contracted HIV, but I had a brief
fling with a pupil in my
secondary school in 2009 when I
was 17. "The brief sexual relationship got
me pregnant. When I checked my
HIV status during my ante-natal
registration, I was confirmed
positive." Those were the words of Mrs. Grace
Brume, 22-year-old HIV patient,
expecting her second baby at the
Amassoma General Hospital,
Amassoma, Bayelsa State. PUNCH Metro had enquired from
Grace how her husband, Fyneface,
was treating her considering her
challenge, she said, "I did not tell
him that I am HIV positive. No one
knows that I am HIV-positive except an aunt. Even my husband
does not know. I have hidden my
status from him since I tested
positive. "I would have told my husband,
but the aunt said I should not. My
aunt keeps encouraging me that
those who have HIV will not die and
that there are drugs they take to
keep alive. Interestingly, my husband is negative." Grace said each time she and her
husband wanted to made love, she
usually convinced him (Fyneface)
to use condoms. "My husband used to kick against
it each time I gave him condoms to
use. I told him I was asthmatic and
I did not want to get pregnant
often. As a result, he agreed to be
using condoms even though he did not like it. "When we wanted to have the
second baby, he did it without
condoms. Still, my husband is
negative." She said her resolve not to tell
anybody was because of
stigmatization which most HIV
patients usually suffer. Grace said her first child born to
the "rascally schoolboy" was HIV-
negative. She said Praise-God was
in the Kindergarten class in a
private school, stressing that when
she was tested after 18 months of birth, there was no single trace of
HIV in her (Praise-God). Grace said, "My advice for
pregnant women is for them to go
to hospital to their HIV status. If
they are positive, they should
start taking their drugs to avoid
the baby being infected. "The ART drugs are working very
well. I almost committed suicide
five years ago when I tested
positive to HIV. I was told that I
was pregnant and had HIV. It was
as if the entire world was crashing on my head. I went to tell my aunt
about the development. She
advised that I hid the result from
every body so that I would not have
psychological problems.
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