Baby Colton makes his arrival in style at new birthing unit

The Team Reporter from The Press

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.