Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and his wife, Ida, went through miscarriages in search for a brother of their firstborn, the late Fidel Odinga.
He narrated in his biography, The Flame of Freedom, that after the two futile attempts at growing his family, they would later suffer a third loss.
Unlike the previous instances, the foetus was full-term and they were hopeful for a bouncing baby boy.
On that day, Odinga had taken Ida to the hospital because she was in pain, but the doctor concluded that it was a false alarm and sent them home.
The ODM leader dropped his wife home and proceeded to go to work but on the way, he realised that he had forgotten his keys.
Raila's forgetfulness would later turn into a blessing because when he arrived he found Ida in agony.
"I rang the doctor and rushed Ida back to the hospital, where she was taken to the delivery room.
"I sat outside waiting in utter trepidation. After everything that we, especially Ida, had gone through with the previous miscarriages, I was terrified it was all going to happen again," he recalled.
Raila's worst fears were confirmed when the doctor came out of the delivery room grave-faced.
The medic explained to the former PM that the baby had been strangled by the umbilical cord as he was born.
"It is hard to describe the pain and grief we both went through. From the Joy we felt as we expected the new addition to our family, we turned to arranging a funeral," Odinga recounted.
The child was buried in Lang'ata Cemetery, on the outskirts of Nairobi.
"It was a very emotional time for us and it took some months for us to recover from this event," Raila concluded.
