Baby Colton makes his arrival in style at new birthing unit
Time waits for no baby and Colton Sim proved the point when he became the first baby to be born at Canterbury’s newest maternity unit.
Arriving at 2.15pm on Tuesday, the 3.676-kilogram baby boy was supposed to be delivered at St George’s Maternity Hospital in Christchurch, but his family’s best-laid plans did not account for staffing shortages.
Just 30 minutes after the new Oromairaki Rolleston Maternity Unit opened at 10am, Colton’s mum, Josephine Sim, was at home in central Christchurch undergoing a midwife check.
Much to everyone’s surprise Sim was already 5 centimetres dilated. After finding out St George’s was having staffing issues, her midwife joked that the Rolleston unit had just opened.
But 30 minutes later it was no joke and Sim found herself in the new facility where staff were in the final stages of setting up.
After utilising a birthing pool, Sim delivered Colton three hours later. Both are healthy and now at home with Sim’s husband, Raymond, after a two-night stay in Rolleston.
The Rolleston facility is on the first floor of the new Toka Hāpai (Selwyn Health Hub) and includes two birthing suites with birth pools and an en suite, 10 post-natal rooms and a whānau room that includes a kitchen and dining area.
It’s hoped the facility will help take the pressure off other primary birthing facilities, including St George’s Maternity Hospital.
In March, the hospital proposed making changes to its maternity service, including the possibility of closing the unit altogether. On Tuesday, it announced it would stay open until the end of its current contract, in June 2023.
Tuesday also marked the closure of the 95-year-old Lincoln Maternity Unit.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.2% Summer
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36.4% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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