Barry & District News article

Ambulance staff help Barry baby make a speedy arrival - on the stairs!

A BARRY family welcomed their new son into the world in double quick time, after he couldn't wait for hospital - and made his grand entrance at the bottom of the stairs in the family home!

Daniel Emrys Julian Wyn Katchi, who had been due to be born at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales on December 13, decided to keep his family waiting for eight days - before making a very swift entrance into the Woodland Road household on December 21, in time for a family Christmas!

And three senior Welsh Ambulance Service personnel, who were volunteering to help out on one of the busiest days of the year, and an Ambulance Service call-taker were on hand to help with a safe delivery.

Mum Bernadette, dad Stephen and their five-year-old son Robert had earlier been enjoying a coffee at Marco's Café - followed by fish and chips - before dealing with their unusual delivery.

Qualified nanny Bernadette, who had suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum and a pelvic displacement during pregnancy, said she had made a throw-away comment in jest while at Barry Island.

The 39-year-old said: "One of the guys asked 'how far gone are you? Don't give birth here!' - and I said to him 'don't you know how long it takes to give birth?'!"
But when her contractions began rapidly increasing at home later on, the couple dialled 999 and prepared for action - while five-year-old Robert covered his ears, pulled his Santa hat over his eyes, and sat in front of CBeebies!

Software engineer Stephen, 41, said: "Bernadette was kneeling at the bottom of the stairs in great pain.

"I was advised by the hospital that we wouldn’t make it in time if I went by car.
"The Welsh Ambulance Service call-taker - Ian Powell - told me that the ambulance was on its way, but warned me that there was a chance I might have to deliver the baby myself."

Bernadette took to what she found was the most comfortable place and Stephen leapfrogged her to gather a blanket from the bed and half a dozen towels - preparing to use 'expert' knowledge he had gathered from watching medical programmes on TV.

"I just found adrenaline took over," he said. "I've seen things on TV, and I was there when Robert was born. If I had to, I could do it." Paramedics Richard Lee and Robin Petterson turned up just under seven minutes later.

"The ambulance call-taker was fantastic and gave me lots of advice about what do," added Stephen. "Within 15 minutes of the paramedics' arrival, our baby son was born with their help at the bottom of the stairs as my wife was in too much pain to be moved elsewhere.

"We had a bit of a scare as the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck several times, but one of the paramedics calmly unwrapped it, and the baby was fine.

"Baby went on to his mother’s chest, I cut the cord, and our new son was born!"
He added: "They looked after her then for the final stage of the delivery as I looked after our new baby, and then took her to hospital about an hour later."
Welsh Ambulance Service’s head of service for the Cardiff and Vale area, Bob Tooby, was out assisting the ambulance crew on the day - which is known as 'Bleak Friday'.

"It is known as one of the busiest days of the year for the Welsh Ambulance Service, mainly due to an epidemic of office parties and last minute wishes to end the year with a bonding session that can often mean drinking far more than one would normally consume," he said. "None of us knew that the shift would start with a complicated birth at the foot of a narrow stairway.

"Co-ordination was key. This included Richard Lee (clinical head of service) delivering the baby with the cord wrapped several times around the baby’s throat, through to Robin Petterson (clinical team leader) co-ordinating the medical equipment and hospital arrangements.

"And it extended to myself holding the bin bags for the placenta, and babysitting for Stephen and Bernadette’s young son Robert, who was very frightened every time he heard his mother scream.

"This was a team effort that was later supported by a very welcome midwife who travelled with the ambulance staff to hospital."

Daniel was born at 5.50pm - give or take ten minutes - weighing 7lb 1oz.
And the family said they had experienced one of their best Christmases ever - eating fish, chips and vegetarian sausages - with traditional festivity plans having gone awry.

Bernadette and Stephen thanked the Welsh Ambulance Service staff, family friend Alina Davies, and Gillian McCabe and her staff at the Women's Health Unit for their support throughout.

Stephen added: "I would like to say a big thank you to them, and mum and baby are now doing fine."

Pregnancy and a new baby

My last post was back in July 2012 where I mentioned that Bernadette was pregnant with our 2nd child, we had just bought our first house, second car and I was fully embracing Buddhism.

Pregnancy

Most people would say that the thought of my wife having a 2nd child should have been a happy occasion and I should be filled with joy. But, I didn't think I was prepared or able to cope with another child as I was still suffering with fatigue. Also, it didn't help that Bernadette had very bad morning, noon and night sickness for the first half of the pregnancy and then very bad SPD (pelvic pain) and she was on crutches for the last couple of months.

I was feeling myself getting more and more depressed as the 'big day' approached in December and was not looking forward to being a dad for a second time. Bernadette started having labour pains at about 4:30pm on Friday, 21st December so I called the midwife. She said there was nothing to worry about so just keep an eye on the contractions.

But by about 5pm, she was in agony and screaming in pain, so I dialled 999 to call for an ambulance. Bernadette, in the meantime was kneeling at the bottom of the stairs as this helped her a bit, and Robert was in the living room with cbeebies on but screaming as loud is his mother.

One thing to point out that it was the Friday before Christmas (Black Friday) and the traffic was bad and the ambulance service was really stretched.

The operator then said that an ambulance is on it's way but there is a chance that I may have to deliver the baby myself. So I hurdled Bernadette grabbed a handful of towels and blankets to but below here and prepared myself, all the while the operator was keeping me calm by telling me what to do.

At the bottom of the stairs!

