About this time of the year 2000 or so years ago, the mother of Jesus the Christ was very very pregnant with baby Jesus. So this is a good time for womb diaries. One could be pregnant with babies or pregnant with ideas in readiness for the New Year. The womb! If only the womb could talk! Good memories! Horror memories! An unseen clock, the ‘biological clock’ ticks in the womb.
Oh the womb! Our first home! Comfort. Protection. Safety. Warmth. Nurturing. The temperature is just right – warm, cozy. The space is just the right size – for turning, for nurturing, for feasting, for easing, for comfort. It is peace that passeth all understanding; hassle-free, stress-free, no worry. The womb is the encasement, the home that carries us all from conception to birth.
It is within the uterus (Latin word for womb) that the foetus develops, where babies are formed, where life begins. The womb is at the centre of womanhood; the site of much joy – when it produces a child. But it is also the site of untold anguish. Women can have problems at the womb. For a body organ that is not seen, that hides on the inside, its power over women, over men, over families, over entire nations and humanity is forever so awesome.
All it takes is nine months and the magic of conception through the development of different body organs is accomplished, and hooray! .....a child is born – at first crying at the initial rude shock of life’s realities. Then, for days, weeks, months, it learns to laugh and even enjoys laughing. But the crying lingers on – in demand for comfort, for protection from the elements, for food, for good health and for nurturing.
But not all grown-up wombs carry foetuses. For one reason or the other, some wombs are unable to become healthy hosts of the magic of life and to take on the miracle of pregnancy. A woman might desire a baby with desperation but when it can’t happen, it won’t happen. That’s just the way it is.
According to a US department of Health and Human Services statistics, Black women are two to three times more likely to get uterine fibroids than women of other races. Ours is a land of black people so most of us Ghanaian women carry fibroids of different sizes, shapes and forms – a badge of honour of some sort for black womanhood.
Why bother about fibroids? For the most part, they are no big deal; just a bunch of benign (not cancerous) growths inside and/or on the edges of the womb. They are nothing but parasites which can cause bleeding and other symptoms, the most annoying of which is to take up some of the space for a pregnancy to grow. When the ugly mushy growths have occupied space, what does a foetus do? Stifle! Witchcraft has nothing to do with it.
Fibroids just sit there, giving pelvic pressure. Men have beer pot bellies to contend with; and women have fibroids to give a ‘pregnancy look’. This is like a fake pregnancy that never results in a baby. Fibroids and black womanhood become one.
As women age, fibroids may reduce in size; but some degenerate. When a gynaecologist informed me that my fibroids had degenerated, I lost my cool. I retorted, “I know the meaning of the word ‘degenerate’ and I don’t appreciate it being used to describe my situation.” The truth is bitter!
When fibroids give more trouble than a woman can bear, the medical solution is to have it removed. In some women, only the fibroids are removed (myomectomy). But in some cases, parts or the entire female reproductive system is yanked out (hysterectomy). So one day, a woman is a proud carrier of a womb (even if an unhealthy one); the next day, she is without a womb.
So what? A ‘wombless’ woman is still very much of a woman like all others. On the brighter side, after a radical hysterectomy, a woman is saved from uterine and ovarian cancers. Yes, behind every cloud, there is a silver lining.
It’s not the absence of a womb, but the absence of viable products of the womb in the midst of our culture that creates high drama. But, when there is a will, there is a way. Take surrogate motherhood – a rent-a-womb situation by which a couple can arrange for another woman with a healthy womb to carry their baby. See what medical science can do!
And oh, there is adoption too. That is more straightforward – the baby is already made. Adoption ensures that a woman skips the joy and/or agony of pregnancy and child delivery to give birth to a child at the heart and not from the womb! Enters stigma!
Anguish is written all over the grand effort at baby-making. Woe unto a woman whose womb does not produce. It is as if the word woman originates from the word womb. Women without children are set up to burn both ends of the candle.
The pressure on Ghanaian women to give birth to their own womb children is so great, beyond measure. The only other pressure that comes anywhere close to the pressure to have one’s own womb child is for women to marry. Get married by any means necessary. Have a child by any means necessary – foul or otherwise.
But there is no pressure on females to get an education. We forget that the womb is at the heart of Ghana’s population explosion. Within two decades, our population has gone from an estimated 12 million to the current 25 million. Without a doubt, wombs have been active, populating the earth.
Men want to have their names etched onto their offspring, children out of their groin. Mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law come on so strong, bitching their way into a woman’s bedroom. Desperation galore!
Some women who are desperate to have womb-babies fall into diabolical traps with false prophets/prophetesses, Mallams, fetish priests, herbalists and all sorts of con spiritualists waiting in the wings at the junction of the baby-making industry. Whatever is demanded of them, some vulnerable women will do: ‘Holy water’, olive oil, lizard tails, goat bones, concoctions to drink and/or bath, unholy prophetic washing of private parts and endless ‘pray-for-me’ sessions against the backdrop of suspicions of witchcraft and evil eyes – anything.
Some desperate women are raped by con spiritualists. Some go to the extent of stealing babies. Some even pay the ultimate price – death, in the pursuit of their own biological children by experimenting with anything unwholesome or wholesome that is recommended by anyone who claims to have an answer.
