How I finally handled the pregnant housemaid issue!!

     Last month, I had complained to you guys that my housemaid was pregnant and I didn't know what to do with her. [Read What do you do with a pregnant housemaid].  As the days went by, it became a very precarious situation: she was throwing up and unable to do any work whatsoever. I really felt for her but it put me in a very difficult position. I have 3 children: the oldest is 4 years and the youngest is 9 months: I didn't want to carry the extra burden of taking care of one more person.

        I was faced with a  moral dilemma: Her husband is a cook and I felt that her salary had been helping the family a little. If I sent her away, it meant that they would have only one source of income. Besides, I always believe that every woman should have her own source of income, no matter how small it is. It reduces the amount of 'Yanga' that your husband can make for you. I was therefore faced with at least 3 choices:

1. Leave her to stay on, keep paying her and hire someone else to do the work. There was a particular day that she was vomiting excessively and I had to rush her to the hospital. If I kept her, I would be responsible for her health. What if something happened to her while she was in my house? I decided that this option was not feasible.
2. Send her home with a good severance pay and forget about her. 
3. Pay her normal salary and offer to send her a little stipend every other month. I chose this option.

What option would you have chosen?

     Anyways, she left at the end of last month and I've been without a househelp since then. Fortunately, my husband and two of my relatives (who came in from Port Harcourt) have been pitching in. I need a new househelp but I don't know where to start looking. Any suggestions?


Fomsky