Healthy Birth Around the World: Nakuru, Kenya

Mercy was my very first Lamaze childbirth student. My team of Lamaze Associates and I hadn't started teaching regular classes yet, so my colleague Susan Kamau and I met with Mercy in her home for private lessons.Mercy's mother Esther is a long time friend of Susan. Esther is actually one of four women from Free Area neighborhood that Susan has been mentoring for several years now as part of our ministry with TheNavigators. Susan and Esther meet weekly to pray, read the Bible and discuss business skills. Esther is a single mom who sells fruit in downtown Nakuru to support Mercy and her three little siblings at home.When Esther learned of Mercy's out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the news was devastating. Susan helped Esther greatly on the journey to forgive her daughter and in her choice to embrace and support both Mercy and the new grandchild.On my first visit to talk with Mercy about preparing for childbirth, she was eight months pregnant. I found her bent double mopping the floor with a rag. Wow, you are strong, girl! I exclaimed. She straightenedher petite frame and grinned.In our meetings with Mercy and Esther, we tried to summarize all we had learned about Lamaze childbirth preparation. They both gained confidence as they practiced labor positions and Esther learned to push on Mercy's back.As the labor began one night, the mother and daughter went to a new maternity clinic near their home. The nurses let Susan and I join them the next morning. We walked, danced and sang to help work out the baby.But the labor did not progress normally. Contractions slowed to 15 minutes apart and the baby's head never descended into the pelvis. Because Mercy has such a petite frame, and because she had no idea of her exact due date, the nurses were concerned about a possible cephalo-pelvic disproportion. They transferred Mercy to the largest government hospital downtown.At the big hospital, I begged the head nurse to let Esther stay with Mercy. She has been trained to help her daughter, I said. They are ready. And that girl needs her mom. The nurse refused. Hospital policies are strict and there is no room in the overcrowded labor ward for coaches.As we bid Mercy farewell, I told her that she was not alone because God was with her. But I left with a heavy heart. A C-section seemed inevitable. And I grieved that even Esther had to leave her daughter alone when she needed the support most.That night, Esther couldn't sleep. She paced around her two room home and pleaded with God. Two funerals in her extended family had drained Esther's finances completely dry. She had no idea how she would pay forthe delivery of this baby at all. And a C-section? "No Lord, I refuse! She will not have C-section!" Esther prayed.Back at the big government hospital, Mercy was given an Oxytocin drip to increase her contractions. She was not offered any medication for pain. But she knew from our training that continuing to walk, breathe anddance would help the baby descend.She danced slowly up and down the overcrowded labor ward hallway gripping her IV stand with one hand and she rubbing on her own back with the other hand. In between contractions, she sang to herself the commonSwahili chorus, Iende mbele njili, ee (May the gospel go forward.) That morning, she and I, Esther and Susan had changed the words of the second verse to be: Ziende mbele uchungu ee& zinaleta mtoto mzuri.(May the contractions continue& they bring a wonderful baby.) Mercy sang her song over and over. She didn't care if the other mothers and nurses thought it was odd. And she never really felt afraid."Some of the other women in labor were panicking around me," Mercy said later. "They would shout out in pain and wouldn't get on the delivery table. A few times the nurses got so frustrated they shouted at thewomen or hit them. But no one shouted at me or hit me. They said I was a good girl."At about 3 AM, Esther got a phone call. It was Mercy. She had just delivered her baby naturally! Esther was so excited she shouted out loud. In the morning all the neighbors in her crowded row of houses wanted to know WHAT was the matter in the night. But she couldn't contain her joy.Mercy named her daughter Blessing. Esther says that this baby has been a blessing indeed. Mercy and Blessing still live at home with her mom and siblings.After the baby was born, they had to move from their two room house to a one room house, and that transition was hard. But they continue to love each other and work together to help family ends meet. Mercy helps out at her brother and sister-in-law's house on most weekdays. They live in the same neighborhood and have a baby girl, Jeska (pronounced Jessica) who is almost the same age as Blessing. The "twin cousins" are fast friends and are about eight months old how. Because Mercy babysits, Jeska's mom can continue to work as a seamstress in downtown.