fact that her husband had enough older children from his first wife. These friends, mainly young wives with one,two or no child at all would look on with awe and wonder how they would be able to achieve such feat with zero knowledge of contraceptives and timid personalities.

Some of these women with little boldness demanded their husbands use condoms anytime he wanted access to their cannan land, others with even more courage refused total access till their husbands could come up with convincing methods of how to space or totally stop the conception of new babies. When these men realised that their pleas of "only the head" and "I will cum out" was not working,angers flared and tempers rose. Fights ensued,screams and fight cries very quickly became familiar sounds in this tenanment house. Iya tunde made matters worse with the common declaration "I can't take that,he wouldn't dare". The fights continued till the few elders around settled the issues and slowly but surely peace and calm returned and wives went back to being submissive.

Everyone went about their business till some women made a comment one early evening. Iya tunde was strolling the building's passage as she prepared dinner for her family. Her slippers made the slap-slap sound on the roughly cemented passage floors as she dragged her feet lazily. Some women gave her a quick glance and went back to making their own dinner atop Smoky stoves placed on old stools near their doors but a few women let their stares linger. They watched iya tunde keenly. Iya tunde's backside was big but surely not this massive,she was healthy looking but what was the source of this new glow and sheen to her skin,the back of her feet looked manicured although none of them ever went to the salon for a manicure.

Two of these women drew closer to themselves.

"Are you seeing what I am seeing?" one asked

 "I think say na only me see am o..." the other responded.

Wetin una dey see? Iya tunde asked with a sneer.

"Are you pregnant?" One of them asked.

"Me, I am not, I fix coil now, which day I do menses finish sef". Iya tunde defended herself vehemently and the other women kept quiet,she was their unelected leader. They said nothing,only observed quietly. Five months later there was no bump.The women quit observing.

Few months later iya tunde complained of serious stomach ache. She was taken to the hospital and nurses chided her for not registering for atenatal on time. Iya tunde was stunned, others were shocked and could not process or comprehend the diagnosis. Iya tunde stayed under observation for the next two weeks. She came home on the 15th day smiling with a baby in her arms. Neighbours went visiting with her in her room and came out with the tale. Iya tunde had been delivered of a baby boy,the baby boy came into the world clutching tightly,a contraceptive ring in his tiny hands.