Blue Ink Media lifestyle magazine. Blueink.ng- Digital Mag 1st EditionP | Page 8

a woman that just put to bed – unripe plantain boiled in
dry fish pepper soup with palm oil on side. It was a won-
derful treat I tell you. Then she made another South-South
delicacy native soup that was my favourite because at that
time I was cleared to eat solids. Small small perks of being
a new mum.
and its parents.
One of the things I enjoyed was the endless supply of Dia-
pers; I was so grateful that for months we didn’t have to
start doing the diaper runs. Those disposable things cost
a lot of money! Then there was the cash gift ‘for the baby’
that was also a humongous relief (you know what I mean).
We had a visitor who came with a huge hamper filled with
provisions, I can’t even tell how wonderful that gesture
felt.
Let’s go back in time. I came back home armed with my
mum, my husband and my brother in law and had all the
help an inexperienced first time mum could need. My
mum pampered me so much from delicious mouth-wa-
tering meals to hot water massage to sweet sweet gist to
sorting out laundry. She did it all and to think she suffers
from arthritis but she won’t even hear that she didn’t do
‘Omugwo’ for her Adah. After spending two weeks with
us, she had to leave and the plan was that after two weeks,
my mother in law would come but it didn’t happen that
way. This is another point if you are visiting. At least, offer
some help to the new mum.
Anyways, my mother-in -law came eventually. She is ca-
terer and that shot my joy level up. The best part was she
did not let me receive visitors much and when they came,
she was quick to say – “nobody should disturb Mona.
Her body has not healed yet.” She brought all the ingre-
dients needed to make a special South-South delicacy for
But it wasn’t all bliss, don’t get me started on my ‘momzilla’
phase where I couldn’t stand any other person holding my
new born especially if the person wasn’t family. I would
count to 10 and say “let me feed him” then I would jejely
collect my child. What about the face pecking aunties, who
are so generous with their pecks? I would cringe. Please
when you visit a new mum, don’t peck a new born.
However, asides from the pain that made it hard for me
to host our visitors when we got back from the hospital,
I enjoyed all the love that they was showered on us. Our
visitors went above and beyond. Still, this experience has
helped me draw notable lessons. So, when someone I know
puts to bed, I won’t be quick to visit. I give them at least
a week or two to enjoy the moment before I visit. Also, I
never visit a new mum empty handed and even know the
things to carry with me.
For me, if I could go back in time, for the first two weeks
I would allow my husband host more visitors alone and
wouldn’t attempt to form super mum. I would accept more
help and sleep when my baby slept (I learnt the hard way).
More so, I would cut myself some slack which you should
too. So guys, please visit tactfully for the benefits of all the
parties concerned.