A few days ago, Kuchi Kuchi crooner, Jodie, celebrate her son, Chinua’s first birthday. In this interview, she opens up about difficulties she experienced during childbirth and dismay when she found out her son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and Lissencephaly.
“At a point during childbirth, my labour was extended, it was not progressing as we thought it would. So I had to do emergency CS. I feel grateful, my boy celebrated his first birthday recently. So saying this now, I’m remembering the birth. When they induced me, I slipped into unconsciousness at a point. I felt like I was in a void. It was me, myself and I for real.
“My boy, after the labour issues and all of that, it affected him, he didn’t cry for nine hours. They had to refer us to another hospital because of that. Thank God he later cried. When he was admitted, doctors said, oh! he is going to be this and that. We finally went home. Two weeks later, I started noticing the depression in his head. We had to do lots of scan and eventually they diagnosed that he had cerebral palsy and Lissencephaly.”
After the diagnosis, Jodie revealed that at a point she was being advised by doctors to leave her son with her mother else she would run crazy. She also stated that it’s has been emotional roller coaster since the diagnosis.
It would be recalled that on April 2, she wrote the following on her Facebook to encourage parents with special kids:
To parents with special kids…
Enjoy every bit of your precious little one: there is no child like yours!
Don’t wish he/she came differently…instead, help him/her make the best of his/her uniqueness.
Do the best you can – follow up on medications, therapy, etc but most of all lots of love!!!
The journey is a tough one, but it will all be worth it!