Follow Us on Google
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
For Mr. and Mrs. Chukwudi and Felicia Amadi, an Abuja-based couple from Aku, in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State, the torturous 12-year search for the fruit of the womb came to an end on December 6, 2021, with the arrival of quadruplets, three boys and one girl.
The birth of the babies brought happiness and sadness at the same time. It brought happiness because God finally answered their prayers and countless visits to churches and herbal homes to consult men of God and herbalists. It brought sadness because their tale of childlessness, which made life incomplete and miserable, ended with them getting more than they prayed for.
What made the search traumatic was that Felicia had two stillbirths and the couple expended huge sums of money, running into millions of naira, to realise their dreams of parenthood.
“It became so bad that pastors and herbalists used us as a lucrative stream of income. They heartlessly milked us to our bones,” Felicia lamented while recalling her experience.
She narrated how the search for children crashed her foodstuff business, expressing fears that their financial situation may pose a serious challenge catering the newborn babies. According to her, they spend at least N6,000 weekly on baby formula alone.
In an exclusive chat with Daily Sun in their Abuja home, she equally recalled the taunts they had to bear in the hands of enemies mocking them for years of childlessness.
She said: “I am Felicia Amadi from Oshigo, married to Onyagbada, both in Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State. My 12 years infertility problem came to an end on December 6, 2021, when I was delivered of quadruplets, three boys and a girl.”
Asked her feelings when informed of the babies’ arrival, she said: “I went for a scan and they told me I would deliver twins, but they did not explain to me that they would come in such large numbers. I was actually shocked to be delivered of quadruplets. Even while buying things in readiness for their arrival, I just picked items for twins, because, in my wildest imagination, I did not expect they would come in such numbers.
“My happiness, however, knew no bounds when I was first informed of the development. I have heard that some people said that we did in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but my reply to them is that my babies came through normal pregnancy though I delivered through caesarean section.”
Recalling her journey, Felicia said: “I got married over 12 years ago, and ever since then I have done everything humanly possible to overcome our infertility problem. I know that, in Africa, any married woman without a child is facing the threat of an unsecure home and marriage.
“I first got pregnant in 2015, which confirmed my womanhood. However, the baby died in my womb but I had a normal delivery. Two years later, in 2017, when I felt that God had compensated me with another pregnancy, the baby again died in my womb though I delivered it normally again.
“The 2017 experience was more traumatic to me because I had gone through normal labour and delivered the baby but when it did not cry, my suspicion that it had died again became true.
“After that 2017 incident, I went through hell for years searching for the fruit of the womb, including visiting churches and herbal homes. I had lost count of the number of times I paid pastors as much as N200,000 each to pray for me to get pregnant all those years I was searching.
“I travelled several kilometres to Enugu-Ezike to see a herbalist to prepare pregnancy concoction for me, paying as much as N300,000 to him. When nothing happened, I visited another place in Nsukka, where someone directed me, and I paid N250,000.
“I still remember with pain one man who practically established an office from my money, milking me dry. He demanded thousands of naira and I dared not say no. It came to a head in 2020, during COVID-19 lockdown, when I gave him a huge sum of money he demanded but only for him to tell me that lockdown did not allow him to go into the bush to source for herbs, requesting that I should bring additional thousands of naira.
“The man, who lives in Nsukka, defrauded me of millions of naira, enough to build a bungalow. On the whole, I spent millions of naira searching for the fruit of the womb before fortune finally smiled on me last year. I am happy that God rewarded me with a set of quadruplets.”
On why she went that far, she said: “What pushed me to go to such an extent in search of pregnancy was the fear that my husband would wake up one day, throw me out of the house and bring in another woman as my replacement. I always told myself that I would be the biggest loser, since the marriage was not secured with any child, because he could impregnate another woman.
“So, even when, in 2021, I became pregnant, I did not believe it. Many people mocked, saying it was ‘packaging,’ while others said it was fibroid. I was not even convinced that I was pregnant because some prophesied to me that it was not a normal pregnancy.
“Several times, we quarrelled; I always told my husband that we were not into marriage but friendship. Even when he had constantly assured me of his resolve to swim and sink with me, I also knew that friends and relatives’ influence could change him. Throughout those years of childlessness, I felt so insecure in marriage.”
