Soo Blessed.

This last week we heard some very sad news from Nigeria. I am constandly thinking about it and just can't seem to get it out of my mind. It has left me feeling very sad and heartbroken but at the same time, soo very blessed and extremely grateful for the many many opportunities in life i get to enjoy when soo many others around me dont.

Jeff woke up to a phone call at 6 am on tuesday from Chinedu, one of our main workers at the yard in Lagos and also an awesome faithful member of our ward, who was sobbing and told Jeff his wife, Ugoma, had just died. A week or two before i left Lagos to come home Ugoma was emitted into the hospital because she had malaria. She was also about 8 months pregnant with her first child. Every time i would go to the yard i would ask Chinedu how she was doing and he would say, "better, i hope she returns home soon." Unfortunately she stayed in the hospital until she had her baby about a week after we got home. A healthy little boy that they named Joshua. I haven't seen him yet but im sure he is the cutest thing, what african baby isn't? Anyways, because her body was soo weak from fighting with malaria she had to get a c-section. We still aren't 100% sure why she stayed in the hospital, but Chinedu would tell us her incision wasn't healing properly and the doctors said its 5x times worse then malaria (whatever that means) and she still wasn't strong enough to come home yet but he would always say she was improving and hoped she would be home soon. I guess monday night Chinedu spent all night with her and went down to his car to go to sleep just after midnight. Early the next morning when he returned to her room he found out that she had passed away in the night.

We didn't find out until after but i guess she had gone for blood a couple weeks ago because she was low and also her stomach starting bulging a little so we are guessing that she probably didn't get stitched up properly after her c-section and internally bled to death. How sad to think that such a simple procedure could be so complicated in a country like Nigeria.
It breaks my heart even more thinking of the husband and month old baby left behind. I have gone to bed every night this week thinking to myself is there anything more we could have done to help? If we just would have known a little more information could we have taken her to a better hospital? Chinedu told Jeff yesterday that he did everything possible for a man to do, God decided to take her back. It is very comforting to know where she is, but at the same time it almost seems a little unfair to leave such a new little family behind, especially in a country where the women do the majority of raising and caring for their children. I was happy to hear that Chinedu decided to raise the child himself with the help of a nanny. A very uncommon thing for males to do there, but i can't imagine what it would be like not only loosing a wife but giving away a child to be raised somewhere else too, so im glad he is keeping little Joshua.

Ugoma was such a wonderful women and will be missed very much. I always felt that out of all the nigeria ladies in our ward we had most in common. She was married 5 months after i moved there so she was just as new to married life as i was. She just moved to Lagos from a smaller village so we both were adjusting to the crazy busyness of Lagos, and also Jeff and Chinedu worked together all day so we could talk about stories they would come home and tell us. I always looked forward to catching up with her on sundays. She was so excited to tell me she was expecting and i know she would have been the best mother ever.

Anyways like i said before i have also felt so very blessed this week for the health care system we have access to. Even though we complain about it most of the time, how comforting is it to know that a simple procedure like a c-section isn't life threatening. I also feel soo grateful for a wonderful husband i get to spend another day with (when we are in the same country that is) and also knowing that no matter what happens we will always be together. I really am sooo blessed.



(Unforately i dont have a picture of her, but these are the other wonderful ladies in our Relief Society.)