It was Aly’s first baby. Living out on a farm between Cheviot and Kaikoura, Aly’s pregnancy went 11 days overdue, and she was booked into Kaikoura Hospital to be induced.
When labour didn’t go to plan, mum and baby had to be moved fast!
The night before her induction, Aly’s contractions began. Despite medical interventions at the hospital things were not going as planned and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was dispatched.
Crewman and Paramedic, Rob explains that “It was a lifesaving mission, two lives in fact. The longer the labour went on the more stress it placed on the mother and baby. These are time critical missions.”
The Crew’s first stop was the new helipad on top of Christchurch Public Hospital, where they picked up the attending midwife. As Rob reflected, “Being able to pick the midwife up off the hospital roof is a game changer. In the past the midwife had to drive out to the base near the airport or was picked up in Hagley Park; with cases like this, that saving of 20-30 mins can make all the difference”.
Back in Kaikoura, around lunchtime, Sam heard the arrival of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and breathed a sigh of relief at his partner’s bedside. Being from a rural area and with relative, Chris Wilding, being a former Westpac Rescue Helicopter Pilot, Sam knew Aly and their baby now had the best possible chance.
From Rob’s perspective, this mission was now all about getting Aly to Christchurch Hospital and the care she needed as soon as possible, and to support the midwife in any way he could.
If necessary (and this has been the case on several occasions) the baby can delivered in the Rescue Helicopter. However, given the complications, the Crew knew they needed to get Aly to the hospital, and fast.
They landed on the helipad, and Rob and the midwife took Aly on the stretcher straight to the birthing unit where the specialists were waiting. Aly was feeling very unwell.
Tests showed the baby’s oxygen level was low, mother and baby were in distress and an emergency C-Section was scheduled.
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter can get a patient from Kaikoura to Christchurch Public Hospital in 45 minutes.
Baby Archer was born at a very healthy 9lb 12oz.
Archer did need some help with his lungs and so spent five days in hospital, including one in NICU, with Sam and Aly watching over him in awe and so utterly grateful for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.
