I couldn’t tell the exact time but I knew it was past midnight; I had been in painful labour for over five hours and just when baby finally arrived, the first thing I heard was “Rush baby to NICU now!”
Baby was shown to me, he made a weak faint sound, I confirmed he was a boy, spotted a few key features and even before I could ask what exactly happens at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), he was whisked away.
That was definitely not the kind of happy ending I had read about or heard other mothers talk about.
“Once baby is placed on you after delivery, you will forget all the hours of pain you went through”
“Oh the sound of your baby’s cry will melt your heart”… these were a few of the things I had heard some mothers say but there I lay on the labour bed, after hours of extremely painful contractions, baby was here, very beautiful baby but no sound of cry , no skin to skin bonding.
One of the midwives asked if she could stitch my tear immediately which I agreed to and, although I felt severe pains from that procedure, I neither moved nor asked her to slow down. My mind kept wandering…“where have they taken my baby? What is happening there? Why didn’t he cry?”
A few minutes later the nurse who rushed him out returned and I asked her if baby was fine or had cried. She replied in the affirmative, adding that, they were just monitoring him overnight. But I later realised she wanted me to relax after my stressful labour.
Confused
I had heard about NICU from the lady (now a sister) I shared the side ward with. She had an emergency Caesarean Section at 36 weeks and her baby was admitted at the NICU.
All I knew was she visited her baby a number of times to breastfeed –that was it, I had no idea what happened there, how the place looked or what it meant to have your baby at NICU.
I had an uneventful pregnancy; no severe symptoms, no hospitalisation and even travelled all the way to an Asian country without experiencing any difficulties.
I was regular at my antenatal appointments, joined a pregnancy class, took my medications religiously and downloaded a number of pregnancy tracking apps.
At 38 weeks and five days, my Obstetrician advised we did an induced labour as my Blood Pressure (BP) was playing up at my last appointment. Although not alarming, it was higher than my usual readings and once we had passed 38 weeks, he felt it was okay to deliver baby.
Back to ward without baby
About two hours later, I returned to my ward and my roommate who was disappointed I didn’t return with the baby sort of confirmed what the nurses had earlier told me.
“ Oh I know a lady whose daughter was at NICU for the night and was brought to her in the morning after routine check-up, don’t worry, baby is fine”
This was around 4 am, and I couldn’t wait for morning. I relaxed a bit, had a hot bath and returned the numerous missed calls from my husband and mom.
They both sounded worried when I told them baby was still with the “Nurses” but I assured them he was fine.
My roommate told me the NICU opened at 9 a.m for mothers. I just couldn’t wait to see my baby.
By 8 a.m, a few family members and close relatives had heard I had delivered and the congratulatory messages had started flowing. I even requested for “mori koko” (corn porridge) from Awo, a close friend who lived not too far from the facility.
I was in very good spirit and couldn’t wait to go carry my son from the NICU.
At exactly 9 a.m., I followed my roomie who was a ‘pro’ to the unit. Our ward was on the second floor and the NICU on the third floor. As I climbed the stairs (don’t know why I ignored the elevator) I felt slight pain but I was too anxious and excited to slow down.
On arrival, we saw other mothers at the entrance waiting to see their babies. At a quarter past 9 , the door was opened and I followed what everyone else did; dropped personal belongings at the security (thankfully I went there with only my mobile phone which I slipped into the pocket of my overall), washed hands with soap and water and walked into the corridors leading to the three cubicles.
I was greeted to loud beeps from machines in the various cubicles and being a “new comer” I introduced myself to the nurses who showed me where my baby was.
I entered the first cubicle and the beeps were louder with babies on different machines, immediately my heart began to pound. I began to slow down as I got closer to the cot I was directed to, I recognised the curly hair and moved closer and, by his cot was the inscription: “ BABY EVELYN – NOVEMBER 13, 2017- BIRTH WEIGHT: 3.5 KG – DIAGNOSIS : SEVERE BIRTH ASPYXIA,(Google it, that’s the first thing I did when I Ieft the NICU)