When she answers, a panicked young man and his mother beg her to go with them to assist the man’s teenage wife give birth to her first baby. Intissar is afraid but, with many of Mosul’s gynaecologists and other female medical staff having fled IS rule, and most of the city’s maternity facilities damaged, the need for midwives who can assist at home births has never been greater. Intissar swiftly obliges.
Times of War
“Midwifery is a beautiful profession, because we live alongside women, hear their stories and share their moments of sorrow and happiness and it is very much needed in times of war,” says Intissar. “During the last conflict, I helped women give birth at home. I had women’s relatives come and beg me to care for their wives, sisters and daughters. I was pregnant myself, but I walked long distances as I knew that I was the only midwife in the entire area. People found out about me by word of mouth: ‘You will find a good midwife, she can help’, they told each other.”
Later that day, with Intissar’s gentle but firm assistance, the teenage girl becomes a mother. With some thread and a razor blade sterilised in boiling water, Intissar ties and cuts the newborn boy’s umbilical cord, wraps him tightly in a white cloth and hands him to his grandmother, before helping the young mother deliver the placenta. Intissar goes on to deliver three more babies, all of them home deliveries that afternoon.