I am yet to experience or hear of mothers who have experienced a painless child delivery process. Giving birth is one of those experiences where you come face-to-face with physical pain. The difference is that the circumstances are different with each child and the medical attention given. My very first experience was one I would prefer never to go through again or even remember. I knew that giving birth to my first child was going to come with pain, and I didn’t know what to expect through the whole process. But I didn’t expect it to be a painful torture where I was in labor for 20 hours with very slow and unprofessional medics at a private hospital.
As I shouted out with every painful contraction, I promised myself I would never get pregnant again. All women who have been through this experience probably know that this is a huge lie. It’s the pain “speaking,” not the sane ‘you.’ I forgot my promise shortly after receiving my little girl. She was beautiful, angelic, and adorable. She was the most precious thing I had ever held in my hands. I couldn’t believe a human had come out of me, but yes, it was true. God had blessed us with a bouncing baby girl.
Being a first-time mother comes with so much learning on the job. You receive all sorts of advice and counsel from friends and relatives alike. One of the assurances that I was given was that breastfeeding is a form of family planning. Alas, six months down the road, I was shocked to discover that I was two months pregnant with my second child, even when I was breastfeeding my firstborn child. I was devastated, to say the least. This was not only because my baby was still young and I was still learning how to be a super mother, but also because the delivery experience was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t believe that I was going to experience the pain and the agonies once again.
One of the strategies I devised to make sure that I didn’t go through the same painful delivery experience was to change hospitals for my antenatal care and delivery. I called Brenda, my matron, and shared the news about expecting another child during that time. After she had taken me through the calming talk to help me understand that children are a blessing from God, she agreed to take me around to look for a different hospital. If you have gone through the scouting phase you know that it’s not a pleasant experience. Almost every hospital has negative stories about what went wrong during the delivery process. If it’s not doctors who are quick to carry out C-sections, it’s over bleeding mothers or newborns developing complications during the delivery. I remember this one hospital we had settled for only to see a cleaner rush in to gossip with a colleague about twins who had just died shortly after birth.
My matron asked me to check out the new Mulago Specialized Women and Neonatal Hospital, which we reluctantly did. The first impression after we reached the hospital was far from what I expected. The premises were clean, and the whole ambience was welcoming. My first interaction was with a friendly Dr. Nuwagaba who was far from the tired and overworked government doctors. He explained to me how the entire process works. By the end of the conversation, I was convinced that my search had ended and that we were settling on Maternity and Neonatal Hospital Mulago, a choice that didn’t cross my mind to begin with. All this was because of the negative attitude I had toward government hospitals and the services the doctors offered.
Fast forward: I walked in after getting my first few contractions, and I was moved to a labor suit that had a full-time nurse. Nurses worked in shifts, and the whole time they would check in to monitor the progress of labor. When the nurses determined that I was due, the doctor arrived shortly after and did a final checkup. At around 11 p.m., the midwives on duty saw me through as I delivered my baby boy. An hour or so later, we were transferred to the luxurious private room, where I was discharged two days later.
This was quite a different experience from my firstborn. The services were excellent, the after-delivery care was top-notch, and all this from a government hospital. While all this comes at a cost that is not far from a private hospital, it’s all worth the money. I truly believe it was a good strategy for the government to offer an excellent service at market value so as to be able to get the funds to subsidize those who couldn’t afford the service. The hospital is well serviced with very good equipment and staff.
Without doubt, my experience might be quite different from that of a mother in a general ward with a single doctor working on several mothers. We all know that the government’s coffers are stretched, with many needs competing for service delivery. Offering splendid private medical care in government hospitals can help raise the much-needed resources to effectively run the hospitals. This can improve medical care for the entire hospital, as the government will now have enough resources to run it. If you are looking for an excellent place to unwrap your bundle of joy with value for your money, try out the Women’s Hospital at Mulago National Referral Hospital Mulago. A private wing of the hospital exclusively for mothers and newborns, Mulago Specialized Women and Neonatal Hospital.
