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3 My Birth at the Doorpost In the birthing chamber, an old lady stands at the doorpost where Iyeeh and other village women are bending over Mama who is pushing me out into the world. Someone is giving commands about how the baby’s head must be pushed out. Mama sits hollering so hard and crying so loud, I can hardly hear anything else. There are mumbling voices in the background. Another old lady, who knows everything about everything, stands there at Mama’s feet. She is spitting out commands about the cutting of the navel string so nothing is left inside Mama. They say a woman like her can’t be tied down forever to her first child by an umbilical cord. It is an abomination to die in childbirth. It is an abomination to die giving birth to your first child. So I come out screaming, head first, the way they wished me out. If they had asked me, I would have come out legs first, then hands before head. So I can run away from home someday. ...

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