Birthing at Buderim Private Hospital maternity ward on Sunshine Coast
A midwife, mum and specialist have shared intimate details of the tales of triumph and heart-stopping moments at a Sunshine Coast special care nursery and maternity ward.
Sunshine Coast
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The special care nursery at a major Sunshine Coast hospital became a second home for a mother-of-four who spent more than 50 days there as medical staff cared for her twins.
Jess Mudri experienced heartbreaking moments when one of her twins stopped breathing and turned blue and other heartwarming moments when she walked in and the nurses had placed a silly toy next to her twins in efforts to raise a smile.
Nursery visit
The special care nursery in the Buderim Private Hospital is accessed with a card reader, casually swiped by midwife Ali McKill.
The midwife and manager who said she had been a nurse “for a very long time” was still “blown away” by the “miracle” of birth.
“For someone who’s been in it for so long … to still have that high that you get watching that miracle happening,” she said.
“Once that stops happening it’s time to give up and walk away but I still feel very honoured and privileged to be part of a birth.”
Transparent humidicribs, mostly empty, line the walls and colourful privacy curtains are pulled back to open up the room.
Midwife Kathryn Hooper makes patchwork quilts that drape over the cribs.
It is mostly silent save the tapping of a nurse at her computer and a small hum emitted by a single crib in use near one end of the open room.
A blue light spills from the enclosed crib and the nurse ushers us to the other end of the room, protective of her newborn patient.
Second home
For Mrs Mudri, the hospital became her second home after giving birth to her twins vaginally, in the operating theatre as she was prepared for a caesarean section.
“I said something like ‘I think there are humans coming out of me’,” she recalled.
Following her birth, the mum, who has two older sons, was keen to see her son and daughter.
“I walked myself into special care and said ‘I’ll see my babies now please’,” she said.
Her pregnancy was uncomplicated until she reached 29 weeks and her water broke around one of her babies.
The staff at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital stopped her contractions and Mrs Mudri held on to her babies for 32 weeks and five days.
The pair, Hugo and Eva Mudri, was born on July 11, 2021 and went straight into the special care nursery at the Buderim hospital.
They were treated by Dr Anthony Morosini.
Mrs Mudri said she became like a “piece of furniture” during the 58-day stay.
The twins had breathing problems with little Eva not recovering at the same rate as Hugo.
In one particularly heart-stopping incident, the baby girl stopped breathing and turned blue.
Her oxygen levels plummeted.
“They were getting extra staff to come in and hitting the buttons on the wall,” Mrs Mudri said.
Given it was also during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mrs Mudri’s older sons did not meet their siblings until they were eight weeks old.
Paediatrician’s role
Dr Morosini has treated thousands of babies and children in a 20-year career in paediatrics and 30 years since he graduated.
He has had days where he has first resuscitated a baby and then gone back to his office to treat a 15-year-old.
“Medicine is a complex, complicated profession, in terms of diseases and disease presentation but also managing the patient with the disease,” Dr Morosini said.
“In our case it’s not a patient on their own but a patient within their family.”
The father-of-four also said he liked to reassure parents that if their baby was born in a good condition, he expected the baby would go home healthy.
“In our first-world country with the facilities and equipment that we have, if your baby is born in a good condition we expect your baby to be taken home well and healthy unless it’s extremely premature,” he said.
He said, generally, babies who had more complications were babies born at less than 28 weeks and were less than 1000g.
Dr Morosini said paediatricians worked closely with other medical staff in the special care nursery and the parents.
“The nurses have special skills, training and experience looking after babies and we rely heavily on them,” he said.
The best advice the paediatrician had for parents came from an unlikely source, superstar Robbie Williams.
“He was asked after he had his first baby, ‘what’s the secret of parenthood?’ and he said ‘love and patience’,” the specialist said.
“I reflected on that and went ‘he got it right’.”
The journey home
Mrs Mudri said her twins were two years old and active children.
She said being discharged was a bittersweet moment.
“It was kind of weird to be leaving the safety of Buderim, they were beyond amazing,” Mrs Mudri said.
“In a difficult circumstance I could not have asked for a better place, better people.
“I’ve never been more grateful to have private health.”
Mrs Mudri was able to stay in a room near her children, free of charge, for nearly every one of their days in the special care nursery.
Ms McKill said she was proud of her team and how supportive they were of the mums and bubs in their care.
“We’ve got an incredible team here, they’re all so passionate,” she said.
Special care team
Clinical nurse Jodie, with nearly 40 years’ experience, works primarily in the special care nursery.
The Buderim nursery cares for babies born at 32 weeks and after and who weigh more than 1500g with others transferred to a tertiary hospital like the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Newborns are admitted to the nursery for issues including respiratory distress, jaundice, low blood sugar, infection and congenital abnormalities.
She said some babies had long stays and the nurses were not just looking after the newborn in neonatal care.
“We’re looking after the family,” Jodie said.
“So promoting good mental health for mums as well.”
Obstetricians’ role
With such a huge focus on a baby post-birth, it can be easy to forget there is a mum who also may need a little more care.
Obstetrician Kirsten Morrow, with more than 20 years’ experience, is there for women during and after their births.
She said she felt “lucky” to be part of a woman’s journey to motherhood and thousands of deliveries.
“When I’ve met a couple from an infertility point of view and then they have a baby that is pretty special,” she said.
She said delivering a mum’s third or fourth baby was also special and she had also started conducting maternally assisted Caesareans, which was when the baby was handed straight to mum following delivery for skin-to-skin contact.
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