A Lifetime

A Lifetime

The morning after Ayomide’s birth, I expected her to be brought to me for feeding, but no one did. I became apprehensive and asked my husband if he had seen her, he replied in the affirmative. Then I asked him why she had not been brought in for me to feed her, he replied that he was told she couldn’t eat yet. Immediately I knew something was wrong, having known babies start feeding once they are cleaned up after birth. I later found out that my cousin had the urge to check up on Ayomide at the neonatal ward sometimes after midnight the night she was born and found her choking on amniotic fluid that she swallowed before birth. He then turned her sideways so she could let out what she had in her mouth and alerted the nurses. The next day, she was tested and much more fluid was discovered in her stomach. This led to my baby having surgery three days after birth. It nearly killed me, I was traumatized and cried inconsolably.

The surgery was successful and I got to feed my baby by expressing breast milk for her and storing in feeding bottles. Eventually, she was able to feed directly from me. It was a joy every time I got to hold her in my arms at the neonatal ward and feed her. We got discharged ten days post-surgery and Ayomide and I got a boisterous homecoming.

She weighed 2.5kg at birth, but lost some of that at the hospital. She was so tiny that at six months, I was asked if she was a new-born (Ha!).

Ironically, she had a growth spurt after six months and became ‘Orobo’.

At a point, this girl wouldn’t take any of the imported cereals, she became an authentic ‘local content only’. Happily, that particular phase passed shortly before she was a year old and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Try making ‘ogi’ for a child ( Not bought, made from scratch) and you would empathize. We had her wonderful soul with us for exactly twenty-two months before it all came to an end.