Pretoria - An early Christmas present arrived for Rooihuiskraal, Centurion couple Samantha and Johann Pieterse after the emergency medical services team managed to revive their baby son Luke, who was struggling to breath following a home birth about two weeks ago.
“We had planned for a home birth with our midwife, and all was going well when I went into labour late on the night of November 29,” said first-time mother Samantha, a professional nurse who works at a government clinic.
Luke was born the following morning. “We had no reason to suspect that he would need special care, but when he came into the world, he was really struggling to breathe. He had been born with congenital pneumonia.
“It was very distressing. His breathing was so laboured that we could hear his gasps and the midwife said we needed to call for urgent medical assistance.”
Baby Luke was experiencing respiratory distress syndrome, and his lips and fingers were turning blue from lack of oxygen.
“When the caller described the newborn baby’s symptoms and laboured breathing, the manager at Netcare 911’s emergency operations centre recognised that the situation was extremely serious. An intensive care ambulance, as well as one of our regular ambulances and crews set off within less than a minute,” David Stanton, head of clinical and education at Netcare 911 said.
Shortly after the call, the teams arrived at the Pieterse home in Rooihuiskraal to find the baby boy wrapped in a blanket. The paramedics noticed that he wasn’t crying, unusual in a newborn and can often be a sign that they are not breathing well on their own.
Luke was placed on advanced neonatal ventilation and stabilised almost immediately.
In those first tense moments, father Johann held his son while advanced life support paramedic Richard van der Merwe fitted a special neonatal attachment to the bag mask ventilator.
An airway pressure device was used to inflate Luke’s lungs and ensure he was getting enough oxygen before he was rushed to hospital.
By the time they arrived, Luke’s breathing and colour had improved and he was stable.
Samantha was transported to hospital in the other ambulance and within a few days in hospital, both mother and her baby son were well enough to be discharged and go home.
The family said they were grateful for the swift response by the Netcare 911 team who came out so quickly to take care of the mother and newly born baby.
Pretoria News