‘I Battled Postpartum Depression’ — Bambam Shares Her Motherhood Journey

Bamike ‘Bambam’ Olawunmi, the former BBNaija housemate, has recounted her struggles with childbirth and postpartum depression.

In a recent interview with Chude Jideonwo, the media personality, Bambam said she was diagnosed with preeclampsia during her first pregnancy.

Pre-eclampsia usually begins after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a woman whose blood pressure had been normal. It can lead to serious, even fatal, complications for both mother and baby.

The mother of two said pregnancy transformed her body, adding that she went from a dress size 8 to 16.

She praised Teddy A, her husband, for being supportive during the transition phases of her pregnancy.

The reality TV star said she ignored social media trolls who mocked her for gaining weight because “they cannot understand”.

“I would never have imagined that my body would get this thick. I look in front of the mirror and thank God for supportive husbands like mine,” she said.

“Imagine I had a man who was not open to the transition phases I went through with each pregnancy.

“My second pregnancy was even more merciful than the first. What! Zendaya! I went from Maroon to black, I had skin tags, I had acne breakouts and went from size 8 to 14/16.

“I was in shock. I went through postpartum depression. I was a mess. I did not understand. I transformed literally.

“But I mean look at the girl. Now you understand why she did what she had to do.

“I had to ask the doctor, ‘is that my baby?’ ‘How is she so white looking?’ She had grey eyes and now they are brown.

“She looked so different. I had preeclampsia with her pregnancy, she had detached from my placenta by the time I arrived at the hospital.

“So the thought of losing her, if I hadn’t been diligent with my antenatal classes or taking my vitamins. We tried going to have her abroad but there were a lot of setbacks so we had to settle.

“And the hospital we got, thank God they were so diligent. Imagine they didn’t do my urinalysis test and the doctor didn’t call at the time that he did?

“Her birth was a miracle, my pregnancy phase was a miracle. Postpartum depression was because I kept playing all the what ifs in my head.”