Celebrate the girl child

When I was pregnant, I didn't want to check the sex of the baby regardless of the many persuasions I got. It helped a lot also that my hubby was of the same opinion. I went ahead and bought unisex clothes because I believed I didn't need to know the sex of the baby till it came. I couldn't care less if it was a boy or girl. I would celebrate the birth and be proud of the child.

The baby when born turned out to be a boy and friends and family celebrated with us. But then, I started encountering people who when they heard I gave birth to a boy, would hail me like I won some sort of war.

Many people kept telling me that I had 'arrived' in my husband's house because of my son. These statements didn't make me feel good at all, at all! I have friends who are married with only female children  and are extremely happy. Why are female children not appreciated as much as the male?

If female children weren't born, who would be birthing all these wonderful men out there?


You know, I once knew a man whose wife had five children; four girls and a boy. She got pregnant again and had another girl and on the very day she returned to her husband's house, he started hitting her. He came up with excuses to beat her and when it got too much he blurted out his disgust at her bringing home another girl child.

Years later, she was pregnant again and the man pampered her so much that an on-looker would be jealous. When she was in labour, he announced to all and sundry that his second son was on the way. The woman held her breathe praying earnestly that God blesses her with a son.

She was in labour for hours and finally, she pushes out the baby. When the baby cried out, she raised her head and asked the nurses the sex of the baby; when they told her it was a girl, she fell backwards and gave up the ghost.

All who heard held the husband responsible for her death and the man had no choice but to move out of the area with his family. He didn't even raise that baby. His wife's younger sister took the baby in.

Is it an African or Nigerian thing that if a woman hasn't given birth to a male child she isn't considered fully grounded in her husband's home?

Is it not high time that belief is scrapped and a child is accepted as a blessing irrespective of the sex?

Many women still suffer in their husband's houses because they don't have male children.  Most of them are in unimaginable pain and some even resort to the unthinkable just to have a son.What will then be said to the woman who is still waiting on God for a single child?