MAMA IJAW!! MAMA IJAW!! YOU HAVE KILLED YOUR CHILD!! PT 1

Like a mother, she opens her arms to anyone who comes
Like an inn keeper, she would prepare a bed and a bath
All who spend a night in her inn have had testimonies or more
Natives of her land have so much faith in her powers or so
More respected than the man cloaked in white apparel
Gravid women throng into her bed in anticipation for a new suckling

But buried deep in her  backyard lies the skull and bones of many
Of children who never knew what if feels like to breath in oxygen
Of  mothers who's labor pains was next to unbearable for days
Mama Ijaw! Mama Ijaw! We know you mean us well
But you have killed your child and the baby of your child

Hehehe! Please spare my poem with no rhyming scheme, I thought about  a dramatic entrance to introduce to you traditional birth attendants and its effect on the health of the community. In the Ijaw land they are otherwise known as mama Ijaw. When ever this phrase is mentioned , I see myself painting a picture of a mean old woman, with her hair totally grey, holding a walking stick carved out of the branch of a guava tree. Her voice so feeble but her hands strong as she is known to massage vigorously any ailing part of the body. With my imaginations running a little too wild, she's a representation of the traditional herbalists and birth attendants in every society.

It was a calm call in the labor ward the other night, it seemed women in labor had decided to give us a break, especially after a very busy day with the number of patients we had to look after. I had hoped that somehow the night would remain calm as there were no emergencies to attend to. Until its was about 10 pm when suddenly a nurse came into the doctor's call room to inform us about an emergency just brought in. Quickly, I went out to see the emergency at this particular time of the night. The patient was seated at the waiting/ consulting area in severe labor pains. Each labor pain from what I perceived was dreadful,  one more unbearable than the previous. She appeared dehydrated, and exhausted all over. While my fellow House Officer was already on his way to inform the Registrar, a more senior doctor, a rush of adrenaline had filled my blood stream as I revved into emergency protocol. I had only asked two questions when it seemed apparent that she was eventually going to end up under the knife, "madam! Madam! When labor start?", I asked. Which much grimacing and waist holding and twisting on the chair, she said,"na yesterday". At the same time I was fixing a cannula into her veins and collecting some blood samples, I asked her,"which time yesterday?" "Around morning time eh". I was now getting troubled and worried. Luckily enough she had large visible veins and at a single thrust of the cannula needle, I got venous access and filled about two blood sample bottles. " Ehen madam! So you dey try yarn me say you dey labor pass one day so o. Where you come go since na?" I asked? " I be go native". She answered just the same time another contraction came on. Well, I guess she had no other options, but to tell us the truth and nothing but the truth, any information to alleviate her present torture. Luckily there were emergency materials available and while I was setting up the intravenous fluid (drip) to rush the first litre of fluid, the Registrar came in and swung into action, asked quick questions of which I paid keen attention to.

Turns out that mama Ijaw had used all sorts of herbal concoctions in her private part because the baby had refused to pass thought the mouth of her womb. Mama Ijaw had also done some series of tummy massages, which alone can be unsettling for a fetus yet to be called a baby, yet to be given a name.

The nurses had already taken the vitals of  this woman and her baby; her temperature was through the roof, a sign that she's already had some form of infection from Mama Ijaw's crude methods, her pulse rate was racing. The good thing so far was that her breathing pattern and her blood pressure was within normal range. The heart rate of the fetus was irregular, which to us spelt fetal distress. An sign which meant a myriad of possible conditions that could have happened or currently happening to the baby. From the stress of the uterus trying to push the baby out for so long, to problems that might arise from the placenta, which is the life support of the baby.

Other discoveries found out was that, she had never gone for antenatal care,where the well being of her and her baby would have been top priority, where risk associated with her pregnancy would have been picked up by the doctors then, the period of her delivery would have been predicted by calculations and hence she would have been well prepared for the delivery. This current emergency would have been avoided.

To be continued...