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INUVIK
When Ethel-Jean Gruben looked out her window last Tuesday morning and was faced with howling winds and blinding snow, her first thought was that her niece was going to go into labour.

Three-day-old Heidi Sadie Marie Blake lies in the arms of her mother, Sasha Blake, and father, Robert Kow, at the Inuvik Regional Hospital Friday. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Sasha Blake came to Inuvik from Tsiigehtchic on Dec. 28 to wait for her baby, her first.

Gruben is her family support in town and on Tuesday, Jan. 17, with Blake's sister and mother still in Tsiigehtchic, she received a phone call at about 12:30 p.m. from her niece who was, as Gruben predicted, in labour.

Gruben had the day off, along with much of the town, due to the severe weather conditions.

"I just hung up (the phone) and told my husband, 'Well, just because it's blowing, she had to go into labour.'"

Gruben arrived at the hospital without incident and stayed with Blake. Later that day, Blake's sister and mother arrived from Tsiigehtchic, driving slow and steady to support her during her first delivery.

Blake underwent a caesarean section since the baby was quite big and wasn't moving on her own after Blake's contractions started about 5 p.m. The extra-large delivery came about an hour after the procedure, around 9 p.m.

"They told us not to worry, and updated us constantly," said Gruben. "They came out and they brought this huge baby and we were just shocked."

Heidi Sadie Marie Blake was born weighing 11 pound 14 ounces, with a full head of jet black hair and tender, heart-shaped lips.

Blake said when she heard the weight, she was shocked as well.

"I thought he was joking," she said of the doctor who oversaw the procedure.

"She's very good. She's a good baby," she said on Thursday as she cuddled with her daughter in the hospital bed. "She's a little storm baby."

Gruben, who gave birth to all her children at the Inuvik Regional Hospital, said she was amazed at how the staff worked during the storm.

"This big storm didn't affect the services (for) the C-section. She's a big baby, a beautiful healthy baby and even in the storm, they were able to have all the medical services available," said Gruben. "I was just amazed at how calm the hospital was and how they were so positive and very supportive. There were a few of us there to support Sasha and they never complained and they accommodated us."

Gruben said it's a blessing that with a big storm, closing down roads and cancelling flights to and from the community, that the needs of the town were still able to be met.

"That was what we were most grateful for. We were able to leave at the end of the day knowing she was in good hands," she said. "We have these people here who care and they made their way to the hospital in a blizzard to proceed with the operation. We're lucky people in the North. Sure, we might not have everything, but nobody does and unless they're in those situations and receive the help they get, they'll never know."

Jane Smith, director of client services at Inuvik Regional Hospital, said there was no trouble with having the staff come to work during the stormy conditions.

She said the maternity care provided at the hospital is exceptional.

"The nurses, they're really involved with the family. I will have to say from working in the south, that the maternity care provided here at the Inuvik hospital is wonderful compared to down south," she said.

"There are so few beds (at some hospitals in the south), after four hours they have to leave. Here, they get extremely good maternity care because the nurses are so involved."

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