For 13 years, Precious Ifeanyi, a businesswoman and wife of a pastor with Living Faith Church in Chikara, Kogi State, sought for the fruit of the womb to sweeten their union.
The yoke of agonizing delay was, however, broken on Jan. 29, 2024 as the couple welcomed a set of sextuplets.
It was a joyous surprise for Ifeanyi and her husband at the National Hospital, Abuja, on Monday when Precious was delivered of sextuplets, surpassing her initial expectation of quintuplets.
Ifeanyi, a native of Ebonyi in Ohaozara Local Government Area said that she had the babies, four girls and two boys, after undergoing In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).
The first time mother who was delivered of the babies at 30 weeks through Caesarean Section, said she was actually expecting quintuplets, only to find out during delivery that there were six babies.
Recounting her experience, she said that she got married on April 3, 2010 like every other person and expected to start having babies immediately.
“However, since then it has not been easy. We expected children but they were not forthcoming; we went to many places and spent money but no results so we just accepted to wait for God’s time.
“God in His infinite mercy visited us, and here we are today, God has changed the story.”
The happy mother said that within the 13 years she spent expecting a child, she and her husband, a pastor with Living Faith Church,Chikara in Kogi State, the family spent a lot of money that yielded no result.
She explained that “when you spend money on something and it is not forthcoming, it is very frustrating. My husband and I spent money on medications and kept asking people for suggestions, and went to many places without success.
“It was as if it would never happen, but God turned it around.”
She said this was the first time she tried IVF, and that she started the procedure at Fertile Ground Hospital, Jos, and continued
at the National Hospital, Abuja, when she was four months into the pregnancy, and was there till delivery.
Speaking about the pregnancy, she said it was not easy, as it took a huge toll on her.
She said “I have been hearing about pregnancies before; I had two miscarriages, but this one, many things started happening
from the second week.
“I knew this one was unique, so I was just enduring. The first three months was not funny, I had relief in the fourth month and after that, it was tedious and not easy at all.
“People that visited me about a month ago saw what I was going through. At a point I was impatient to deliver so that I could rest.
“The last two weeks before delivery was the climax of it all, I could not sleep, sitting down, standing, lying down were all not easy.
“However I was encouraged by Dr Bello. The last week he encouraged me to go another one week before delivering the babies and I
am glad I did because we did not even know that there was an extra baby.”
The sextuplets’ mother said she could hear the doctors, while performing the CS saying “it’s like there is another one and actually there was.”
Ifeanyi advised other women in the situation she was before to trust God as there is nothing He cannot do.
She, however, said that the family needs assistance to take care of the children.
“I need assistance because when we saw the results for the first time, we did not know it would be this number, we know the number of children we asked God for but He gave us six.
“Please we need assistance both financially and otherwise,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ifeanyi said her husband was also happy to receive the babies, as doctors keep watch and continue to observe the babies.