A Day of Firsts

The long wait was over, I was going to become a mum. Since I had refused to check the gender, I was going to find out my baby’s gender.

I was in the house when my water broke and going by my mum’s facial expression I knew that the day had finally come. We rushed to the hospital I was attending my antenatal clinics and they immediately wanted to book me for a caesarian section because my shoe size was small. My mum could not let that happen without even trying the normal way and that is how I ended up at a public hospital.

The place was so crowded, there were queues everywhere and going by the stories I had heard about delivering in a public hospital and how rude the nurses were I was so scared.
We got to the maternity ward and I got more scared when I saw how different women were going about their kanungo dance.

It was a day of firsts but I cried and hugged my dad when I discovered that I was going to share a bed with three other women in pain. I could not believe it!
If you have ever visited a patient or you have been admitted, you know how small the hospital beds are. The thought of three women in labor sharing the same bed did not make any sense to me.
My folks tried to get a better deal for me and I was told that I was lucky to get a bed space because one of the nurses was our neighbor. Many other women did not have bed space so they were on the floor.

It was either a caesarian section at an uncrowded facility or normal delivery at a crowded facility. My mum’s mind was made up despite the situation on the ground and all efforts to convince my dad otherwise were futile.

I sat at the edge of the small bed sobbing and watching the activities in the room. The way the nurses handled the patients was not as I had expected. They were all friendly and very helpful so with time I stopped crying. I got so comfortable and started chatting with my bedmates. I only remembered that I was in a strange place when food was served but I am not going to talk about food today.

My time came and I was blessed with a baby girl a few minutes to 9.00 PM. It was a normal delivery, the nurses were very helpful and never used the rude words I had previously heard about, the doctor was friendly. I passed out and when I woke up, I found myself in a private room with a better bed and this time, I was alone on the bed. A nurse walked in smiling, asked me how I was feeling and went to fetch me a glass of cocoa. Two cups of cocoa and a slice of bread later, another nurse walked in with my baby.

Early the next day, another nurse came and asked for my NHIF card and came back with the bill, Ksh. 614. My dad had to check with the accounts office again because the deal was too good to be true.

I not only went home with my bundle of joy but with a different perspective of public hospitals.