THE BIRTH OF MARVEL

CHAPTER 8

Unknown to her, the doctor, Mrs. Lois was the wife of Pastor Bernard. She was in her late forties and worked as a doctor while her husband was a pastor. She got transferred and had to leave her husband after they had raised all their three children consisting of two girls and a boy.

Mary always came to her for check-ups until labour drew near. She was aksed to bring her husband but she came up with excuses that seemed partially true.

As labour drew nearer, she had strange feelings within her. She was rushed to the hospital while still in labour as she was about to put to bed. Nurses and doctors rushed to her as she was in so much pain but the baby wasn't coming out. They did everything they could but not even the head of the child was seen as she pushed with all her might and strength.

She later gave up as she passed out. They had to operate on her to remove the baby, it was a girl. She was so adorable and beautiful with sparkling eyes. It was expected of a baby to cry at birth but she didn't instead, she smiled and kicked. Everyone was shocked. They tried to beat her gently to cry but she didn't, instead giggled. Unusual.

All the nurses were scared as they had never seen such a thing before but the doctor in charge, Mrs. Lois didn't leave. She began to suspect the pregnancy was not normal right from the beginning but she told no one about it.

Mary woke up after six hours of delivery. There was no one around her as she was left alone with her child. She turned and carried her baby in her arms, she was sleeping. How adorable she thought. Just then, the door of her ward opened and Mrs. Lois came in.

The doctor congratulated her for safe delivery as she smiled back at her. The doctor seemed to look worried. Mary asked her what was wrong and she told her that was she was worried. She needed to ask her some questions concerning the birth of her child.

She asked her when last she met her husband and Mary told her it's been some months since she was away from him. She asked her if she knew any man again apart from her husband and she said no. She asked her why she was asking all these questions.

The doctor heaved a long deep sigh and told her the baby wasn't normal. Mary was getting upset for what she said but the doctor apologized to her and told her that she knew what she was saying. She narrated to her what happened during the delivery but Mary didn't care, she was angry already.

"But you told me I didn't miscarry my baby, so what are you saying now?" Mary asked, confused.

"It's possible you did and the child came back into your womb again. But don't worry, my husband is a pastor, we can pray for you and help you if you allow me to." Doctor Lois told her.

"I don't need your help ma. My baby is fine." Mary replied.

"Just in case, you can't tell..."

"When will I be discharged?" Mary changed the question as she cut her in.

"Well, let's see how quick you recover. The nurse will come to check on you later." Doctor Lois said, getting up.

"Thanks." Mary said.

"But.." The doctor started.

"If you can excuse me?" Mary asked her and the doctor left.

Mary was discharged and she went home with her new born baby after three days. She named her Marvel after a week. Marvel was such a sweet little child and Mary loved her so much. She didn't let anyone know about her daughter for fear of the dreaded.

Marvel didn't like to take breast milk and whenever Mary tried to feed her, she always cried so Mary had to look for an alternative for her. She pressed out some breast milk into a feeding bottle but Marvel still refused to take. She was just weeks old and eating food won't be possible.

She wanted to take her to the hospital but after what happened at her birth, she didn't want anyone to talk about her daughter again so she just had to try everything in the kitchen until she was able to get what Marvel wanted. She blended some fruits and made it into juice and fed it to Marvel. That was what she had been taking until she grew into months old.

At an early age of five months, Marvel had already started walking and at six months old, she was eating food already. Mary didn't see this as abnormal instead, she encouraged the girl and gave her more.

Baby Marvel was growing up faster than her age and as she grew, she didn't resemble anyone, neither her mum nor dad. She was entirely different.