The Days without Mirror (Part 12)

2019-2-5

The Days without Mirror (Part 12)

Memoirs of Manijeh Lashgari; The wife of released pilot, Hossein Lashgari

Edited by: Golestan Jafarian

Translator: Zahra Hosseinian

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2016 (Persian Version)‎

Chapter Six

Near four months passed from our arrival to the base that Hossein was given two weeks off. It was the best time to go to Tehran. Hossein got train ticket and we headed. At night, in the train, we and an old doctor who was the physician of the air base were at the same compartment. All the pilots knew him. When supper was served, Hossein insisted me to eat but I didn't. I had no appetite. I kept standing behind the window. I needed to breathe fresh air.

It was about ten or eleven at night, but we did not feel sleepy. So, we began talking with each other. The doctor glanced at me and turned to Hossein: ‘captain, your wife is pregnant, take care of her.’

‘No. It's not believable, Doc!’ Hossein said.

‘Are you ok, ma’am?’ Dr. asked with sure.

I replied, ‘No, I feel ill. I think it’s because of train movement. Arriving Tehran, I’ll be fine.’

They made the bunk-beds and I climbed up to sleep in the top one. Hossein and doctor lay on the lower one. In the morning, I felt dizzy when climbing down the bed stairs. I grasped firmly the ladder and did not move for some moment. Noticing my condition, the doctor said, ‘Ma’am, do pregnancy test when you arrive Tehran.’

In my father's home, my all siblings were waiting for us. They loved Hossein. My mother had made two or three different kinds of meals, but I could not eat any one. I was hungry, but as I wanted to eat, I was nauseated. ‘It’s because of travel;’ my mother said, ‘you’ll feel better after one day. You’ve been affected by the change of climate.’

I was severely nauseated when I woke up in the morning. I went to the bathroom and kept throwing up. My mother was worried and asked, ‘what happened to you? Since yesterday you’ve not eaten anything and looked rather pale.’ She quickly got ready and we went to see a doctor.

My mother knew a gynecologist. She was an Armenian woman. After some tests, she told my mother, ‘Mrs. Lashgari, much likely your daughter is pregnant, but to be completely assured, she must do blood test.’ My mother walked on air. That night, there was a commotion in my father's house. Hossein not took his eyes off me and kept saying, ‘sit down! Don’t walk! Go down the stairs slowly!’

I felt embarrassed in front of my sisters and Haj Khanum; my father's wife, and said, ‘Hossein, still nothing is clear; don’t do like that.’ The next morning, I and Hossein went to the military hospital at 6:00 am. I did blood test and it turned out that I was pregnant.

Regarding my condition, we had to stay in Tehran a few days longer than Hossein's leave. I saw that Armenian doctor again and she recommended some tests and then prescribed several vitamins according to the results. Hossein was happy, but I felt so ill that did not know whether I am happy or upset.

Early October we returned to Dezful. I slept most of the time. I could not cook, so Hossein often ordered meal or our kindly neighbors made us meal and brought for us.

I was in the fourth month of my pregnancy, when Hossein should go Mashhad for a business trip. I had gotten better, so I accompanied him, because he should stay in Mashhad for ten days and I did not want to be alone. I bought my first maternity dress in Mashhad; a pinafore with a blouse. I wore a blouse and trousers until the fourth month of my pregnancy and Hossein kept saying, ‘Then, why your abdomen not getting large?’ since then on, Hossein did not allow me to wear blouse and trousers. He said, ‘the baby would be in pressure.’

In Dezful, I visited a doctor for pregnancy checkups. At seventh month, we came to Tehran and I with Hossein and my mother visited Armenian doctor. After examining me, she said to my mother, ‘congratulations, your grandchild will be 90 percent boy.’

My mother smiled and said, ‘God knows that not matter to us. I hope the baby will be sound.’ Then she went out and called Hossein. He came in the room and the doctor said, ‘Congratulations, captain! Your baby is a boy. Both mother and baby are fine. Everything goes well, but your wife’s weight is low. I prescribe vitamin for her. She must eat more.’

Hossein thanked her and said, ‘My baby's sex doesn't matter to me.’ When we left doctor’s office and got into his car, I asked: ‘Hossein, the baby's sex doesn’t really matter to you?’

He laughed and answered: ‘Well, I'll be happier, if the baby is a boy.’

‘The poor doctor knew something that she said to you with a smile and joyfully, the baby is a boy.’

We stayed in Tehran for five days. My mother and Haj Khanum (my other mother) insisted on Hossein: ‘let Manijeh stay in Tehran. These two or three last months are hard and she’s in need of care.’ Hossein did not accept and said, ‘I miss her.’ I myself also did not want to stay. Being away from Hossein was hard for me. Therefore, we returned to Dezful together.

Two weeks later, I woke up with a severe stomachache; so that, I bent and could not stand straight. My abdomen was in pain. Hossein scared and immediately called my mother in Tehran and informed her and Haj Khanum. They also phoned the Armenian doctor and she had said, ‘I don’t know what's going on, it's better to bring Manijeh to Tehran.’

That's the way we went to Tehran by plane. ‘The baby hasn’t turned in abdomen, he should move’, the doctor said after examination. She recommended me absolute rest for one week and said that I had to do some special exercises every day. Hossein stayed in Tehran for two days, but as he had to go back and was not on leave, reluctantly let me stay in Tehran and he returned. After this incident, my mother and Haj Khan did not let me go back to Dezful. Hossein telephoned me every night and in full detail asked about the condition of me and the baby. During the last two months of my pregnancy, Hossein came to Tehran twice. The night he returned to Dezful for the last time, the giving birth pain began. I tolerated the pain until midnight. Then we called the doctor. She said that I must be taken to the hospital.

When Hossein phoned, my mother told him the story. He said that he would return to Tehran. But my mother assured him, ‘don’t come and put your mind at ease. We take care of her and everything goes well.’ My mother, Haj Khanum, two of my sisters, and my aunts all came with me to the hospital and waited about until the baby was born; a healthy boy who weighed three kilos and seven hundred grams.

When I informed Hossein of his weight by the phone, he sometimes laughed, sometimes cried, and constantly apologized that he could not be with me. At that time, the clashes between Iran and Iraq had just begun and the military men couldn’t get leave at all.

To be continued…