Popular Lagos couple, Ladi & Funmi Sonuga have been in a happy mood for the past one year since God answered their prayers for the fruit of the womb. For 13 years after their marriage they waited on the lord for a child, but God gave them triplets.
Ladi is a top manager with Cadbury, while his wife, Funmi is a top Events Planner and a caterer in Lagos. The duo met when she was 24. They courted for 6 years and she got married at the age of 30 on 10th December, 2005. It was after marriage that the waiting started. Funmi Sonuga told City People:
“At first, it was like we were just being unduly worried, but before we knew it, we waited for 13 good years.”
What made her all the more worried was the fact that her parents are Pastors. Her late dad was a Pastor in his lifetime and her mum, Pastor Mrs. Awodipe is also a Pastor. Her mum felt bad that her late husband who use to pray for other couples to have children and they often do, could not pray successfully for his daughter to have a kid.
Funmi explained that she didn’t know she had a problem with child bearing till a few years after her doctor told her she has challenges with Fibroids. The 1st doctor said its because of Fibroids and that she had to do surgery. Another doctor said it was PCOS.
She started the treatment, but got tired after a while. And she gave up. She went through a lot during this waiting period. She shared further:
“I have this favourite quotation that I normally tell people before I got married, when I was in school. I am an advocate of getting married early. I used to say have your kids early, don’t use pension money to send kids to school. It is me now that can’t have my own kids early I felt so sad.
I began to wait. I actually didn’t lose faith. I was so positive that I will have my own kids one day. But I was under pressure from friends and some family members. But I was happy my husband didn’t despair. He was also positive and hopeful that we would have our kids.
Trust, friends, they came up with all sorts of advice. They will tell me about various Ori-Okes. So, I went from one Ori Oke to another. After 3 to 4 years, some people advised that I should do IVF. I tried. I gave up. But I was positive that the table will turn positive one day.”
“She didn’t allow it to weigh her down. She kept keeping herself happy. She would play music and dance. She likes to dance. That really helped her…”
Funmi herself confirmed this saying:
“I love dancing. I was in the waiting room for 6, 7, 8, 9 up till 13 years. The interesting thing is that I love kids. I love having kids around me. So I used to invite and encourage my nieces, nephews to come around to the house to spend time with us.
I have heard it said that if you are waiting on the lord, its usually good to mingle with kids, interact with them, show them love. They can be used as a point of contact to having your own kids, to God looking mercifully at you. But in all of this my husband kept encouraging me that all will be well that we will eventually have our kids.”
Funmi attends RCCG, Christ Church Parish, Gbagada. In her parish she joined a group that visits pregnant and nursing mothers. She explained:
“During my waiting period, I saw God in another way. In church, many of my friends noticed the passion I have for kids. So, whenever we have activities in church they always push me to go and carry babies and play with them. As I do that I will be saying to myself, one day I will carry my own baby and it eventually happened.
She kept saying she had that strong feeling that God will do it. The lesson I learnt is that if you are calm, you will get the message. In the face of all adversity, just be calm. When its your time. Its your time. It was in August 2017, that the doctor told me I am going to have triplets. That is after 13 years.
Then something miraculous happened I call it the 5pm encounter. The interesting thing is that before I had my triplets, I thought I was going to have twins. Everybody was talking about twins. Many people started calling me Iya Ibeji.
A lady gave me a message in October 2017, that I was going to have triplets. I knew it was my set time from August 2017. I was confirmed pregnant in January 2018. I went to confirm the result of my test from my doctor 7 days after confirmation of the test, I went back to see the doctor. They did a test and found triplets. That was after 13 good years.”
Funmi’s triplets celebrated their 1st anniversary on Saturday, August 10, 2019. But it was not an easy journey for her. From the time she was confirmed pregnant till the time she delivered her kids in the US, she went in and out of the hospital.
At 14 weeks she had threatened abortion. She was scared. She and her hubby decided to fly her to the US to deliver. That was also another risk. They were worried, will she be able to make the trip successfully or not. She did.
When she got to the US, many hospitals rejected her when they realised she was carrying triplets. But one hospital eventually accepted her.
