Shoelace to tie umbilical cord: Woman in Malaysia goes into labour by roadside, passing motorists help deliver baby

It takes a village to raise a child, or in this case, deliver a baby.

As rain fell on the streets of Pasir Gudang, Johor, last Sunday (Aug 10) afternoon, a pregnant woman found herself in active labour by the roadside.

She and her husband were travelling on a motorcycle when contractions began, causing her to dismount and lay on the road, said M. Bhavani Thevi, one of the passing motorists who had stopped to lend a hand.

In a TikTok post, Bhavani wrote that she and her husband initially thought there was an accident.

"I saw a woman lying on the ground, she kept repeating, 'My baby is coming out'," she recalled.

The 34-year-old seamstress immediately called for an ambulance before realising that the baby was crowning. She called the hospital again, and a nurse guided her on what to do.

"I gently supported the baby's head and within seconds, the baby was born right into my hand," she described, adding that another woman had stopped to assist.

At this point, other passers-by had propped umbrellas over the group and passed some clothes for the new mother to lay on and to wrap the newborn boy in.

The nurse on the phone advised the women to tie the umbilical cord, so they used the shoelace of a delivery rider to do so, reported the New Straits Times (NST).

Syarifah Munawwarah Sayed Muhammad said Bhavani's husband had called out to her for help, claiming that many others did not dare to approach.

When the 36-year-old housewife arrived, the mother had already started pushing.

A video uploaded by Syarifah online shows her and Bhavani as well as two other women crouching on the roadside next to the expectant woman.

The clip cuts to show Syarifah holding the baby boy.

"The baby cried right after birth, and I kept reminding the mother to stay conscious until the ambulance arrived," she was quoted as saying.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@asiaone/video/7538031436499029264[/embed]

Both mother and child were taken to hospital and have since been discharged, according to NST.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com