by CRADLE Team, CARE Nepal
Yasodha Ojha, an auxiliary nurse mid-wife (ANM), works in Mauwanagardaha health post in Doti district since past several years. She is known in the area for being kind and helpful. In this course that she met a fifth time pregnant, Naru Devi Bista and gave her tetanus toxoid injections and iron tablets. Naru wanted her fifth baby to be a boy, a wish of her husband, which she wanted to fulfill. Though she already had four daughters this was the first time that Naru was seeking medical help. This transformation was due to mother’s groups meeting that she had started to participate hesitantly but have now become its ardent supporter. It was just by chance that she had met the social mobilizer Prem Bahadur Kami, who worked with an NGO named SOURCE (partner of CRADLE Project funded by USAID), motivated her to join the mother’s group meeting. After that her life changed dramatically. Sitting in the group meetings with other mothers of her community felt so good. She learnt a lot. She liked spending some time with women, talking about everything that was related to her life and her health.
To seek medical help was so engrained on Naru’s mind that she immediately came to the health post with her husband as soon as her labor pain started. Amazingly the labor pain was not for long. ANM Yashodha was by her side all the time asking her to breathe deeply. In no time a little baby boy was born. Before she could share this pleasant news with Naru and her husband who was impatiently waiting outside, she was dismayed to see the child not move at all. The baby was neither moving his body, nor crying or breathing. She could not believe what had happened. 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. In a short while the placenta came out and Naru was perfectly alright.
Soon she realized that Naru’s baby was born dead. How could she break this news? She could not gather enough courage to do so. God could not be so merciless! Yashoda called Naru’s husband inside; she in utmost grief broke the news of the baby’s death. She, with heavy heart asked where they wanted to bury the baby; nearby the health post or in their own village. Before she finished, she heard Naru scream in tears. Sorrow and pain engulfed everyone. The pain was unbearable. Yasodha’s mind had stopped thinking. She was unable to think straight.
Without wasting a second more, she immediately took the wrapped baby back in her hands. She uncovered him. Naru continued to cry. Yashodha remembered what she had learnt during her training. She started softly massaging the tiny chest of the baby and providing mouth to mouth respiration. Few minutes passed away; no sign of life. Everybody around her watched this with curiosity, not knowing exactly what she was doing. Yasodha was almost in Trans. 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 three minutes the baby took his first breath and started crying. Yashodha couldn’t believe what she saw. She did not realize that she was weeping out of joy. She put the baby gently to Naru’s breast. The baby softly started sucking the mother’s breast. This will ever be the happiest moments for Naru and Yasodha.
In Doti everyone talks of Yashoda and how she gave a new life to a baby. For Naru her son’s life was a miracle. Naru remembers the day when she met Prem and how he had motivated her to go for health check-ups during pregnancy. “Yasoda is really god for me and Prem Bhai (brother) is really a good teacher for all of we illiterates”, she remembered the days in past. Now her son is six months old, is vaccinated and growing healthy. For Yashodha, this incident has been a lesson. Only if she was not trained as skilled birth attendant, she would not have been able to save a life. Only if Prem had not brought Naru for delivery in the health post, may be this boy would have never survived. This is an example that when love and empathy intertwine with skills, one can conquer the world.