Ladi who was by his wife’s bedside during delivery revealed:
”I was so happy. I broke into tears. I began to cry like a baby. I kept saying to myself. I begged God for just a kid, but he gave me 3. He gave me 2 boys & a girl. I couldn’t believe it. She gave birth on 9th August 2018. She is so happy. She calls her triplets, my Holy Nation. The 3 are called Tireni Oluwa, Ireoluwatomiwa, and Oreoluwatomiwa.
My advice to those waiting on the Lord is not to lose faith. Hold on to the faith. keep your faith aglow. I hope my story will continue to touch lives because it wasn’t an easy one.”
Funmi further dished out lessons all women who are waiting on the Lord should learn from her experience and the role their husbands should play. She advised:
“There is a lot to learn. Husbands should support their wives, during this period. They shouldn’t leave their wives to bear the burden alone. They should show her more love. If not, they won’t be able to achieve what they set out to achieve.
“Lesson two, women who are waiting on the Lord should be calm. They should not take it as a big issue. They should take it easy, so that they won’t miss it, so that they won’t go in the wrong path. They need to be careful. There are so many fake facility clinics around.
“We were introduced to one in Sagamu while I was waiting. I met the doctor and she told me one day that I had taken in, that I was pregnant, only for me to realise, after a while, weeks later that it was a lie. It was by a fake doctor in Sagamu. We spent a lot paying doctors, clinics. There are a lot of fake doctors around.
“Eventually we were lucky to meet this doctor that treated me and it worked. We got introduced to him in a miraculous way, through what I call the 5pm encounter. That day my husband had gone to a party in Lagos and at that party someone approached him and told him about a good fertility doctor in Lagos, who is good at helping women achieve conception.
The discussion with that person took place at exactly 5pm. He didn’t even tell me he was going for a party. My husband is a socialite, so you can’t even predict where he can be at any time.
What was miraculous was that about that same time, me, I was at another party in another part of Lagos and someone approached me, about the same time, 5pm and told me about this same doctor. She was trying to encourage me. She said why don’t you try this doctor.
He is good. She told me how A,B,C went to him and he helped them achieve conception, through various fertility treatments. My husband then told me when he got back that someone mentioned a particular doctor to him and it turned out to be the same doctor with the same name. And the timing too was similar timing, 5.00pm.
That was how we started going to him. Because we have gone to so many doctors in the past and nothing positive came out of it, we were not so excited. We just felt, lets just try it.”
Her husband also said at first, he didn’t think much of it. Ladi added:
“I wasn’t really excited at first. I was just like lets just try and see what will happen. I told her to try and see if it will work out. And so she started going, until the doctor told her to ask me to come, and I went reluctantly.
Before I went, my wife and I had agreed that I should not tell the doctor that I drink and smoke, if he asks me and I agreed. By the time I got there, I changed my mind. I just thought why should I not tell him. When he asked me, in my wife’s preserve I told him, yes, I smoke and drink. He said okay and he told me what to take.
He gave me a simple drug, Wellman. I was surprised. I think he gave me about 3 to 4 tablets to take for a few days. That’s all, although my wife received so many treatments.
Haa, we went through a lot. Even my wife finally took in and she was confirmed pregnant, the doctor advised that my wife be taken abroad after about 2 months, just for her to get good medicare. It wasn’t easy to get her to travel to the U.S. in stable condition.
She was on wheel chair all through the journey. She didn’t travel until like a few months to delivery. The doctor said we were on our own. She delivered in Houston, Texas at Texas Women Hospital.
It was a big battle, before we got a hospital to accept her was hell. They kept rejecting her. Most hospitals in the U.S. don’t accept multiple pregnancies. Once they go through her medical report and see that she is expecting triplets, they will reject her. They feel she is high risk and they will turn her down.
Even at the last hospital where she eventually had her baby we had to plead and plead. We paid through our nose. We paid a fortune. I spent all I had to the last kobo because we had to keep changing Naira to dollar to send to various hospitals for payment.
But God was with us. We have no regrets. My wife went through a lot of pain and agony. Throughout the 9 months she kept going in and out of the hospital. Her feet was swollen all through, she kept vomiting.
I was always afraid she might lose the pregnancy. There was a time she had threatened miscarriage. I was always praying, I said Lord, you mean we would end up losing this pregnancy despite all what we have gone through. But God took charge.
Even for me to be able to get a seat to travel to the US to be with her was problematic. I was put on waiting list. Everything about my wife pregnancy was miraculous. To God be the glory.”
