Lockdown baby born

Update

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - While the world as we know it, seems to have grinded to a halt, life indeed goes on without being dictated to, even by the Coronavirus that holds the globe in its grip.

A social media page, Beautiful Italy, on 26 March, the day South Africa's 21-day national lockdown started, posted a picture of a beaming woman with twin babies fast asleep.

The post, with the caption, "Beautiful things happen in Italy too...", received 3 600 comments and was shared 88 000 times.

Some good news amid the staggering loss of life in Italy due to the Coronavirus.

The day after it was placed, baby Ruben was born in Adriaans Avenue, Asla Park in Mossel Bay, during challenging circumstances, making his birth amid the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa, a most memorable one.

Routine patrol
Commander of the KwaNonqaba Police Station, Lieutenant-Colonel Asiza Sharon Mandongana, was leading a patrol on the first day of the lockdown, consisting of police members and other law enforcement officers, when members of the community at a house in Adriaans Avenue told them that an expectant mother was giving birth.

According to information, the mother of the baby was on her way somewhere else and was at that house, not her own, to ask for a lift. As she used the bathroom, she went into labour.

As the convoy stopped, the situation in the house by all accounts seemed pretty chaotic. One of the police members travelling in the convoy was Warrant Officer Amanda Naude.

Acting on instinct, she entered the house and found the newborn on the bathroom floor with his mother.

"People kept on asking me, 'Is it a boy or a girl?' The situation was pretty chaotic, but it was the most beautiful chaos I have ever experienced in my life. There were people everywhere, milling around, but despite this, everyone worked together to ensure the baby was delivered safely.

"The credit is most certainly not mine," Wo Naude told the Mossel Bay Advertiser this week.

While she was helping, assisted by a colleague, Roxanne Keffers, Lieut-Col Mandongana ran down Adriaans Avenue to the clinic to seek assistance and constables Thomas and Nani called Metro EMS.

A nurse from the clinic soon arrived to see to the newborn and his mother. Paramedic Devon Hermanus, who arrived subsequently, confirmed that baby Ruben was in excellent health.

'God's guidance'
She rarely enters homes during patrol, says Wo Naude. "I acted on God's guidance and my instinct. I never, ever thought I would have the honour of being part of such an incredible experience."

She chuckles, saying that in the chaos of the moment, she gave a man his marching papers to leave the house, only realising at a later stage that it was Ruben's father.

When she was holding the baby in her arms, she says, she started praying over his life. "He sneezed and I knew he was alive and fine. And then we all started crying. It was like something that only happens in the movies."

At the time of print, not all parties involved could be reached for comment. The Mossel Bay Advertiser will run a follow-up article on baby Ruben soon.

Ruben was born in a house in Asla Park on the first day of the lockdown.