When Anita went into preterm labour at eight months with twins, she was scared for her life and the lives of her babies. Anita is from Syada, a densely populated village in remote Humla, Nepal.
At 25 years old, this was Anita’s third pregnancy. But her experience for this pregnancy was very different than her earlier ones.
“There was no proper food, medicine and delivery service during my first two pregnancies,” Anita recalls.
Thankfully, the situation has improved in the region since we opened a birthing centre in Syada last year, hand in hand with the community. Anita was relieved to have access to a facility so she could receive antenatal care and give birth. And it was lucky she had access to these services. It was during an antenatal visit that Anita learnt she was carrying twins, much to her surprise.
During her pregnancy, Anita also received nutrition support and other supplies from the birthing centre. This included fortified rice, cooking oil, baby clothes, blankets and a hygiene kit. Incentives like these are provided to mothers during pregnancy to encourage them to access health services and to promote institutional delivery.
When Anita went into labour, she knew that going to the birthing centre to deliver was her safest option. After arriving, the nurse reassured Anita that she was in the best place possible – for herself and her babies.
“I was so scared of preterm delivery, especially with a twin pregnancy,” Anita shared.
But Anita was in safe hands. With the nurse’s assistance, Anita welcomed two healthy babies into the world.
The nurse admitted, “Initially, I was scared to conduct a twin delivery. But I relied on my training and there were no complications, and both babies are well and feeding well.”
Because they were born premature, Anita’s babies had low birth weights and stayed in the birthing centre for 24 hours for monitoring. She was shown how to practice kangaroo mother care – continuous skin-to-skin contact that helps tiny babies grow and develop.
Afterwards, Anita and her twins headed home with new blankets and a set of clothes to prevent the babies from getting cold. Anita’s twins are now three months old and thriving!
Anita and her twins’ story highlights the importance of institutional delivery and care before, during and after birth. Sadly, receiving quality maternal and newborn care is rare remote areas like Humla.
But we’re working to change this. We will continue supporting the Syada birthing centre to improve quality of care. We are also expanding our maternal, newborn and child health services to surrounding areas across Humla so more women and babies have access to the care they need to survive and thrive.
