Kambua opens up about emergency C-Section experience with first child
Kambua opens up about emergency C-section experience with first child
Kambua Manundu – Mathu, renowned Kenyan gospel singer and media personality, has shared her deeply personal experience of undergoing an emergency caesarean section (C-section) during the birth of her first child, Nathaniel.
“I knew we were having a son. I did everything I could to protect myself,” she said on her YouTube channel, reflecting on her pregnancy journey.
Kambua said everything seemed normal until one fateful day when she attended a friend’s funeral.
“During the service, I felt uncomfortable and somewhere towards the end, I went home. That evening I told my husband that I hadn’t felt the baby move that day. The baby had been quiet,” she said, expressing her growing concern.
Despite attempts to stimulate the baby’s movement with various methods, including drinking Ribena and eating an apple, there was no response.
“I had a feeling that something was wrong,” Kambua admitted.
The couple rushed to the hospital, where they were met with a tense atmosphere.
“They put me in one of the observation rooms. The trainee nurse could not feel the heartbeat and they were busy whispering to each other. I felt like my heart was going to stop at any moment,” she recalls.
When a faint heartbeat was detected, the doctors advised an immediate delivery, even though Kambua was only 34 weeks pregnant.
Nathaniel was born prematurely and had to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“When I think of my experience as a new mother, I get chills. I felt inadequate,” confessed Kambua.
Initially unable to hold her newborn son, Kambua expressed feelings of shame and vulnerability.
“I couldn’t hold him; I could only touch him through the incubator. He weighed 1.65 kg at that time,” she revealed.
In her message to other mothers, Kambua urged kindness and empathy, and discouraged the culture of comparison and judgement.
“There is so much shame among women who have had emergency caesareans. Having recovered from a C-section, I can confirm that it is so hard on the body. Whether you favour or have had a C-section, you are a good mother,” she insisted.
She also thanked the NICU nurses for their support during this difficult time.