Because their local hospital’s labour services were suspended, this couple had their baby on the Trans-Canada highway

Mariah Jackson, her partner Fernando Gonzalez and baby Liam, on the side of the Trans-Canada highway near Nackawic, N.B. on April 19. (Mariah Jackson)

JACKSONVILLE, N.B. – Mariah Jackson and Fernando Gonzalez will never pass Trans-Canada highway marker 242 in Western New Brunswick without thinking about her newborn son’s birthday.

Baby Liam was born on April 19, when Jackson and Gonzalez were trying to make it to Fredericton’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, over an hour from their home in Jacksonville, N.B.

The couple live just seven minutes from the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville, but at the time, labour and delivery services were suspended there because of ongoing staffing shortages.

So, when Jackson began contracting that Sunday morning, at 37 weeks, the couple called family to look after their other two children and got on the road.

“We ended up leaving the house around 8:30 – 8:45 a.m. and started driving down towards Fredericton,” she said. “When we got to Canterbury, my contractions were back-to-back to back and they were super painful.”

Her mother was making the drive to Fredericton ahead of the couple. Jackson called her – and her mother made the call to 911.

The dispatcher then called Gonzalez directly.

“By the time he’s talking to them, we’re just starting to hit Nackawic,” she said, referencing a community that’s still 45 minutes from Fredericton. “And she said, ‘You need to pull over,’ because at this point, I had told them I need to push. I know that feeling. This baby’s coming out.”

The dispatcher told Gonzalez to pull over at 9:15 a.m.

At 9:18 a.m., baby Liam was born, right into Gonzalez’s arms.

“I started seeing (the) baby come out and I said, ‘Oh my God, okay, it’s happening, it’s happening right now,’” he recalled. “Then the dispatcher was telling me what to do roughly, and then just in one minute, baby was just out in my hands.”

The couple described him as “quite limp and extremely blue.”

Jackson, now a mom of three, was quick to take action. She was able to get Liam breathing. Ten minutes later, paramedics arrived and took over.

A month later, Jackson, Liam and Gonzalez are all doing well. Over time, they’ve been able to find some humour in the situation, only because their story ended well.

“There (were) no complications at all. But if something did go wrong, we’re not medical professionals… If something arises it’s a lot better being in a hospital, where there’s at least somebody who knows something they can try to do,” she said.

The closure of labour and delivery services has become commonplace at the Upper River Valley Hospital over the last several years, as the hospital’s battled physician and nurse shortages.

• READ MORE: Pregnant women in rural N.B. speak out after suspension of birth services at hospitals

So far this year, the unit has had to close three times, often for a week to ten days. It’s currently closed as of Friday, May 22, and will remain shuttered until June 1.

Pregnant women who are beyond 35 weeks in their pregnancy have been contacted by nursing staff, states the English health authority.

“All pregnant individuals who would normally deliver their babies at URVH will need to travel to Horizon’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECRH) in Fredericton,” Horizon Health Network said in a public service announcement posted on its social media channels. “However, anyone who experiences an obstetrical emergency – as with any medical emergency – should call 911 immediately or proceed to the nearest emergency department. If necessary, arrangements will be made to safely transport a patient by ambulance to the nearest labour and delivery unit.”

Jackson says she wasn’t offered any added support or plan to be closer to Fredericton when she was contacted by staff. She says some have made comments about her story, saying she could have tried a home birth, but felt it was important for her to give birth at the hospital.

However, she’s quick to add that the couple doesn’t blame anyone for what happened.

“The doctors and nurses (at Upper River Valley Hospital) are absolutely amazing, and they have felt so bad. We were there a couple times after he was born and they were very sympathetic,” Jackson said. “This isn’t their fault. It’s really nobody’s fault. It’s the whole the whole system that needs to be fixed.”

Province promises a plan

One of the main problems at Upper River Valley Hospital is a shortage of surgeons who can perform a cesarean section, should it be required.

Dr. John Dornan, N.B.’s health minister, promises there is a plan for the hospital’s staffing issues, and “it will bear fruit.”

“We have not had enough staff. We have not had a long-term plan for the Upper River Valley. And now we have recruited people. A new GP (general practitioner) obstetrician, and a surgeon that is capable of doing cesarean sections. We have had only one for a long time,” he told reporters Thursday.

The hospital has depended on locums – practitioners who temporarily work to fill gaps in the hospital system.

Dornan said a “long-term locum” has been found to help, but the health minister didn’t know when they would begin at the hospital, only adding that the individual is “quite excited.”

Horizon Health Network didn’t offer comment on Jackson and Gonzalez experience but did remind that anyone who is experiencing an obstetrical emergency should call 911 immediately.

“If necessary, arrangements will be made to safely transport a patient by ambulance to the nearest labour and delivery unit,” the statement read.