Life: Roller-coaster with a light at the end

Author: Angela Luyiga. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY 

What you need to know:

  • As one enters his or her senior 20s, their life decides to take a roller-coaster ride.

When you enter a dark room, often times you go into panic mood, yearning for a light and when you see one, oh the relief, the joy! Well, that’s me, that is how it’s been for quite some time.

Every year, I often wrote a piece on the eve of my birthday but age 26 was quite not the same. Well how could it, in the year 2022, as I entered my senior 20s, my life decided to take a roller-coaster ride. From getting married (yes, it is Mrs. Kyambadde to you now) on June 4, 2022 to having my daughter prematurely on July 15, 2022. I went from being the girl who asked her mother for permission to go out with friends to a married woman turned mum in less than a year. As if marriage is not a huge step on its own, right!

My mother says I love hospitals and thank God for health insurance because every small thing am always going to a health facility. True, I always felt need to utilize my insurance card because truth be told I rarely got sick. So, when I felt a headache on July 15, 2022, I decided to pass by Case Hospital given its proximity to my Kampala City workplace. I mean I was a pregnant woman even a headache is serious, I thought to myself.

When I reached Case, I proceeded to my gynecologist’s office who was doing a delivery at the time.  So, the nurse in his office recommended I do some tests as we wait for him. The tests showed some protein in the urine (this is one of the symptoms of preeclampsia). I wasn’t feeling too well so she recommended I get some drips in the treatment room as the gynecologist returned.

A few hours later, one look at my results and scans, and it was decided, the baby was to be born and I quote:

“The baby has to come out today,” my gynecologist kept emphasizing.

I was in disbelief, this my first time in hospital (antenatal) without my husband since he had gone to the field in Rakai District, almost 200kms away from Uganda's capital.

I remember telling the doctor, it is not possible, this isn’t my due date, and I went on and on about how I had just done a 3D scan that stated my baby was okay just the previous week.

Like any good wife, I called my husband and let the doctor speak to him.

“Whether you are here or not this baby is coming out today!” the doctor reiterated. 

The doctor- God bless him- walked me down to the basement where the Case Hospital laboratory is, and into the scan room. Medics, including the radiologist, showed me "that this baby looks tired" as they made me do all tricks to get the baby awake but all in vain."

I had already called my mum and as we stepped out of the scan room, my mother and auntie were the first people I set my eyes on. I could see the fear in their eyes. My mother, a usually bubbly woman, was awfully quieted as we took the elevator to the 4th floor where the labor ward was located.

The nurses at the labour ward were so nice to me, probably because they could see the fear that hugged me like a skintight jean. They asked me if I had anything for the baby and my answer was no since I thought I still had a month or two to prepare for the baby.

19:00 hours, I went into the operation room scared to the core. I always dreamed that my husband would be by my side during delivery. But here, into the labuor room only accompanied by my mother, auntie and a sister-in-law (my husband’s elder sister).

While I lay flat, waiting to be butchered, I met this amazing old man, the anesthesiologist, he prayed with me. I was glad he was Catholic like me and together we said the Our father and Hail Mary prayers in Luganda before he sedated me. Somehow, I felt lighter, he chatted me up and told me in case I felt anything, I just had to let him know.

A star is born

At 21:09 hours, Ariella-Elianna came into the world and as if to announce her presence, she wailed so loud in that all the people in the operation room laughed at how she commanded audience. At 1.16kgs, she was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), not to see her for the next two days.

When I got out of the operation room, I remember seeing my mum sitting in a corner, Ariella and I had reduced the strong matriarch into a feeble. I saw my husband smiling but I could see both the joy and fear in his eyes as he watched my body shake like a leaf in sheer post-anesthetic shivering.

We named her Ariella-Elianna, I say we because, my mum, sister-in-law (Ritah) and I brainstormed names and finally settled on those that suit her.

Ariella means lion of God while Elianna is the feminine version of her father’s name, Eriya and with a meaning that states, God has answered. At the time we needed hope that newly born little star would fight like a lion---in firm belief that God had willed all goes well; therefore, God has answered.

Indeed like the star she is, she was the first in the Case Hospital NICU, for the three weeks she was in, she was well taken care of, the midwives and pediatricians were so gracious and kind to us teaching and advising us and when time came to go home, the hospital profiled our journey and went ahead to even cover her entire bill, and even gave us gifts, tell me that isn’t a star.

You see Ariella is such a star that I can’t seem to narrate her entire story, from the sleepless nights to the scares to emotional breakdowns to prayers and yet I don’t regret any of it, would I do this again? Hell, no!

Age 26, still on the dark side of rollercoaster ride

July 29, 2022, the day I turned 26, my husband came to my parents’ home that morning, Ariella had just been discharged two days ago, bearing red velvet cake and pizza. If you know me, that is a combination, I love most. However, I wasn’t in that much of a celebratory mood. I honestly didn’t see anything to celebrate and whenever someone sent me a birthday message, I felt like ignoring it, because somehow it only added to my pain.

Fast forward, Ariella has since grown to be a beautiful healthy girl. We haven’t had any complications with her ever since we left the hospital. We continue to do regular monthly hospital visits but the Lord has been good to us for our girl has only suffered minor illnesses such as flue and colic.

To my girl (Ariella) when you grow up to become the amazing lady God created you to be, always remember how special you are. If you ever doubt how loved you are, know that you mean the world to so many of us.

You know how much I love you, and if anything, this article and so many more I plan to write for you will prove it. I have also seen how your father looks at you, so kid you not he loves you to the moon and back. Your Jajas in Bukoto (Kampala) are literally raising you, as your parents go to work during the day, you don’t know how much joy you bring them. The Jajas in Buloba love you too, so much they nursed you while you were so tiny. As for your Sengas, I can’t even begin, that’s a story of its own.

Oh my child, you are loved!

*The author, Angela Luyiga is a communications practitioner with a passion for feminism and social justice