I recall my first pregnancy experience and how it ended in a shocking miscarriage while I was still in my first trimestral, I recall the doctor telling me that the heartbeat of my un-born baby could not be felt, and advising my husband and I to go for an ultra-scan to confirm what the issue was; I recall tears rolling through the eyes of my husband as he stared through the scan projector and could see our lifeless unborn child.

I had never felt so broken in my entire life, ‘’what if I am never able to become a mother again?’’ I wondered to myself on our way home after I had been induced to flush the child away from my system. I was lucky enough to have an amazing husband and good friends who kept my strong and reminded me the 10 to 20% of known pregnancies have ended up in miscarriage.

Nine months after this tragic experience, I was able conceived again, this time around for fear for losing my child again, I kept the news to myself until I was in my second trimestral, I was afraid and ashamed of being seen as an incomplete woman by the society. I spent most of my free times attending counselling from experienced mothers who had gone through the experience of miscarriage, I took my antenatal very seriously and always kept appointments with my Gynecologist.

In the eighth month, my gynecologist advised that I request for leave from work to have enough time to mentally prepare for labour and suggested that I start eating less so the baby could be flexible to pass through my pelvic. I requested for leave as I was advised and started preparing myself for the labour; four days later, I began to have cravings for yoghurt so I requested that my husband buys it for me on his way from work. I went for a scan that revealed that the size of my baby had increased from 2.78kg to 4.05kg. When I showed the result to my gynecologist, she asked me if I had taken any sugary and fattening food that week, I told her I took yoghurt the previous day and then she advised me to go home and bring my labour kits and requested that I should be admitted that day.

That evening, I was admitted to the hospital and I started contracting in less than 2 hours, I became worried not just because of the size of my baby but also because I had started seeing contraction signs but I wasn’t dilating; so my gynecologist advised for me to be induced to help me dilate well; so we opted for the inducing process. Soon the water burst but because I was dilating very slowly the doctors had to use a caesarian session, at first my husband was against it and asked then to give me more time but when he was informed that it was risky for the baby to still be in there without protections from the ammonal fluid he agreed to the caesarean option. Soon I gave birth to my baby boy, it was one of the best moments of my life and the joy of the new born child made me forget the pain of the operation I had been through. I was grateful to God for making me a mother. My husband was also happy to see his child.

I believe sharing my experience with other women out there would help young women and potential understand that a miscarriage is not be an excuse to give up on motherhood and during the 36 to 40 months of the pregnancy journey women should take their medications very seriously, watch what we eat and drink and most important communicate more with experienced women to help us cope with the challenges that come with being pregnant.- www.soulclaire.com