N.S. couple grieves baby after ‘traumatic’ birth, calls for more sympathetic care

A Yarmouth couple is calling for change after losing their baby in a traumatic early birth. They say they would like to see more sympathy for parents of micro-preemies.

Fiancés Shane Boucher and Makenna Westlake were thrilled when Westlake found out she was pregnant with their first child earlier this year.

But when Westlake’s water broke back in September, at only 22 weeks gestation, the couple rushed to their local hospital in Yarmouth, N.S.

They say they were told by staff at Yarmouth Regional Hospital that due to the extreme pre-maturity of their son, they would have to give birth at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax — the only health facility in the province with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Westlake says they put in both a LifeFlight and an ambulance request, but were denied both.

Instead, the couple and Westlake’s mother ended up driving hundreds of kilometres to Halifax.

“The entire time, I was talking to our son in her stomach,” Boucher says. “Telling him, ‘Listen kid, it’s far too early, you can’t come out yet.’ So, he listened to us, he turned himself around — he tried his hardest to stay inside.”

Once they got to the IWK, Westlake says the baby’s heartbeat was still strong. She says they waited more than three hours before getting brought to the Birth Unit.

“The entire time…she (Westlake) was continuing to throw up,” Boucher recalls. “We were asking the nurses and doctors if she could have water or food or something…they pretty much suggested that she shouldn’t take anything in case of an emergency C-section, which obviously never happened.”