It was about 3am and I woke up with terrible pain on the left side of my stomach. I was by that time about 4 months pregnant and my thoughts instantly went to the baby growing inside me. That connection they say you get with your child and how instantaneous it can be, I felt it. For the whole of my terrible health journey, although I worried about my health, I always put it aside for the child growing in me. Is the baby ok? Will be one of my constant questions.
What happens when you get up that early in the morning with that kind of pain in Freetown, Sierra Leone? Is there an equivalent of 911? What do you do? I am sure many people of course have the worst in mind because we have heard the horror stories about our healthcare system, even worse so if you are a pregnant woman. Our maternal mortality rate is one of the worst, I am sure you’ve heard, so as a pregnant woman, with a terrible stomach pain in the wee hours, in one of the worst countries to give birth in, I was worried. I have always been someone who thinks rationally though. I knew this pain was not normal. I have a very HIGH tolerance for pain, so if this woke me up, I knew it was not normal. I went to my partner and told him and said I need to go to the hospital right away. He of course like many others, was wondering how that would be possible at this time of the morning.
This was at a time that Sierra Leone actually had a curfew from 11pm to 6am due to the COVID pandemic. There was no way we could call a transport or even go out on the street in hopes to get one. I thought about one of the better hospitals in Freetown and remembered that they have an ambulance service and my insurance with my job covered me to get coverage at that hospital. So, I called the hospital. They picked up almost immediately, but as soon as they found out that I was pregnant, they immediately told me that they do not accept pregnant women because they don’t provide that service and wished me luck.
I started racking my brain for the next option. I thought about the emergency line ambulance and although I know how to call for the service, I had doubts like many people in and out of Sierra Leone on whether the service worked well. I remembered though one of the most trusted young men who helps me out was an ambulance driver, on top of the million other things he did. He frequently spoke to me about how people distrusted the service and I was even helping him put together a sensitization for different communities to learn about the service and trust it. Ambulances also have a bad rep in Sierra Leone, due to the Ebola epidemic, when people just saw them come into their communities to take away their loved ones never to be seen again. I thought to myself, I can’t be this hypocritical and not trust this service I am helping this guy sensitize on and not use it, plus also there were no other options.
I called 117. They picked up almost immediately and I told them I need an ambulance. Just like a 9-1-1 operator, they took me through a series of questions to gather the state of my emergency. They also took my contact number, name and address and told me the ambulance would be there soon, that the closest one was at King Harmman road, which was about 5 mins from where I lived and I was happy. It took them about 15-20 minutes to get there though, which I hear is a good average ambulance arrival time.
As soon as they arrived, the female medical professional slowly helped me into the back and my partner climbed in. She began hooking me up to the bed, took my blood pressure and started asking me a bunch of questions again, while I heard the driver on the phone with headquarters. They asked me which hospital I wanted to go to and I told them this private hospital because I didn’t want to go to any government hospital (given the horror stories again). I heard the driver arguing with the person on the other line that I asked to be taken to that hospital and the person on the other line saying they can’t take me there, but to the approved hospitals and the one for me was clear across town in east end. Fear gripped me. I haven’t heard good things about THAT hospital. Then I heard the question I’ll keep hearing a lot for the next week: “e day shake shake?” Literal translation: “Does it shake?”
I was confused. So I asked “what? What do you mean?” She clarified and asked whether I’ve felt the baby moving. I told her, I didn’t think I had reached that stage and she looked worried and said that with the amount of weeks I should have already began to feel the “shake shake.” The driver interrupts us and tells us that we have to go where they said and what did I want to do. My partner looked at me worriedly and all I wanted at that time was some help. Even if it wasn’t the best help. So I closed my eyes and said “ok leh we go” (Let’s go).
The ambulance took off and I was in for a wild ride…
To be continued Pt.2
Salone Creatives 
Leave a comment