The hospital closed after 95 years last Tuesday, timed in with the opening that day of Oromairaki maternity centre at the new $14.7 million Selwyn Health Hub at Rolleston.
Tuatini and fiance Shay Saunders welcomed Micah into the world at the Lincoln facility at 6.05am. Mother and baby transferred to Oromairaki, where they were the first patients, arriving a few minutes after it opened at 10am.
Micah weighed 3.9kg, or 8lb 11oz, and is a brother to two-year-old Beauden.
Tuatini said Beauden had also been born at the Lincoln hospital.
“For me, it’s very nostalgic, because I have had both my boys there now,” Tuatini said.
“Nobody forgets the birth of their child. Lincoln will be dearly missed by lots of people. It felt quite sad leaving there. It felt like an old home you are moving out of.”
They noticed the hospital was in pack-up mode – cardboard boxes at the front door ready to be filled with items, hallway chairs removed, and photos of babies and their families no longer on the walls.
But the birthing room was fully furnished as it always had been. Tuatini was able to have Micah in the birthing pool, something she had wanted to do but not been able to do with Beauden.
“I felt very in control, I knew what I was doing this time.”
She said it had been exciting to be the first family arriving at Oromairaki.
“It’s absolutely beautiful, you have the facilities there, you know you are going to get such well taken care of.”
In contrast to packing up at Lincoln, there was some unwrapping of new items, including a cuff for a blood pressure monitor before it could be placed on her. And there was the odd glitch as staff got on top of how everything worked. For example, she and a midwife puzzled for some minutes on how to turn off a dimmer light.
Rhi and Micah went home the next day, and Micah had been “a champion” of a baby since, sleeping and feeding well.
The couple said they had been planning to have their baby at St George’s Maternity Hospital, but their midwife told them it was not immediately available due to staff shortages, and suggested Oromairaki.
“Rolleston for us is like far (away), we never go out there,” Raymond said.
“We didn’t even know there was a maternity ward there,” Josephine said.
They ended up being pleasantly surprised by the reasonably short drive. They were now back home with their new family member, who Raymond described as “super cute.”
Meanwhile, a decision on the future of the Lincoln hospital building has been delayed due to the Covid-19 response.
