Category: Meet Onome

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MY PREGNANCY JOURNAL: MONTH 1

Let me start by saying pregnancy is a beautiful experience, and I think it should be compared to having a cultural shock. One minute you are surprised, and the next minute, you adjust. I know I said getting pregnant was not in my plan for 2021, but the truth was that I had battled with fear for a long time. Fear that I would never get pregnant, I was always worried when I had any health challenge. I would cringe when anyone teased me about pregnancy because it was a major fear. I will share the whole story of how I overcame this fear and how God gave us this miracle in my next podcast episode; please don’t miss it.

This was me in Month 1

You know how Nollywood prepares you for pregnancy. When you see someone running to the toilet to vomit then you know she is pregnant. Errhm, in my case, nothing prepared me for the morning sickness and throwing up. I became so pale and tired. The minute I eat, I must throw up. I did not like myself. Well, I lost my job this month, so I don’t have to go to the office (you can read the full gist here). I stayed in bed. I tried doing my regular duties, but I got tired easily. Forget all the English. There is nothing fun about throwing up and morning sickness. I watched myself fall in love with that yellow crackers biscuit. The biscuit they cannot dash me on a normal day; nonsense and ingredient. My husband did not understand how I was feeling; uncle turned it to spiritual warfare, he would pray and expect me not to vomit again, but no, it’s like it became worse. I had zero energy, and I was gradually losing weight.

When next you see a pregnant woman, please render some support because mehn this journey is not easy. The worse part was that I couldn’t pray. I just wanted to be in bed all day.

Praying was hard, but I made sure I talked to God because there were days the devil brought thoughts to my head that I would not carry this pregnancy to the end, but my strength was in God. I won’t sugarcoat and tell you it was easy. It was not easy. I would spend some mornings crying after throwing up. It was so painful watching my husband cook, and then I vomited it. It was an experience, but looking back, it was all worth it.

The beautiful thing about month one was doing a scan; even though the baby was not so visible and I couldn’t see anything, the feeling was surreal. It was so beautiful to see life growing inside of me. I still wasn’t so happy because morning sickness was not joking.

Let’s meet tomorrow as I tell you all about month 2.

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MY PREGNANCY JOURNAL

You know how you go about enjoying and shamelessly pursuing your purpose. I started 2021 that way; getting pregnant was not even in my goals. Please blame it on my career goals. I planned to use 2021 to sort out my career and venture into a new career path, but izz like pe God had other plans.

The day started like any regular Monday morning, but before then, I had been feeling dizzy, but it wasn’t a big deal because I feel dizzy when I am stressed. This Monday morning, I went to the office. I was fine and very active.

I had my food in my flask because I woke up early to cook; that was how active I was. I finished eating around ten, and before I knew what was going on, I started vomiting like a dog and felt so weak.

The next day, the scenario repeated itself, and I knew something was wrong. Let me tell you a back story, I react to food a lot, so I can’t just eat anywhere; when I eat what my body is uncomfortable with, I throw up and feel dizzy.

When it happened two days in a row, I decided to change my food, but the next day the story was the same, I kept vomiting every morning, but instead of feeling dizzy, I suddenly felt weak. My husband jokingly teased that I was pregnant, but we both waved it off.

 A week later, I was still vomiting, so I told myself pe let me go and do a pregnancy test. I bought a test kit, and the kit gave me a single line which meant negative. However,  I remembered reading somewhere that when the pregnancy is still early, the levels of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) are not so high, so it is not visible; it is why a blood test is recommended so, ladies and gentlemen I could not be happy yet.

Three days later, we strolled to the laboratory to get a blood pregnancy test done, and it came out positive. I couldn’t place my feelings, but I knew I was not happy, and I was not sad. So many questions. Was I even ready to be somebody’s mother? Will I look sexy (blame this one on social media). I ran to tell my husband, and guess what? This young man started laughing. I still don’t get what’s funny. Something that we did together o, he looked at me and said congratulations. I was just dumbfounded. We were both in the same phase. The question was, are we really ready to be parents. I’m sure God was having a good laugh watching us.

