It’s a baby boy!

By Andrew Kadenyeka

As we listened to Sally on the speakerphone, she sounded like she was in high spirits but I could sense she was putting on a brave front.

Food over, the boys cleared the table and I excused myself to go and buy airtime. I called Sally again and she told me she was still waiting for the sister-on-duty to get back to her on inducing her.

I cursed at being unable to help and when I returned to the house, I went straight to the bedroom for some quiet time.

Before long, however, Sally’s dad was bellowing for me to join him. When I did, I found a bottle of Vodka on the table and two tumblers.

"Sit down and have a drink. I know just how trying today has been for you, but you need to believe Sally is in the best of hands and try to relax," he said as he filled the glasses.

I am a beer man and rarely touch spirits, but I figured a tot or two would not do much harm. Soon, we were chatting away like long lost pals and I felt the stress slowly ebb away.

After an hour, Alex pleaded exhaustion and I showed him to the spare bedroom. I sneaked a peak in the polythene bag he was carrying and saw a change of underwear and a new toothbrush. Talk of travelling light!

feeling of joy

My next two calls to Sally went unanswered and the stress was back as I tortured myself with scenarios of the bad things that could happen.

Thankfully, the alcohol soon had me feeling mellow and I downed tot after tot. Without warning, my eyelids felt like they weighed a tonne but I promised myself I would not sleep until I heard from Sally.

I tried hard but I soon lost the battle although I can’t remember exactly when I fell asleep. The night cold and an aching neck woke me up and my eyes immediately flashed to the wall clock. I could not believe what I saw. 3.23am.

Feeling guilty, I reached for my phone and noticed an SMS icon. A message from Sally. It simply read: ‘healthy baby boy’. The time stamp on the SMS read 00.37am.

It was hard to express the feeling of joy that swept through me. After almost a decade of trying for another baby, self-doubt and uncountable visits to doctors, I was a father once again.

I had this urge to wake everyone up with the good news but I figured it would soon be dawn. I tried to call Sally but the call didn’t go through.

That was December 20, four years ago and I had been blessed with my second child. I filled my glass and raised a toast to Rambo. Life was good.