On Saturday 9th November, 2019 I went to the market and started feeling weak then I blacked out. I called the doctor to explain the situation to him and he advised me to go home and rest which I did on Saturday and Sunday and I felt better. Prior to Saturday’s event at my last antenatal consultation on Friday in the hospital (somewhere in Lekki Phase1), the doctor told me that if by Monday 11th November, 2019 I didn’t go into labour that I should come to the hospital to be induced.
On Monday 11th November, 2019 at 9:50pm I was delivered of a baby girl. When the baby was born, she came out crying but pale. I told the nurses that she wasn’t crying well, the nurses called the doctor’s attention to her pale skin then they started to suction after which some mucus came out then she was placed on oxygen because she was having difficulty breathing and we were moved to the recovery room. It was believed she had mucus in her system from the birth canal and the oxygen would help dissolve it.
On Tuesday 12thNovember, 2019 around 10am, the doctor came to check up on us, the nurses explained to him that the baby was still in distress, he then contacted the HMO and gave a feedback that because their paediatrician was unavailable there were two paediatricians we could contact. One was in Surulere and is available from 9am to 5pm while the other one was in Awoyaya and was only available from 5pm. We opted for the doctor in Parklande Specialist Hospital, Surulere so we were discharged that morning and we went to Surulere with the baby and a referral letter. When we got to Surulere, a test was carried out on the baby, she was placed on oxygen and drip then my blood sample was taken to ascertain the type of blood that would be used for transfusion on the baby. The doctor told us that an X-ray would be needed for the baby but because she was in a delicate state and the X-ray would not be carried out in their hospital he wouldn’t be able to do it at that time.
At around 6pm on the same day, the nurse in charge of the NICU said we could go home and come back the next day which we did as I needed to rest.
On Wednesday 13th November, 2019 at around 10:30am my husband got a call from the hospital that our attention was needed because the baby was in critical condition and he told them we were on our way. We got to the hospital around 12pm and we were told that our baby passed on at 9:50 that morning. We asked to know the cause of death and the doctor explained that based on diagnosis it was congenital pneumonia and intra-tracheal haemorrhage and the secondary cause could not be ascertained. He suggested that a post-mortem could be carried out but they didn’t have the facility for that. We decided against that because it was going to take time and resources which we were not prepared for.