When the Royal Flying Doctor Service began offering services from Dubbo in 1999, one of the areas of demand was retrievals of women about to give birth. Specialist services such as obstetrics had begun to disappear from small hospitals due to a shortage of doctors.
This was the situation Sharleen and Glen Maxwell found themselves in when Sharleen went into labour with their first child Zachariah.
Midway through the pregnancy they learned the obstetrics ward at Bourke Hospital was closing.
They made other arrangements to travel to Dubbo a week before the birth to be close to a maternity ward but that plan was thrown into chaos when baby Zach decided to arrive early, when Sharleen was 36 weeks pregnant.
“I had started getting these twinges and what I thought was Braxton-Hicks got worse so we went to Bourke Hospital. It was too far to travel by ambulance in labour so they called the Flying Doctor,” Sharleen recalled.
“I was in a hospital gown so it was cold as they took me to the plane. And then my waters broke as I was walking up the steps. I thought ‘yep, the baby’s going to come’,” Sharleen said.
“They had to strap me in, which is uncomfortable when you’re having contractions, but the nurse, oh she was so lovely and very reassuring. She thought I might have been going to deliver in the air but that didn’t happen fortunately.
“She helped me learn how to breathe because there wasn't really any of that prenatal education out at Bourke. I was glad to have the crash course from that nurse.
“We made it to Dubbo and they got me to the hospital before Zach was born.”
While it wasn’t the way Sharleen had envisaged the birth of her first child happening, she was relieved that he was born safe and healthy.
“It just like, wow. It was lovely that they thought it worthy enough to come up and help. I was just really blown away by that. And then they were just so lovely. I mean, obviously I can't recall it too much, but I do just remember being so grateful and just felt really looked after the whole time,” Sharleen said.
“When you are out at Bourke with a newborn too, and you've got no idea what you're doing, it's just reassuring to say to yourself, ‘the Flying Doctor will come for you’.
“Even after we’d left Bourke and were living in Lismore, we went away and travelled around Australia for six months with three kids. And we had that knowledge that if anything happened while we were in the outback, the Flying Doctor was there for us. It's just nice to have that security in the back of your mind that they’re there.”
While oblivious at the time to all the excitement of his impending arrival, Zach said he’d learned of the story of his birth while young and knew it was unique.
“It’s surprising how often it comes up actually. It’s an interesting tale to be able to tell,” he said.
“When I was younger, I wished I had been born on the plane. I thought that would have been great.”
"When I was younger, I wished I had been born on the plane. I thought that would have been great."
Zachariah Maxwell
Sharleen recently found her story that was written in the quarterly RFDS newsletter The Flyer in October 1999.
“We were in The Flyer and I framed a copy and had it hanging in Zach’s room when he was little, along with an RFDS teddy bear dressed like a pilot. When he left home we packed his stuff away but it was only recently I went through a box and found the story. I thought it was time to get it out and hang it up again,” she said.
“It’s something we’ll never forget.”
