City residents help woman give birth outside Nation Centre

What you need to know:

  • A cleaner at Nation Centre who helped the woman, said she was leaving work when she heard people shouting.
  • Ms Atieno said she used her leso as others surrounded the car and covered it to ensure that the woman had privacy.
  • The taxi driver said he was shocked when he realised that the woman was delivering inside the vehicle.

A woman on Tuesday gave birth to a baby boy inside a taxi outside the Nation Media Group main offices in Nairobi.

Staff at Nation Centre said they were alerted by the taxi driver who stopped his vehicle and came seeking for help.

Ms Evelyne Atieno, a cleaner at Nation Centre who helped the woman, said she was leaving work when she heard people shouting.

At first, she said, she hesitated thinking there were thieves trying to rob people inside the car.

COVERED CAR

“But when I went, I found it was a woman giving birth. I quickly dropped my bags to assist her,” she said.

Ms Atieno said she used her leso as others surrounded the car and covered it to ensure that the woman had privacy.

As they were assisting her, a doctor and nurses from the Meridian Medical Centre, which is located on the 11th floor of Nation Centre, arrived to assist in the delivery. They had been alerted of what was happening by guards at the main entrance of the building.

STOMACH PAINS

A colleague of the woman said she had spent the whole day in office but in the evening she started complaining of some stomach pains.

“She told me she felt as if she was about to deliver. I was shocked and we started looking for a vehicle to take her to hospital,” said the colleague.

She added that she had requested for an Uber taxi to take them to Nairobi West Hospital but as they were near Nation Centre, her condition worsened.

“We had to stop the taxi driver and seek help,” she said.

WELL-WISHERS

The taxi driver, Mr Nelson Munene, said he was shocked when he realised that the woman was delivering inside the vehicle.

“I had to stop driving and allowed the doctors and nurses and other well-wishers to help the woman,” he said.

After delivery, the mother and the baby were given first aid at the Meridian Hospital.

They was later taken to Nairobi West Hospital using an ambulance called by the Meridian doctors.