Janice Lowry always had aspirations to be a nurse but after delivering her daughter’s baby on the floor of her lounge room she said it’s a career she won’t pursue.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“That’s enough for now,” she said.
Janice now believes there should be a section in first aid courses on how to deliver a baby.
Elijah James Toomey-Lowry was born at Newport Village in Port Macquarie on March 20 at 12.55am.
Earlier in the day Elijah’s mother Sarah Lowry had gone to the hospital as she was experiencing stomach cramps. Staff at the hospital told her this was normal and said she would be ok at home.
Later on in the night Sarah went to her mother’s house because she wanted to check if what she was experiencing were contractions before she went to the hospital again.
Instead within 30 minutes of her arriving at her mother’s house Elijah was born.
Sarah had downloaded an application on her phone to time her contractions. Her contractions went from being five minutes apart at 10pm to three minutes apart by the time she arrived at her mother’s home at about 12.30am.
“Then I just had this urge that I had to push,” she said.
Janice rang the ambulance when it became clear to her that her daughter was in labour. Sarah couldn’t move from the floor to go to the hospital.
The woman on the phone asked Janice to collect towels, pillows and blankets.
Janice only had time to get two towels from her bathroom before Elijah started to arrive.
She has described the experience as a fantastic team effort.
Sarah said Janice had a bit of a shock as Elijah didn’t cry as he was born. Janice thought he might not have been breathing.
Sarah told her mother to put Elijah up on her chest.
“He was so quiet but I heard him snorting so I told mum he was breathing and it is alright,” she said.
The women look back on the experience and describe it as a wonderful moment.
“I probably wouldn’t take it back for anything,” Sarah said.
“I’m relieved that everything went as well as it did,” Janice said.
Janice and Sarah thanked the woman who talked Janice through the birth and commended the actions of paramedics who transported Sarah and Elijah to hospital.
Elijah was released from hospital a week after his birth.
Sarah and proud father Doug Toomey have described Elijah as a very content and calm baby who didn’t cry until he was three-days-old.
Elijah has a proud older brother Douglas John who is 11-years-old.
