When Sarah, a labouring mother, attended the Mallakachalla Primary Health Care Centre in Borno State, Nigeria, she did not anticipate a difficult breech birth – and that her baby would be born not breathing.
Fortunately for Sarah, Midwife Abigail Antony was on shift and knew just what to do when her baby, later named Mary, was born.
Abigail explains: “The baby was born, but she was not in a good condition. Baby Mary was not breathing, her skin was already turning a blue-ish colour and there was no obvious heartrate. I took action immediately.”
Abigail Antony is just one of over 130 midwives in Borno state who has been trained via the Safer Births Bundle of Care program. Her regular, hands-on training in newborn resuscitation as part of the program had prepared her for this moment.
Abigail continues: “I first suctioned the baby, then applied the NeoBeat monitor to the baby and immediately began resuscitation with the Upright Bag and Mask. With the help of the NeoBeat, I could see her heartrate begin to increase and continued resuscitation until the heartrate was at a stable, healthy level.”
Baby Mary survived.
Mother Sarah concludes: “I saw my baby was feeling better and I thanked god for this.”
To learn more about the implementations in Nigeria, click here.
Content and image credit: With thanks to Norwegian Church Aid, the organization leading the implementation of the Safer Births Bundle of Care in Borno State, Nigeria.