Naru and her family.

Yasodha Ojha is a nurse mid-wife who has been working in Doti, Nepal for several years.

She is well known in the area for being kind and helpful. Yasodha was called to meet Naru Devi Bista, who was pregnant with her fifth baby, to give her tetanus injections and iron tablets to improve her health during her pregnancy. Naru was hoping that her fifth baby would be a boy, as she already had four daughters.

She had not sought medical help during her previous pregnancies, but she was encouraged to do so this time through mother’s groups meetings, run through a CARE programme called CRADLE, she started attending. Having joined the mothers group, Naru’s life changed. Sitting in the group meetings with other mothers in her community she learnt a lot, and she liked spending time with other women, talking about life and health.

When Naru’s labour pains began she and her husband went to the health centre. Nurse mid-wife Yashodha was by her side throughout the birth asking her to breathe deeply. In no time a little baby boy was born. Before she could share this wonderful news with Naru and her husband who was impatiently waiting outside, Yashoda was dismayed to see the child was not moving.

The baby was not moving, crying or breathing. She could not believe it; she closed her eyes, prayed to God and looked at Naru. Naru was bleeding. The placenta was not out yet. She quickly wrapped the still baby in a piece of cloth and attended Naru. Shortly the placenta came out and Naru was perfectly alright.

She soon realized that Naru’s baby was stillborn. Naru and her husband were stricken with grief.

But then Yashoda remembered her training. Without wasting a second more, she immediately picked up the baby, started softly massaging his tiny chest and giving mouth to mouth respiration. A few minutes passed and there was still no sign of life. Everybody around her watched this with curiosity, not knowing exactly what she was doing. Yasodha was almost in a trance. She tirelessly continued the massage and respiration.

After about twenty minutes, she felt a faint movement in the body. Was it a real movement? Yes, it was! In next few minutes the baby took his first breath and started crying. Yashodha couldn’t believe what she saw. She did not realise that she was weeping with joy. She put the baby gently to Naru’s breast. The baby softly started sucking the mother’s breast. This was one of the happiest moments of Naru and Yasodha’s lives.

In Doti everyone talks of the time Yashoda gave new life to a baby. For Naru her son’s life was a miracle. She remembers how the mothers’ group meetings motivated her to go for health check-ups during her pregnancy.  Now her son is six months old, is vaccinated and healthy. For Yashodha, this incident has been a lesson. If she had not been trained as skilled birth attendant, she would not have been able to save a life. This is an example that when love and empathy intertwine with skills, one can conquer the world.

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