Ripple effects of Birth and Life Savings Skills
Sughra* was visiting her relatives when Jamal,* a man her relatives had hired to help with planting, came in to ask about his sister-in-law, who was in labour.
“Jamal was told that the baby had been born, but that many hours later, they were still waiting for the delivery of the placenta,” Sughra recounts.
“He became very concerned. He knew the implications could be serious, as some years earlier he had lost his own wife from complications due to a retained placenta. Now her sister, a mother of two small children, was potentially facing the same situation.”
It was then that Sughra spoke up. “A few months ago, some trainers came from Lal to teach people in our village about safe childbirth,” she told Jamal. “Soon after, my daughter-in-law gave birth but it took a while for the placenta to deliver. Remembering what we had been taught, I put the baby to the mother’s breast. She quickly pulled the baby away because the afterpains became so strong. I told my daughter-in-law to let the baby nurse, because sucking stimulates the womb to contract and expel the placenta. She then allowed the baby to latch on again and the placenta was delivered shortly afterwards.’
Upon hearing Sughra’s story, the man went to his sister-in-law’s home and explained what to do to the family.
“After a few minutes, two village midwives showed up and asked me to come and help, because they had tried and couldn’t get the baby to latch on. I was reluctant to go because it isn’t our custom [there is a cultural taboo against people outside of the family visiting during the first forty days after delivering], but finally I agreed to go and stand in the doorway giving instructions.”
“I told them two women should support her, one on each side, and help her to a squatting position. I told the two other helpers to take the baby and put it to the mother’s breast. After quite a bit of trying, they finally got the baby to latch on and the baby sucked strongly for a good fifteen minutes.”
After nearly twenty-four hours of the placenta being retained, it was finally expelled.
“Everyone in the family was amazed at how well this method worked, grateful and relieved that the mother had safely come through her third delivery.
“But this isn’t the end of the story! I stayed with my relatives for a week. Two or three days after that incident, a messenger came from yet another village. ‘Where is that woman who studied what to do for problems during childbirth? We need her to come and help another woman whose placenta hasn’t delivered.’ So, I went and helped her in the same way!”
In 2021, our Community Development Project completed 33 men’s BLiSS courses and 35 women’s BLiSS courses, with 790 participants, and eight other women’s BLiSS courses were started. These eight courses will be completed in 2022.
Birth and Life Saving Skills (BLiSS) is only one aspect of our development work. For all of our work, our hope is that people will share what they have learned with others, and Sughra showed just how far those ripple effects can reach – beyond multiple families and villages!
Our Community Development Programme facilitates courses in Birth and Life Saving Skills (BLiSS).
BLISS gives participants the tools they need to prevent issues in pregnancy, childbirth, and the first year of life, as well as how to deal with issues when they arise. Our hope is always that people will share what they have learned with others, and this story shows just how far those ripple effects can reach – beyond multiple families and villages!
You can read more about our work in development here.