Considering the agony she went through, would she be comfortable with another pregnancy? Felicia retorted: “No, no, no! I will not go through another trauma of pregnancy. Right from inception, I had always prayed to have two boys and a daughter. So, now that God has given more than I desired and prayed for, providing three boys and a girl, why should I bother myself with another pregnancy?
“Besides, I am actually finding it difficult to cope with the stress these ones are giving me, let alone getting pregnant again. I sleep for only three hours daily since I delivered them because they could be troublesome sometimes.
“Honestly, it has not been easy coping with the stress of nursing four kids. I have sacrificed sleep ever since they arrived. I can only take a 30-minute nap at a time. I have relied on friends taking turns to spend a few days with me. I have been eating more than expected and I take milk very often now to cope with the breast milk demands from them. However, exclusive breast feeding is totally out of it.”
Assistance from the government and individuals
Admitting that the joy could sometimes turn painful, Felicia appealed for assistance from Enugu State and the Federal Governments, in addition to kind individuals, emphasising that her means of livelihood crumbled due to circumstances beyond the family.
“I am a businesswoman, selling cocoyam in large quantities. I didn’t bother myself looking for a job with a secondary school certificate. The business was good but it has suffered since the pregnancy and now the arrival of the babies.
“There has not been any form of assistance from government or individuals to us. I even thought we would get assistance delivering the kids in the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) but we did not even get a rebate. We had specifically asked the medical authorities to help but they told us that somebody delivered five babies two years ago but could not get any form of help from them. We later spent N500,000 on the hospital bill.
“I still want help from my state and the Federal Government, organisations and individuals, because their consumption of baby milk is actually getting out of our reach. We spend a minimum of N6,000 weekly on baby food alone because, once we open one tin of milk, it won’t last.
“I will appreciate assistance in clothing for the kids because I banked on the scan that notified us of twins while buying baby clothes but since they came out that number, the clothes I bought, became insufficient for them. Their diapers is another source of heavy expenses draining the family,” she said.
Why I didn’t abandon my family – Husband
Unlike some husbands that abandon their families at the hospital and disappear, the father of the quadruplets, Amadi Chukwudi, said that the joy of getting what he had been asking for was enough to stand by his wife and kids.
He said: “When I heard the news that my wife delivered quadruplets, the thought of abandoning them in the hospital did not cross my mind. I have been searching and have even spent a fortune to get a child for several years now. It came to me rather as good and cheering news. I welcomed them from the depth of my heart.
“I know it is going to be very difficult to cope with taking care of them because of the kind of job I do. I work in a private establishment. Ever since they arrived, it has not been easy. I had wished that if only the government would give me a well-paying job to take care of them, I would be a completely happy man, husband and father.”
Recalling the ordeal he went through waiting on the Lord for children, he said: “It was really traumatic. Yes, I knew that my wife would certainly have a baby, having conceived the first and second pregnancies, but my discomfort was that she kept getting anxious and putting unnecessary pressure on herself.
“I never believed we would get quadruplets even though I knew that I had a high possibility of getting twins because we have twins in my family. My mother had twins but I didn’t know that God would escalate my own. Truly, I have been one of the happiest men on earth since the arrival of the babies.
“They are a bundle of joy to me. I have only heard about such delivery in the news and social media but now it has happened to me. Their arrival was a reward for all the agonies I went through and the finances I put into the search for a child for 12 years. We could not even wed because the search drained the economy of the family,” he said.
Asked if he would support the wife to call it quits with childbirth, he replied: “I will not accept because no one is God. If God wants to bring more children, I will not reject them. However, I don’t wish to have quadruplets again due to the economic challenges we are in today. I feel that the arrival of the babies is a confirmation that God wants to reward us for what we passed through in search of children.”
Regarding the nasty experiences he went through, he said: “It was not an experience I would wish for even my enemy. We were stretched beyond our limits. I attended several church vigils with my wife, especially the ones she involved me. She attended some alone when it was not convenient for me to follow her.
“We also travelled to many parts of this country in search of a child. It was many years of trauma. Beyond the places we went to for a solution, people did not also help matters by mocking us.
“Yes, it affected my wife more because, as a man, I weathered the storm, since I expected them. I had to even encourage my wife to always push them behind her, assuring her that the God we served would not fail or disgrace us.”
While appealing for help, he said: “I also plead with the government to help us raise the babies by giving me employment as empowerment and financial backing. For now, I am working with a private hotel.”
