Ify’s Kitchen discusses her 9-year struggle with infertility.

Nigerian food content creator Ify’s Kitchen has opened up about her deeply personal experience of enduring nine years of infertility, shedding light on the emotional challenges and societal pressures she faced during this time. In a recent interview on the Terms and Conditions podcast, she candidly discussed the psychological distress that accompanied the lengthy journey of waiting for a child.

Ify emphasized the impact of societal expectations and the stigma often attached to infertility, sharing how these factors added to her emotional burden. Her story not only highlights the struggles many face in similar situations but also serves as a source of inspiration and support for others navigating similar challenges.

She remarked, “It wasn’t the best at all and one thing that really messes with you during the waiting period is you have no idea. It’s a different thing if someone comes to you to tell you that you’d give birth after seven or eight years but you have no clue.”

Initially, Ify and her husband intended to enjoy their first year of marriage without the immediate pressure of starting a family. However, by the second year, they began to question their situation. “My husband and I planned to just chill for the first year and not try for kids but by the second year we were like, ‘Wait a minute, isn’t it supposed to be very easy?” she added.

She recounted how their anxiety grew over time, and the prolonged wait adversely affected her mental and emotional well-being, leading her to feel as though God had forsaken her.

“It was very difficult, second-year people were like it’d happen but by the third year, I didn’t know what was happening. It was really really hard and then you’d see people talking about women giving birth after 20 years,” said Ify.

She concluded, “I remember seeing a comment somewhere that read, ‘Those of you who give birth easily don’t know what God has done for you, God loves you.’ I was like, ‘God really hates me,’ and it wasn’t directed at me, I wept at work that day and asked God what I had done and why he doesn’t love me.”