A few hours later the midwife left and asked the woman to contact her in the event of more bleeding or headaches.
About 11am, the midwife received another text after additional bleeding and clots. An on-call registrar was contacted and the couple arrived at hospital at 1.30pm.
In the ensuing four hours, the midwife misread the unborn infant's "grossly abnormal" CTG changes, before an emergency caesarean section at 5.16pm, a specialist commissioned to investigate the death said. The changes were noticed only at 4.40pm.
He said the earlier texts between the two were "unlikely to lead to a correct diagnosis", the midwife did not properly consult with hospital specialists and her client should have been transferred to hospital by ambulance.
"I therefore think that once [the midwife] knew that [the client] had vaginal bleeding - either from a text at 10.54am or 11.30am, when she visited her at home - she should have arranged immediate transfer to the hospital. I think that [midwife] did not meet an acceptable standard of practice in this regard".
The specialist said a doctor also failed after misreading the CTG monitor.
"[I] do believe that earlier recognition of the clinical situation and the abnormal CTG would have allowed the opportunity for a different outcome."
Ischaemic brain injury and perinatal asphyxia were cited as the baby's cause of death, while post-mortem results showed he had been in poor condition for longer than the period of earlier labour.
A lawyer acting for the midwife said if she had been aware of an "apricot-sized clot" described in later reports - or the increased pain - she would have taken the expectant mother to hospital earlier.
"In hindsight" she accepted an earlier transfer to hospital would have been prudent, yet she also knew her client wanted a home-birth, so wanted to assess whether that could still occur.
She said that blood pressure readings were taken four times, thought the registrar was aware of the baby's status, and "adamantly" rejected the allegation she refused an offer by widwifery staff for assistance.
The midwife declined to comment to Hawke's Bay Today.
Coroner Chris Devonport, who ordered name suppression for the family, midwife and doctors involved, described the tragedy as a "lack of awareness of a clinical situation" and a failure to notice abnormalities of foetal distress that "may have saved the life of the baby".
Yet even if the emergency delivery had been quicker, it was impossible to know if the baby would have been "neurologically completely normal", he said.
He also warned that texting was not a tool for clinical assessments and should not be a substitute for direct voice contact.
A spokeswoman for the Hawke's Bay District Health Board said the midwife was not working at the moment, while the registrar's contract was not renewed.
"This is a tragic case and Hawke's Bay District Health Board offers its sincerest sympathy to the family for the grief and distress caused," the spokeswoman said.
A full investigation was conducted and the board remained in close contact with the family.
The boy's parents, who were expecting a baby next month, said they didn't want to get involved in "the blame game".
"There's nothing anyone can do to bring him back," the father said.
"The mistakes have all been adequately addressed and we think something positive has come from this with the recommendations that have been made."
While the couple had not enlisted the same midwife for their next child, he said he didn't "have a problem" if she continued to practise. Nor did he have an issue with texting.
"We didn't think it [texting] was inadequate at the time - it's the world we live in.
"Getting angry is only going to make things worse. The 12 hours we had with [our son] were extremely precious.
"Everyone involved has apologised, midwives even came to the funeral. The hospital staff were super-gracious."