A Warrior’s Dance

There were times when I had so much fear, the thoughts of going home empty without my bundle of joy in my arms. I wept, I prayed, I stared, and watched my miracle. 

Psalm 91 became my speech, Psalm 46:10 became my best verse ever, till date I hold on to this. 

Because God deemed me worthy to be blessed, he made me watch a miracle happen before my eyes. 

I watched her warrior’s dance as she struggled at life to be mine, I watched as her cries grew stronger each day. I watched as she gained weight and got bigger.

I watched for the first two years as she gradually got up to each milestone, I watched as she outgrew her title of a preemie baby and even became bigger than full term peers, I watched a miracle happen! 

Today my miracle, my daughter, the one who has felt my heart from the inside is 5!!!!!

I have a 5-year old, somebody pinch me 🥳🥳!

Happy birthday to my precious little one. 

Love, 

Mum. 

Important Information:

Please don't ask a preemie mum why her child isn't achieving a milestone yet. I heard stuff like "she isn't sitting yet at x months, or why isn't she walking yet at x months" 

The delicacy in nurturing and caring for a preterm baby is hard enough, don't add your perception of milestone achievement to the burden of the mother. 

You may think preterm babies are slower in hitting their milestones but they aren't, they usually hit their milestones using their "corrected age".

What does this mean? 

This is a calculation of the babies age based on the mother's expected due date. For example, when a baby is born 2 months premature, and is now 4 months old, the baby isn't expected to act or achieve the same milestones as a 4 month old full term baby. What is expected of this premie is to do exactly what a 2 months old baby is doing. So your baby maybe 8 months old and just sitting like she was 6 months that's perfectly okay because by the corrected age of 2 months different she should act like a 6 months baby. 

To all my fellow preemie mums, don't be bothered, in a few years time(between 2-3years old) you won't even notice the difference between your child and his/her full term peers. 

So relax you got this. 

Stay Sharp, 

Warri Girl.

Traumatic System, 9ja!

I doubt if there is any Nigerian who hasn't been traumatized by the failed system. Poor healthcare was my experience.

I still hear these words even years after,
"WHY DO YOU WANT TO WASTE YOUR MONEY FOR A CESAREAN OPERATION, INDUCE HER SO SHE CAN PUSH OUT THE RUBBISH!"  

Those were the words said by a Nigerian doctor in a Nigerian government hospital to me a mother who was experiencing a high risk pregnancy(giving birth in a government hospital was never my ideal delivery, but circumstances had me transferred there last minute).
See whatever you have heard about Nigeria government hospitals is never enough to prepare you for the ordeal when you personally experience it.

How much was this money you may wonder? Seventy thousand naira (N70,000) in 2016. The doctor said this because we insisted on a CS to give the baby a fair chance at survival. So the trials and frustration for me began in a government hospital from a failed system.

I was meant to deliver on Thursday morning and had started fasting since Wednesday in preparation for the surgery. On Thursday morning the doctor said the previous statement and insisted on not doing my surgery cos he didn't feel CS was a priority for a child who he believed won't make it. But you see no man is God, even as they refused to operate on me, in the midst of frustration God sent an angel in the form of a matron, never knew or met her before. She came and said don't worry I will find a doctor who will handle your delivery, so she got someone who wasn't on call and I had to wait for the current doctors on call to be done with their priority surgery before this doctor could take my delivery. By 7pm there wasn't an available theater for me, hunger was dealing with me, a pregnant woman, since I had been fasting from the previous night.

Anyway around 9-10pm, delivery was done, baby was out and it was round two of frustration.

Nigeria!
My daughter was kept in the incubator with three other babies, four babies to one incubator with a weak performance, her jaundice lasted over a week. You think that's bad, that is nothing compared to the attitude of the NICU nurses.

Twenty thousand naira(N20,000) was paid for a tin of Pre-Nan because I wasn't lactating, but for them to bring the milk to feed my girl was war. They will rain curses and abuses on you for demanding for your own paid milk. You will hear stuff like, "Are you a cow, go and press your milk out joor" or stuff like, "I'm not feeding anyone formula o, if you can't press your child will stay hungry". That's how I will stand and plead with them, my daughter will be crying from hunger in the incubator, these nurses won't be bothered they will tell me to keep on pressing something must come out. After like an hour of almost pressing my chest to turn to slippers and getting like 5 drops they will now say "You bring your cup here jare", in a very sarcastic manner. 

