Veteran actress Ayo Mogaji has shared the inspiring story of becoming a mother at 40 despite having only one fallopian tube.
She revealed in an interview with Biola Adebayo that her first pregnancy was ectopic, resulting in the removal of one fallopian tube.
An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg implants and develops outside the usual space within the uterus.
Typically, this occurs in a fallopian tube, where eggs normally travel from the ovaries to the uterus, resulting in what is known as a tubal pregnancy.
Against the odds, she conceived naturally with her remaining tube and gave birth six weeks after her 40th birthday.
“There was this lawyer who wanted to marry me because he had been in a marriage for 14 years and they never had a child. He took me to his mum and I was looking for a child that period. Our mothers were introduced and I got pregnant.
“Unfortunately, the pregnancy was ectopic. It stayed right inside the fallopian tube and LUTH was on strike at that time. So, by the time we realised what was happening, they took me to seven hospitals and the late Uncle Ede Aderinokun was the one who gave me a note to the hospital where they admitted me.
“They didn’t even want to admit me. The doctor said he wasn’t sure if I could survive till tomorrow and I said “Do you believe in God? Even if you do not believe in God, believe in me because I believe in God. We did not have an agreement that I was going to die like this.’ They did the operation and it took them seven to nine hours the following day.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, the ectopic pregnancy ruptured before they could do anything and it ruptured my appendix, so they had to remove one fallopian tube. I am living with one and I had my child through natural birth with that one I have left.”
Mogaji also opened up about her abusive marriage, which lasted for 13 years.
She advised women to escape abusive relationships, emphasising that no one deserves to suffer mental and physical torture.
“When matrimony leads you to a place where you can’t have your own friends, the family can not come, you will start looking at them somehow, even knowing the kind of job you were in before you got married. The reaction at home, the abusive language, the physical abuse, the mental torture; when it gets too much, I will advise anybody to get out of that kind of marriage because otherwise, they may come and meet your candle.”
While she harbors no ill feelings towards her ex-husband, she believes reconciliation is unlikely due to his jealousy and complex issues.
“There can’t be room. If I could tolerate that thing for 13 years thinking there could be a change, then there can never be change. He is not a bad person but when you are too jealous and have a complex, it is very hard. It can’t work. You can try to make your marriage work, yes you can try,” she said.
