I was prepared for the morning sickness and food aversions, big feet, swollen fingers, shortness of breath, huge nose and lips, darkened skin across the neck, face and the unimaginable places and of course the stretch marks which many regard as badges of honour. I looked forward to and did enjoy the luscious mane of hair, the rush of ecstasy when the gender was revealed at my ultrasound visit and the flicker of my heart muscles whenever my baby girl moved the least bit, just to a name a few.
But what I didn’t expect, neither could no amount of preparation equip me for, were the episodes of horror occasioned those three times I spotted blood and rushed to the doctor in total panic, and the nightmare that became my maternity reality afterwards. I wasn’t ready to hear that my water bag was leaking prematurely at just 25 weeks with the possibility of an early birth of my baby girl.