*By the way I did all the recommendations for breast milk but no show*. 

My normal sharp mouth humble because they were holding my most precious being, I couldn't just vent. I was at their mercy, I saw Oba!

Or is it when Shalewa came few days after to the NICU, her baby was also in the same incubator with mine, and asked me a few questions so I tried guiding her on what to do, mother to mother. The nurse cursed me o "teacher, knowknow, Matron, you will not mind your business there and face your baby" . They blasted Shalewa too, "they were like follow-follow, you will just come and be following" 😃

It was really so bad for us, we saw babies die by the hour due to negligence or no proper orientation. The nurses told us they had a big rule in that NICU, face your baby and your baby alone.If another person's baby is crying or dying it's not your business to raise alarm. If the mother can't watch for signs of her baby giving up and call for their attention then it's on her 🤦🏻‍♀️

Or is it how we practically beg every two days when babies were weighed, to know the statistics of our babies, to know if they have added weight, to at least have a bit of hope that they were growing.

Wow! Government hospital, government nurses, empathy level below zero.

Let me even talk about the women's ward itself, because we stayed in the ward for over a month waiting for our little preemies to grow. There was only one charging spot to over 50beds. Ooh why didn't we take private ward, the private ward was under renovations so they said, but it automatically became open when one of their matrons had a premie as well and need a ward to stay while waiting for her baby. She was the only one with access to the private ward, they even did party there self for baby naming 🙄.

Anyway I had someone go to the electrical department to see if they could help fix the socket beside my bed, I was willing to pay. The guy told me, "Madam, even if you buy the socket this process need many approval before I go fit fix am and e go take very long time, you go done comot by then self" 😃 . Shalewa and I closed the curtains one day and had her brother help us fix the socket without anyone knowing. So we started chilling well in our depressing state by our bed, atleast we could press phone.

So many things are just wrong in the healthcare system. Getting oxygen to the last floor sometimes was a problem, the elevators won't work. Oxygen tank will need to be pushed up the stairs and the particular man was always laid back about it and never in a hurry then his wife had a baby some weeks after and the child needed oxygen, Uncle became swift with his oxygen delivery, this is the selfish Nigerian attitude we talk about.

One faithful afternoon day, my baby was just dropped on my bed and said you have been discharged, they didn't pre inform me that we were going to be discharged that day o, she was just dropped on my bed, a tiny premie weighing 1.5kg was dropped.
1.5kg wasn't even up to the standard UN weight of 2.5kg for a new born but they discharged us at 1.5kg due to lack of incubators and beds.
You know the way Lagos traffic is, before her dad could meet me up, she was already hungry. I didn't have milk, I had to take her back to the NICU for them to feed her (payment for milk had already been made so there was still milk). The Chief matron was so mean but then hen, my daughter was already in my hand so I gave her a good piece of my mind and told her how mean she was if I was only asking for milk to feed my baby for a little while before I get picked up and go home since it was an impromptu discharge.

Like after I challenged her, she behaved and fed my baby.

Nigerian health system is so bad, I can't type every terrible detailed I experienced there and the fact I still lost my mum this year due to medical negligence is another painful one but we give thanks.

Now I'm so hyped about daughter's birthday. My heart expands the more every year with gratitude, love and thanksgiving for the gift of my child which the Lord bestowed upon me. 

One bible verse that held me all through and still one of my favorite verse is Psalms 46:10

#NewNigeria
#EndSars
#Endpoliceburtality
#Providegoodhealthcare


Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.

Free Style Writing

Watagwan?

Omo men!E dey funny how person life just dey carry dey change like say tomorrow nor dey. 

E clear say my life na like tourist, one year-one movement. I nor fit remember the last time I stroll near this blog but e go be like may 2014. The hustle nor dey make person dey see road. 

Growing up sha, Na trap.  Money matters ain't easy but to God be the Glory I kept on renewing my domain subscription for the blog with hopes that one day I can play back to writing .

And today I'm rolling back.

