A Nigerian woman, Omotade Alalade, and her husband have welcomed a set of twins after many failed IVFs. In a post on her Instagram page, Omotade shared her testimony. Read below
.
After spending more than N11 million on IVF treatments my husband and I finally complete our family with a set of twins. @tadealalade has TWINSSS ooooo ??. This post would be too long if I start going into details on what I’ve been through trying to conceive. It’s bad enough I more or less had no choice but to conceive through IVF but when you start having multiple miscarriages and having to deal with the fact that my husband and I are AS, it takes my journey to another level.
I found out we were both AS after we got married (I’m still trying to decide if it would have made a difference if I found out before). The amount of tears I cried during my journey can fill an ocean. Majority of the tears came when I lost a set of twins (boy and girl) late in a pregnancy. That was when I truly knew what depression was. Now my lord God finally completes my family with a set of twins. TWINSSSSS ???. Gosh my God is too awesome!!! He can truly move mountains. Absolutely nothing is too big for him. I cry every time I realise how merciful the lord is. I pray every single married woman experiences the kind of joy I’m feeling. Thank you Father ??????????
In her book, Mrs. Obama discusses the liberating nature of her post-White House experience and how being a Black girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago helped her even when it may have caused some struggle. She shared her opinion on the weight of the Black-woman-as-savior trope with the publication.
“As for why the world sometimes looks to Black women—and I have to say that I wish the world turned to Black women more often than it does—I think it’s because we’ve got a perspective all our own,” the former first lady told EBONY. “If you’re growing up Black and female, you can’t help but really learn what’s going on down on the ground. You’re going to see a lot of the bottoms of people’s shoes coming down on you, so you learn to be nimble and resourceful.”
Mrs. Obama said the treatment of Black women leads them to be more grateful for what they have and be more optimistic about change. Living as an overlooked group compels Black women to be more sympathetic to the struggles of others.
“The trick is we need more people who are willing to listen to Black women, especially young Black women, to lift up our voices rather than shutting us out,” she added.
Former First Lady of US, Michelle Obama is the Cover Girl of the latest issue of ESSENCE.
A little Black girl from the South Side of Chicago grew up to become the FLOTUS and as you can imagine, a lot happened along the way.
She shares some White House confessions, opens up about finding your Barack and living free. In the December/January issue of ESSENCE, she’s talking about her career, motherhood, and marriage.
She says:
“Before anyone in Tennessee or Montana knew who Barack Obama was, I was a vice-president at a major hospital, juggling two little girls…I’m not going to lie: It wasn’t always easy for me.”
On being drawn to Barack, she says “From our very first conversations, he showed me that he wasn’t afraid to express his fears and doubts, or that he might not have all the answers. Just as important, I saw who he was not only in the way he treated me but in the way he interacted with others outside of our relationship. He showed me that he respected women by the way he treated his mother, his sisters, and his grandmother.”
Billboard’s 13th annual Women in Music event is set to hold on Dec. 6 in New York City and according to Billboard,Janelle Monáe is one of the people who will be honoured at the said event. Janelle Monáe will accept the trailblazer award.
The Trailblazer award is awarded to a female artist who acts as a music industry pioneer by using her platform to spotlight unheard voices and break ground for future generations of performers.
In the past decade, Monáe has worked to redefine how a black woman can be represented in popular culture. Her album Dirty Computer peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and the record’s sci-fi-inflected accompanying film project of the same name shows she has no limit in exercising her creativity in new ways.
Nollywood actress, Georgina Onuoha has come out to warn women to be careful of
cosmetic surgery.
The actress who is now based in the United States of America, lectured fans on the pros and con of cosmetic surgery via her Instagram page on Thursday, November 15, 2018.
She said it is not a bad idea for any woman to carry out a corrective surgery after a post-traumatic event but it has consequences when done at quack medical institutions.
