I have never begged a female as I begged my daughter Mirabor to stay with me. No. Not even the worst "congee" has made me beg a girl so much. If indeed she heard the promises and pleas of "biko ne nu me dja" (please stay with me) then HA! I have to do an APC on her cos the promises were much.Now why would I not say anything to make her stay? July 8th 2016, I was at work when my 6 months pregnant wife called me that her water broke.I was like "HA! Shebi the child is supposed to be born in October?" And so I rushed out of work, not even informing my supervisor or anyone in the night shift. I rushed my wife Kimberly Wise to the hospital where her mom met us. Indeed, I had rushed to clean fluids from the floor wherein she had walked. She was moved from that hospital to a better one that could handle the birth of a 26 weeks old foetus (yes that is what she was, not yet a baby really).
Really that was how I saw my wife with all sorts of wires on her and began watching monitors tht was measuring my child's heartbeat and it was upwards of 240. And then the injections and steroids started. Her lungs were said to not have been fully formed. And...and... after two days, with both the baby's life and my wife's on a ballance, the doctr was called back from his way home and that with the amniotic sac burst, my baby was infected. OMO!!!
And that was where the promises and begging began. I am sure I even told her that I will even give her boyfriend money to take her out to the movies once she is 18..... just promises like that, all rendered mostly in Uvwie. I even told her she will is my heir, girl or not. That she came before any male child. That she should stay. I also told her about Nigeria. That she is a citizen of two countries and owner of two passports, including the US passport That if she stays, she will understand what daddy has done for her through mom in making her a natural born citizen of the US. OMO!!! I promised this girl the world.
And so at the theater, three doctors around Kim and three waiting for the baby. Me? Ha! I have never felt so useless. I was telling myself "but no be only my wife the THING sweet naaa. why is she the only one bearing this pain. Why is it only her life that is in danger? Why is she the only one on the bed facing the sharp knives? How come the man gets to OWN the baby and give her his name when he is just really an onlooker at the critical moment of giving life? All these questions ran through my head as she was cut open and my baby born at 9: 38 or so. And a tiny little baby was brought from her belly, 26 weeks and two days. There was no smile on the doctors faces as a set was sewing up my wife and the other set putting some kind of liquid into my baby as if it was FUEL being put in a car that stopped at third mainland bridge....quick and hurried. OMO!!!! I could not even pray well. I was just like "Osolobrughwe BIKO" God abegggg. "Biko. Have mercy on me. Biko". And she was rolled away in a glass box. Only her eyes moved. The doctors will not even look at me. Of course I was smiling and telling my wife how healthy the baby was. She was born at less than one pound. OMO!!!
You see eh, I really praise atheists oh. I praise them. To not believe in a God, not have faith that there is a greater being looking out for us when we are helpless, to go through life without that BLESSED ASSURANCE... I really praise them. As for me, I had inboxed family and friends to just pray. Yes pray. Oh you think it is just the superior medical personel? (YES YES THAT TOO. WONDERFUL WONDERFUL DOCTORS AND NURSES AND SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT ANd....) But my father, Chief Fred Ofugara JP had long punctured my faith in medicine. When I was trying to convince him that he should come for an operation here in the US, Chief said to me "Ena my son. Namejewan, that your US, do not people die?" And I thought of Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross and all the big moneyed stars who die in their youth and prime and of course, I had no argument for Chiefs logic. So despite my baby having more wires fixed to her than wires in Ogorode power stations, some in her head, nose, belly, thigh feet etc, despite the transfusions and procedures, I knew it was GOD as much as the AMAZING DOCTORS. And yes, even the dctor will say "There is an 80 percent chance she will survive. There is a 60 percent chance this this that. We will try so and so and HOPEFULLY..." Yes the doctors do not know for sure either. Thy never give you assurances. They gve you percentages. And the thing about percentages is that even if it is ONE IN ONE MILLION, someone is that ONE.
Today, without a procedure, the blood in her head has resolved, the hole in her heart has closed enough to be unmeasurable, her hernia operation successful, and more importantly, the oxygen that we were tolpart of what we leave the hospital with, MIRA's lungs and heart have found a way to use oxygen like the rest of us....NO OXYGEN TANK. God's atmosphere suffices.
So to everyone who understood the pressure we have been in these past three months, To those who prayed with us THANK YOU.
And and and....God almighty, the AGBADAGBURURU, The creator and healer! The one who gives and gives! The one who makes perfect! The one who is never late! The God in WHOSE HANDS I COMMITTED MIRABOR and named her MIRABOROSOLOBRUGHWRE which means I AM IN GOD'S HAND (okay, no way I am putting that in her birth certificate, even though the mom wanted me to) To that God that has kept food in my belly, love in my heart and a smile on my face To that God who OWNS MY FUTURE...To that God that has given me MIRABOR KENA OFUGARA..... Mi di gwe. Thank you for such a wonderful gift...a gift I place right back IN GOD'S HANDS
More photos below...
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