So what have I been up to? I have been moving around. Relocation in full scale from Warri to Abuja, back to Warri then to Asaba and back to Warri again, all this while I dey nack house rent par city o, cos babe nor fit sleep outside but Hallelujah somebody, e be like say I don reach my final bustop.

I'm now fully based in Lasgidi. This is not as a result of job or money matters but as a matter of the heart. One dude has put the rings -engagement and wedding- on it.

Yippee! so now am a married babe in Lagos going through 'EKO 101'‎, adaptation to

 Lagos. Traffic and NGBATIGBATI  life style. 

In all this my brief summary, I'm just hailing una my people. Happy long time. 

My personal people have been like write!!! And I'm like, Seriously? All this my free style writing is it that missed?And dey would be like,

Yes! Just write, any nonsense sha get sense inside‎. 

So I'm back

We shall be seeing. 

WAG is back

Stay Sharp,

Warri Girl.

The Naira

How do we value the Naira? Some years ago, the government made it known that spraying of Naira at events or occasions is a devaluation of our currency.

My fellow Nigerians, is this going to be possible to stop? It is a norm for celebrants to get sprayed by their guest, some world people sef even rate the calibre of the celebrant by the amount of money he/she is sprayed.
Spraying is like an essential in Owambe, we are accustomed to it. But what do you say when the Naira is reduced further than we are use to.

What would you say, when guest at an occasion finish spraying the celebrant and decide to throw money in the air for other guest to stumble and scrap to pick a few free bucks.

Most people have witnessed what I'm taking about when, the so called big boys just start throwing money in the air. They start popping money.

Some people call it LEVELS aka Big boyz tinz, others see it as arrogance. My own is that, 'Is it necessary???'


INFO OF THE DAY: Naira Fact
The naira was introduced on 1 January 1973, replacing the pound at a rate of 2 naira = 1 pound. This made Nigeria the last country to abandon the £sd currency system.

Chai! 1 pound to 2naira in those days, that's like another life if you compare our present day exchange rate.

WAG readers, what do we say about the value of our currency.......#reasonthematter#


Stay Sharp
Warri Girl.


Info source: Wikipedia

The Torchlight Phone That I love

It's an era of smart phones. It's all about smart phones, if you don't have one you aren't smart in this generation.

I remember when we just started upgrading on phones in 9ja, using a big phone then was to use a phone that could accept memory card, snap pictures and maybe browse the internet. Nobody knew anything then about internal memory, skpye, instragram or youtube. The only small thing looking big when we know that time was Facebook.

I was a one phone person in that upgrading era, I had just one phone which I used to do everything.

Then came the era of Blackberry, na then person start to dey hear the phrase 'battery low' like national anthem. Omo having only one phone, a Blackberry for that matter, for pinging and calls no work then o. It was frustrating, it made most people locators of sockets anywhere they went. (Thank God there are power banks now)

So in that Blackberry era, I knew one phone wouldn't work for me, I decided to get one of those Nokia torchlight phones for my regular call, and my Blackberry strictly for chatting and browsing to mitigate my battery problems.

Moving on to present day, I still operate like that, torchlight phone and Blackberry. So you can imagine how I felt when yesterday of all days/mornings my touchlight phone decided to go bad.

It mistakenly fell from my hands and didn't come on thereafter. I was like ha na!, not on my birthday when my whole world would be calling me and majority don't have the number in my Blackberry, me sef I nor know the number off heart.

So I begged a friend to help me fix the phone sharpaly yesterday morning. I was feeling a bit disconnected from the world since nobody could reach me. An hour later, my friend returned with my phone that it couldn't be fixed, so he got me another torchlight phone instead as a birthday gift.

You need to see how relived I was and the joy I felt at that moment, e be like say na S5 dey dash me. I had a torchlight phone back, I was back in the world of communication. What a relief.

INFO OF THE DAY: The Term "SmartPhone".
Devices that combined telephony and computing were first conceptualized in 1973, and were offered for sale beginning in 1993. The term "smartphone" first appeared in 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a Smart Phone.

Smart phones come with effizzy. The effizzy when people dey do ontop am nor be here o.

