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BY KATE HALIM
A woman’s body undergoes many transformations during the nine months of pregnancy. Some of these physical changes are visible, such as an expanding belly and weight gain, while others are well known, such as an enlarged uterus, morning sickness and backaches. However, a few bodily changes may be unexpected and catch some women by surprise.
Mrs. Evelyn Omoruyi has three children. She lost hearing in her left ear when she was pregnant with her second child five years ago and till today, she doesn’t hear with that ear. This makes her sad but she is consoled by the fact she is able to bring forth the life of another human being.
Mrs. Omoruyi told Saturday Sun that pregnancy changes a woman’s life even if the pregnancy is not complicated. She noted that labour itself is a major design flaw for any human being. This is because women have to endure unimaginable pain to bring children into this world.
“I was told by the doctor that some women suffer temporary deafness during pregnancy. These women get their hearing backs weeks or months after giving birth. For some women, it lasts for years while others don’t regain their ability to hear anymore, she added.”
How our lives and body changed during pregnancy
Nmachi Okonkwo said: “After breastfeeding, my nipples were torn, cut up, bruised, just entirely destroyed, but my boobs were still full. I made sure to take plenty of pictures in case I ever decided to stop shopping and use the money for augmentation. Nine months into official motherhood and my full boobs are still hanging in. My whirlwind of a pregnancy rewarded me with a beautiful boy.”
Victoria Bamiele said: “I’ve never been certain that this had really happened — I didn’t measure it. But my husband asked me one day if I’d ever broken any ribs. And I said, “No, I haven’t really had any bad injuries.” And he said, “Well, it’s just that — your ribs really stick out on your left side.” And I don’t remember really pondering it before that, but as soon as he said that, I realized, huh. I mean, I had a very large baby.
My second baby weighed 4.3kg, 1.3kg more than my first baby — while I am 5ft 2inches and weighed about 78kg. I don’t have to wear larger shirt sizes or anything, but if you see my bare midriff, it’s noticeable that my ribcage is very lopsided.”
Onyinye Nwadike said: “I didn’t even mention my experience of placenta acreta. It kills one in ten women in the United States. I almost bled to death during the birth of my twin boys. They had to wheel me back to the theater, first to insert a balloon catheter to stop the bleeding, but it didn’t work. So they gave me an emergency hysterectomy. That means I was opened up and sewn up three times. I had blood transfusions, eight pints of blood or four liters.
For Gbemi Adeoti, she had this horrible cough that made her pee on her body when she was pregnant with her first child. It was horrible because she found it hard to hold urine for minutes. Then for her second pregnancy, it was incessant headaches for three whole months, and she was going to work daily. She believes there should be a special reward for women who survive pregnancy and childbirth.
Elizabeth Douglas said: “Is it the episiotomy of 11 years ago that still gets inflamed and hurts during sex? What about my forgetfulness, especially during and after my first child arrived or the pre-eclampsia I developed with my second pregnancy?
My second pregnancy also came with hip and back pains that only went a year or so after my baby was born. I suffered indigestion and constipation too with my second pregnancy.
Each pregnancy I lost 10 kg on average in the first trimester because of morning sickness. Then for those of us with issues in the pregnancy, there is the battle against anxiety and worry. For me the emergency deliveries, including the last two CS were full of fear for my babies and myself.
Grace Okolie’s last baby weighed 4.2Kg and she had a very painful Episiotomy. She had pile (hemorroid), her large intestines pulled out while pushing her big babies out.
She said: “You can’t imagine the pains I went through for my intestine to be pushed back in by the Doctor every day after using the toilet.
And because I couldn’t sit down, I knelt down to breast feed my baby every time. I had breast engorgement at some point and the pain can only be imagined.”
Doyin Olunleye shared her own pregnancy story. She said: “I had episiotomy while giving birth to my first child. I did sitz bath the wrong way so my vagina was burnt by steam. I was lucky it didn’t affect my stitches because they would have sutured it all over again. I don’t want to imagine the pain I would have gone through if they did that. My burnt vagina didn’t allow me walk well for weeks. I was always crying and facing my vagina in front of a fan one day. Then the worst happened, I wasn’t washing up well out of fear for pain so my burn got infected. It took me three months to heal properly. It took me three years exactly before I made up my mind to have a second and the very last child. I was so afraid and always crying all through my pregnancy. Crying out of fear of the pain I would face again.”
Nnenna Okolo suffered a hellish back pain for almost five years after her first baby. She suffered and cried endless times. Whenever she had to go out with her husband, she always had flat slippers on standby. She couldn’t carry her babies or their diaper bags for long. “I remember how people would look at me with disdain, when they see my hubby taking my baby out for diaper change whenever we are at an event, unknown to them, l was dying in pains, Okolo added.”
Ijeoma Ubah said: My daughter was big and I had a tear at her birth. She weighed 4.3kg. I had an episiotomy but one week after, the stitches tore from sitting on hot water.
You don’t want to imagine the pain I went through when it was being loosed. I was screaming and holding the hand of the nurse to stop. It was terrible.
The doctor said I had two options, have the placed restitched without anesthesia or cleaning it with disinfectant morning and night until it closes up by itself. I took the second option. It took three months for my vagina to go back to normal.
I avoided sex. I told my husband to leave me alone. I told him I didn’t want to get pregnant soon. He didn’t understand why. He said I was being unreasonable.
When I was pregnant, my nausea was out of this world. I vomited everyday. If I eat and not chew gum immediately after eating, I would vomit everything.
I was spitting like a cobra. It was so annoying. Before you say Jack, my mouth is full of saliva. This one annoyed me to hell and back because it made me uncomfortable going out or chatting with people for long.
After I gave birth to small madam, I suffered ear infection for months. I think it stopped when she clocked one. The pain was severe. It came with serious migraine. I was always crying.
Remembering all these things makes me angry because of the way my mum and other women trivialized the pain I went through. They tell you to suck it up because you are not alone and it is part of the joys of motherhood.
I think my subconscious blocked my ability to get pregnant again because I didn’t want to go through the pains I suffered during my daughter’s pregnancy and after her delivery.
Our mothers didn’t do well in this regard. They made men believe that pregnancy and childbirth is a walk in the park. It is not. It’s one of the ways to die as a woman.”
