‘There was no stopping this baby from coming’: Woman gives birth while aboard Newfoundland ferry

A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.

Mason Devoe and Lindsey Gale were taking an overnight trip from Newfoundland to Cape Breton aboard Marine Atlantic’s Ala’suinu ferry last Friday.

Lindsey, who was 33-weeks pregnant at the time, decided to tag along with Mason – who was heading to the mainland to help a friend with a roof – for one last trip before their little baby arrived.

“I was 33-weeks pregnant when we started this trip… And I said, well, you know what, I may as well come and have a last visit before I can’t travel anymore, before the baby comes,” said Lindsey.

Everything was going as planned, with calm waters and a peaceful trip until the early morning hours of the night. That’s when Lindsey started to feel what she thought was Braxton Hicks contractions.

“I was kind of convinced I was having Braxton Hicks because early in the evening on Halloween, I had had a couple what I assumed was contractions, but they were really short and really far apart and, like, nothing consistent,” said Lindsey.

“And then it kind of spiralled from there.”

Lindsey and Mason realized something wasn’t right and contacted their friend Sherry Scott, who works aboard the ferry as the chief storekeeper.

“I was asleep at 4 a.m. and I got a phone call from Mason, who is Miley’s dad, and he asked me could I come down to the room because they thought Lindsey was in labour,” said Sherry.

Sherry says Lindsey had downloaded an app after the contractions started so she could track how far apart they were, and it revealed they were becoming very steady.

“Myself and my husband, and Lindsey’s partner Mason and my son, who was also travelling with them, all went to the hospital room and we got her comfortable there while we waited to see if we would get response from a doctor or nurse,” said Sherry.

“Then we got a response from two nurses who came up and also assessed the situation. The labour progressed and we were quite positive it was true labour.”

‘They did absolutely everything in their power’

Sherry contacted the ferry bridge to see what could be done.

“They called the captain and asked, ‘What should we do? Do we speed this thing up? Do we call for medical resources on ship?’ And they did absolutely everything in their power to help us,” said Lindsey.

Marine Atlantic’s Ala’suinu ferry is pictured in this file photo. (Source:Facebook/Marine Atlantic)

The vessel’s speed was increased in an attempt to make it to shore before baby Miley made her grand entrance into the world.

Mason says although the crew was doing everything in their power to help them, the situation was overwhelming, to say the least.

“This experience was not good,” he said as he shook his head.

“The two nurses did everything in their power to help us. But there were times I didn’t know if I was going to get to see either one of my girls because she was coming early, and we didn’t know why and we didn’t know what was happening.

“To tell you the truth, Lindsey did better than I did.”

While the captain did their best to make it to land as quickly as possible, crew members contacted 911, who talked them through every step.

Once the ferry made it to port – about 45 minutes before its estimated arrival time – paramedics were already waiting at the ramp so they could head aboard and help.

‘An amazing thing to see’

“So, when we got there, we learned pretty quick that it was going to be a field delivery,” said Kathleen Whalen, EHS advanced care paramedic.

Sherry says paramedics were hardly on board when Lindsey and Mason welcomed their family’s newest addition.

“There was no stopping this baby from coming,” said Sherry. “She was coming. We were just trying to keep Lindsey calm and trying to keep everything under control.”

“Just two minutes and 30 seconds after they walked into the door, baby Miley was here and at the time, I was next to the father helping the paramedics as they delivered this baby. So, it was quite an amazing thing to see.”

Welcome baby Miley

Baby Miley was born Nov. 1 aboard the Ala’suinu ferry. Although born on the Nova Scotia side of the crossing, Sherry believes her time of birth still falls under Newfoundland Standard Time.

Baby Miley, who was born Nov. 1 aboard one of the Newfoundland Ferries, is pictured. (CTV Atlantic/Darryl Reeves)

“The baby was born at 6:59 a.m. Nova Scotia time, but the ship runs on Newfoundland time, so she was actually born at 7:29 a.m. Newfoundland time,” said Sherry.

Her place of birth also remains up in the air depending on how you look at it.

“From what I hear, they’ve had to make up a little new category to where she was born,” Sherry said. “It wasn’t a hospital birth, it wasn’t a home birth, it wasn’t an ambulance birth; it was a ferry birth.”

Lindsey and Mason say the baby is doing well, but they’re still unsure when they’ll be discharged.

“Miley’s got a couple milestones that she’s got to reach before we can consider going home. But hopefully it’ll be sooner than later,” said Lindsey.

Now that the excitement has calmed down, crews and paramedics are just happy everything went as smoothly as it did.

“It was a great crew, and it was really nice to see the support and the strength that the mom and the dad both had for the baby,” Kathleen said.

Sherry says she’s looking forward to seeing the family of three once again.

“We’re hoping that Mason, Lindsey, and Miley get to travel back home with us to Newfoundland,” she said. “We really want to see her and we want to honour her for sure.”

“I watched her take her first breath and I can’t wait to watch her grow up.”