Contraception is the process of
stopping a man/woman/couple from achieving pregnancy until he/she/they so
desire. It is a really a means to an end not an end in itself. Family planning
is the use of contraception to space the children and regulate the number of
children while trying to ensure the couple enjoy sex.
In our society the women are the
major users of contraceptives, and the permanent forms of contraceptives are
majorly done by women. Now before I get ahead of myself there are various types
of contraception methods, like condoms -male and female.
The female condoms are not so
popular, a discussion for another day- intrauterine device -popularly called
coil- daily pills, injectable contraceptives and the permanent one that involves
‘tying’ of the tubes in women and in men.
So during my ward round in the
postnatal ward, (a ward where women who just gave birth are admitted) a woman
asked me what is the best from of contraception since she had four children
before she mistakenly got pregnant again, so I delved into the various types of
contraceptives and their merits and demerits, I felt that was an opportunity to
educate all the women present there at once so I won’t have to repeat it all
over again at each bedside so I stood in the middle of the ward and delivered
the lecture.
The interesting part of the whole
scenario was when I got to the aspect of male contraceptive, vasectomy and I
told the women it is preferable because it’s easier and the woman does not have
to have ugly scars on their abdomen, since we don’t do minimal invasive
surgeries. Suddenly there was an uproar, I was shocked I wondered what I said
that caused such response, a woman said “oh! So the man can be sleeping around
abi? No o! na me go do the operation, make I dey sure if he dey play the field
at least one day one day the girl do get belle!” I simply asked her if she does
not trust her husband. Her response was not any less shocking, “abeg oga doctor
you be man, you wan tell me the thing no dey do you like make you do am with
another woman sometime if no be say you dey fear she fit get belle?” I laughed and
told her that’s why there are condoms to protect against impregnating the woman
and contracting other sexually transmitted disease.
Another woman in the ward responded, “Which
condom, una men dey gree use am? Una go complain say the thing no sweet like if
you no use am, no be so I take get belle again, abegi talk something else.”
Obviously I said, you women don’t trust your husbands, if not you won’t be
against them doing a vasectomy since you have completed the family.
I asked them if they feel their husbands
don’t get scared when they the women tie their tubes, if their husbands are not
afraid of them ‘playing the field’. Another woman retorted, “una men think say
na only una the thing dey catch every time to do, e dey catch we women too but
if we do the things una men dey do, dem go stone us and drive us out of our
husbands home, na because we fit control ourselves.” One of the women who had
been quite all this while, asked how she can convince her husband to accept her
using contraceptives, she has been to the labour room four (4) times in the
last 6 years and she is tired!
And that opened up stories from
other women, how they secretly used pills and aborted pregnancies because their
husbands were not listening to their cries of being tired of getting pregnant
or their need to rest awhile and pursue a career too.
I told the women when they are
coming for the postnatal clinic they should come with their husbands so we can
discuss the various issues and better educate both of them on contraception and
benefit of family planning.
My people the first couple I saw
was not funny o! the man said na him wife dey wan do every time so she go fit
born plenty pikin so he won’t have enough money to spend on another woman
outside!! I looked at the man and asked if he had given his wife any reason to
doubt his fidelity?
I await the response to that
question till date my people.
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