Hunger Fix: {Charity Fix} Bloggers for Birth Kits

A Mommy friend of mine recently invited me to join her and other Mommy's for a Ladies Night In to make clean birth kits.

After reading all about what a clean birth kit is and what it does, I knew this was something I had to be a part of.

So, I'm sure you're wondering what is a clean birth kit?

Well, to keep it simple, it is a small kit of the most basic supplies needed to aid in the safe delivery of a baby.

Photo Credit: The Mommyhood Memos

Contents and Uses:

1. Soap (for the birth attendant to wash her hands). Use a hotel-size soap or cut a regular bar of soap into 1/8-sized pieces. (Microwave the bar of soap for 30 seconds to soften it for cutting).

2. One pair of plastic gloves (for the birth attendant to wear).

3. Five squares of gauze (to wipe the mum’s perineum and baby’s eyes). Gauze pieces should be about 10×10 centimeters or 3×3 inches.

4. One blade (to cut the cord). You can buy individually wrapped sterile blades at the pharmacist or buy utility blades (much cheaper) at the hardware store. We teach the women to boil the blades for sterilization, so utility blades work just fine.

5. Three pieces of strong string (2 for tying the cord, 1 for “just in case”). String should be about 30 centimeters or 10 inches long.

6. One plastic sheet (for a clean birthing surface). Sheet should be approximately 1×1 meter or 1×1 yard and can be purchased at your hardware or paint store.

7. One sandwich-size ziplock bag (to pack the contents).

Now, I'm sure you are asking, why are they needed?

Well, check out this stat,

In rural Papua New Guinea 1 in 7 women die in childbirth.

That is astounding!! And quite frankly, unimaginable.

The kits will help women in Papua New Guinea and Africa give birth in safe, clean environments.

These deaths of course are not exclusive to Papua New Guinea, woman and babies in many developing countries are at a high risk of death, infection and other complications during childbirth due to the lack of clean medical supplies.

So, you can see why I wanted to get involved and do something to help out.

Here we are this past Saturday night.