When Courtney Tapiki took her daughter to school on March 1, around two months before her unborn baby’s due date, she never could’ve guessed she’d end up welcoming her new addition on the side of the highway.
“I dropped my daughter to school and was waiting for my husband to come back from work as I was feeling some contractions,” the mum-of-four said.
When husband Elijah arrived, the pair hopped in the car and headed for the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in South Brisbane – but they didn’t get very far before things took a turn. “We were only minutes from our home when my contractions started to get closer,” said Courtney.
“I thought, ‘This baby is coming right now!”
With no time to get medical assistance, Courtney called the Mater Hospital on one phone and contacted emergency services on another. But in the time it took for the ambulance to arrive, the newborn did, too. “I only pushed once and the baby came out – I didn’t even have time to take my underwear off!” said Courtney, who welcomed her new daughter on the Centenary Highway, just before the Forest Lake and Inala exit.
Mater midwife Madonna Beirne guided Courtney through the speedy delivery, but the new mum was understandably anxious. The baby girl was in danger, and not just because she had been born nine weeks early, which meant she needed special neo-natal care.
“The umbilical cord was actually wrapped around the baby’s neck twice as she was born,” Beirne said. “I explained to Courtney and Elijah how they needed to unwrap the cord and made sure they continuously checked on her breathing and skin colour and kept her warm.”
It’s not the first baby the Mater midwife, who’s been with the hospital since 1984, has helped a mum deliver over the phone, but Beirne said she was still “thankful” when the ambulance crew arrived to take mother and baby to Mater Mothers’ for medical care.
“We had quite a bit of time to chat on the phone while they waited for the ambulance and I joked they should call the baby Madonna,” Beirne laughed. “But Courtney said she wanted to name her Patience – because her baby didn’t have any!”
Weighing in at 1.96kg, Patience is receiving around the-clock care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Mater Mothers’ Hospital until she’s ready to go home.
“She is our miracle baby,” said Courtney. “We are so lucky she survived being born so early and without any breathing assistance until we arrived at Mater.”
