CSI Uganda Maternal Health Advocate: Surviving pre-eclampsia and how preterm birth changed her life

Motherhood has been a sweet and bittersweet journey! The sweetness started in 2014 with the birth of my first child. The pregnancy was not complicated and the birth was not like what I thought. I was in labor for about 10-15 minutes and there he was! All the experiences that people had told me; my friends had shared with me about how scary and hard labor was, I didn't really experience that, and I thank God. Yes, the pain was there, but my baby came as an easy child. Raising him was a little bit challenging because I didn’t have my mother by my side; and usually in our culture after a woman gives birth, she will go back home so that her mother nurses her during the postpartum period. I never got all those privileges because I lost my mother in 2012, so it was "do it yourself all the way". I had to learn through experimenting a lot with my first baby. I remember not even knowing how to shower him the first time, it's a neighbor that came and told me, "Eh, you have to shower the baby! You came back yesterday, you didn’t shower the baby, maybe that's why he's crying." So it was mostly joint effort from myself and well-wishers around me that helped me to raise my first baby. It was a bit challenging but because I was not working during that time, I had the opportunity to attend to my baby until he was about one year and a half; that's when I started working. I went through the whole process with him and I learnt a lot from him. There are a lot of ups and downs being a first-time newborn mother!
 
The second pregnancy was a little bit more challenging than the first--the bittersweet! I was pregnant in the middle of a global pandemic, working full-time and managing other responsibilities at home and in my community. During my pregnancy, I developed severe pre-eclampsia and I was not fully aware about the risks and how it affected my unborn baby. My feet were very swollen, I was not feeling well, and it resulted in an emergency C-section (Caesarian section) birth of my daughter before 40 weeks gestations. Compared to my first child, the birth of my daughter was different. Reflecting on the pain and entire ordeal of a C-section birth, I do not know how healthy low-risk pregnant woman can opt for a C-section without first trying natural birth. I believe natural birth is the easiest: I think it’s the best way to give birth if there’s no risk for mom and baby. The incision from the surgery was so painful and because of the severe pre-eclampsia, I gave birth preterm; my baby had to come early in order to save her life and mine. After the birth of my daughter, I had to be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for over a month for continuous monitoring and medical care. I thank God that I have sailed through till now and that I am able to hold and mother my two children. Today, Hollie, is almost seven months, still breastfeeding, growing well, and we are grateful that she has no preterm complications. Unlike with my son where I had the opportunity to stay home for a long time and take care of him, with the birth of Hollie, I had to go back to work after the end of my three months maternity leave. Leaving a preterm baby that early was not easy but I was getting a lot of support from my husband; from my sisters and my brother who came in and supported me and looked after the baby. Also, COVID-19 came as a blessing in disguise! My sister gets to work from home and take care of my baby when I am at work. It’s not been easy balancing going to work while caring for a preterm baby, but I am sailing through taking one day at a time.

As a long-standing and active team member of Childbirth Survival International in Uganda, I have always been involved in grassroots level work to improve maternal and child health literacy, health service access, and support pregnant women make timely and informed decisions. I didn’t know, I would suffer from pre-eclampsia! After experiencing it and surviving, I am compelled to share my story and help many more pregnant women in Uganda learn about pre-eclampsia, encourage them to seek and receive quality maternal health care, and have a supportive network to increase chances of a positive pregnancy and birth outcome.  

Click here to read Brenda Matama's story.

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Brenda Matama, pregnant with Hollie, educates 300+ pregnant women in Wakiso, about safe motherhood, importance of delivering with a skilled birth attendant to save lives, and direct link between maternal health and newborn health.