No delay in Lissycasey delivery

WHEN Catherine Bourke puts her mind to something, she doesn’t delay. Definitely not where giving birth is concerned. Her fifth child, Alex, was born at 1.21am last Saturday morning in her next-door neighbour Christy Coote’s house in Frure, Lissycasey. Once it became clear that Alex was on his way, he and his mother didn’t dawdle.

 

“From my waters going to the baby being born, it was nine and a half minutes,” Catherine told The Clare Champion this week. It was the 14th home birth in the house, which is owned by John Melican.
Catherine, who lives in Lissycasey with her partner Andy Kiely, moved to Clare from Mayo last Christmas. She had planned to give birth to Alex at home but was advised to have the baby in Limerick hospital.

“In a roundabout way, I got my home birth by default. It was what I wanted because of my labours being so speedy and because I live so far from the hospital. I had made that quite clear from the beginning,” Catherine explained.

She was grateful to Christy Coote for his help and general calmness in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

“While my pains were getting worse and the contractions becoming stronger, he was the one that suggested that my partner, Andy, needed to ring the ambulance. Andy was looking at me and I wouldn’t be one for showing great signs of pain. I was quite calm through the whole situation and Andy was under the illusion that things were not as far on as they were. It was Christy that said we should ring the ambulance and while that was all going on, he was getting the room ready in his own house,” Catherine recalled.

Christy Coote said he wasn’t surprised that Catherine gave birth so quickly.

“I knew she wasn’t going to make it to the hospital. I knew that for a long time. She told the gynaecologist that there was no way she’d make Limerick from Frure in Lissycasey. She has her babies in about 20 minutes to half an hour from the time that she gets really good warning pains. She had them told that and she had looked for a home birth, which was almost agreed but they pulled out of it. It was wonderful the way it happened and she was delighted with the way it happened,” he reflected.
Although the ambulance was called and arrived within 20 minutes, Alex was on his way.

“She said she didn’t want to be bouncing around in an ambulance. She couldn’t even sit down. So I said ‘you won’t be bouncing any place’ and I cleared the bed in the room, put on some clean sheets and brought in some towels. By the time I’d that done, the ambulance was at the door. They were here in about 20 minutes. I’d say they thought that they were going to be taking her away in the ambulance. But she said there was no way she’d make it,” he added.

Alex will be kept in the neo-natal unit in Limerick for a few days but he is doing well.

“He’s doing ok. The cord was wrapped around his neck and while it wasn’t an overly complicated birth if we had to go for the hospital, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now about him. Because the cord was wrapped around his neck, he’s a little bit more tired than other babies would have been. So he just has to get his bearings. He’s still being tube fed but he’s taking his bottles as well. He wasn’t due until November 18. So he’s in no panic going anywhere. He’s quite laid back down there. He’s just taking his time and is quite relaxed,” Catherine explained.

On an aside, Catherine and her family moved to Clare because they found that services for one of the children, who has autism, are excellent.

“The services in Mayo were ok but there are much more services down here for him. He’s doing extremely well. He’s come on in leaps and bounds. We found a smaller school for the kids because they were at school in Mayo and there was 30 or 40 in each class. They’re now in Clondrina National School and there’s 19 or 20 in the whole school. It has made a huge difference. That was one of the main factors in moving down here,” she said.