…I was special case at LASUTH for 6 weeks until God delivered us successfully on April 20 –Mother
• Begs Mrs Sanwo-Olu for assistance
By Agatha Emeadi
The sleepy Ijegun community in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State came alive with the news of the birth of a set of quadruplets (two boys and two girls) by Mr & Mrs Uwaoma Odili, nine years after the family waited for the Lord for more blessings of the womb. Specifically, on April 20, at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos, Mrs Odili was delivered of the babies.
Since then, the not-too-popular area has become a Mecca of a sort following the arrival of the bundle of joy. Also, it has been all praises, thanksgiving to God for the nine-month journey mercy crowned with a successful delivery of the babies.
It was a great sight to behold as the three weeks old babies laid innocently on their cots spread on a large paillasse in the sitting room.
As the 33-year-old mother of the quadruplets walked out from her bedroom to the sitting room, one could only appreciate the hands of God that saw her through in the delivery of the babies.
As the babies are dedicated unto God today, the two boys are named Chukwudilim David (God is with me) and Elochukwu Caleb (God’s thought); while the girls are Oluebubechukwu Naomi (Miraculous work of God) and Chukwunonyerem Ruth (God is with me).
The new mother, Mrs Chinwendu Odili, a state registered nurse/midwife (SRN/M), went down memory lane to tell the story of her quadruplets: “I am full of praises to God who made all things beautiful for my whole family because not all women who travelled this road saw complete light at the end of the tunnel like I did.
“I hail from Okija, Ihiala in Ekwusigo LGA, Anambra State. I got married to my husband in January 2013 and God blessed us almost immediately with a baby girl who my father-in-law named Chigozirim Deborah. After her birth, we experienced a lot of miscarriages and kept waiting. All those years were just passing by, but last year, God blessed us with the pregnancy that welcomed our bundle of quadruplets.
What were the experiences of the nine years waiting?
“As a trained nurse, I gave myself sometime before I sought for medical advice from my doctors. We started treatments, but nothing happened. After several attempts, my doctor said maybe God wants to do it at a particular time. That gave me more worries as I became stronger and more regular in my church, Amen Glorious and Evangelical Prayer Ministry, Ijegun, which was within my environment. Every 6:00a.m, I will go to the altar, kneel down and pray to God saying: ‘You have been doing it for other people, I know you will answer me.’ At such hours, the General Overseer, Pastor Caleb Ayeni would be there to join me in prayers, then he kept re-assuring me that God would answer my prayer. True to his words, God remembered and answered me when I could not see my monthly period in the month of October. I went for pregnancy test which was positive, not knowing how many babies in me then. A subsequent repeat of the scan showed three babies initially. After sometime, the scan result showed four of them. I did not run over all the churches or various places where women seek for miracles. I trusted God and kept my faith alive until the last day.”
When asked how she managed the pregnancy until she was due for delivery, she said: “The moment it was discovered that I had four babies, I stopped work immediately in November because the pains had started coming as the babies were also trying to grow. The older they grew, the bigger my stomach, the more uncomfortable I became. We dragged, managed and prayed for a successful delivery. Towards my 32- weeks, we became much bigger, couldn’t walk properly and was admitted in the hospital by the team of gynecologists at the Lagos State University Teaching hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos for another six weeks. I was a special case at LASUTH for the six weeks until God delivered us successfully on April 20, 2023. By my 30-weeks, I couldn’t walk again or lie down. When I need to lie down, two nurses would assist me, while one carried my legs, another carried my stomach to help me on the bed, the same way they assisted me to come down when I needed to; but in all that God saw us through to the end. Then, on the D-day was a Monday morning, the team gathered and I was wheeled into the theatre at 9:00a.m where Dr Makinde delivered me successfully; I was brought out to the recovering room at 11:06 a.m. There was no problem at all, no bleeding, no emergency of any sort, but according to the notification of birth handed over to me; I noticed that it took the last baby a little time before she was delivered. The first three had like five-minutes differences while the last was up to 30 minutes before she was delivered. I did not see them in the first eight days as we were all trying to recover. My babies were kept at Special Baby care Unit (SBU) of the hospital while I was gradually recovering and it was not easy for me at all, but my husband was attending to all of us, both the babies and myself. After the eight days, we were all discharged, except the last baby who joined us after spending another eight days at ICU of the hospital.”
Asked if twins run in both families, Chinwendu said: “Yes, my maternal grandmother gave birth to a set of twins; though my own mother did not give birth to twins likewise my other siblings, but I personally prayed for twins. I told my pastor that I wanted twins which finally came to me gloriously. I am that woman who God blessed with two boys and two girls at a stretch; but it was not funny at all because my body is still adjusting. Three days to my delivery, I had all the signs, but no doctor can ask anyone in my condition to push out four babies. None! My doctors monitored me closely until the D-day. There was no special diet for me, I ate every food. All family members are excited, happy and joyous with the birth of the quadruplets. I broke record as the first wife to deliver four babies at a ago in my husband’s village.”
