Tobias Sylvester
A 58-year-old woman identified as Dorcas Osiebo has been delivered of her first child after 35 years old marriage.
Mrs Osiebo, who got married to 64-year-old Christopher Osiebo in 1984, has been hoping to have a child in their 35-year-old union.
She said they sought help from both the traditional and orthodox medical practices but there was no respite.
Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, Mrs Osiebo said that she was confused and excited when her Pastor’s wife, a nurse confirmed her pregnancy.
The woman who delivered the baby on December 13th said she entered menopause in 2006, and her younger sister, who got married after her, is already a grandmother.
“I got married in January 1984, but there was no child at all; people who got married the same year with us have children; even my immediate younger sister has grandchildren,” Mrs Osiebo said.
“I drank a lot of concoctions (herbal mixtures) in my effort to get pregnant.
“One of the concoctions, I cannot withstand the smell. To drink it, I will block my nose, and close my eyes before I can drink it.
“I did all these to make things better for me but nothing good came out of it,” she said.
“We have gone to many places and hospitals that we cannot even number them all. In 2006, my husband took me for scanning at a hospital in Jos and an obstruction was discovered (not fibroid).
“An operation was carried out at the hospital and I came back home but no solution, rather, since the operation was carried out, I didn’t see my period again.
“She (nurse) looked at my face and said, ‘Mummy, to God be the glory, you are pregnant. I was very surprised”.
“But early this year (2019), I just felt in my body as if I was pregnant, but I thought how can that be especially when I have not seen my period since 2006,” she said.
While her period of waiting for a child lasted, she said: “None of my in-laws disturbed me. My late father-in-law did not disturb me, although he once asked why we were just folding our arms and doing nothing about the situation.
“We then told him that we were not folding our arms but trying our best, but that the thing never worked out.
“But I and my husband were worried. My husband is the firstborn of his father and I am the first of mine also.
“We have younger ones who already have good number of children but it is only us that did not have children of our own. Whenever we remembered all these, we were not happy,” she said.
In his reaction Mr Osiebo said after a long period of marriage and prayer without a child, he decided to depend on God for a miracle.
“But by the grace of God today, a baby boy has entered this family; that is the cause of my joy. I am very happy, thank God,” said the excited husband.
