Local resident delivers her baby on her own
RANDPARK RIDGE – Baby Anden Venter delivered by his mom at home at 37 weeks.
“I was standing close to the bathroom and I pushed and I could feel his head. I started shouting and I said ‘help please’. Your body automatically tells you to push.”
These are the words of Chantell Calitz (41) who cradles her newborn son in her arms, seven days after his premature birth. Baby Anden is happy and healthy. Calitz and fiancé Marco Venter have lived in Randburg for over two decades and settled in Randpark Ridge four years ago.
The couple planned a water birth, however, due to the intensity of premature cramps, first being dismissed as a case of Braxton Hicks (false labour pains), this was out of the question. The mother of three recalled the morning of the premature birth of her son at 37 weeks as a whirlwind.
“When I pulled off my pants, I caught him in my hands… The spinal cord was still around his neck. He wasn’t breathing so I took that off. He gave one cough and sneeze and then I knew my baby was alive.”
Venter rushed home in the interim to transport his pregnant fiancé to the midwife they had chosen to deliver their baby.
“My biggest fear was that she was going to faint,” recalled Venter after he realised that Calitz had delivered her baby on her own and knew she had an aversion to blood. After she emerged from the bathroom with her newborn in her arms, the next step was to wrap both of them in blankets to keep them warm.
Calitz and Venter expressed their immense gratitude to CAN Infinity Assistance and ER24 for their ‘prompt response and professional assistance on the day that changed our lives forever’.
