A Difficult Delivery During Lockdown
By: One Heart Worldwide
Tags: Nepal, Baby, Pregnancy, Child Health, Healthcare

Indira was 37 week pregnant with her first child. Over the last few days, she had been feeling progressively worse and when Jeevan, her husband, came home that afternoon, Indira was biting her pillow in tremendous pain. Jeewan was baffled to find his wife in this condition. It had only been a few hours since he had left for work. Jeevan immediately called on his friends and neighbors for help.

By 7PM four of Jeewan’s friends had arrived. The shortest way to the Rakha health post was too unsafe in the dark so the group opted to take the main gravel road, which would take them longer, but which was much safer. They calculated their every step and carefully distributed their weight while crossing two swollen rivers. The first of the two rivers was especially challenging. The water level came almost to their waists at the deepest section, but they kept calm and maintained concentration.

By 10 PM they reached the Rakha health post. Upon checking Indira, the local nurse realized she was facing a breech birth where the baby’s feet would come out first. Indira mentioned that due to the COVID-19 lockdown, she had been unable to get an ultrasound in her last trimester as she had intended. Because breech births can be very difficult to manage, the nurse decided to evacuate Indira to the next level of care. She called Sushmita the Skilled Birth Attendant at the Ainselukharka Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) whose Birthing Center had been renovated by One Heart Worldwide.

Sushmita immediately started looking for a way to evacuate Indira. Unfortunately the Ainselukharka PHCC ambulance was out for repairs and finding a vehicle during the lockdown proved to be extremely difficult. At midnight Sushmita finally found a vehicle but it would take them almost four hours to reach the Rakha health post.

At 4 AM, Sushmita received a call from the vehicle’s driver. His vehicle had broken down on the way. Sushmita called the nurse at the Rakha HP and advised Jeewan and his friends to continue their journey to Ainselukharka on foot using a stretcher to carry Indira. Jeewan and his friends walked for another 4 hours, before collapsing by the main road, exhausted and hungry. Luck was on their side as another vehicle arrived in an hour’s time and the driver was willing to help. By then, Indira was shaking and on the cusp of passing out.

It was 3PM by the time the rescue vehicle finally arrived at the Ainselukharka PHCC. Wasting no time, Sushmita quickly stabilized Indira and the delivery started soon afterwards. The baby’s legs came out but the head of the baby was stuck. Sushmita had to make an incision to pull her out. The baby had swallowed meconium, and her airways had to be cleared. Indira burst into tears when she finally held her baby. She had overcome so many difficulties made so much worse by the COVID-19 related lockdown. She said “It seems unreal. If the smallest of things had gone wrong, I don’t know what would have happened to me and my baby. I will forever be grateful to Sushmita and everyone who came together to save us.”

Thanks to the support of the OHW program, Sushmita was well equipped to handle this difficult birth. She told us that “this young mother could have died. We were able to save her and her newborn baby against all odds. She held my hand and told me how grateful she was for saving her baby. She was less concerned about her own suffering and health. I nearly teared up. I would have felt like I did my job well if we were living under normal circumstances like before. A mother’s heart always beats for her children after all”