Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Today a baby was born
It was beautiful day in Cape Town today, and nice to feel a real summer temperature again, with cloudless blue skies, and not a breath of wind. But it took awhile for me to register the fact.I was woken up this morning to a minor emergency – minor in that most women in the world go through it at some stage, but major enough for me to get very sweaty palms!
A very pregnant lady, Zoliswa, was braiding Lenny’s hair yesterday and stayed over last night instead of travelling all the way back to Khayelitsha. This morning she told us that during the night she had felt the first labour pains. And so I was designated to drive her as quickly as possible to the Mowbray Maternity Clinic.
I had no desire to get stuck on the M5, delivering a baby with a mobile phone stuck to my ear! Both my boys were delivered by Caesarean Section, so I wouldn’t know where to start! So I just made sure I negotiated my through the traffic with as few bumps and starts – that was definitely the most simple part of it all.
I was just amazed at the strength of this lady. She endured the pain, and it was a struggle that I could see, but gritted her teeth with silent resolve. The power of the African Mama.
We arrived in time and she was pushed to the front of the queue, after only a brief delay, and disappeared straight to the labour ward, leaving me sitting with lots of panting mothers in various stages of labour... It was quite daunting.
We heard this afternoon that she had given birth to a little girl, some three hours later. Twas close!
