A podcast for parents, by parents, that isn't afraid to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly side of raising tiny humans in this 'new normal' post-Covid world. Video / NZ Herald
Gaining weight? Tick. Waking mum lots? Tick. Being a gorgeous blessing? Tick.
Costco baby Nathanael Bay could soon be heading home from hospital with his smitten mum and dad three weeks after his unexpected premature arrival in a bathroom at the West Auckland megastore.
Gill and Keith Bay’s little boy weighed just 1.5kg (3lb 4oz) when he was born more than a month early on January 19, after his mother went into labour while shopping for the baby shower she planned to host the next day.
Keith and Gill Bay in an ambulance with baby Nathanael just after he was born in a disabled bathroom at Costco Westgate in Auckland on January 19.
But at his most recent weigh-in on Wednesdayhe cracked 2kg (4lb 6oz), mum Gill Bay said.
“Nathanael is doing better and better. Today (Wednesday) he’s just achieved the 2kg weight we wanted to be able to qualify to go to a birthing unit, if there’s a place available closer to home … or even to go home.
“The amazing thing about Nathanael is he didn’t have any medical conditions at all - all his goals are just to feed and grow. It is by God’s grace that we have all been well.”
“We need him to be off the fortifier and the NG (nasogastric) tube on his nose. If he continues to breastfeed on me with a good score, which he is doing, then we will move onto the next step.”
The location wasn't the only rare thing about Nathanael Bay's birth - he also arrived "en caul", where a foetus and placenta are delivered entirely encased in an un-ruptured amniotic sac.
The couple are hoping they can take their firstborn home to Papakura sometime this week or next, she said.
“Although we still can’t tell yet when our baby can be discharged, we believe it is going to be soon. We have peace, because we always believe God’s time is the best.”
As well as his unusual place of birth, Nathanael was also a rare en caul birth - where a foetus and placenta are delivered entirely encased in an un-ruptured amniotic sac.
En caul births occur in fewer than one in 80,000 vaginal deliveries, according to the US Government’s National Library of Medicine.
Bay, a primary school teacher, and her mental health support worker husband Keith, had struggled with infertility for four years before conceiving Nathanael.
“We’ve been praying and hoping this time will come, and this is it - we are parents”, Bay said following her baby boy’s birth, which earned cheers from shoppers and staff as they left the megastore soon after.
Their much-wanted baby boy Nathanael arrived after a four year battle with infertitlity, said Gill Bay, pictured with husband Keith Bay. Photo / Supplied.
Costco staff - one who pinched the un-ruptured amniotic sac after Nathanael’s birth and another who liaised with a 111 operator during the unplanned birth in the store’s disabled toilet - had visited mum and baby in hospital.
“I was actually in tears after they left because I’m just very grateful for them. Those people are just so kind.”
Kiwi fans of the US retail giant called for Costco to offer the family free nappies or a lifetime membership in posts to a homegrown fanpage on Facebook.
Apart from the staff members’ visit, they hadn’t otherwise heard from store, Bay said.
But they don’t mind, as their focus is on Nathanael.
Keith Bay helped deliver his son Nathanael after the now 3-week-old was born in a Costco Westgate disabled bathroom last month.
Whenever she looks at her 3-week-old son Nathanael, "it makes me happy", Gill Bay says. Photo / Supplied.
Three weeks in, motherhood was proving “rewarding, fulfilling, inspiring - and tiring”, she said.
“He keeps me up at night … oh, he can cry so loud. He can wake up the people next door. So it’s exhausting physically. But I love everything about it because it’s a blessing.
“I always just think about Nathanael being a blessing and not being a burden. And whenever I look at him, it makes me happy.”
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