But we forget that apart from the womb, the heart is also an authentic site for childbirth. Childbirth is about love; about bondage between two human beings. Children who are born at the heart are no different than children born at the womb. Nature has its ways. An adopted child could even resemble the adoptive parents; motherhood can descend on you. Motherhood is not tied to the womb. \
Oh the womb! Our first home! Comfort. Protection. Safety. Warmth. Nurturing. The temperature is just right – warm, cozy. The space is just the right size – for turning, for nurturing, for feasting, for easing, for comfort. It is peace that passeth all understanding; hassle-free, stress-free, no worry. The womb is the encasement, the home that carries us all from conception to birth.
It is within the uterus (Latin word for womb) that the foetus develops, where babies are formed, where life begins. The womb is at the centre of womanhood; the site of much joy – when it produces a child. But it is also the site of untold anguish. Women can have problems at the womb. For a body organ that is not seen, that hides on the inside, its power over women, over men, over families, over entire nations and humanity is forever so awesome.
All it takes is nine months and the magic of conception through the development of different body organs is accomplished, and hooray! .....a child is born – at first crying at the initial rude shock of life’s realities. Then, for days, weeks, months, it learns to laugh and even enjoys laughing. But the crying lingers on – in demand for comfort, for protection from the elements, for food, for good health and for nurturing.
But not all grown-up wombs carry foetuses. For one reason or the other, some wombs are unable to become healthy hosts of the magic of life and to take on the miracle of pregnancy. A woman might desire a baby with desperation but when it can’t happen, it won’t happen. That’s just the way it is.
According to a US department of Health and Human Services statistics, Black women are two to three times more likely to get uterine fibroids than women of other races. Ours is a land of black people so most of us Ghanaian women carry fibroids of different sizes, shapes and forms – a badge of honour of some sort for black womanhood.
Why bother about fibroids? For the most part, they are no big deal; just a bunch of benign (not cancerous) growths inside and/or on the edges of the womb. They are nothing but parasites which can cause bleeding and other symptoms, the most annoying of which is to take up some of the space for a pregnancy to grow. When the ugly mushy growths have occupied space, what does a foetus do? Stifle! Witchcraft has nothing to do with it.
Fibroids just sit there, giving pelvic pressure. Men have beer pot bellies to contend with; and women have fibroids to give a ‘pregnancy look’. This is like a fake pregnancy that never results in a baby. Fibroids and black womanhood become one.
As women age, fibroids may reduce in size; but some degenerate. When a gynaecologist informed me that my fibroids had degenerated, I lost my cool. I retorted, “I know the meaning of the word ‘degenerate’ and I don’t appreciate it being used to describe my situation.” The truth is bitter!
When fibroids give more trouble than a woman can bear, the medical solution is to have it removed. In some women, only the fibroids are removed (myomectomy). But in some cases, parts or the entire female reproductive system is yanked out (hysterectomy). So one day, a woman is a proud carrier of a womb (even if an unhealthy one); the next day, she is without a womb.
So what? A ‘wombless’ woman is still very much of a woman like all others. On the brighter side, after a radical hysterectomy, a woman is saved from uterine and ovarian cancers. Yes, behind every cloud, there is a silver lining.
It’s not the absence of a womb, but the absence of viable products of the womb in the midst of our culture that creates high drama. But, when there is a will, there is a way. Take surrogate motherhood – a rent-a-womb situation by which a couple can arrange for another woman with a healthy womb to carry their baby. See what medical science can do!
And oh, there is adoption too. That is more straightforward – the baby is already made. Adoption ensures that a woman skips the joy and/or agony of pregnancy and child delivery to give birth to a child at the heart and not from the womb! Enters stigma!
Anguish is written all over the grand effort at baby-making. Woe unto a woman whose womb does not produce. It is as if the word woman originates from the word womb. Women without children are set up to burn both ends of the candle.
The pressure on Ghanaian women to give birth to their own womb children is so great, beyond measure. The only other pressure that comes anywhere close to the pressure to have one’s own womb child is for women to marry. Get married by any means necessary. Have a child by any means necessary – foul or otherwise.
But there is no pressure on females to get an education. We forget that the womb is at the heart of Ghana’s population explosion. Within two decades, our population has gone from an estimated 12 million to the current 25 million. Without a doubt, wombs have been active, populating the earth.
Men want to have their names etched onto their offspring, children out of their groin. Mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law come on so strong, bitching their way into a woman’s bedroom. Desperation galore!
Some women who are desperate to have womb-babies fall into diabolical traps with false prophets/prophetesses, Mallams, fetish priests, herbalists and all sorts of con spiritualists waiting in the wings at the junction of the baby-making industry. Whatever is demanded of them, some vulnerable women will do: ‘Holy water’, olive oil, lizard tails, goat bones, concoctions to drink and/or bath, unholy prophetic washing of private parts and endless ‘pray-for-me’ sessions against the backdrop of suspicions of witchcraft and evil eyes – anything.
Some desperate women are raped by con spiritualists. Some go to the extent of stealing babies. Some even pay the ultimate price – death, in the pursuit of their own biological children by experimenting with anything unwholesome or wholesome that is recommended by anyone who claims to have an answer.
But we forget that apart from the womb, the heart is also an authentic site for childbirth. Childbirth is about love; about bondage between two human beings. Children who are born at the heart are no different than children born at the womb. Nature has its ways. An adopted child could even resemble the adoptive parents; motherhood can descend on you. Motherhood is not tied to the womb. \
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