There is a large gap between me and my baby sister in terms of age. Fifteen years to be precise. I later came to know that mum miscarried three times after having me and so when she was pregnant with my baby sister, she took extra care of herself.

She followed all the medical advice given at the clinics. As the months progressed, she asked for a few weeks off from work since the doctors had advised her on the need to be monitored closely to avoid the loss of yet another child. In the eighth month, she delivered a beautiful baby girl through underwent cesarean section. The new born child was named Patience.

At birth, Patience was okay, but as the days went by, she started developing complications. Often she would vomit, feel irritated, sleep a lot and even had downward deviation of the eyes.

The most distinct change in her however, was the increase in the size of her head. Upon taking her to hospital, it was discovered that she was suffering from hydrocephalus – a condition manifested by excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. This results in abnormal widening of spaces in the brain. The excess fluid puts so much pressure in the brain which ends up being damaged.

This news was a big blow to my mum. For days she sobbed uncontrollably. Nothing would calm her down. Not even my father. She had tried to get another baby for years yet when she finally succeeded; the bundle of joy came with so much pain.

Watching my sister cry in pain was terrible. With time, the reality began to sink in her that this was not going to end soon and she became stronger each day.

When my mum’s maternity was over, she got a nanny since she had to report back to work and I used to go to school. Someone had to be there to take care of Patience.

TAKING CARE OF PATIENCE

During the first few days, the nanny did her job quite well but then at some point she no longer took good care of Patience. Mum somehow realized this. She dismissed the nanny then went ahead to hire another one. The same case applied to the second and third nanny respectively.

All of the nannies, the second one who was the worst. She would beat and pinch Patience. One night as my mum was changing Patience’s diaper in preparation for bed, she noticed some scars on her tummy and thighs.

This raised her curiosity and she went ahead to study her entire body. She saw fresh marks of being pinched using finger nails. By this time Patience was about a year old. She couldn’t communicate. This meant mum had to find out the cause of all that on her own.

The nanny would confess that she was indeed the one behind it, claiming that she did it whenever little Patience refused to eat or when she wet her clothes.

My mum kept a cool head and gave the nanny her full salary and ordered her to leave first thing the following morning.

The following day, mum wrote a resignation letter and handed it to her boss. She couldn’t stand the pain of her daughter being mistreated by nannies.

And with that, she quit her job to give Patience all the attention and comfort she required in the world.

credit link:  http://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/blog/mum-quit-job-little-sister/