Amina was having a perfectly normal Tuesday morning meeting in her Dakar office when cramping started. At first, she brushed it off as just another pregnancy discomfort to add to the ever-growing list. But within an hour, she knew something was seriously wrong.
By the time her colleague was driving her to the nearest clinic, Amina was having regular contractions at 31 weeks pregnant, thousands of miles from her mum, her usual doctor, and everything familiar.
What happened next turned what could have been absolute a chaotic premature labour into something manageable. Here’s how we helped a terrifying situation into a story with a happy ending.
Amina had been running her company’s West African operations for the better part of a year. Dakar suited her perfectly – great weather, interesting work, and a fantastic local doctor who’d been monitoring her pregnancy.
She’d done all the right things. Found an English-speaking obstetrician, researched the local hospitals, even identified the best paediatrician for when baby arrived. Everything was sorted.
Or so she thought.
The thing about pregnancy complications is they don’t care how well you’ve planned. One minute you’re discussing quarterly reports, the next your baby is coming ten weeks early in a country where you barely speak the language.
We had a call come through to us from Amina’s HR team back in London. Smart move, actually! They knew that pregnancy emergencies abroad need professional help right away.
Here’s what everyone was dealing with:
The HR director asked us to check if this hospital is good for her, and tell them if they needed to move her somewhere else. Straight to the point and exactly the right question.
While Amina was getting examined and everyone else was trying not to imagine worst-case scenarios, we got straight to work on the stuff that really mattered.
First priority: is she in the right place? Because if you’re potentially having a baby at 31 weeks, you need more than just any hospital – you need one that knows what it’s doing with premature babies.
Second: keep everyone informed.
Third: make sure if things go wrong, we’ve got options ready to go.
Our first job was figuring out whether this clinic could actually handle what might be coming. Not the polite version you get from hospital websites, but the real story.
Can they stop premature labour? Do they have proper neonatal facilities for a 31-week baby? Are the doctors experienced with high-risk pregnancies? What happens if they need to do an emergency C-section?
Our local contacts in Senegal got us answers fast. The clinic was actually pretty decent, with good equipment, experienced staff, and proper facilities for premature babies. Definitely capable of handling Amina’s situation properly.
Keeping Everyone in the Loop
When you’re having a medical emergency abroad, everyone wants updates.
We became the information hub so the medical team could focus on the medical stuff.
Regular updates to her family so they weren’t imagining the worst, and clear communication with her company about what was happening and what might need to happen next. As well as insurance coordination, so there wouldn’t be any nasty surprises about coverage.
Monitoring Everything
Throughout the whole drama, we were monitoring everything. Not interfering with the doctors – they knew their business – but making sure the care was appropriate and keeping options open if things changed.
The treatment she was getting matched what you’d expect anywhere in the world for premature labour at her stage. The monitoring was proper, the medications were right, and her response was encouraging.
But we also had backup plans ready if her condition deteriorated or if the local facilities turned out to be inadequate.
Four days later, Amina’s contractions stopped. The medications worked and suddenly everyone could breathe again.
What We Delivered:
Amina stayed in Senegal, completed her assignment successfully, and delivered a perfectly healthy baby boy at 37 weeks.
Her mum flew out for the birth, her company was supportive throughout, and what started as everyone’s worst nightmare turned into a story she tells with a smile.
Everyone thinks medical assistance is about helicopter rescues and dramatic evacuations. And sometimes it is. But often it’s about making sure you’re in the right place getting the right care when something goes wrong.
The thing is, pregnancy complications aren’t that rare – they happen in about 15% of pregnancies, and premature labour affects around 12% of births.
This is all scary enough when you’re at home with your regular doctor. When you’re abroad, the fear multiplies because you just don’t know if the care you’re getting is what you’d get back home.
Having someone who can verify that, monitor it, and coordinate everything else lets you focus on the important stuff like keeping yourself and your baby healthy.
Amina was lucky. She had good local care, professional assistance to coordinate everything, and a company that understood the importance of proper support.
Without that combination, the same medical situation could have been much more stressful and more dangerous.
The nightmare scenario isn’t necessarily the medical problem itself – it’s not getting the right care because you don’t know how to navigate the system, or having your family panic because nobody knows what’s happening.
Six months later, Amina and her healthy baby boy are back in London, and she still talks about how we turned her scariest moment into something manageable.
Her company now makes sure all their pregnant expat workers have the same level of support.
The truth is, you hope you never need this kind of help. But when you do need it, there’s no substitute for having people who know what they’re doing taking care of the logistics while you focus on your health and your baby.
Worried about pregnancy complications abroad? Our facility verification and medical coordination services ensure you get appropriate care with clear communication to everyone who matters, wherever you are in the world. Get in touch here.
