Brian is born…

Well, my house girl Mary’s baby has finally been born…and thankfully, they changed the name, and really surprising in honour of my brother Brian…so the little boy’s name is Brian Fabulous (another indigenous name still to be determined) Chika! I thought it sweet of them to name him after my brother…and honestly it is after my brother, as they asked what my brothers names were and then decided they liked Brian best!

The baby boy was born 32 hours after her water broke…and from what I witnessed it must have been sheer hell! He weighed a very healthy 3.2 kgs, and after a few days of being a relatively “white” brown baby, he is getting his full brown pigment in all his extremities! Full head of hair and perfectly healthy, which also really surprises me with all the chaos that she went through having him.

Having seen a few births in my time, this one was by far the worst thing I have seen to date, and was concerned at some point that maybe it would have been best to have just had the baby at home, as the hospital provided very little in the way of support or assistance. The story is not pretty, so I will not give too many details, but what I saw really angered me about the “systems” in Nigeria….I have many times ranted about this country and how it operates, but the healthcare system truly is deplorable. I went with Mary to the hospital to help her, as her mom or sisters could not be there or I didi not want her to be alone for the first baby, and her husband Chika could not be there (this is normal as men aren’t even allowed in the maternity ward). From the minute we entered, we experienced complete chaos and inefficiency and total disregard for human life. Mary was immediately given a “bed” as she was in active labour, but before she could occupy the bed she had to first go down to the lab for test results and blood donations (this took us about 5 hours to do). However, if I go back to our first entering the maternity ward, there were 2 women giving birth on the dirty, nonsterile floor, as they could not afford the roughly 1000 naira ($6 usd) for the “bed”…I keep putting “bed” this way, as really you have to bring your own mat and sterile blanket to put on top of the basic cushion you are given to lie on…on top of the bed you have to bring, you also have to bring your own sterile gloves, mucous extractors, clamps, etc. (yes, everything you essentially need to help birth a healthy baby – the hospital does not provide any items and if you don’t bring them, you are not allowed to use a “bed”!!!). The room where the ladies deliver each has 4 “beds” and all were full with women in full labour (an average day at this hospital is 5 babies an hour – with one nurse on duty and no doctor!!!). Women are not allowed to have anyone help them with the birth, so they are completely alone, and told to labour silently (which, somehow they actually manage to do, all WITHOUT pain medicine!!!!). At the same time, in the room where Mary was given, in the fourth “bed” lay a woman who died in childbirth…they refused to move her because the family could not afford the money to pay for the removal of her body, so there she lay, while other women were right beside her giving birth as if it was no big deal. I felt really bad for Mary at this time as she was now even more scared for what was to come…on top of this, as so many women are giving birth basically at the same time, and there is only one nurse, the ladies cleaning the floors are then delivering the babies with their dirty hands…one poor woman was having to give birth in a bucket as there was nobody with free hands to help her out. As I was not allowed to stay in the room, I did not see the full conclusion to this, but I did hear a healthy, crying baby a few minutes later from her, so I assume babies born in buckets are healthy and normal! Fai and I left as it was late, and as we were not allowed back in the delivery area to stay there was no point in staying and one of Mary’s friend’s came to support from outside. From this point, Mary experience20 more hours of labour before Brian was finally born! After all this is over, you still have to pay for using the hospital (not very much, but still with more than 60% making less than a dollar a day, the $18 dollars is significant), plus you are sent home within 4 hours of giving birth!

Mary was fortunate as she has a job and ways to afford things, but many others don’t have the same opportunities as her. While at first I was getting very frustrated and angry that the nurses would not remove the ladies giving birth on the floor or the dead woman from her bed, but really I realized that it is just impossible to do anything, as they are so overworked as it is, and if they help one lady they have to do the same for everyone else that shows up at the hospital….so it really is the system and the politicians who are to blame for this mess.

Nigeria has the highest rate of infant mortality and mother mortality rate in the world!!! Yes, the world! 25% of all children die before their 5th birthday here…shocking, isn’t?!!?!?! No wonder WHO is here working! But also in this is that more than 75% of women do not give birth in hospitals, but at home, sometimes under the care of a trained midwife, but usually it is just a village lady who claims to be a mid wife. They use very dirty medical utensils (sometimes just wooden spoons, and burning logs to sever the umbilical cord)…so you can only imagine the types of infections the mother and baby get! But, this is really how it works in 60% of the world…not many people are as fortunate as us in the developed world to have good, working hospitals and qualified medical staff to support us, and be offered lots of drugs to assist : )

All in all, a crazy experience, but at least Mary and her baby are healthy. She is now reconsidering ever having another baby, as I think this scared her more than she thought. Tomorrow is the naming ceremony, and as the “Auntie” I have to give him an official second name…not quite sure what to choose as I really don’t know any local names, besides those of my drivers, and not sure I really want to name a baby Cola, Bimbo, Sunday, Monday, etc. SO, will have to come up with something unique at the very least!

I have just come back from mission, where I went to the north (again)…sharia law exists where I went, but not totally enforced, so not need for full body wrapping, just hair and legs. It was a great trip and really wish I had remembered my camera, as I got to visit the famous 4 thousand year old tie dye pits of Kano! I bought quite a bit of stuff, as it is really beautiful materials, so will try to get some photos of it, and then if anyone is interested in more of it, I will be back up there in a couple of weeks again!

Anyways, I hope all is well…and remember, I am home as of the end of June, and look forward to seeing everyone!

Bye for now,
Andrea