“Warning to all my sisters crazy about big butts. While you contemplate having that waist,breast, and buttocks snatching. Be careful! There is nothing wrong in a woman’s decision to enhance her beauty either post-pregnancy, post-traumatic event or to correct some deficiencies. While you make these decisions consult with the best, weigh the side effects and the long-term consequences. Any idiot can set up a surgical center, have you done your due diligence by checking if these folks are board certified? If they have liability insurance In case anything goes wrong?
“Ignorance is no excuse… If majority of you know the consequences associated plastic surgery let alone anyone done wrongly, you will seek professional help and consults before reaching such conclusion to go under the knife. The greatest killer post surgery is INFECTION let alone in Nigeria where we have zero guidelines and rules governing health care let alone plastic/cosmetic surgery. Are the equipment used on you well sterilized? Fake Beauty comes at a cost.. 10 years from now, I hope you don’t regret being botched.
“Personal responsibility is important. An informed patient is an empowered patient. If you have to go enlarge you butts, go to board certified plastic surgeons. Don’t follow trends you can not keep up with 10 years from now. Remember we lost a former First Lady due to complications from plastic surgery in Marbella Spain. While they do fat transplants, use silicone and raise your muscles to perform all these shenanigans! Remember side effects and Adverse Effects. I hope none of you face any sentinel event. Where are all my doctors in the house, please explain more to our people @prince_prince_11 @dr.emmaessien @adanna_david @peacesascha @doctor_e31,”
Nollywood actress, Linda Ejiofor who recently got married to fellow screen star, Ibrahim Suleiman over the weekend has revealed how she met and fell in love with Ibrahim Suleiman, her husband.
According to her, they had been friends for years before they decided to take the relationship to a next level after sharing a closer relationship on the set of Tinsel in 2016.
In her words;
“Ibrahim and I have been friends for a few years now, but it was not until after his mum passed away in June 2016 that we really started to bond. He was in a really dark place and was ready to throw in the towel and move back to Abuja so he could be closer to his siblings.
I (along with a few members of his inner circle) was able to convince him to stay in Lagos.He accepted a job as an Architect with a design and build firm, while working towards his first solo exhibition as an artist.
In November 2016, I, Harry Dorgu, and Adesua Wellington talked him into showing up for a reading for a role on Africa Magic’s TINSEL. Prior to this, he had never acted a scene in his life, so it was quite a coin toss for him.
The audition went well and he landed the role of Damini White, a character who is Bimpe Adekoya’s boss who becomes her onscreen lover.Over the next 13 months, we had to see each other on set 3-5 times a week and then our friendship grew stronger.
Ibrahim developed feelings soon after but was hesitant as he didn’t want to risk losing me as his closest friend if the relationship didn’t work out.
Eventually, he squared up and told me how he felt. Turns out the feeling was mutual and we both started dating quietly, with only their siblings, very close friends and a couple of colleagues in the know”.
Lady Gaga is on the cover of Variety Magazine’s latest issue as she talks all about her new movie A Star Is Born.
Read excerpts below:
On how transformative “A Star Is Born” has been for her: This has been a very transformative time for me. As an artist, there’s always a feeling of ‘Am I good enough? Am I making something honest? Am I making something true?’ There is a sort of stagnant sadness in me, wondering if I’m enough. Today I did not see that. I saw something different. I saw clarity. I saw the truth.
On not reading the film’s reviews: My manager will sometimes text me little one-liners here and there. I’ll be like, ‘Stop it!’
On if “Shallow” is nominated for an Oscar for best song: I used to wrap myself in an Afghan or my grandmother’s knitted blanket and stand on a podium while I watched the Oscars,” says Gaga, who grew up in Manhattan as Stefani Germanotta. “I had big dreams as a child”.
An air hostess was working on a 5.10am flight in the Philippines when she went out of her way to serve a passenger and her baby in one of the kindest ways possible.
Patrisha Organo, 24, noticed the passenger’s baby was crying after the flight took off and approached them only to find out that the mother had run out of formula.
