Today at 1:03 PM
This is my first post in what seems like ages. You know its not easy with Lagos life. One of my new year resolutions is to keep up with my writing in addition I must not get angry and I must loose weight! lol
So like a million years ago, (well more like 9 years ago), I found myself being induced into labour for delivery of my 2nd child. The baby had been due for a few days and i was still pleading with the hospital to wait 6 more days so i could share the same birthday with my baby. My Doctor refused flat. I had a beautiful daughter already and I was excited and hoping for a boy to complete my family.
On the D-day, I was suddenly rushed to the theatre having been told briefly that my baby was in a breach position precisely with her neck tilted backwards. Apparently, the Doctors did not get any indication of this from the previous scans and that's how we found ourselves in an unwanted but emergency situation.
As the chief gynaecologist connected tubes to my arms, he quietly informed me that I was his priority and he had to work to save my life before the infant. That's when I knew the situation was serious and I remember yanking off the tubes and yelling that he shouldn't dare tell me something was wrong with my baby. I assured him i was fine but would not forgive him if anything happened to my baby. I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl. I wept loudly from pain and fear while my husband cried out to God in prayers. In fact everyone in the delivery room was praying fervently by the time the baby was eventually yanked out. It was another lovely girl but something was obviously wrong. She wasn't breathing and her color was really funny. For 20 minutes, we refused to give up and the staff continued to clear her airways and work on her until she let out a small cry. She was given a very low apgar score but she was alive!
We were thankful and counted ourselves fortunate. We named the new born Diekonifeoluwa ( the love of God towards me is unquantifiable) and watched over her at the hospital for weeks only going home for a few hours to name her officially on the 8th day. She had to be observed 24 hours at a time because she also had a condition called sleep apnea where she would forget to breathe. Our family came to our rescue as they took turns to watch her 24/7. Two people were always with her, one would carry her in their arms while the other would ensure the carrier didn't sleep. This was for 6 hours at a stretch for each team. Thank God for Family!
As if we hadn't suffered enough, the pediatrician came around and dealt another blow and Dieko was diagnosed with cerebral oedema (accumulation of excessive fluid in the brain). We braised up for the worst as we went again to the land of emotional trauma. We were simply told to prepare that our baby could have brain damage. As if to compound and confirm it, half of her body would twitch every few minutes or so. I expected the worst and would often break down. I felt detached because i couldn't feed her and i didn't want to hold her for the first few days out of fear that i would love her and loose her. Little did I also realise that God was still in the business of performing miracles. At that tender age, with all the tubes pumping fluid from her stomach and little body, she would smile and gaze at me as if I was her world and I fell into her trap. Till now, I must admit her smile still dazzles and tricks me!
Eventually, we were discharged from the hospital and only returned months later for a prescheduled comprehensive test. The same Doctors who had taken care of her from birth had to give praise to God and they declared her perfectly okay.
Dieko started to grow, her neck which had been stiff from birth normalised, though she still has faint scars on her forehead but we take this as a constant reminder that God is faithful.
Now you would imagine that my story should end here but it doesn't.
Dieko started school and it wasn't long before we realised something seemed to be wrong again. She wasn't doing well in school and her grades were poor! As expected, we did everything we could to help her. For example, It would appear as if she got the corrections to a problem she had previously failed but if you bring similar work the next day, it would be as if she had never been taught. I would weep secretly and compare her to her big sis who was an A+ student throughout her Primary school. I would call her names like lazy and wield the big stick whenever we sat to do homework. It took hours to complete one homework and we were all physically drained. We hired and fired home lesson teachers because we felt they weren't making a difference. This continued for years and I felt hopeless. Naturally, we started to talk of medical tests and ask questions like could the doctors be wrong and there was still something wrong with my baby?
Dieko still calls four points by Sheraton as points four by Sheraton; b was always pronounced d, d was b to her, 21 would be written as 12 and so on. Oh yes, she would swap her shoes and wear them the other way around. In fact whenever she dresses up her little cousin till now, she wears the little ones shoes all wrong .
In 2014, I met a wonderful woman who became a support in teaching Dieko after regular school hours. Her impact started being felt almost instantly. She explained to us that children are different and the approach to tutor a child like Dieko who was left handed had to be different!
This had always been the key we missed. Dieko was left handed. What we call leftie! A little more research showed that the brain wiring in righties is different from lefties and here i was raising prayer point on a daily basis. They even hear speeches (lectures) differently, She was so confused by all the teaching and corrections and she simply gave up trying. My beautiful intelligent daughter is one with a condition that strikes less than 10% of the world population. A chronic leftie. We almost failed her.
About a year later in 2015, we withdrew her from regular school because when we teach at home, the school continues in their own method and so Dieko became home schooled. I had never heard of it in Nigeria at that time and I imagined I was the only one. It wasn't long before we saw the star she really was come to light.
Then my husband said to me there are many parents in our shoes who have children with special needs like this. Some children have difficulty communicating, some are simply withdrawn, some are lefties, many with learning disability but whatever the case, most just need the attention to identify the problem and then employ a method that works for them. This gave birth to a school called Capefield Academy.
Capefield Academy which is a Nursery and Primary School with a clear difference and was inaugurated on the 19th of December, 2015 will be in full operation when we open for the 2nd term on the 18th of January, 2016.
