India Hodgkins and Jordan Austin stuck in limbo after shock birth of baby boy Neo
A Brisbane family have been left in limbo after 22-year-old backpacker India Hodgkins discovered she was pregnant two days before going into labour in a rural town in Nepal.
Lifestyle
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A Brisbane woman who realised she was pregnant a day before going into labour in a rural town in Nepal says her family are stuck in limbo as they attempt to work through a complicated, months-long process to return to Australia.
India Hodgkins, a 22-year-old backpacker from Albany Creek, said her family and partner rushed to her side after she endured an unexpected 80-hour labour in the town of Rokam.
Ms Hodgkins said she was camping in a rice field outside the village with fifty other people when she was woken up by her water breaking and went into labour inside her tent where she stayed that night.
“I’d sort of been in denial and one day before my water broke my friend argued the point with me and he just said ‘no, you’re pregnant,’” she said.
“My belly was pretty small I didn’t look nine months pregnant at all she said.”
Ms Hodgkins said during her time in Tasmania through winter, she was wearing big jackets which also hid her stomach.
“And I didn’t have a mirror either so I couldn’t tell,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said she stayed in the rice field all night and for the next day but it got too hot so she went to a forest to give birth.
“There were monkeys watching me, that was the hardest day,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said she stayed for the next day before she went back to the rice field the following night.
“The next morning I went to a hotel room just down the road but because I was in labour I was walking very slowly and had to get to the village.”
Ms Hodgkins said she wasn’t in the hotel for long before police arrived.
“We then went straight to someone’s barn and that would have been the third day,” she said.
“I was in the barn for the rest of the day because we thought it’d happen that night but the next morning around sunrise I was like ‘okay no,’” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said the whole process was “very watched.”
“While I was in the barn there was a hectic storm and the river was flooded so I had to get carried over it in a stretcher to get to the first medical facility,” she said.
But Ms Hodkins was soon transferred to a bigger facility in Manglsen where Neo was successfully birthed
“We didn’t really have access to proper medical facilities at the time, the whole thing was intense,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said she had only been travelling in Nepal for about a week before the birth.
“Before that when I was in Tasmania I had gone to emergency because of my symptoms but they kind of turned me away,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said she did not suspect the pregnancy because she had previously gotten sick when she was in Thailand.
“That really threw us off, I had been bloated and vomiting for about 8 months,” she said.
“Some friends suggested it (pregnancy) but I’d never had a regular period so that didn’t phase me.”
Ms Hodgkins said she was “stuck” on the idea that it was a tropical disease.
“We thought it was some hard to diagnose exotic tropical disease and I guess I couldn’t really see it any other way,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said her friends in the rice farm were “the best birthing team.”
“They played music all night, I was so out of it I can’t remember what they played,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said she was “really scared” after the birth when she lost her vision and hearing.
“There was nobody around,” she said
Partner Jordan Austin, 32, from the Sunshine Coast was in Ravenshoe when he found out about the birth of his child through a text and headed straight to Brisbane and began his five day journey to Kathmandu where India and her parents were staying.
“That was a pretty wild message to wake up to, I was stunned,” he said.
Mr Austin said he was super excited but the journey to India was “a mission.”
“I was just like how do I even pick this (the baby) up, you know you normally have nine months to prepare so psychologically I was 9 months behind but I played catch up pretty fast and I was full dad mode because India needed the support frankly,” he said.
India’s Father Paul Hodgkins said he and his wife Sharon Hodgkins were halfway through a pilgrimage trek in northern Spain when they found out about baby Neo.
“It took 5 days of travelling to get to Achham (Mangalsen), where she (India) was holed up in a small hotel and after a few days there we have all made the two day return journey by ‘road’ and air as far as Kathmandu,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said they had visited a larger hospital where India and Neo were checked.
“We are now staying in Skyline hotel which is better but it still has its limitations,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said they went to the Australian embassy and felt “a bit let down” after their experience.
“We called into the Australian embassy in Kathmandu and it took us a fair amount of pleading to even get past the security gate.
“We just said look we are standing here with a little baby,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said when they were able to talk to an official, they were informed there was very little they could do and that they should “go away and apply online for citizenship for the baby.”
“We were eventually allowed to use one of their computers to make the application and we were advised that once we had all the supporting documentation (hopefully in the next day or so) it would be processed by New Delhi office,”
The normal processing time listed online is 2-3 months.
“The doctor’s recommendation is for a swift return to Australia so they can both have the attention and long term care they require in Brisbane,” Mr Hodgkins said.
“We have completed as much as possible of the form,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said the baby was okay now but their big concern was his long term health.
“Tomorrow or next week something else could happen, particularly when sanitation isn’t the best out here,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said they had not contacted the department of foreign affairs and trade because they could not access their numbers form here.
“We feel a bit isolated and let down by the local Australian authorities and we don’t feel anybody has taken it seriously enough and taken the understanding of the babies health in mind as a priority,” he said.
“We haven’t been as far as completing the form yet because it’s very extensive,” he said.
Mr Hodgkins said they had the means to return to Brisbane.
“We have the resources available to fly us all home but not the means by which to access the people in the Australian immigration department who could expedite the application.”
Ms Hodgkins said there were ups and downs with the documentation.
“For example, Neo’s birth certificate is from Nepal and doesn’t have his name on it, but Australia requires a birth certificate with a name, there’s lots of little things like that,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said they needed help.
“Aussies love helping Aussies and I’m confident someone will make the right calls to get the ball rolling,”
“We went into the embassy with the baby and they didn’t seem really interested at all,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said there was no reason it should take three months.
“We are stuck behind a bureaucratic wall and we need that wall to move,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular assistance was being provided to an Australian family in Nepal. Owing to our privacy obligations we cannot provide further comment.
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