John King
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 04/06) - Room 212 is Bernandita Robles' favourite place to deliver babies. She doesn't know why, but there is something about room 212 that makes it special.

Nurse Bernandita Robles stands in lucky room 212 at Stanton Territorial Hospital, one of four birthing rooms in the wing. Each birthing room is equipped with a heated cot for newborns and has oxygen, medical supplies, and anything else a newborn may need during the first weeks of its life. - John King/NNSL photo

"Every birth in this room has been perfect; all the babies have been happy and healthy," said the nurse who is known to staff in the obstetrician wing of Stanton Territorial Hospital as Bernie.

The room itself is like any of the other three birthing rooms. There is a birthing bed that adjusts to whatever position a mother finds comfortable. A nightstand and table along with a rocking chair gives the room a homey touch. A large machine the nurses refer to as the "Ohio" - the manufacturer's name - sits in the corner and is used as a heated cot.

The room is clean and quiet for now, until another soon-to-be mother is rushed to Stanton after her water breaks.

"You get kind of superstitious when you're working with babies," Bernie said, after taking a look around room 212.

"Many of the babies I delivered 20 years ago are now having their own children," Bernie said.

Bringing a new life into the world is just another day at the office, but in Bernie's eyes, ensuring a new mother's comfort while at the hospital is also a nurse's most important responsibility.

"We make the mothers comfortable by helping them to the shower room where they can take a hot shower, or sit on the birthing bowl where somebody will massage the ladies' back," Bernie said.

The birthing bowl offers physical comfort for the early part of labour, says Bernie, but not later when the mother is experiencing contractions.

When the mother does begin having contractions, then nurses use the birthing stool rather than do everything from the more traditional lying down position in a bed, says Bernie.

The birthing stool is the most innovative and simple tool at a nurse's disposal when helping a mother have a baby, says the nurse. It looks like any old stool, but has a horseshoe shaped seat.

Nurses use the stool because squatting is the most natural position to be in while giving birth. The stool gives support while helping to open up the pelvis.

"Most of the time we use the birthing stool. We have the mother sit and push. When the babies' head comes out, we move them to the bed," Bernie said.

Then a new life, like a new year, can begin.