Onomewrites

May 6, 2022May 6, 2022

MY PREGNANCY JOURNAL: MONTH 4

Welcome to my month of Victory hehehehe. This was the beginning of sweetness. The vomiting stopped totally, and I could see the world. This was the month I could say I started loving my baby. I registered and started my antenatal.

This was also the month I met someone special. I call her “My Elizabeth”; she is Damilola Agboola; this woman was heaven-sent. We met at church house fellowship, she reached out to me after our first meeting, but I was still not in the mood. It was in our second meeting we bonded and became sisters. She just had a baby, so she could relate and connect with me.

Damilola fed me like a baby and treated me like a queen. She would pray with me and check up on me. There was a time I battled with fear. I had terrible dreams, and each time I told her, she would say to me, “you can’t lose this baby Onome”.

Feeding was better, but the challenge with month 4 was dizziness. If I do anything stressful, I will start feeling dizzy and throw up. I don’t know how to stay still; that was why the first three months were hard. I always want to be busy. I remember how I fell one evening in my bathroom. I was stressed this particular day. We were renovating the house, so there was a lot of moving. I was not comfortable seeing Jumoke and my husband do everything, so I went to join them. I also had to read for my exams, so I was stressed.

All I could remember was opening the shower. The next thing was that I found myself on the floor. I screamed for my husband, and he had to come carry me. My head and arm were bleeding. To make it worse, I threw up everything I ate that night. I became so weak. Once I knew stress was a problem, I avoided it because feeling dizzy was no fun.

This was the month my dad turned 70. Since the beginning of the year, I looked forward to this, but pregnancy happened, which meant I couldn’t be there physically. My siblings and I planned a surprise for him, so I really wanted to be there, but because of the dizzy episodes, I knew I had to sit down in Lagos.

My brothers made sure I didn’t miss out of the fun. We were on video calls and phone calls throughout the day; even though I couldn’t be there physically, I saw my old man look so happy, which was fun for me.

My stomach was growing, and I gradually added the weight I had lost in the first trimester. Life was good!

Tomorrow, I will tell you all about month 5.

May 5, 2022May 4, 2022

MY PREGNANCY JOURNAL: MONTH 3

I was still very skinny, and my clothes were not fitting anymore. I could barely eat, and I remember my mom telling me it would get better, but omo, I can’t wait for the better days. I had my sister Jumoke helping me in the house, so it made things easier.

One morning, I remember going to school with my friend Ashley, and I started vomiting on the road; baby girl was so confused. Me sef I was embarrassed. We had to take Taxify home, and by the time I got home, I was so weak and pale. Ashley was also another support system that made this journey easier. She would always come around on weekends to help me in the house. Mehn, I can’t even deny the blessing called Ashley.

Nothing prepared me for this pregnancy sha because it wasn’t easy. I missed my mom every day because I had a feeling if she had been around me, she would have found something; plus, that woman is a no-nonsense woman, but she would call every day and pray with me. My mother-in-law had to be the sweetest. She would call me every day and pray. These women made me feel safe all the time.

Month 3 was better because the vomiting reduced to maybe once in two days. The doctors told me to eat in smaller portions and that I should avoid the kitchen. Avoiding the kitchen was hard because I loved cooking, but I had to. Jumoke handled the cooking and brought my food to my room. The day I tried assisting her in the kitchen, ordinary Maggi smell made me throw up, so I respected myself and stayed in my room.

If you called any of these months and I did not pick up, this was why o. I couldn’t pick up calls because everything was a burden. I can’t help but say thank you to my friend Seyi. She was far away yet so close, she would check up on me, and in fact, it felt like we were both carrying the baby together. I still looked like a shadow of myself, but it was getting better because at least my vomiting reduced.

Tomorrow, I will tell you all about month 4

Thanks for sticking with me.

May 4, 2022May 4, 2022

MY PREGNANCY JOURNAL: MONTH 2

This was a very dramatic month; I felt I would die at some point. The vomiting increased, and I had to visit the hospital. I was told I couldn’t register for antenatal until week 12 or 13, which was after month 3. The doctor ran some tests, and they discovered I had an infection.

I felt like crying; you mean, I have an infection with all I’m going through. The doctor said they found some blood in my urine, so they had to place me on antibiotics immediately. The two weeks I spent using antibiotics was terrible. I was losing weight terribly because I couldn’t eat anything.

It was this same month I had my birthday. My husband had a lot planned out, but unfortunately, I was not in good shape. I had lost a lot of weight, so I looked terrible. I couldn’t eat anything; all the food he got for me couldn’t stay in my stomach. I felt for my husband because he got my birthday party all figured out.

I spent my mornings crying because the infection made me itchy and my stomach hurt. Using the drugs was worse, and I just couldn’t wait for everything to go away. I was not even interested in praying. I felt so lonely because I had no pregnant friend around me.

Pregnancy can be a very lonely journey; please, if you can find a young mother around you that you can trust, talk to her. I remember speaking to a friend whose baby was just one year old. Shout out to you, Mary Oladapo. This lady helped me stay calm and shared her experience with me. After listening to her story, I knew I was not alone but all along, I was silently praying for another friend in Nigeria because Mary is in London.

Well, vomiting took a severe turn, and I couldn’t keep food in my stomach at all. Everything I ate was going down the toilet sink. My husband looked at me one morning, and I could see that he was worried. He held me and said, “babe, please try to eat. You look very skinny” I started crying, and I told him I was trying. Just blame the tears on pregnancy hormones because your girl is a hard girl.

My husband had to take me to the hospital on a Sunday morning because I was so weak that I couldn’t keep anything down, and the infection was still there. I got to the hospital, and they did a series of tests again and decided they would admit me. That was how I found myself collecting drips and injections for three days. They gave me more antibiotics, and honestly, the food I ate in that hospital was royal. I guess my baby understands royalty because fam, your girl did not throw up for one day, but the minute my husband brought food from the house, I would throw it up, so he stopped bringing food. Let me pause to thank my baby sister Adeyemi Victoria who had to come to stay with me and help me take care of the house.

I was discharged and given plenty of drugs. Well, the vomiting stopped but not completely. A week later, I found myself reacting to perfumes. Nobody could use perfume around me. Once I smelled it, I would throw up.

My favourite food became something I didn’t want to see. I would barely eat two spoons. I wasted food so much. My sister Adeoye Jumoke had to come around because Victoria was leaving; she had to go back to work. Jumoke made my life easier by helping in the house; thank you, baby girl.

Pregnant women, don’t try to do it by yourself. Take it easy on yourself. If you can get help, please do. Me sef dey advice pregnant women hehehehe.

Tomorrow, I will tell you all about month 3……

May 3, 2022May 2, 2022

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.

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.

May 2, 2022May 2, 2022

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.