Olakunle Ijaya (not real name) has revealed how he lost his wife, Fitila Ijaya (not real name) to postpartum-related issues.

Ijaya, while speaking to The Guardian, said he and his wife enjoyed a near-perfect marriage which produced three wonderful children (Two girls and a boy).

According to him, Fitila was a very understanding woman who made life very easy for him before and after they got married in March 2018.

“I can say that I was extremely lucky to have married the best wife one could ever dream of as Fitila was very understanding and there was never a time a third party settled any issue between us,” Ijaya told The Guardian.

“She was also supportive when it came to the issue of money (finance) as she wanted the best for me and the family at large and she was never the nagging type.”

On how his wife died, Ijaya said it is still like a dream to him that he is now a widower, having lost Fitila to postpartum-related issues in March 2025.

He said it started in September 2024 when he was called from the office to come back home as Fitila who had given birth to their third child in May (four months back) was behaving in a funny way.

“My wife had our third child in May 2024 and she didn’t show any sign of stress until September 2024 when I was called from the office because she was mumbling incoherent words and her blood pressure (BP) was very high,” Ijaya said.

“She started doing things she normally wouldn’t do like talking to herself while saying she was tired of her children including the four-month-old baby because they were stressing her.

“Fitila also couldn’t sleep and within the space of 24-hours, she had become a shadow of herself as she lost weight because she refused to eat.”

On his next line of action, Ijaya said he was utterly confused as people kept saying that his wife was suffering from what is called “abi siwin” in Yoruba and that it happens after child birth.

He explained that he didn’t really understand what people meant because his wife didn’t suffer such after giving birth to their first two children.

“I called our doctor who referred us to a specialist and on getting there, we were told that she was going through postpartum, which can affect women even after giving birth to their third or fourth children,” Ijaya said.

“The specialist started treating her and within a few days, Fitila got better and became her normal self again and nobody would have believed that she just experienced postpartum.”

On how she eventually died of postpartum-related issues, Ijaya said his wife suffered a relapse in February 2025 and passed away in March 2025.

“This time around in February 2025, it was worse as it appeared that Fitila didn’t even recognise anyone again including me and the children,” he said.

“I was even scared to leave the children alone with her as she was always shouting on them, including the baby whom she accused of stressing her.

“She even refused to feed the baby and then, we went back to the hospital for treatment. However, her condition barely improved until she died in March 2025.”