As a doula myself, and having experienced full-term home water births with our two older daughters, giving birth to our son Beau in a hospital at 34-weeks gestation was not what I had planned.

When my water broke unexpectedly six weeks early, we were told we were being sent from our home on Salt Spring Island to Victoria. But I insisted that we be sent to Nanaimo, because of all the good experiences I had heard from moms who delivered at NRGH.

It’s a good thing we were there, because I went into labour that night and Beau was born after less than 90 minutes of labour. He was immediately taken into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for assistance with breathing. I was nervous to be the hospital in the first place, and having a premature infant in the NICU was a shock.

Adding to the stress of Beau’s birth was the fact of being away from home, with no family in the country, having two older children that needed looking after, and having to give notice at work for both my husband and myself.

But the team at the hospital was there when we needed them most. The social worker orchestrated somewhere for my family to stay. When I was discharged days after Beau’s birth, the charge nurse made sure that I had a bed to sleep in at the hospital the whole time so I could care for my premature baby. From the lactation consultant holding my hand through the ins and outs of pumping, to the incredibly patient paediatrician, to all of the incredibly lovely NICU nurses who looked after Beau with such care… it really was such a blessing.

Austen