By Press Release
When Leonard Fox decided it was time to come into the
world at 37 weeks, he wasn鈥檛 waiting around on his parents
to get to the hospital.
鈥淢y waters broke at 9pm but
the contractions didn鈥檛 intensify until a few hours
later,鈥 Corn茅 Fox recalled.
Her husband John called
their midwife Nelly Felix who instructed the Swanson couple
to head to hospital 鈥 where she would meet
鈥淎s soon as I started to get up to get my
clothes on, I immediately knew I wasn鈥檛 going to make
it,鈥 Corn茅 said.
After informing Nelly they
weren鈥檛 going to get to the hospital in time, an emergency
111 call for an ambulance was made at 1.50am.
from the Integrated Operations Centre in Auckland that night
was call handler Gemma Cale.
鈥淚 could hear in the
background that the mother sounded pretty close to
delivering, so I triaged them and brought up the delivery
instructions,鈥 Gemma said.
fabulous. He was so calm and followed all my
instructions.
鈥淲e got to the point where the
baby鈥檚 head was visible, but there hadn鈥檛 been much
progress, so I gave a few more instructions (and
encouragement) to try and get the little man
鈥淲ith the ambulance crew nearly there and the
midwife on her way, it was a race as to who was going to
deliver this baby first.鈥
Corn茅 said John did
everything he was told 鈥 to the letter.
remember John running around getting towels and then doing
everything Gemma told him to do,鈥 Corn茅 said.
thing that stuck out most in John鈥檚 memory was when he was
told he needed to 鈥渃atch鈥 his
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when in my mind I knew I
would be delivering him, and I started thinking about
鈥榳hat if he was stuck, would I have to pull him
鈥淏ut Gemma was so clear and
said I needed to make sure I was holding his head and let my
wife push him out. I just kept listening to what she was
telling me and following her instructions.鈥
he was out. Weighing an impressive 3.7kg.
seconds later the ambulance crew arrived and took Corn茅 and
her newborn to the Waitakere Hospital Emergency
With their two-year-old daughter Stella sleeping
soundly in the next bedroom, John and Corn茅鈥檚 friend
arrived just before the birth to babysit.
didn鈥檛 even wake up with all the noise,鈥 John
A day later she got to meet her baby brother
鈥 who was due on 22 June.
鈥淪he adores him and has
introduced him to all her teddies.鈥
Settled back at
home, the couple said they wanted to reach out to Gemma to
They sent her an email and photos of
Leonard 鈥 which Gemma said made her day.
some lovely photos of them all – which is a first for
鈥淚 have never seen any of the babies that I have
helped deliver before, so their email really made my day鈥
and moved me to tears,鈥 she said.
鈥淚鈥檓 so happy Gemma could finally see one of the babies
she delivered. We were so very thankful for her that Sunday
Gemma鈥檚 story:
Hato Hone St John
baby magnet Gemma Cale has done it again.
number 19,鈥 Gemma says proudly as she recalled the 111
call on Sunday 1 June which resulted in the birth of Leonard
Based at the Integrated Operations Centre in
Auckland, Gemma is a proud member of the Hato Hone St John
Stork Club. The club is for those call handlers who have
aided in the delivery of a baby over the phone.
member of the club is presented with a special stork
The 30-year-old has worked for Hato Hone St John
for almost 10 years.
She started off in Telecare
monitoring medical alarms, but three years ago made the move
into communications.
鈥淚 wanted to move
from Telecare to call handling because I was feeling quite
ineffective being the middleman and wanted to “do more” to
help people.
鈥淚 was also doing my
paramedicine degree and felt comms would support my learning
better. If I didn’t get into the paramedicine course my
second preference was midwifery.鈥
graduated from AUT last year with a Bachelor of Health
Sciences – Paramedicine, helped deliver a baby in her very
first week as an emergency call handler.
That鈥檚 when
she decided to start a baby jar to record any future
deliveries.
鈥淏lue beads are for boys, pink is for
girls, purple is for those who I don鈥檛 know the sex of
[because usually the parents are a bit stressed] and white
is for those born sleeping.鈥
Gemma said her friends
and family are surprised she鈥檚 had so many.
think it鈥檚 wild. They never expected there to be so many
babies and remark that they don’t think they could do it
themselves. They find the idea too stressful.
just think my mum hopes it’ll make me more likely to give
her a grandchild sooner,鈥 she laughed.
Gemma said she would continue her role until she found
鈥渙ne out on the road鈥.
And it鈥檚 one she
doesn鈥檛 take for granted.
鈥淢ost of the calls that
come into our centre are not happy ones. A lot of the time
we are with someone in their last minutes on Earth. To be
there in someone鈥檚 first minutes of life is really
If you would like more information on
working for Hato Hone St John email our recruitment team at
recruitment@stjohn.org.nz
or call 0800 ST
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