Battle with infection

One woman’s ordeal after delivery

‘Mine was a normal delivery but the healing process-excruciating!’ exclaimed Judy, and I could almost feel the pain she underwent.

‘My pregnancy was enjoyable. I was very friendly, no mood swings, no nausea… and no pimples! My appetite was great and I ate healthy foods. As for cravings, sugarcane, boiled and roasted maize were my delicacies. If all pregnancies were like this, I wouldn’t mind being pregnant year in, year out,’ confessed Judy.

With such a smooth ride, her earnest prayers were to bear a healthy child and to deliver normally — prayers that the Lord answered, ‘but there was drama,’ she quickly interjected,

One day, during her 38th week at around 5:30am, Judy experienced the first signs of the baby’s coming -breaking of water. She reported to hospital at 11:00am but the baby came the next day at around 8:30am. Since her husband accompanied her to the labour ward, Judy says she was ‘pretty composed during labour’, quietly writhing in pain with minimal groans while tightly squeezing her husband’s hand.

‘It was in the final stages of delivery that I feared something was going wrong. I realized the doctor was neither giving me regular, sufficient instructions nor even chatting with the nursing team. When I said that I felt like pushing the baby, the only instruction he gave was “don’t push!”‘

‘I screamed back ‘but the urge to push is too strong, I’m pushing now!” He hadn’t even finished dressing up for delivery! I pushed once, twice and then he was ready to deliver the baby,’ recalls Judy. ‘I have never felt so helpless in my life. What should I be doing or not doing? I was clueless. I guess the paediatrician noticed my frustration. She softly, yet firmly said, “the next time there is a contraction, breathe in, then push — don’t talk, ok?’ “’Yes,* I responded.’

‘The doctor attempted to assist the baby out but to no avail. The next thing I felt was a long cut on my sore perineum. The sound compared to that of a tailor tearing apart a new material with his bare hands. I remember thinking, ‘did he just cut me?” but uttered no word. Something’s wrong, I said to myself. Fear grew in me as the doctor took close to an hour stitching.

‘Occasionally, I felt the needle pierce the skin, and the thread running through the flesh in all directions as though he was constructing a wire mesh. I twitched my eyes, clenched my teeth and grasped the bed as though that would take away the pain. As he worked on I wondered, Is this normal episiotomy? Never mind the fact that I didn’t know how an episiotomy is done.’

In her recovery bed, she was eagerly waiting for her friends to compare her experience with theirs but upon sharing, they laughed it off pointing that she was exaggerating. Five days later (back at home), when healing became elusive she knew something indeed was wrong

A visit to her gynaecologist resulted to weekly appointments and by the fourth week she sought a second opinion. The general symptoms were: a characteristic walking style (leaning forward, legs apart), difficulties in sitting down (so she breastfed while lying on her side), pus oozing along the perineum and “an itchy anus that drove me to tears.”

Two weeks of treatment with the new gynaecologist proved fruitless. ‘No amount of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs or suppositories reduced these symptoms, not to mention salt baths. The doctor informed my husband and I that I had to go to theatre for corrective surgery,’ shared a sad Judy.

‘That word ‘theatre’ triggered a myriad of fears, emotions, thoughts, and plans that clamored for my attention all at once. On one hand, anger towards the negligent doctor, fear of never waking up from theatre and on the other hand worry over the baby’s upkeep,’ continued Judy. For the baby, she planned to call her best friend to take charge-until she returned from hospital. At the background she could hear the receptionist booking the hospital theatre and the preferred anaesthetist.

‘This is one day I was grateful that my husband had accompanied me for the appointment,’ revealed Judy.

The procedure included cutting away all the old stitches, cleaning up (to form a fresh wound to facilitate faster healing), and re-stitching. The doctor found pockets of pus here and there, a stray stitch (which was a major contributor to the recurrent infection) and, of course, extensive tearing. Judy was loaded with more antibiotics and discharged after an overnight stay In the hospital.

‘By week eight, none of the symptoms had disappeared, said Judy, reliving that disappointment. The doctor advised that the pus be squeezed out manually (at the hospital) on alternate days and the same be cultured to determine what antibiotics should be administered. Luckily, the culture results were negative and in a week’s time the pus had cleared. Consequently, the symptoms started to diminish exactly three months after delivery and during review, the doctor declared Judy healed and the relief was evident as she recounted her story.

One year has passed since the ordeal and Judy’s major concern is the fact that she will be risking her health if she tries to deliver normally. “You have double scarring and I can’t guarantee a safe normal delivery. Consider Caesarean Section (CS) for any other baby to reduce the chances of fistula,’ was the advice the doctor gave her. ‘I consider this a warning, not advice’ says Judy. ’To this day, I find the thought of bearing another baby difficult. I’ll conceive, carry to term, but please find a way of delivering that baby — not normal delivery, and not through CS,’ she says with a tinge of worry and concern written all over her face ‘For now I am happy to have the grown bundle of joy.’

As we concluded this talk, I couldn’t help but salute all mothers for their resilience and hard work as they bring life to this earth.

END:PG46/28-29