Officially, I think I'm the first babe to publicly declare that I got a torchlight phone as a birthday present and I'm loving it *biggrin*

Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.

Info source: wikipedia.

I Feel Special

♫I feel good♫

I feel special. It's my BIRTHDAY! I'm plus one today.

Don't you just love my birth date, 5th of May. Imagine how cool it was in 2005, 05/05/05.

Birthdays are a good cause for celebration and also reflection. Most people look back and see how their lives panned out.

Is my life the way I planned/dreamt it would be? NO, it's not. It's better than I imagined, thanks to God Almighty. He took me under his wings and guided me to better paths. Seeing another year is because of His Grace. I give all thanks to God.

Thinking...., what's going to be the plan for today? Dunno yet o! This one when e fall for Monday so, when everybody go dey hustle dey busy, I never know how e go be.

In 2012, my birthday was on a Saturday, omo I partied hard nor be small thing. Last year, it was on a Sunday, I partied less but had good fun.

Now I'm going to sit back, enjoy all the goodwill messages and maybe hangout with my friends later in the evening.
I sha know that I must to enjoy my day, it's me WAG, the Kpokish 1, never a dull moment, I must ginger fun for myself :)

#Proudly Taurus#

Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.


Photo credit: Google Images

Red Fairness

New things/slangs/phrases keep coming out everyday in this Warri. A funny phrase can just spring out of a normal conversation. Trust me WAG and this my blog where everything and anything goes, I'm sure to share them as they unfold.

So the phrase for today is, Poverty yellow/ Red fairness.

Fair people, has anybody told you before that your fairness is poverty yellow or say you dey red? Well if you haven't been told before thank God.

My P.I.C just nacked that term just now when she stroke one girl say she get poverty yellow, say she dey show herself anyhow with her red fairness.

According to my friend, the term Poverty Yellow/Red fairness is for people that are light in complexion but their skins aren't glowing. If the skin of a fair person sort of looks dark like it has a shadow over it, that person is RED. She say the skin don comot from fair in complexion to red in complexion. This babe wan kill me with laugh.

Financially I know it's not cheap for fair girls o, the capital they use to maintain their skin in order to avoid a situation of redness nor be small capital. I hope they yield a good return on their investment.

I know say now when I don talk money matter for cream, charcoal..sorry black girls be like, 'Black is beauty' #ebony#. Indeed black isn't just beauty, black is cheap. Hahahahahaha


DISCLAIMER: I didn't advise people to burn their skin(bleach) in order to avoid red fairness.

There are creams which help maintain your natural complexion without bleaching your skin.
Trust me, I'm sure of this because majority of my friends are light in complexion.

Back in our university days, I take pleasure watching them battle with how to eco their allowance to be able to afford their cream, or how to avoid sunburn. Me, wetin concern me, concern sun then.
Solider go, solider come, barrack still remain, as a 'chocolate in complexion' person I wasn't scared of the sun as much as they were ;)

In general sha, it's good to take proper care of your skin.

Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.

Cinema Review / HBD My Diva

Wondering what's up with this damsel? It's her birthday #screaming# Hurray!
Happy birthday, to Darkdiva my Diva. She gave me coconut candy when I was 5years old and since then I have been on her matter. Onome, the Jazz for that candy strong o! cos I'm stuck in love with you.
I wish you long life and prosperity, dearie.

Now, to my cinema review;
I told you guys, I would be going to the cinema one of the weekends, well I went with my girls yesterday.

When I stepped in, I was impressed with the size. It's really big, bigger than the one in Port-harcourt and I think almost the same size as the one in Abuja.

It's still a work in progress because there are some finishing touches that have not been put in place and the shops are still empty(so window shopping hasn't started yet).

Me sha I nor send, my own na make I watch film. The staff were welcoming and friendly. The tickets are really affordable, 800naira on weekends and 500naira on weekdays.

So I got a ticket, pop corn and a drink, and was off to see a movie. The first thing I noticed in the theatre was the signature rug of Silverbird in all its cinemas, that blue colourful rug. The seats where also nice and comfy.

By the time the movie started I had forgotten I was in Warri, I thought I was in another city watching a movie.

We experienced a brief power failure for some few seconds which was quickly restored, I liked the quick response.

