After waiting for eighteen years to have a child, a woman’s joy was suddenly cut short as she died three days after she welcomed a set of twins.
Mrs Chika Anthonia Voghor, an indigene of Umunachi Mmukoro in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, was married to her husband, Ediri Voghor, an Urhobo man from Delta state, for eighteen years and waited to have their own children. Fate smiled on her when she confirmed she was pregnant last year. In June, Mrs Voghor, welcomed a set of twins (boy and girl). Their joy was however shortlived as she died three days after.
Speaking in an interview with Tribune, the devastated husband who is a patent medicine seller, said,
“We had our traditional wedding in 2002 and had our church wedding in 2003 at the St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Warri. From 2002, she didn’t get pregnant. During those years, we were everywhere looking for a solution. We went to different hospitals but the doctors said nothing was wrong with us. Over the years, fibroid was discovered and operated surgically. During the fibroid operation, there were no complications; everything went smoothly, still no child.
“Pressures were coming from everywhere; gossips and indirect mocking, but we held on to our faith in God. In fact, pressures helped to strengthen her faith in God. She so much believed in God. She laid all her hope in God Almighty that one day, God would bless her with children,” Mr Voghor disclosed.
Speaking further, Mr Voghor said,
“One-day last year, she told me she was down with fever and had also missed her monthly flow; we went to the hospital for a test and it came out positive! We were very happy but we kept the news to ourselves. We didn’t want people to hear it from our mouths. Pregnancy is not something hidden, no matter how much you try to hide it, it will surely show one day. So, we wanted people to know by seeing it. From there, we registered for antenatal at Lily Hospital. It was in that hospital that we did a scan, and the scan showed she was carrying a baby. Oh God! I was beside myself with joy! I cannot explain the feeling I had. The joy was so much that I shed tears of joy”.
Mr Voghor said on June 21, his wife’s pregnancy became nine months old and they went to the hospital for her delivery. The doctors opted for Caesarian operation because of the past Fibroid operation she had done. She had the operation done and the babies, a boy and a girl were successfully delivered. Mr Voghor said his wife was in high spirit all through the first two days.
Mrs. Nwamuruamu Akachukwu Scholastica, older sister of the deceased, who now caters to the twin babies, recounts what transpired before Mrs. Voghor passed away.
“She gave birth on Monday. On Tuesday, she was happy rejoicing, and full of life. In fact, the news was an exciting one to everyone that knew her.
“In the evening, that Tuesday, around 8 p.m., she told me that she was not breathing well. Then I told her to sleep and face her side. Having slept that way, she was still feeling uncomfortable, then she asked me to go and call a nurse and I immediately did that. The nurse came and found out that her pulse was low, so she quickly injected her and she became calm.
“After a while, the doctor came; she complained to him that she was having serious pains and she didn’t know why. The doctor examined her and said she looked pale, then did some tests on her and found out that her blood percentage was low and she was given blood transfusion.
“After that, the doctor said that they would have to do some scan on her to know why her blood percentage was low. They did it and found out that she had internal bleeding. The doctor then asked her what she had eaten and she said she took water, tea, pepper soup and rice.
“Then the doctor said they would have to take her back to the theatre. Immediately she heard that she started shivering and looked scared. But the doctor assured her that everything would be okay. So, she was taken back into the theatre and brought back.
“When they brought her back, the guys that were trying to lift her back to her bed, started complaining that she had so much weight. After dropping her in bed, she was calm, but after about 10 minutes, she was turning her head and rubbing her chest. Before we knew what was happening, substances started coming out of her mouth.
“I started screaming, calling for the doctor. Then one of the nurses left to call the doctor. They then took her back to the theater. I was shivering and crying. I waited for hours and nothing was happening. I didn’t see any sign of them. I then decided to call my people. Around 2am, the doctor came out and asked me to call her husband. I told him that even if I call the husband, though he has a car, there was no way he could come because there was curfew. But the doctor insisted that I called him. I called him but his number was not reachable so I had to call my brother who then called him. After some time, her husband called to say he couldn’t come because his car was bad.
“He asked me if there was any problem I told him I couldn’t tell because I didn’t understand what was happening. He then said he would try his best to be around before 6:00a.m. He came but he met his wife dead. She died at exactly 5:30a.m in my presence. I couldn’t even look at the children. I was devastated.” Mrs. Nwamuruamu says