We decided to tell our parents; those ones were just dramatic. My mother-in-law sang for more than 10 minutes, and I was just confused; mama was happier than any one of us. Then I called my mother, Revd of the year, my mother went all prophetic, and she said you have made me proud, hehehe, on top of this pregnancy. I have concluded that giving Nigerian parents grandchildren will always be the best gift because I didn’t get this reaction when I graduated from the university or got my first job. Their reactions brought me out of my shell, and I knew it was time to face reality.

That was how the journey began……………………..

I promise to give you all the juicy details about how it went down each month. So join me tomorrow as I take you through my 9-month pregnancy journey day by day.

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DEAR GOD, DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME?

November 2020, I  resigned from a toxic work environment (if you want the full gist, click here). After resigning, I promised myself I would not hurry to get another job because you know what they say about making the same mistake twice.

I got a side gig as a customer care representative for an e-commerce service company in February 2021. The pay was little when compared to the work I was doing. Still, I did not mind because at least something was coming in, and I enjoyed solving problems.

I was still searching for a job. In April 2021, I got a good job that was flexible, and the pay was fair, so I said yes to the offer and resumed work immediately. I had a condition before taking the offer, I was employed as a content writer, and when I asked how many people were on the team, I was told it was myself and a graphics designer.

Boy, there was no way I could do a digital marketer’s job. I told them to employ a digital marketer, and they promised to. Two weeks after I resumed, they hired one, and I was so excited, but unfortunately, the terms were not conducive for the person; she left after working for two weeks.

After the digital marketer left, the company refused to employ another person, and they expected me to take up the role, which I could not. It was always a tug of war. The MD/CEO felt I was not competent enough because the company’s social media pages were not growing as she expected.

This woman expected me to grow a page using content only. I tried explaining, but I was not good enough to her, so she went ahead to employ a digital marketing agency. The agency was responsible for all social media pages, which means she does not need my services anymore.

My line manager, God bless his kind heart, tried all he could to convince her to let me stay, but she wanted me out. I started seeing some toxic traits when she called me useless in one of our zoom meetings with the digital agency.

Some weeks after, I dropped my resignation letter because I didn’t want to be sacked. I remember sending that email with tears in my eyes because the truth is that I was tired of job hunting. I came back home, and my sweet husband kept telling me it would be alright.

Here is the thing, I gave a testimony about this job in one of the groups I belonged to in church and here was I three months after with a resignation letter. I felt like God had frauded me. I cried for so many nights. I was pissed and asked why he allowed me to take that job in the first place.

 I was throwing tantrums at God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who can do all things o (Onome, you are bold o lol ); well, He is my father. I refused to pray for days, and the thought of the MD/CEO of that company annoyed me.

My sendoff cake

It took me months to forgive this woman and everyone involved in me losing my job. I found my peace back when I chose to submit to God and allow Him to lead me. I decided to worship God with tears and pains; in that place of worship, I found peace and strength. He wants the best for me, and today, I’m glad he took me out of that company when He did.

At the same time, I made great friends in that company that I won’t trade for anything. I remember how we cried and hugged on my last day at work. It’s a memory I won’t forget.

I’m in a place of contentment, and I am currently working on my next assignment. I’m not actively searching for jobs, but God keeps sending me gigs, and I have not lacked. That’s how amazing my father is.

There are so many lessons that God has taught me in this phase that I can’t wait to share with you.

CONCLUSION

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed”. Psalm 34: 18 (NLT).

This scripture comforted me in my pain, and I could feel God. I don’t know what your story is, and if, like me, you are angry at God, please don’t be. He has your best interest at heart. He will come through because He makes all things beautiful in His own time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Trust requires you to leave all other plans and cling to God. It is a case of I have no one else, it’s either you help me, or I’m finished. His plans for you are good, and your future is so beautiful.

When you don’t know what to do, worship because you will find strength and comfort in the place of worship, Papa is close to you, and He is ever ready to give you strength. Never doubt His love.

Cheers to you trusting God and coming out stronger.

With love,

Onome.