IQALUIT - A woman in labour turned away from a hospital in Iqaluit and told to come back later gave birth right after arriving home with help from a family member.

On the night of Thursday, Aug. 6, Stephanie Aksarjuk went to Qikiqtani General Hospital feeling ready to deliver her fourth child, but was sent home and told to come back when her labour was further along.

"It's normal for a doctor to send a woman home when she's at an early stage of labour," said Natsiq Kango, the paternal grandmother of newborn Judy Kango.

Natsiq Kango is a traditional midwife and has attended many births for friends and family, but none in her own home until now.

Throughout Aksarjuk's pregnancies and parenthood she has consulted with Kango. When Aksarjuk felt her first signs of labour, Kango was the first person she called.

Kango asked Aksarjuk her symptoms and had her time her labour pains. For the next two days, the two kept in constant touch until Kango decided it was time for Aksarjuk to go to the hospital.

But at Qikiqtani General Hospital, the doctor who examined Aksarjuk said she still had a while before the baby came, according to Kango. To her eyes, the doctor was new to Nunavut and perhaps inexperienced.

"I told the family physician this is her fourth birth," Kango said. "She can deliver quickly."

According to Kango, the doctor called another doctor in for a second opinion. Aksarjuk was checked again and the medical opinion was confirmed: she was only three centimetres dilated and so would not deliver the baby for hours. Come back when the contractions are five minutes apart, they said.

"My opinion is that they always treat everyone as if they are having their first child, just because the first child takes more than the others," Kango said.

Almost as soon as they arrived at Kango's home, things started happening quickly. Aksarjuk called for Kango "as soon as my head hit the pillow," said Kango.

"I ran to her and found the baby's head was already out."

Little Judy was out of her mother's belly about 10 minutes after coming home from the hospital.

She didn't cry right away, so Kango said she held her upside down by one leg and the newborn then started bawling. She laid the child on her mother's chest and went to fetch scissors and thread to cut the umbilical cord.

An ambulance came and took Aksarjuk back to the hospital where she and the baby both received a clean bill of health.

Kango said though she was happy she got to deliver one of her grandchildren in her home, she is critical of the relationship between the doctors of Qikiqtani General, who are often in Nunavut for short periods, and Inuit midwives who develop long relationships with mothers and mothers-to-be.

"I know that the health professionals are always helping us with our needs, but when it comes to low-risk birthing, those of us birthing at home both in Iqaluit and in the communities, those of us are not given the opportunity to practise our Inuit ways of birthing," Kango said.

The Department of Health and Social Services declined to comment.