Gyang Bere, Jos

It was a moment of pain and agony. Nvou Davou, a 40-year-old pregnant woman, gave birth to conjoined twins after a prolonged, 13-hour hellish labour at Sot in Vwang District of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

But sadly, the twins didn’t go home with the mother. They died at birth.

Davou, the husband, who is a shoemaker, had earlier lost his shop in a mysterious fire incident in December last year. He had called his sister in-law and other elderly women in the area to assist the wife with the child delivery at home, as he could not afford the hospital bills.

Nvou, it was gathered, went into labour at about 3pm on Thursday July 9. The baby started coming out about 2am the following day. The head came out, but the rest of the body could not be brought out, as no one knew that they were conjoined twins.

The development scared the local women and the husband who rushed Nvou to Vom Christian Hospital Vom (VCH) where the second baby came out lifeless.

The twins were joined at the buttocks. Each had two upper limbs and the right and left legs of each were merged, giving them three instead of four lower limbs. Only one of the babies survived the delivery.

Doctors in the hospital started battling to save the life of the first baby, a task that was beyond the capacity of the hospital. The woman and her baby were referred to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).

The baby died shortly after arriving at the hospital while the husband was still trying to raise N8, 000for surgical materials and stabilise the dying baby.

Nvou said it was painful looking at her dead children. “When I look at the lifeless children, I felt the pains that I went through during labour. It was like something pieced through my soul. I was dead for several hours because I couldn’t bear the pains any longer. I didn’t know that I was carrying twins.

“I was not ready to conceive, and it took me three months to realise that I was pregnant. I started feeling pains in my abdomen. I complained about it and was advised to go for scanning. When the result came out, I was told that I had appendicitis.

“The hospital booked me for surgery and on the day of the operation, the doctor advised me to go for another scanning. That was when it was discovered that I was pregnant. I was told to go home and that after my delivery, the surgery would be done to remove the appendicitis.

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“But I was always in discomfort. I went back to the hospital and I was told that it was not appendicitis but fibroids. They said the surgery would be done after my delivery.”

Nvou, a farmer could not stay back home despite the discomfort and pain. She usually goes to the farm to cultivate her crops, which is the only means of survival for the family.

Nvou didn’t attend antenatal. This was because she couldn’t afford the little money for the registration. She kept going to her farm with pain and could not afford money to go for scanning before the delivery.

Nvou, who got married in January 2014, gave birth to a set of premature twins seven months after marriage. The female twins died at birth.

In 2016, she gave birth to her only daughter, three-year-old Happy Davou. Since the death of the conjoined twins, Happy has been having a strange sickness.

Her husband, Davou Ishaku, 48, who is a shoemaker that makes slippers, said his wife’s complicated pregnancy had earlier been diagnosed as appendicitis and later a womb tumour.

He informed that at the early stage of the pregnancy, his wife complained of constant abdominal pains, and he took her to a clinic for an ultra scanning.

“I didn’t know she was pregnant until after the scanning. We were told that she suffered from appendicitis. We went to a relative who does such surgeries but when he asked her where the pain was coming from, she pointed at the wrong side.

“He told us it couldn’t have been appendicitis and asked us to go for another scanning but the result showed that my wife was pregnant with a single foetus. She was also diagnosed with a womb tumour which the man said could lead to an abortion if an attempt is made to remove it.”

At the moment, Nvou is battling with a health challenge which she incurred during prolonged labour. The concern of the husband now is to get medical help for his wife who sits with a swollen feet and a hard bulge in her abdomen that causes her pain and discomfort.

Also, their three-year-old daughter, Happy Davou is battling with a strange disease with no money to go for proper medical treatment.

Anyone interested in helping the family may reach the woman on 07068903013.