Harrowing 16 hours that ended in woman losing newborn and uterus
Last Thursday, Joyce Adhiambo Omondi woke up to sharp labour pains, a signal that she was about to welcome her bundle of joy.
What was expected to be a smooth delivery, however, turned into an agonising 16-hour wait of medical attention that ended with the loss of the newborn and the loss of the mother’s uterus.
NEGLIGENCE
Things have since not been the same for Ms Omondi and her husband, who now blame hospital staff of negligence that resulted in what they claim was a botched delivery.
By the time she was being wheeled into the theatre at Siaya County Referral Hospital 16 hours later, the baby was long dead, with one of its arms protruding from the mother’s cervix.
It was a baby boy and would have been her fifth born. But she ended up not only losing him, but also her womb.
On the fateful morning, after going into labour, she carefully sat on a boda boda and headed to the nearby Sigomre health centre.
Her husband, Mr Caleb Omondi Obiero, a student at the nearby Mbosie Polytechnic had left home for classes.
WRITHING IN PAIN
At 9am, she arrived at the hospital, four kilometres from her home where she was received by a nurse who ushered her into the examination room.
“The baby was moving in the womb. I was taken into the examination room and was told the child was not lying in the right position,” she said.
This is how the long wait began as the expectant mother lay helpless in the maternity ward, writhing in pain for the next nine hours before being transferred to Siaya County Referral hospital.
Speaking to the Nation at her home in Got Osimbo on Wednesday, the distraught mother revealed that the baby started coming out while she was at Sigomre health centre.
“The baby was coming out with one hand emerging first and I arrived at Siaya County Referral Hospital with part of its body outside,” she said.
FAMILY ORDEAL
Moments after she arrived at the referral hospital, doctors at the facility announced that the child had died.
She says even in such a situation, she was wheeled to the theatre seven hours later – at 10pm. The doctors removed the dead infant through caesarean section, as well as her uterus on claims that it had ruptured.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Mr Obiero said he decided to post his family ordeal on social media to seek justice. The post, which went viral, attracted thousands of comments as outrageous netizens expressed sympathies for the couple.
County Health Executive Dorothy Owino confirmed that Ms Omondi visited the facility and was assisted by personnel at Sigomre.
She said that during monitoring, it was established that the baby was sitting in an abnormal position, hence a normal child birth would have been difficult.