My Account
Special delivery! It was a team effort when Harley-Jean was born outside Dairy Flat Hall. Summer Buckman says the birth of her daughter outside Dairy Flat Hall was “a whirlwind”.
On May 1, a drama unfolded outside Dairy Flat Hall, as Summer Buckman, 25, gave birth to her daughter Harley-Jean in the back of an ambulance.
Harley-Jean is Summer’s second child. She says as the birth of son Kyrie-Lewis three years ago took 63 hours, the speed of Harley-Jean’s arrival was totally unexpected.
“We tried to get to hospital, but she just wanted out,” Summer says.
Summer and her partner Marlin Thompson were driving to hospital when it became clear they would not make it. They pulled over outside Dairy Flat Hall and called the ambulance.
Once inside the ambulance, it wasn’t long before Harley-Jean was delivered by St John ambulance officer Toni Hoult.
Summer says this was especially significant, given that her own mother is also a paramedic, in the Far North.
“It’s super cool that my daughter got brought into the world by a paramedic especially because she is named after my mum,” Summer says. “To go from a labour of almost three days with baby number one to an established labour of less than an hour with this one, I think it’s safe to say that I do everything in extremes.”
St John Ambulance Officer Toni Hoult says her work means responding to all sorts of incidents, some of which don’t have good outcomes.
“It was so humbling to be part of the birth of a baby; it was such a joy,” Toni says.
Both mother and baby are doing well at home in Dairy Flat.
