On Sunday,
July 27, was like every other weekend in Nigeria, but it was a different story
for Mrs Odoh Helen, a resident of Nnewi in Anambra state, who gave birth to a
set of quintuplets (4 boys and a girl).
Mrs Odoh, 29,
a fashion designer, gave birth to the kids at God's Mercy Maternity Hospital in
the commercial city of Nnewi, weeks after she was told she was expecting
triplets, after undergoing scan.
Mrs Odoh
tending to her babies at the God's Mercy Maternity hospital in Nnewi, Anambra
state.
Her immediate
concern is how to settle her hospital bills and cater for her new born babies,
whose arrival now makes her a mother of 9 (she had 4 kids before now).
The total bill for the cost
of Mrs Odoh's delivery is N310,000 as she gave birth through a cesarean
operation.
Mrs Odoh wants Nigerians to
assist her financially to take care of the babies
“I used the operation for
the delivery, it’s not normal delivery. As you can see, I am fine, they have
given us the bill, but we have not paid, we don’t have money to pay for the
bill,” she lamented.
“For a start, I have had a
first issue – female, second one is a female, third one female, then the third
one is a triplet, but after a year and three months, I lost two.
“Last month 27th of July, I
gave birth to five kids – 4 boys and a girl, but before then, the midwife asked
me that I should go for a scan, that she is suspecting twins, so I went for a
scan, the scan said that it is twins.
“After some months, she
suspected that it is not twins, that it was more than two there, so she sent me
for another scan, I went to a scan again, and the result was that it was
triplets. So, we all focused that it was three, until the day of my delivery,
it happens that it was five,” a teary Mrs Odoh said while tending to her kids.
Mrs Odoh already had four
kids before she gave birth to the set of quintuplets
According to her, on
hearing she had five kids, her husband, a tricycle (keke) commercial rider,
almost fainted.
Her words: “He was crying.
When he came there, he felt like fainting and he wanted to run away, but a
friend of his shared his thoughts with him and he decided to stay, because it
is a blessing, it is just that it is not his intention to run, it’s just because
of money….how to feed and cater for all of us. If you check now, it is nine
children and what he is doing, there is not much income to cater for all of
us.”
Asked if she is afraid of
what the future holds for herself and her family, due to their large family
depending on a low income, Mrs Odoh sounded confident, saying, “I shouldn’t be
afraid,” as she picks up one of the babies on the bed crying, adding, “because
I believe in God and I believe in destiny. That is why I am not afraid.”
She added: “I only believe
that God that gave me these children, will bring what they will eat, because
the financial background in my family is very poor. My husband is a keke
driver, I don’t know how he can cater for all of us.”
She however pleaded with
the government and Nigerians to help her and her family, stressing that her
husband's job is not enough to take care of their needs.
“I am pleading for the
government to please help us. If they do not help us, we don’t know where to
start. Is it the milk, are they going to feed with the breast? How will I cope
with the breast? When they grow, the school fees, feeding, and the other
children, even food, house rent, because we are a tenant.
“Anybody who has feelings
for what I am passing through now, anyhow you can help, anyhow, even if it is
milk, school fees, food, for me or the other children, anyhow or anything you
can help us, please we need your help,” she says in an emotional laden voice.
In a society where some
women are still looking for the fruit of the womb after years of marriage, Mrs
Odoh advises them to have faith and be prayerful.
Her words: “My message to
them is number 1: Be patient and have faith in God, because with God,
everything is possible. Because some people came to ask me if I did any
planning to have more than one child, but I didn’t even take paracetamol.
“So, through this, you
should have faith that God in heaven can turn the impossible to be possible.
Jut believe in him and pray with faith. Surely, one day, you will have your own
children.”
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