10 months pregnant -- and she didn't know it

By Sirikit Syah

SURABAYA (JP): Samsiati, 44, finds it difficult to express how she feels. "I'm happy and embarrassed at the same time," she said with her two-week-old baby, Wahyu Budianti, in her lap.

She is happy because her baby was born healthy and ashamed because she feels too old to have a newborn.

Samsiati gave birth to her fifth child on Aug. 26 in Adi Husada Hospital. She has been the talk of the town ever since because she did not know she was pregnant until the moment she gave birth.

For nine months she had persistent gastric problems. Every doctor and soothsayer she consulted told her she had a liver problem or possibly a tumor.

"After bleeding for five months, starting November last year, one doctor said that I might have approached menopause. That's why when I didn't get my period until the time the baby was born, I didn't think I was pregnant," Samsiati told The Jakarta Post from her small house in Kebangsren, Central Surabaya.

Because of the persistent pain in her stomach and because her stomach kept getting bigger, she consulted doctors at Adi Husada Hospital in March.

The ultrasonography test concluded that she was not pregnant and that she did not have any diseases. A subsequent laboratory test showed only that her liver had swelled and that her kidney was damaged.

Unhappy with the results, she consulted another doctor, who told her she might have a fetus outside of her womb.

Samsiati them consulted a soothsayer, Abah Maman, in the district of Sepanjang.

"Abah Maman confirmed that I had a liver problem and tumor. He gave me traditional herbal medicines, strongly massaged my stomach and finally operated on me," Samsiati said in horror.

She saw the knife and then blood. She was told by her friend that was accompanying her that Abah Maman took out some flesh from her stomach. "What he took out was like a meatball. He said it was a tumor."

Now, looking at her beautiful baby, she regrets all that she did. "If only I had known that I was pregnant, I wouldn't have done such horrible things." She and her family regard the baby's birth as a miracle.

So why is she embarrassed?

"I have four children and the youngest is 13 years old," she said.

Her eldest daughter is 26 years old and currently nine months pregnant. They have been preparing baby clothes and a cradle for their first grandchild.

"But now, I've delivered first. You can imagine what the neighbors here think, especially my children-in-law."

Even worse was the gossip of people saying that she knew that she was pregnant from the beginning but pretended not to know so she could get rid of the baby.

"It was a very cruel accusation, that I knew and wouldn't want it."

When the baby was born, according to the medical report, she had been 10 months pregnant. She never realized it because she believed the diagnosis that she had a liver problem or a tumor. She tried everything and spent a lot of money trying to get to the root of the problem.

She does not intend to sue anybody, even though she was very disappointed with the carelessness of the soothsayer who operated on her.

His operation could have killed or damaged the baby. "In a case like this, who could be blamed? This is an act of God," she sighed.

Samsiati has not felt any pain since the birth of her baby. Now she is just weak.

Her elder children help take care of the newborn, while her husband stays busy working on electricity installation projects. She has taken a break from her usual job of selling food.

The hospital refused to give an explanation. The director was said to be abroad. Singgih, the vice director, was reluctant to speak, saying only that the hospital has reported the case to the Ministry of Health's provincial branch and that they are still collecting data.

Asked if the hospital would speak with its patient, Singgih replied: "What for? There's no proof that we've done anything wrong."