Woman did not expect to give birth inside bus

Ms Beatrice Kwamboka holds her grandchild at Makindu Hospital on August 28, 2017. Her daughter gave birth inside a bus. PHOTO | PIUS MAUNDU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Inside the bus, she was assisted by female passengers to deliver the baby

While boarding a bus from Nakuru to Mombasa on Saturday night, the least Ms Elizabeth Nekesa expected was to give birth on the way.

“As we approached Nairobi, I started experiencing pains that intensified as we left the city,” the 19-year-old recalled during an interview with Nation at Makindu Hospital in Makueni County on Monday.

A supply chain management student at Coast Institute of Technology in Mombasa, Ms Nekesa was going back to college. But she did not get to her destination.

LABOUR PAINS
Instead, she spent the weekend at Makindu hospital where she was admitted on Saturday night after giving birth to a baby boy inside a Modern Coast Express bus.

Mother and son were discharged Monday.

Although she refused to be photographed, the first-time mother was excited, recalling how her journey to Mombasa ended up at the maternity ward.

“I did not see it coming,” she said, referring to the labour pains.

“Otherwise, I would have delayed the journey back to college.”

NO CHARGES
Inside the bus, she was assisted by female passengers to deliver the baby, Ms Nekesa said.

Her mother, Beatrice Kwamboka, who had been by her daughter’s bedside since Sunday, said she was shocked to learn that the 19-year-old had delivered before reaching Mombasa.

“We are yet to find a name for the baby,” Ms Kwamboka said, adding that her grandchild would be named at their home in Bungoma County.

She thanked the bus managers for taking her daughter and grandchild to hospital and the hospital for not charging them.

THANK YOU
A statement posted by the bus company on its Facebook page confirmed that it took the cooperation of passengers and crew to see Ms Nekesa deliver safely.

“We would like to appreciate the patience and assistance of our customers and crew aboard our bus from Busia to Mombasa yesterday (Aug 26, 2017). Reg: KCF 615 U.

“One of the passengers went into labour and was successfully assisted to (a) safe delivery,” the statement, which that has generated over 8,000 reactions, reads in part.

REACTIONS
Some of the comments are in praise of the bus firm and the passengers for assisting the woman, while others are testimonies by some of the passengers who travelled alongside Ms Nekesa.

“I sat right behind the lady, and we were all proud to receive the new born,” Asa Omandi said.