In general, it was a nice experience and I was impressed. I enjoyed every bit of the movie.

Warri peeps who have been looking for somewhere to chill for the weekend, this is goodnews because you can go and relax now at Silverbird Cinema.
I know, I would definitely go back to see another movie next weekend. Inshort I would soon be a regular customer, because I'm a Big Movie Freak.

APROKO OF THE DAY: Genesis Cinema Scheduled To Open In Warri.

Now I used aproko instead of info because I never confirm the gist but news reaching my ears said Genesis Cinema is scheduled to open in Warri November, 2014 and it would be located at the Delta City Mall, the same place where Shoprite is also going to be.

If this is true, it's not bad. Let all of them come, I dey de wait them, lol.

Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.

Silverbird Cinema Opening In Warri

Dear WAG readers,

I wish to inform you with profound joy that Warri now has a Cinema.

Silverbird Cinema has landed in Waf city and would be officially opened tomorrow, Apirl 4th 2014.
The Cinema which is located at PTI junction opposite Woodridge Hotel, was actually scheduled to open sometime in March but was moved forward.(I can't give you guys aproko/reason about the change in date just that I know it's finally opening)

Ooh! And I have good news for all the Osho-free lovers. There would be free ticket for everyone until 11am. Osho-free-ers(people dat like free tinz), isn't this a good thing. If you are free on Friday morning, a free ticket awaits you.

The movies which would be showing are as follows;
- Robocop (not the olden days own o, the lastest robocop)
- 47 Ronin
- Shadow Recruit
- 300(Rise of an Empire)
- The Best Man Holiday
- When Dreams Fall Apart (a nollywood movie featuring Uche Jumbo)

For the cartoon/animation lovers, you have
- The Nut Job (No Nuts No Glory)
- He's Leaving His Mark on History

And, finally
Oscar Award Movie,
- 12 Years a Slave.

I have been dying to see 2movies on the list, 12 years a slave and 300. Thank God for the weekends, I would go and check them out one of these weekends.

So what do you say, Warri based peeps? Should we throw backy and dance that we have an entertainment center? Please don't throw back literally o, lol but just be happy that small small things are coming into the city. Shoprite sef is even under construction in Warri which is also cool ;)

INFO OF THE DAY: The Movie '12 Years a Slave'
'12 Years a Slave' won an Academy Award for Best Picture.

The movie—based on the life of Solomon Northup, a free Black man abducted and sold into slavery—also took home Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) and Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley).

This makes it the first time a film by a Black director (Steve McQueen) has won Best Picture in the Academy's 86-year history.

One of the actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor is also a Nigerian.

Now you see why I want to see this movie, the rating for it is just too gbaski.

Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.

Shout Out On Mother's Day

Last night, I strolled down memory lane where I remembered how my mum used to shout and reprimand me when I do somethings she didn't approve of, even though they seemed normal to me at my little age. Sometimes she used auto-correct on me(smacks).

Was my mum right? yes she was. I was very-very playful when I was little, I nor dey gree hear word.
Then I would wonder why she couldn't ignore everything I did, why she had to force me to do things against my will.

Now, I look back and see that I was too young to understand her actions, she was shapening me to be someone special in life.
My mum is the best I could ever wish for. Without her guidance I won't be where I am today, she made me who I am and I keeping thanking God everyday for her life.

Mothers are unique gifts from God. That's why I chose today to celebrate my mother and give a shout out to all mums.

Happy Mother's Day to my mum and her fellow Super Mums around the globe.


INFO OF THE DAY: Mother's In Space
Shannon Lucid was already a mother when selected in 1978 to be an astronaut. She remembers being questioned by the press at that time on how her children would handle her being a mother in space and she went on to set an American record for time spent in space. During an 188 day stay in space, she sent daily emails to keep in touch with her family.

Another recent example is astronaut and mother Nicole Stott, who made history in 2009 when she sent live Twitter messages from the ISS(International Space Station).

Lovely, that shows that a mother's love doesn't just cut across borders or continents, it's so strong that it can cut across planets too.

Reciprocate the love, celebrate your mum today.


Stay Sharp,
Warri Girl.



Photo credit: Google Images
Info source: Wikipedia