There was jubilation at a Thika hospital on Saturday when a couple exchanged their marriage vows in a maternity ward.
The bridegroom, Francis Mungai and his girlfriend Veronica Kaniu had planned to conduct their wedding at Kiganjo PCEA Church in Thika but instead found themselves saying 'I do' in an unfamiliar venue.
As they were planning for their big day, the couple had thought that Kaniu who was pregnant, would give birth at a later date but the baby came early.
It was on Wednesday when the bride went into labour and was taken to the Thika Level Five Hospital where doctors upon examining her, said she was ready to give birth through a caesarean section. Kaniu delivered a baby boy the next day.
That was one challenge that they had successfully overcome. Next was the question of the planned wedding. With one day left to the wedding day, the couple was in a big dilemma.
"Do we cancel it or proceed with it?" Mungai and Kaniu wondered.
After consultations with various parties, the duo decided the wedding must go ahead as scheduled.
The doctors, however, advised against Kaniu being discharged as she had just undergone an operation, and it was later decided that the wedding ceremony would be held at the hospital.
"We had no alternative but to do our wedding here at the hospital. The doctors told me that my wife was not in a position to go home for the wedding and so I requested them to permit us to go ahead with our plans here," Mungai told Standard Digital.
The wedding proceeded without any hitch but the honeymoon was suspended to allow the bride to recover fully.