In Capefield, we offer the early years foundation years curriculum for nursery; Integrated English National curriculum for Primary; Specialized teaching by specialist tutors; child friendly atmosphere; Rich and varied co-curricular activities and so on and so forth. Our children will more importantly be groomed to become Godly and global citizens.
At Capefield Academy, we believe that with God, every child can succeed.
On the D-day, I was suddenly rushed to the theatre having been told briefly that my baby was in a breach position precisely with her neck tilted backwards. Apparently, the Doctors did not get any indication of this from the previous scans and that's how we found ourselves in an unwanted but emergency situation.
As the chief gynaecologist connected tubes to my arms, he quietly informed me that I was his priority and he had to work to save my life before the infant. That's when I knew the situation was serious and I remember yanking off the tubes and yelling that he shouldn't dare tell me something was wrong with my baby. I assured him i was fine but would not forgive him if anything happened to my baby. I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl. I wept loudly from pain and fear while my husband cried out to God in prayers. In fact everyone in the delivery room was praying fervently by the time the baby was eventually yanked out. It was another lovely girl but something was obviously wrong. She wasn't breathing and her color was really funny. For 20 minutes, we refused to give up and the staff continued to clear her airways and work on her until she let out a small cry. She was given a very low apgar score but she was alive!
We were thankful and counted ourselves fortunate. We named the new born Diekonifeoluwa ( the love of God towards me is unquantifiable) and watched over her at the hospital for weeks only going home for a few hours to name her officially on the 8th day. She had to be observed 24 hours at a time because she also had a condition called sleep apnea where she would forget to breathe. Our family came to our rescue as they took turns to watch her 24/7. Two people were always with her, one would carry her in their arms while the other would ensure the carrier didn't sleep. This was for 6 hours at a stretch for each team. Thank God for Family!
As if we hadn't suffered enough, the pediatrician came around and dealt another blow and Dieko was diagnosed with cerebral oedema (accumulation of excessive fluid in the brain). We braised up for the worst as we went again to the land of emotional trauma. We were simply told to prepare that our baby could have brain damage. As if to compound and confirm it, half of her body would twitch every few minutes or so. I expected the worst and would often break down. I felt detached because i couldn't feed her and i didn't want to hold her for the first few days out of fear that i would love her and loose her. Little did I also realise that God was still in the business of performing miracles. At that tender age, with all the tubes pumping fluid from her stomach and little body, she would smile and gaze at me as if I was her world and I fell into her trap. Till now, I must admit her smile still dazzles and tricks me!
Eventually, we were discharged from the hospital and only returned months later for a prescheduled comprehensive test. The same Doctors who had taken care of her from birth had to give praise to God and they declared her perfectly okay.
Dieko started to grow, her neck which had been stiff from birth normalised, though she still has faint scars on her forehead but we take this as a constant reminder that God is faithful.
Now you would imagine that my story should end here but it doesn't.
Dieko started school and it wasn't long before we realised something seemed to be wrong again. She wasn't doing well in school and her grades were poor! As expected, we did everything we could to help her. For example, It would appear as if she got the corrections to a problem she had previously failed but if you bring similar work the next day, it would be as if she had never been taught. I would weep secretly and compare her to her big sis who was an A+ student throughout her Primary school. I would call her names like lazy and wield the big stick whenever we sat to do homework. It took hours to complete one homework and we were all physically drained. We hired and fired home lesson teachers because we felt they weren't making a difference. This continued for years and I felt hopeless. Naturally, we started to talk of medical tests and ask questions like could the doctors be wrong and there was still something wrong with my baby?
Dieko still calls four points by Sheraton as points four by Sheraton; b was always pronounced d, d was b to her, 21 would be written as 12 and so on. Oh yes, she would swap her shoes and wear them the other way around. In fact whenever she dresses up her little cousin till now, she wears the little ones shoes all wrong .
In 2014, I met a wonderful woman who became a support in teaching Dieko after regular school hours. Her impact started being felt almost instantly. She explained to us that children are different and the approach to tutor a child like Dieko who was left handed had to be different!
This had always been the key we missed. Dieko was left handed. What we call leftie! A little more research showed that the brain wiring in righties is different from lefties and here i was raising prayer point on a daily basis. They even hear speeches (lectures) differently, She was so confused by all the teaching and corrections and she simply gave up trying. My beautiful intelligent daughter is one with a condition that strikes less than 10% of the world population. A chronic leftie. We almost failed her.
About a year later in 2015, we withdrew her from regular school because when we teach at home, the school continues in their own method and so Dieko became home schooled. I had never heard of it in Nigeria at that time and I imagined I was the only one. It wasn't long before we saw the star she really was come to light.
Then my husband said to me there are many parents in our shoes who have children with special needs like this. Some children have difficulty communicating, some are simply withdrawn, some are lefties, many with learning disability but whatever the case, most just need the attention to identify the problem and then employ a method that works for them. This gave birth to a school called Capefield Academy.
Capefield Academy which is a Nursery and Primary School with a clear difference and was inaugurated on the 19th of December, 2015 will be in full operation when we open for the 2nd term on the 18th of January, 2016.
In Capefield, we offer the early years foundation years curriculum for nursery; Integrated English National curriculum for Primary; Specialized teaching by specialist tutors; child friendly atmosphere; Rich and varied co-curricular activities and so on and so forth. Our children will more importantly be groomed to become Godly and global citizens.
At Capefield Academy, we believe that with God, every child can succeed.
We welcome you to our world and also wish you a happy and prosperous 2016.
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