A Naitasiri woman gave birth to her first child under the light from five battery torches and a kerosene lamp on Sunday.

Power had been cut off at the height of the storm as heavy rain fell and floodwaters rose rapidly.

Asena Lewanikaria, 22, gave  birth to a healthy girl at a nursing station in Lomaivuna, Naitasiri.

It was a happy story that emerged from the flood damage caused by Tropical Depression 04F.

The woman from Vatukarasia Village in Naitasiri said she started to experience labour pains on Sunday evening.

“It was heavily raining and roads were flooded on that day, on Sunday evening I asked my mother to ask call the Vunidawa Hospital to inform them of the situation I was in.

“The Vunidawa Hospital then called for an ambulance from Suva, but it couldn’t reach our village as the Naqali flats were heavily flooded, so a nurse from a village nearby was assigned to deliver my baby.

“The only nursing station available was in Lomaivuna, so one of my relatives drove me in a van to that nursing station. The labour pain was unbearable and road conditions to that nursing station were terrible,” Ms Lewanikaria said.

She said the nursing station was still on renovation but with the condition she was in, the nurse based at Lomaivuna Nursing Station had no choice but to deliver the baby.

“I didn’t care where I was, I just wanted my baby delivered safely, there was a power cut, the nurse had to use torches and kerosene lamp light, after all I went through I finally managed to deliver a healthy baby daughter.

“All the pain just flew out the window when I saw my baby daughter safely delivered, I couldn’t stop my tears when I held her in my arms, and I want to thank the nurses for their great effort in helping me deliver my baby daughter,” Ms Lewanikaria said.

She said that her baby weighed 2.7 kg.

She said they were taken back to her village where they awaited assistance from Vunidawa Hospital the next day.

“I am forever thankful for the great effort of nurses in Lomaivuna Nursing Station and the staff at Vunidawa Hospital. It is because of them that I am able to successfully deliver my first child, they have done a tremendous job,” Ms Lewanikaria said.

Naitasiri Senior District medical officer, Dr Salome Daunivalu hailed the nurses for their effort in delivering the baby.

“I am really proud of them, for the little resources they had and the situation they were in, they managed to safely deliver the baby,” she said.

The baby is girl yet to be named.

Edited by Maraia Vula

Feedback:  arieta.vakasukawaqa@fijisun.com.fj