Water birth

By Nicole Williams
“I jokingly said the baby will come this morning (Saturday) and all the roads will be shut,” Ivy Tucker said.
“An hour later the contractions started.”
Mrs Tucker went into labour on Saturday among the chaos and delivered Amelia Grace Elizabeth Tucker on Sunday morning – but not without drama.
“Nothing like a bit of drama when you’re trying to have baby,” Mrs Tucker said.
Mrs Tucker’s doula (birth helper) Tammy Halliday, was called when contractions started at 10.30am but got stuck in traffic on flooded Cardinia Road.
She flagged down Pakenham SES volunteer Chris Rogers and he helped Ms Halliday through waters and traffic to Mrs Tucker’s home.
The 10-minute drive took the pair nearly an hour and a half.
To avoid panic, Mrs Tucker’s husband Adam had been on the phone since the contractions started but had not told Tammy of the situation.
“I knew Adam had been on the phone and then out the front an SES truck pulled up and Tammy popped out,” Mrs Tucker said.
“The nice SES man was so kind to bring her.”
The next dilemma was trying to get Mrs Tucker to the hospital in Warragul without knowing the road conditions.
“We didn’t know when she got here what the road situation was to get out to Gippsland,” Mrs Tucker said.
Ms Halliday had the police on the phone in one hand and the SES on the phone in another.
The emergency teams were determined to get Mrs Tucker to the hospital and were discussing helicopters and home births.
“There was a bit of a panic on,” she said.
The SES said that even if the road was shut, they would let the family through roadblocks or help them through if it was dangerous, Mrs Tucker said.
Thankfully, no help was needed and the family made it to Warragul safely to deliver Amelia on Sunday morning.
“It was bad but we made it through the water and we made it to the hospital,” Mrs Tucker said.
And ironically Amelia was born via a water birth at the hospital.