Grandma helps deliver grandson on phone to Ambulance Tasmania
Welcoming her baby son into the world in the bathroom wasn’t in Chloe Hutt’s birth plan – but that’s just how her second child came into the world. HER STORY >>
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
WELCOMING her baby son into the world on the bathroom floor wasn’t in Chloe Hutt’s birth plan – but that’s just how her second child came into the world last week.
On Wednesday, Ms Hutt was at her home at Dromedary, in the state’s south, with her four-year-old son Ned when her contractions began.
“The contractions weren’t that bad. I thought they were going to get worse. They were fine and all of a sudden, it was quite intense.”
Ms Hutt was five days overdue and she was booked to be induced on Monday.
After speaking with a midwife at the Royal Hobart Hospital, it was recommended she come into the hospital, so she called her partner, Luke Fenton, to drive her in.
“Everything that could go wrong for him did,” she said.
“He had to have a work colleague come help him because he was bogged on a farm out the back at Sorell and then he thought he would take a shortcut and he was stopped by trucks and tractors.”
Mr Fenton called Ms Hutt’s mum to take her to hospital, while Ms Hutt also phoned triple-0.
She said the support from the paramedic over the phone was incredible for her and later her mum, who helped deliver her grandson on the bathroom floor.
“Mum came and within three minutes of her arriving, paramedics talked her through what to do,” she said.
Ms Hutt said baby Oliver Stuart Fenton arrived before the paramedics could, and was healthy and going well.
“Mum played such a big role, her role was fundamental.”
Ms Hutt and Oliver were taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital and discharged that afternoon.
Mum gives birth outside hospital
AS a nurse, Laini Keating is used to dealing with medical crises at the Royal Hobart Hospital but she never dreamed she would be at the centre of one when she gave birth to her fourth son on the front seat of her car – outside the hospital’s emergency department.
George Wilson Hancock was born early weighing 3.1kg on Wednesday morning, just 17 minutes after she and husband Evan Hancock left their Berriedale home.
In a Facebook post, Ms Keating, who has worked at the hospital for 11 years, paid tribute to her emergency department colleagues for their efforts.
“At 0412, the newest addition to our soccer team arrived in a massive hurry, in the front seat of the Mazda (if you’re needing a visual – I had one leg out of the car, one knee on the dashboard and my birks still on my feet) out the front of RHH ED,” Ms Keating said.
“What an entry mate!!
“MASSIVE shout out to my ED family – particularly Ally Parkes (bloody legend!), who caught George, Jillian who made sure we were both well, Lauren who sorted out behind the scenes and Brooke who CLEANED THE CAR.
“Plus a coffee and treats drop from my work wife Anna a couple of hours later!! We literally couldn’t have asked for better service!”
The couple said Laini’s contractions were five minutes apart when they left home but by the time they were at Cleary’s Gates her waters had broken and at Glebe she thought she would give birth.
“It was all a bit dramatic,” Ms Keating said.
“I wasn’t scared but I didn’t really want to give birth on the side of the highway.”
Ms Keating’s own mother Sharon Maxwell – nee Wilson – was born in a car on the roadside at Bagdad in 1962.
Mr Hancock is still smiling after the speedy birth but anxiously waiting to see if he gets a speeding ticket or is booked for running a red light.
The couple say they have no plans for another child.
“There’s a full stop after George now,” Mr Hancock said as he juggled the boys and the family dog.
Ms Keating expects to return to her job part-time in May next year.
“It’s busy and full on at work but so is life at home,” she said.
“At least at work people follow my instructions.”
George’s big brothers Tom, 6, Finn, 5, and Fox, 2, were hoping for a sister but are still besotted with their new sibling.
Originally published as Grandma helps deliver grandson on phone to Ambulance Tasmania
It’s official: Former Labor leader quits state parliament
Former Labor leader Rebecca white has quit state parliament to focus on her tilt at the seat of Lyons in the upcoming federal election.
Robbins Island wind farm opponent in Supreme Court bid
A key opponent of a 100-turbine wind farm proposed for Robbins Island says it was denied natural justice during a failed 2023 legal appeal against the $1.6 billion development’s approval.