The passenger and her baby had been at the airport since 9.00pm the previous night, and Patrisha stepped in to help by breastfeeding the baby.
Patrisha, who is the mother of a 9-month old told Daily Mail that she knew the stress the passenger would have been going through, and offered to help.
As soon as I heard the child’s cry, I knew there had to be something that I could do to help.
When the mother told me that she had no formula milk for the child, and I knew that there was none on board, I knew I had to help.
I could only imagine the chaos of those feelings, but as a mother myself I knew the stress she would’ve been going through.
The helplessness you feel when you cannot feed your hungry child is horrible, so I had to step in.
She had been at the airport since the night before so had ran out of milk during the actual flight, which is what caused the baby to cry.
As soon as I could help the baby and the mother I felt so happy – I cannot put into words how fulfilled I felt.
After I had breastfed the baby I escorted her and her mother back to their seat.
But later on, just before I left, the mother sincerely thanked me for all of my help.
I knew the flight was going to be special to me, as I had just received a promotion in my role, but I didn’t realise it would be this special.
I breastfed a stranger’s baby in flight, and I am just so thankful for the gift of a mother’s milk at times of need.
Mariam Nabatanzi is Uganda’s most fertile woman who has given birth to 44 children at the age of 40.
Her alias is “Nalongo Muzaala Bana” (the twin mother that produces quadruplets) and she truly deserves that nickname.
When she was 12 years old, she married a man 28 years her senior, after surviving an attempt of by her stepmother.
She says that her stepmother put broken and crushed glass in the food, which killed her four siblings.
Mariam survived because she was not around at the time, but her parents still got rid of her by marrying her off to an older man.
Her husband physically abused her whenever she said or did something that he wasn’t in support of.
“My husband was polygamous with many children from his past relationships who I had to take care of because their mothers were scattered all over,” Mariam told Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper.
“He was also violent and would beat me at any opportunity he got even when I suggested an idea that he didn’t like.”
Mariam Nabatanzi gave birth to her first children, a set of twins, in 1994 when she was 13 years old.She had her first set of triplets when she was 15 years old.
Barely two years after that, she delivered quadruplets.
Mariam never saw this routine of having so many children a ‘strange phenomenon’ because she has seen it several times before.
Also, she felt having so many children wasn’t so bad since her father had 45 children with several women. She further says that they all came in sets of quintuplets, quadruples, twins and triplets.
A gynecologist at Mulago Hospital, Dr. Charles Kiggundu told Daily Monitor that the reason for Mariam’s extreme fertility is probably genetic:
Her case is genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulate (releasing multiple eggs in one cycle), which significantly increases the chance of having multiples; it is always genetic.”
Mariam had always dreamed of having six children, but by her sixth pregnancy, she had already given birth to 18 babies, and she wanted to stop.
She tried to get help from a hospital, but after going through some tests, the gynecologist informed her that interfering with her fertility would put her life at risk.
“Having these unfertilized eggs accumulate poses not only a threat to destroy the reproductive system but can also make the woman lose their lives,” Dr Ahmed Kikomeko from Kawempe General Hospital asserted.
I was advised to keep producing since putting this on hold would mean death. I tried using the Inter Uterine Device (IUD) but I got sick and vomited a lot, to the point of near death. I went into a coma for a month
At age 23, Mariam already had 25 children, and she went to the hospital. However, they told her that nothing was possible to stop the birthing, as her egg count was still very high.
Mariam Nabatanzi’s birthing troubles ended in December 2016 after she gave birth to her last baby.
She says that the doctor told her that he had “cut my uterus from inside”. Dr. Kiggundu asserted that this was most likely tubal ligation.
“I can comfortably tell you that our siblings do not know what father looks like. I last saw him when I was 13 years old and only briefly in the night because he rushed off again,” Charles, her son said.
After Daily Monitorfeatured Mariam Nabatanzi’s story in April last year, a crowdfunding campaign wascreated for her on GoFundMe. It managed to raise $10,000 in more than a month.
