Bundle of joy

By Justin Robertson
NINE bundles of joy born to nine separate mothers made it a record-breaking 18-hours at Berwick’s St John of God Hospital last week.
All four birthing suites acted as revolving doors and staff at the hospital had their mettle tested as the small maternity ward was thrown into “calm chaos”.
This created a spontaneous buzz for the four doctors, a hand-ful of obstetricians and 12 medical staff involved over three shifts during the Tuesday morning rush.
Maternity Care Ward manager and assistant nurse Elaine Grant, who has worked at the hospital for the past four years, said all nine births were fortuitous.
“Everyone was flying around. But to think a small Berwick hospital could cope with something unplanned was really something, because a lot of these came in overnight,” she said.
“Bigger hospitals expect these types of numbers and we don’t. We’re just small. We never have numbers like this. So it was quite unusual.”
The previous record at the hospital was eight births, last year, but Ms Grant – who was called in at 2am to assist with the deliveries – said that those deliveries were all pre-arranged.
The first baby born was Benjamin Lloyd just after midnight and then eight others followed.
A total of five babies were born between 12.11am and 9am, then there was the afternoon procession of four births within the space of three and a half hours ending at 6.09pm.
Mother of three Rebecca Pryor who was part of the historic “nine”, by giving birth to her fourth child, Amelia, was third in line.
She said during the craziness she had remained calm.
“We turned up and I could hear someone delivering as I got in and then after I delivered I could hear another girl delivering.
“They left all the doors open and the staff were running in between the rooms,” she said.
“I didn’t mind because I’ve done this before, so I was OK.
“I didn’t have any dramas with the birth and the baby was healthy but, yeah, it would have been an experience if it was my first time.”
All babies are now at home fit and healthy.