A family of six in Nnewi, Anambra State, has become a family of 11 after the mother gave birth to quintuplets. Most parents find giving proper care and attention to one child exhausting and expensive. With 11 demanding children to look after, life has been an endless routine of washing, feeding and non-stop childcare for Mrs. Helen Odor, 29.
Odor had four children before she was recently delivered of quintuplets – four boys and a girl. And with the new additions, Odor has suddenly felt as if the one-bedroomed apartment where the family used to share has suddenly shrunk further.
The mother, an apprentice tailor, married to a commercial tricycle rider (popularly called Keke Marwa rider), has however vowed not to have any child again.
Odor, who hails from Nsukka, Enugu State, said if childbearing was a blessing, she has had enough of it and would not want more for any reason.
“I pray not to have children again in my life; and I’m serious about it. If childbearing is a blessing, I pray to God to give it to those who need it and not to me.
“What I’m praying for now is strength; I want strength, I want life. I want God to provide for my family so that we can take care of the children. God forbid that I will give birth to a child again,” she said with mixed emotions.
Odor has been pregnant five times and these have given her 11 children. However, she lost two babies out of the triplets she had from the previous pregnancy, leaving her with nine children in all.
Stressing that she never induced herself to produce more babies, Odor said, “How can I take ovulation induction drugs when I had had four children before these ones.
“I think it runs in our blood. In my husband’s family, they have twins, triplets and quadruplets; in my family, we have the same history. I think these things run in our genes. For my fourth pregnancy, I had triplets, but unfortunately, I lost two of them.
“I have produced 11 children from five pregnancies by the grace of God; but like I had earlier said; I have nine alive now because I lost two children.”
Punch
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