Omugwo – When our parents come to take care of our babies (their grands kids) as soon as they are born. They stay for a while (usually 3month but some may even stay for a year), hoping in their hearts that we will do same to our kids. In those days it was like you could just give birth for your mum to take care of your child and off you go about your life after the baby is born because you are sure, who the baby is with in the house, sure of the baby’s meals and you know fully well that they are in great care…This usually is the duty of the omugwo parent(usually your mum) she comes over, spend months unending while her hubby would be somewhere in the village or town where they stay, alone. She would cook for you, press your body, bath the baby and sleep with the baby…so at the end of the day, you don’t even feel like you gave birth…Life was good then or wasn’t it? The only time you get the baby is when you need to breastfeed, then incase you are not breastfeeding that child, chai! the aged woman would know herself, she will practically feel she has given birth to a baby…hehehe I heard about the good things of omugwo but did I experience it?..nah…Maybe for a bit, I did not see the grand parents for three months or even two, after the first one month everybody left and reality sets in immediately… It dawned on me that I really gave birth to this child, meaning this is one responsibility no one would take up but me. I remember when my parents and parents in-law said they were leaving, I was like ‘are they really going to leave me here with this baby? Are they not scared that I cannot take care of this child alone? Lool! ‘ the question  was clearly answered by the deafening silence that filled the house, when it was just me, babyJ and MrPossible .hehehe. How many new mums experienced this? I was gisting  with some friends and realized none of us experienced the “full packaged” omugwo and some of us were complaining but later we came to conclusion and this is it; Yes your grandma did omugwo for your mum but times have changed, your mum probably is working and cannot leave her job to come attend to you for 6 months or even one month. Our parents have lives too: Their lives will not stop when you give birth, they have their community, friends whom they feel as one with and will not be willing to leave them, just same way you did not think twice before leaving them to marry your husband. Grandmas have husbands: In those days, when you leave your husband in the village, it is either he had another wife that would take care of him while you are away, or a child at home but nowadays our fathers cannot handle the loneliness, in my case, my dad came to join my mum during her 10 days omugwo and also my in-laws …or would you leave your hubby to do omugwo for a month? Let us not get angry with our parents when they don’t stay for the omugwo supposed duration, let us just be grateful they came at all. they have lives too, so brace up yourself to the challenge and you will do great, trust me.More on this soon.
bride2mom