SHAH ALAM (Bernama): A woman’s cries that her baby’s head was coming out while she was going through labour on Saturday (July 24) are still fresh in the mind of senior fire officer Nor Syuhadah Ahmad.
The experience of helping to deliver a baby girl in the front seat of a car in the compound of her workplace, the Kota Anggerik Fire and Rescue Station near here, was certainly a new one for the 33-year-old.
Nor Syuhadah, who is single, was initially at a loss when Nyak Siti Nurleena Zulkarnain, 29, and her husband drove into the station for help.
They were on their way to Shah Alam Hospital but had to stop for immediate help as the amniotic sac around the baby had ruptured.
“Equipped with medical gloves, I left it all to Allah SWT to guide me in helping the woman who was in great pain and anxiety as her baby’s head had emerged,” Nor Syuhadah said when contacted on Sunday (July 25).
“To calm my nerves I kept reciting verse after verse of the Quran until the baby came out and let out her first cry.
“I turned her over and patted her back gently to ensure there was no airway obstruction. Soon after that the ambulance arrived,” she added.
Nor Syuhadah said although the training she received as a firefighter was mainly focused on firefighting techniques, helping people in distress is a natural instinct that does not need to be learned.
She added that she was happy to see both mother and child safe.
The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department said in a statement that Nyak Siti and her husband, who were on their way to the hospital, sought help at Kota Anggerik fire station at about 7pm on Saturday.
“At 8.28pm, the couple’s fifth child was safely delivered with the help of our personnel and both mother and baby were taken in an ambulance for further treatment,” the statement read. – Bernama