Thankfully, the paramedics turned up 15 minutes later and the delivered the baby, and one of them, who was also called Rob, stayed with our Robert to try and keep him calm. Bernadette couldn't move from the stairs so the paramedics had to deliver the baby where she lay. As a result, our 2snd baby boy, Daniel, was born on 21st December, 2012 at 5:50pm at the bottom of the stairs on our house in Barry!

After the birth I sat on our chair in the living room watching In the Night Garden with the new born baby in my arms, whilst the paramedics helped Bernadette with the final stage of the delivery. The afterbirth took longer to come out than the baby did.

Because I was still a bit panicky I called a very good friend, Alina who only lives a couple of minutes away, to come to our house to help me with the new baby and look after Robert for the night, who had finally stopped screaming! She helped me bit a nappy on the baby and then took Robert back to her house for the night. I need to say a very big Thank You to Alina and her family for being able to help is, she is one amazing and special friend. 

Bernadette then went to the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff and I had to take the new baby in my card as there was no way to transport the baby in the Ambulance. I must be the only dad who delivered the baby to the hospital. She had to have a bit of work done, such as stitches, and they had to move a blood clot from inside her that was almost bigger than the baby.

I've got to say this was the most exciting and frightening experiences I've ever been through and I've got to praise the 999 operator who kept me calm and explained what I had to do, as well as the paramedics for delivering the baby.

We even made it onto the front page of the local Barry & District news, I'll post the write up so you can read it. 

That's it for now and that's how I ended 2012 by becoming a new dad. My next post will by a summary of 2013, being a dad for the second time and my continuing Journey.

I just wanted to post this...

My wife turned up to my office the other day and said "Robert's in the phone". I said to her, "Don't you mean Robert's ON the phone"? She said, "No, he's definately IN the phone!" Have a look for yourself :-D

HELLO. I'M IN DADDY'S PHONE!

And I had to get the following photo on here. I pass it every day on my walk into work, and each time it still brings a smile to my face.

Feed me your rubbish!

It's in a little playground in Bridgend and I think it's a wonderful idea to get children to use the bin for their rubbish.

Kiddies playground in Bridgend

I always like images that bring a smile to my face, it make me feel good.

Buddhism

Now that I have fully welcomed Buddha into my life, and embraced the Buddhist path and way of living, I am feeling wonderful. Summer has finally arrived, the sun is hovering overhead in a clear blue sky and I am feeling happy with myself and life. Maybe it's the course of accupuncture treatments I'm having to help with my insomnia and general fatigue, or maybe it's the meditation, or a combination of both, but I'm not complaining, I'm enjoying it.

Insomnia is actually a good thing for a Buddhist who wants a regular meditation practice, in a weird sort of way. Take last night for instance. It was a hot, muggy night and even after my weekly meditation at the Barry Meditation Center, where we done a walking meditation followed by a 6 stage elements meditation, I still could not get 2 sleep. By 1am I was up, in front of my shrine meditating, which always helps. Managed to get to sleep by 3, but still woke up at 6 in time for my morning meditation. I wake up most morning between 5.30 and 6, so you can see the life of an insomniac means that I always have time for meditation.

I had my accunpuncture session today, needles in my legs, arms and head, and I think I actually fell asleep at one point and started snoring, but the therapist didn't say anything. A couple of weeks ago I wasn't enjoying my life much, always tired, couldn't get the energy or enthusiasm to do much. But now I back to enjoying life, enjoying the summer and generally being happy.

One final point today, I mentioned in an earlier post that I might need to arrange to see my GP about my  fatigue / sleepless night. Well, the way I have been feeling this week I don't think I need to, although I'll see how I am over the next few weeks.

om mani padme hum
peace, love and happiness

Mindful Moment

For the past few months, if not since last year, I have been rushing through life, letting things get to me and focusing on all the bad and unpleasant events in my life. But, now I'm back on my journey, I have been slowing down and trying to enjoy my life. It is difficult, but I think I'm getting there.

Something that is long overdue is a mindful moment, something which I used to have a lot of when I first started meditating, but which has been missing from my life. It happened whilst I was waiting for the train on Barry Docks station a few days ago.

View from Barry Docks station

To set the scene, the train station has got a nice view over the docks toward the Bristol Channel, then across to the coast of England. The train was running a few minutes late and normally I just let this annoy me. This time, I stood looking across the docks and noticed the sky. It was a pleasant, sunny day, with a mixture of blue sky, high clouds and fast moving lower clouds. It was so beautiful. I simply stood there, until the train arrived, watching the clouds float by without thinking of anything. I was just enjoying the shape, structure and colour of the clouds and the sensation of calmness it brought in me.

Sunrays over Barry Docks

Since then, I'm trying to do this more often. You can do this with any object, man made or natural. Just try looking at the object without analysing it or thinking about what it is. Don't look at clouds and start thinking thoughts such as, "Is it going to rain?", "I wish I brought my brolly, I'm going to get wet now.", "Did I leave the washing on the line?", etc. Just look at the clouds and enjoy the natural beauty of them, the form, structure and the way they do slowly change form as they drift across the sky.

You can do this with any thing. Don't look at a car and think "I would like one of those. I wonder how much it costs or how fast it goes?" Look at the colour, texture, the way the light reflects of the paint work, etc. Look around you and start enjoying the beauty of everything, man-made as well as natural, I most certainly intend to do this. I want to stop passing judgement and analysing everything. Like the clouds, I want to enjoy the beauty of life and the world, not just let it roll by without even noticing it. I want to live life moment by moment.

Panaromic view from Barry Docks station

My journey continues...

om mani padme hum
peace, love and happiness