After 10 years of marriage without the fruit of the womb, Mrs Ekpo Edet,
a civil servant in Cross River State civil service was gifted with
quintuplets and given all that she is passing through, she says she
wants no more. Her story…
Although,
she did not bargain for it, but a woman who couldn’t conceive 10 years
after marriage was shell-shocked as gets fruits of the womb five times
in one fell- quintuplets in her first and only pregnancy in a decade.
So, was the case of Mrs Ekpo Edet, a civil servant in Cross River State
civil service, who recently gave birth to five bouncing babies
consisting of three males and two females at the University of Calabar
Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar.
Despite the daunting challenge
of nursing five babies in a harsh economy, the middle-aged mother and
administrative officer had since accepted her fate, describing the
babies as marvelous and previous gifts from God.
Mrs. Ekpo
disclosed that she didn’t pray to have quintuplets, but has a family
tree that has a record of a delivery of a twin babies. She said at that
conception she was only interested in having just a baby, and not
babies, especially having been unable to have one after 10 years of
marriage.
However, after the successful delivery of her babies,
Ekpo noted that she, alongside her husband, Dr. Edet Effiong Ekpo, had
been full of praises to God Almighty for blessing them with a set of
quintuplets, after waiting upon God over the past 10 years, amidst
persecution from different quarters that demand a child from her.
She
reaffirmed that the babies, who are now four months old, were a reward
for her waiting upon the God over the years, adding that it pays to be
steadfast when trusting God for a child.
Mrs Ekpo told our
correspondent that her greatest challenge in bringing up the babies at
the moment was that of finance, but expressed confidence that God will
always cater for them.
In view of the prevailing economic hardship
and the enormous tasks of catering for the needs of five babies at a
time, Ekpo doesn’t wish to have another set of quintuplets.
According
to her, “It was marvelous having those babies. Even though I didn’t
pray for it, and it just came, I give God the praise. But I wouldn’t
want to have another experience. I won’t. The stress is much with this
present economic situation. I won’t. Remember that we are all civil
servants. I don’t have help from anywhere, except God.
“Finance
has been the major challenge at the moment, but I believe that with God
all things are possible. God will always take care of them.”
Ekpo,
who expressed satisfaction over her post and ante-natal and post-natal
medical care, used the opportunity to advise pregnant women to always
adhere to the instruction and prescriptions of their doctors in order to
experience a safe delivery. She specifically commended Prof. Davies
Ekanem, of the UCTH, for his medical care before and after her delivery.
Nevertheless, she narrated how she had a high blood pressure due to
anxiety on the day of delivery, but said God took control of the
situation.
Has any woman in her lineage had multiple births? She
says, “Actually, my mom’s elder sister had twins.” In spite of the huge
financial implications of catering for the children, all had been well
with the mother and her “five bundles of joy” health wise.
“Since
after delivery, I have not had any course to take them to the hospital,
though I treat them of malaria, every two month. In the course of all
these things, I never had high BP, except on the day of delivery, my BP
rose a little out of anxiety. I was scared as a human being. But, in the
whole, we all have not had any health issue, so far. We are hale and
hearty,” she said.