As a pregnant woman’s body settles down almost immediately after she sees her new born; that was not exactly Chinwe’s experience as her blood pressure slowed down, but later picked up.
Hear her: “My BP was a bit low, but picked up again, and I was so happy and praised God because the road to this victory was so rough. Honestly, not all women who passed through it came out triumphantly alive to tell their story themselves. Some might lose their lives or that of the babies; but we are all complete to the glory of God.”
How have you been managing four babies economically?
“It is a blessing that came with mixed feelings. Their feeding time is every two, three hour interval and four of them must eat at the same time. They are fed majorly with Nestle Pre-NAN baby formular which costs N5,000 per tin of 400g with the support of the breast milk. They take almost two cans of the milk in a day at age of three weeks. As their weight increases, their food increases as well. They use a pack of 60 pcs of diaper that costs N3,700 in four days. Then all hands must be on deck both morning and night to attend to them. My husband, mother and myself must be awake to attend to them whenever they are awake. It has been so challenging financially to keep up with their needs, but God is forever gracious. I am calling on the First Lady of Lagos State to help me out.”
Asked if she would bear more children, she said: “I have am grateful to God, as I have closed the chapter of child bearing, nothing takes me there again.”
Also speaking, her husband said: “To God in heaven, I give all the glory because this miracle is not IVF, it is normal husband and wife play that brought us these goodies. God did everything at his own time. My name is Uwaoma Teddy Odili, a coaching student at the Sports centre, from Okija too in Anambra State. I can tell you that God has been with us even as my wife and I did not date at all. It was after I had some bad experiences with a few ladies as a growing up man.
“Before I left for Egypt, where I resided as a footballer, I told my father if you find a wife for me today, I will come the next day and marry her. After three weeks, my dad sent for me to come down because he had seen a girl for me, which I obeyed immediately. Then, she was in Sokoto for her national service, I went to wait for her at Upper-Iweka with my elder sister until her night bus arrived from the North that morning. The moment my sister saw her, she confirmed she is the one. We all went home together and agreed between us that same day that we will marry. The next day, we proceeded to her parents for marriage rights and concluded the ceremonies by December of that year and God blessed us with a baby girl. Subsequently, we started experiencing miscarriages, but I have always told myself that God will multiply me, I will not have an only child. She has been the one talking about twins, but in my own prayer, I do not give God condition. After her experience with our first delivery which I pitied her, I told myself, if God should give us the second child, I will be okay because I do not want to lose her. At the end of the day, look at me with baby’s surrounding me. I am most grateful to God, but the financial drain is not funny at all.”
When the scan finally proved that your wife has four babies, how financially prepared were you even with the present economic challenges?
“I can tell you that I was a bit prepared, but not to the magnitude of what I experienced at the hospital with four babies and my wife. The doctors obliged me to be at a strategic point in the labour room; at a time, I left the point and a nurse saw me and congratulated me, then broke the news ‘your wife has delivered four babies, have you seen them? I did not know what to do, should I celebrate or cry? But the most important was to see my wife or hear from her while my elder sister who came from Onitsha, including our pastor were all waiting; I went to break the news to them. When I taught all is now over, I didn’t know it was the beginning of the great delivery. The first medicine they gave them was Surfactant, a drug given to new born babies, especially premature babies to enhance maturity of the lungs which costs N65,000 each. I bought five pieces of the drug at N325,000 for just one type of drug for the babies. Each is entitled to one full dosage wrapped with ice cubes. Some tests cost N11,000 in four places, N9,000 in four places, the cheapest test they ran for my babies was N2,800 multiply by four; until last week when the jaundice test was run at N1,700 in four places. I have a video of two cartons of drugs I bought, and the sellers were asking if I was going to open a pharmacy shop? All drugs bought, including the ones we will buy must come in four places to complete the dosages. I am yet to disclose the bill I paid before we were discharged. We cannot manage a bottle of any drug for the four of them; therefore, the financial side of the joyous moment is quite challenging and bites so hard.
“Most doctors and staff congratulated my efforts and agility, saying some men used to run away with this type of news. A female doctor really helped to minimize the stress for me by asking the laboratory staff to send them the many results of my babies online instead of the so many errands for my wife and babies. I can authoritatively tell that I covered over a million steps at LASUTH, Ayinke House while running around.
“Then, I also want to use this opportunity to appreciate all the medical team and Ayinke staff as a whole for a miraculous job well done. The team handed over to me life mother and four live babies, what’s more! What could a man ask God if not for financial support to raise the children. In fact, they told me to be strong in my worship centre, my God is too good because some women also gave birth to four and never went home with any.”
Your fatherly role does not look organized, being a student how would you take care of your quadruplets?
“I am a student, though one never can tell what tomorrow would bring. With my present situation, to take care of just a child is not an easy task, not to talk of four of them, therefore, for me at this moment, honestly, I cannot tell you that I can do it alone. I, therefore, call on well-meaning Nigerians, government and corporate bodies to kindly support me in this journey that God has blessed me with. It will not be easy with our present condition to tidy up things; but with God all things are possible.”