Double pain for mother with ailing child

By Kiplang’at Jeremiah

When a baby is born, the mother’s joy knows no bounds as she savours the moment of bringing life into the planet.

Even the excruciating labour pains are forgotten.

It is normal for the mother to have abundant rest to recover after nine tiring months of carrying the baby and the painful finale of bearing it.

Mrs Eldah Oseko and her 11-month-old baby Faith Bosibori during the interview.

Mrs Eldah Oseko is a stranger to this much important and anticipated rest. Eleven months after giving birth to Faith Bosibori, she is still in seemingly never-ending tribulations that have seen her travel from Kisii to Nairobi to seek help for her daughter.

Faith is oblivious of the pain her mother has gone through. But she is happy and generous smile in her face speak of an abundant inner joy.

Unequalled joy

When labour pains were over and Faith arrived, there was unequalled joy for everyone from the village midwife to all who had gathered to receive her.

The mother’s delight had no sooner cooled down than she realised her newborn’s life was in danger.

After doing what most mothers would have done — breastfed her little baby and let her have a little sleep — she realised her Faith was not blessed with the functional part to obey long calls.

Eldah came to terms with this shocking realisation when, after hours of waiting, her daughter could not pass out any stool. The medical condition known as imperforate anus, means the baby had a blocked excreting part.

"I realised she was not able to dispose of any stool after I had breastfed her for some hours. I checked what the problem was but I could not make head or tail of it," said Eldah.

She quickly informed her husband, Mathew Oseko, who in turn suggested the baby be taken to a nearby clinic for check-up.

"We did not have any money but we sought assistance from a nearby clinic for our new born," said Eldah when she spoke to The Standard.

The family, which could not afford the maternity fees and had resigned to receive their newborn at home was now forced to think outside the box to save their girl.

No let up

They rushed the baby to Nyacheki Medical Centre in Gucha District. However, staff at the clinic were unable to treat the baby. They were referred to Kisii General Hospital.

"Though doctors at Kisii could not help us they suggested we travel to Kenyatta National Hospital," Eldah says.

But Eldah refused to give up.

"I was really weak and tired but I could not lay back and see my daughter die. I was ready to do anything though then we did not have money," Eldah says. It was at Kenyatta that Faith was diagnosed with an imperforate anus, a rare ailment among children. They were admitted and Faith eventually underwent an operation, where an artificial rectum was fixed through her stomach to aid in excretion.

The temporary artificial anus is what Faith has been using for the past 11 months and Eldah says it has helped her a lot.

"She does not have any problem in passing out faeces now," Eldah says.

Even with this improvisation, Faith is still in danger. The artificial pipe she is using is only meant to excrete fluids but as she approaches weaning, another pipe ought to be fixed or a full operation to open her natural anus undertaken.

Faith feeds only on breast milk but she has reached weaning stage and a solution has to be found before she is weaned.

"I cannot feed her with any solid food because they might cause problems in passing out," she says.

The operation that gave Faith a rare ray of hope, cost Sh15,000.

They were eventually discharged from Kenyatta after few weeks but were to report monthly for doctors to check on the progress of the baby.

"Doctors told us to take her back once in a month to check on her progress. We have been making visits every month since we were discharged," Mr Oseko muses.

Dysfunctional heart

Faith was not admitted because her family could not raise the Sh50,000 demanded by the hospital to avoid the monthly visits of the hospital.

At Kenyatta, doctors also realised Faith had a dysfunctional heart. This has not been treated because the family could not afford to pay for a heart surgery.

"We were told she had to undergo heart surgery some months after her rectum fully opens," Eldah says.