Lorita Chigbo
2 November 2009
Usually, childbirth is synonymous with joy in every home, but the reverse seems to be the case for the Olayinka family, who recently had a set of quadruplets, a girl and three boys.
Since the arrival of these newborns, the centre can no longer hold for the couple as Mr. Olayinka, who used to be a roadside mechanic before his workshop was cleared out for environmental reasons has run away on hearing the news, leaving his 30-year-old wife, Mrs. Adijat Olayinka and the children.
Mrs. Olayinka stated that since conception, it has always been a mixture of joy and sadness for the family. According to her, after her husband lost his job, according to her, she was also told to quit her tailoring job because of the pregnancy.
For the nine months she carried her pregnancy, she never envisioned that she was going to give birth to quadruplets, although she had visited a number of hospitals where ultrasound scans were conducted to determine the number of babies in the womb.
Three out of the places she visited revealed that she would be delivered of twin babies.
However, given that her experience with this pregnancy was totally different from the previous experiences she had prior to the birth of her first son, she visited the fourth doctor yet for another scan.
According to her, the size of the pregnancy was so unusual that it was affecting her respiration.
However, when she was told by this doctor that what she had in her was a set of quadruplets, Mrs. Olayinka never believed him. She had believed deep in mind that he was one of the quack doctors whose unwholesome activities have been troubling the country.
"I was so angry that I rained abuses on him because none in my family linage or that of my husband has ever given birth to a set of quadruplets", she said.
On the day she went into labour eventually, it was so hellish that she could not bear the ordeal until she fainted and was rushed to Mercy Hospital at Lagos Island where she was delivered of the babies.
The babies came out in good condition but their mother had in the process lost much blood. She remained unconscious for three days with constant transfusion of blood and other nourishments both aimed at helping her recuperate.
Upon discharge from the hospital, Mrs. Olayinka could not return to their one room apartment in Agege, Lagos, but had moved to stay with her mother who lives in Igandu area of the state. Her reason being that she could not cope with the newborns alone since her husband was nowhere to be found anymore.
Mrs. Olayinka is presently looking pale and fragile. This is not as a result of the pains of childbirth alone, but also due to the additional stress of worrying about her and the babies' survival in the face of their dependence on the meagre earnings of her aged mother.
She is therefore calling on the governor of her home state, Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and that of Lagos, Mr. Babatunde Fashola as well as other spirited Nigerians to help save her family from starvation.
"I don't want to lose any of these children irrespective of the challenges I am going through, please help," she pleaded.
The young mother also stated that her new born babies feed on a tin of baby milk, which cost her about N1200 daily. Her attempt to substitute a cheaper milk brand for the one she has been using could not succeed as the three-week-old babies refused to take the substitute.
She is wondering where she could get the money to sustain such expenses, lamenting "I can't even boast of a day's meal for myself to be able to breastfeed them.
Meanwhile, the whole scenario around the poor mother looks so pathetic. She appears as though frustrated, but still her determination to see her children live remains evident.
"Please don't let us die in starvation. If I had my way, I could have taken one of them and run away like my husband did, but blood is thicker than water, I carried them in my womb for nine month. Please help my children to live", she pleaded.
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