def first_row_check(header):
    """This function checks whether there is a column in header row
    spanning multiple subcolumns under the same category. 
    If there is such a column this function will reapeat the header element
    for each one of the corresponding subcolumns.
    
    ARGS:
        header (bs4.Tag): The bs4 Tag object being analyzed.
        
    RETURNS:
        cells (list): List of elements from bs4.ResultSet.
    
    """
    
    cells = []
    
    for elem in header.findAll(["th", "td"]):
        if elem.has_attr("colspan"):
            
            span = int(elem["colspan"])
            counter = 0 
            
            while counter < span:
                #pprint(vars(elem))
                cells.append(elem)
                counter += 1
        else:
            cells.append(elem)
    
    return cells