Accepting family planning ideals.

The sounds of muffled crying drew me to the backyard. I was curious to know who was in distress and maybe, be their knight in shinning armour. I was good at comforting people in distress, it was no biggy for me and this fueled me the more. On reaching the backyard, I saw Christiana my neighbour's wife, popularly referred to as mummy twins, crying bitterly.

"Mummy twins, what happened to you and why are you sitting here crying like this?" I inquired as I sat close to her and rubbed her back to calm her down.

"It's nothing, I'm simply overwhelmed that's all", she replied.

"Please don't tell me it's nothing. I know something is bothering you. You can at least share with me to lighten the burden you know", I probed on.

"Becky, I'm pregnant again and I don't know how my husband will take it. You know the twins are just five months old. What am I going to do now especially with taking care of the babies and this pregnancy, ehn?" She said and continued weeping.

"Oh my gosh, that's overwhelming indeed".

Mummy twins just delivered her set of twins five months back. A year ago, she delivered twins too but thet were still born, having these twins now was a huge consolation to her pride as a woman. I could not imagine the dilemma that she was passing through. Then I asked her..

"Why didn't you use birth control or go for family planning at the hospital?"

"I was afraid of the negative effects it might have on me", she said. "I have heard some women's experiences with some birth control pills and it wasn't pleasant. Moreover, my husband might not like it, I don't want to offend him. Once when I mentioned it, he said that no woman in his family ever tried it. They all gave birth to the children in their womb untill menopause."

"What"!!!

I could feel my eye balls popping out of my sockets because what she said was unexpected. I mean, who thinks this way in this time and age of medical advancements. I shook my head and did my best to comfort her so that she could stop crying and go rest inside but her words still lingered in my head.

As far as I know, family planning is not an unwelcome idea in my country. In fact, many hospitals and health centres now try as much as possible to teach families about it. The high population growth in my country is alarming and many families are doing their best to cut down to size so that they will be able to give their families a good life.

Another reason that family planning is encouraged in my country is to help the woman recover from the pangs of labour and child birth before another conception. This will reduce post natal deaths of both mothers and their babies which was on a high side before.

I really felt for mummy twins but she needs to do the right thing and that was to calmly discuss the situation with her husband, visit her doctor for other advice on how to manage the pregnancy and maybe hire a care giver for her babies for the mean time. After relaying this message to her, I also encouraged her to seek medical advice on a good family planning method that will be suitable for her body with minimal effects.

She agreed to my suggestion and thanked me for the advice. I smiled as I left her to go back to my apartment.

Thank you all for reading.. shalom. This is my entry to the #Augustinleo initiative day 6.

Image by Becerea Govea

Image by Mart production