Caboolture midwife and local family celebrate ten years and four births together
Midwife Nicole and mum Rebekah with kids Nadia, 11, Malachi, 9, Tobias, 7, Israel, 5 and Jediah, 3.
Most women never forget the day they give birth to a new baby, but Rebekah White has a more dramatic recollection than most from the arrival of her second child, Malachi, at Caboolture Hospital.
Rebekah’s baby boy was just too eager to enter the world, and in 2013 she gave birth to him in her car out the front of the hospital, alongside her husband, Joel, and a midwife and student midwife.
Although likely to stress out many mums and mums-to-be, Rebekah remained calm, having gone through the hospital’s continuity of care model and seeing the familiar faces of her midwifery team running towards her in the car.
Caboolture Hospital midwife Nicole Isaacs was a student at the time working with Rebekah – a moment in her career she will never forget.
“It all happened so quickly, I was leaving for the day and saw Rebekah’s husband in a car pulled up at the front and he looked frantic,” she said.
“Someone called the birth suite and I jumped into the car, got behind Bek and held her as best I could so the handbrake wasn’t digging into her back.
“Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, I looked up and saw the midwife pushing past everyone to get to Bek and she got there to catch the baby just in time.”
Nicole was there for Rebekah for her next three pregnancies too, including antenatal appointments at home, being on call for the birth, and home visits afterwards too.
“I had multiple midwives for my firstborn, I couldn’t even tell you how many I saw,” Rebekah said.
“Being able to see the same midwife for my other pregnancies was so different, I felt safer to ask questions and knew I could call her in the middle of the night if I needed.
“I don’t think I’d feel comfortable doing that with midwives I didn’t know, you already feel so vulnerable and to see a friendly face and know someone’s there for you made me feel that everything will be okay.”