By Sanya Burgess, news reporter

These are the stories of four women facing childbirth in a war zone.

They are trapped in Yemen, where the world's biggest humanitarian crisis has unfolded following a war between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition backing the government.

On Thursday, a ceasefire was brokered but by Saturday fears were growing that this fragile peace could shatter at any moment.

These women were interviewed from the Al Thawra Hospital in Hodeida - a city controlled by the rebels and a vital through-route for aid and food for the whole country.


The city has been under siege from the coalition for months.

Figures from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) last month showed that in Hodeida alone some 1,500 pregnant women were at risk of death if the hospital became inaccessible.

These stories, told to Sky News and edited only for clarity, reveal what it is like to expect a child when you can hear gunfire from your bed.

:: A mother-of-two, Yusra, 27, had to flee her coastal home and is now eight months pregnant in Hodeida City.

Sometimes I feel I cannot breath and I feel so scared.

This time I suffered with my pregnancy. It is because of the crisis and the war. I do not know what is going to happen with me.

I do not want to give birth in hospital. This is because I am scared. There is continuous fighting and it is not safe. Hospitals are sometimes targeted. I am scared.

I am worried. I am afraid that something bad would happen to the baby.

I am worried and scared of the war. I want the war to be stopped. I want to go back home. I do not want to stay in the hospital fearing for myself and my unborn baby. The hospital can be targeted. It is close to the battlefield.

Image: Yusra wants to return home but must stay in hospital for treatment. Pic: UNFPA Yemen

This is not my first pregnancy. I have two daughters already. But this time I am suffering from anaemia. This is the first time this has happened to me. I did not expect it.

I asked the doctors to not make me stay in the hospital. I asked if I could get the treatment today and complete it by tomorrow so I do not have to stay.

The doctors refused but I am determined to go back home. I want to feel safe. Being safe is the most important thing for me now. It is more important than food. I can bear being starved.

We don't have any money and it's difficult to access food. I eat whenever I can and whenever our situation allows.

At home I could call a midwife to help me. However, money is a problem; I cannot afford it.

We are living in a very difficult situation now. My husband used to work in a food commodities factory. The factory has been shut down because of the fighting. Now we are without income and my husband stays at home.

:: Eman, 16, is nine months pregnant with her first child. She got married when she was 15 and has never been to school. From the Al-Saleef area, which borders Hodeida, she will be giving birth by C-section.

I do not know honestly if I am happy that I am pregnant.

I do not know how to describe my feelings about raising a child during this war. It is difficult.

I do not know that anyone cares about what my child and I are going through.

I did not know what would happen to me during my pregnancy but I have developed a condition called eclampsia (where high blood pressure causes seizures, leading to a coma, and puts both the mother and child in danger).

Image: Eman, 16: 'I don't know that anyone cares about what my future child and I are going through.' Pic: UNFPA Yemen

It is the first time I've ever heard of such a condition.

Now I am going to have C-section to save my baby. This is my first baby.

I am fearful now for myself and my baby. I do not know what I am suffering from or what my sickness is and how dangerous it is. My fear is more because I am away from my family.

We do not have much money. All we have is to meet the necessities, like cheap medicines, food and drink. I cannot get vegetables and fruits. All I can get is minimum food to survive.

:: Salwa, 23, has no home. She is displaced, her second time of having no home to turn back to. Previously, she fled from the fight in Haradh and now has been displaced again because of the fight in Hodeida. Salwa speaks shortly after giving birth at the UNFPA-supported hospital Al Thawrah in Hodeida.

I had four miscarriages before.

I was taken from my home in Al Zaydia to Al Moneerah Hospital but there was no anaesthesia.

Then I was transferred to Al-Thawra hospital in Hodeida this morning and thank God I gave birth safely and my child is saved.

Image: Salwa has no home to return to - only a tent. Pic: UNFPA Yemen

I was afraid that I would not be able to continue my pregnancy. I was afraid that I would have a miscarriage again.

My husband and I have different blood groups. I did not know that I had to have injections and it was crucial. We are poor and displaced and I could not afford to buy it.

We are poor and our situation is difficult. We do not have any income. Even my home is just a tent.

We cannot afford to buy good food. That does not worry me, but I am worried for my child.

I worry about getting from the hospital back to where I am staying.

When we fled this time I was not able to take anything with me. I was not able to take my veil or slipper.

For now, I am happy. I was afraid that I would lose my baby but now after the safe childbirth, I am happy.

I am suffering from acute anaemia. They could not provide me with blood needed when I was pregnant. There was not enough blood in the health centre.

We lost our life, our relatives, our clothes, beddings and everything in this war.

I do not know if anyone cares about what we are going through but I hope the war will be over soon.

I want for my newborn and all Yemen's children to live in peace.

I want to see my son as a doctor or a teacher. I want to go back to my hometown.

:: Huda is 20, nine months pregnant and lives in Bajel in Hodeida. On the day of this interview, she was due to have a C-section.

Image: Huda fears she will lose her baby. Pic: UNFPA Yemen

Before this, I lost three. They died before they were due. This is my first baby who did not die.

This isn't how I thought pregnancy would be. I feel a great pain in my hands and feet. I cannot move them properly since three months ago. I've been disabled since then.

My family could not take me to the hospital because of the fighting in our area, and they could not afford it.

I am just taken to hospital to save the baby.

We don't have enough money. And I do not eat well, but it does not worry me much. I fear that I might lose the baby like the previous ones. I want him to live.

I feel worried and scared but the pain makes me neglect all the other emotions.

But I am happy I am pregnant. I want to be a mother.

Image: The entrance of Al-Thawra hospital after an airstrike in August this year

'Women do not stop getting pregnant during a crisis, as we have seen in Yemen'

UNFPA has been providing sexual and reproductive health services to women and girls, as well as working to protect them from gender-based violence across Yemen.

Anjali Sen, UNFPA representative to Yemen, told Sky News: "The conflict has taken a very heavy toll on women and girls and more so on pregnant women.

"Many of the pregnant women I have spoken to have not had regular meals during their entire pregnancy because they have been displaced, the husbands have lost their job or gone to fight in the war.

"One mother I met at a hospital in Sana'a had only bread and water throughout her pregnancy, so when she gave birth the child had been deformed and died immediately."

She reports that nearly half of all health facilities in Yemen and 35% of reproductive health facilities are no longer operating. For many women, the cost of healthcare means medical treatment is inaccessible for them.

"There was a girl I can recall called Latifa who had married at 16. She had waited eight years to get pregnant. When at 24 years she became pregnant, she and her husband could not afford to go deliver at a hospital as the cost of travel was too high.

"She had decided to give birth at home. When the time came to deliver, her mother had fetched a neighbour who was a midwife, by the time the midwife came Latifa had bled profusely and had a stillbirth. Her anguish was unbearable. She said she thought of committing suicide but refrained, thinking of her husband.

"Women do not stop getting pregnant during a crisis, as we have seen in Yemen."