“Hurry,” I whispered to Harry, “let’s go to the hospital, the baby is coming.” Harry quickly went to get Jerry, to put him in the car. When he returned to get me, I said to him, “no don’t worry, the baby is coming now.” The alarmed look on my husband’s face as he rushed to get a towel and a bowl and grabbed the phone to call the ambulance service. Just then pop, the baby came out, and Harry caught him. Soon the ambulance came and took us all to the hospital. It was quite an experience. Benny’s birth in May, 2008, was less dramatic, just that it came as easily as Roman’s. The only thing is that he was born with a hernia which was going to be operated upon, but through prayers the hernia was healed, so he did not even need the surgery. Speaking of prayers, I was one of the first within my department at work to give birth and whilst I was pregnant, some of my colleagues would askme if I was afraid of the pain associated with childbirth. My response was that the pain is inevitable as prescribed by the good book! My prayer was that the labour would be quick so that the pain felt was minimum– well, the answer to the prayer came in the form of what I later found out to be a medical condition known as precipitate delivery. It’s no wonderMatthew 7:7 remains one of my favourite scriptures – “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” I really enjoy motherhood. We wanted to be hands-on parents, considering the fact that both Harry and I had been shipped off as babies to our grandparents; me at seven weeks and Harry at three months. In order to achieve this, we decided that the children should be breast-fed exclusively. That way, we would be able to bond. Harry was a very hands-on dad, changing nappies, cleaning the babies and all that. At one point, because Harry spent more time at work, Jerry was not too familiar with him, so we had to look for a way to make Harry bond with him. We did get loads of help. I remember when Jerry was born, that was the same time the government was giving mothers maternity leave with pay for extended periods. This really helped, as I got to stay at home for as long as I wanted, and was still being paid. It took a lot of pressure off me. Also, we had external help; for instance, Harry’s mother came several times to help. My mom came for a month when Jerry was born, and several other friends came on and off to assist us during the period. Our boys are very good children and they are very close to each other. I remember when they were young, my friend Shawna visited us from the UK and exclaimed in surprise when she saw all three of them huddled in an armchair, even though there were many other chairs in the sitting room. People would often ask how we disciplined them, seeing as they were so composed, and we would tell them that we never caned them. Rather, we would talk with them, and make them see reason if they were naughty. Also, they have a very close bond with their father, and to this day they call him every day. Family with my mum Dad with Siiisi Kwame and Baby Roman 21 The Birthday Journal
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