Mom Gives Birth to Baby a Month Early at Costco, Baby Was Still Inside the Amniotic Sac

In a doubly unlikely turn of events, a New Zealand mother gave birth to her baby boy a month early in a Costco disabled toilet and, amazingly, his amniotic sac was completely intact.

The baby’s mother, Gill Bay, felt discomfort overnight and decided before leaving the store that she wanted to go to the bathroom. However, when a Costco worker came to check on him, Gill was in pain and needed help.

“I started crying because of the pain, it’s getting stronger and stronger… so someone heard me and she said, ‘Miss, are you okay? Are you pregnant?’” Gill reported.

“I was so desperate for help that I opened my cubicle door and said, ‘Yes, please help'”.

Gill’s husband and Costco staff assisted with the delivery

Gill is moved to the disabled bathroom where she suddenly realizes that she gave birth to her baby more than a month early.

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“I moved immediately [onto] my hands and knees … I try to use what I learned watching YouTube”, he said. “And thank God the bathroom is very clean and not disgusting, and everything is perfect, and there is a chair that I can hold if I need to”.

A Costco staff member relayed instructions from an emergency services phone operator, while others brought towels to prepare for the birth. After just one push, baby Nathanael was delivered into the arms of his father, Keith. He was born at 35 weeks and five days gestation, and weighed just 3lb 4oz.

“My wife, she was the one who caught the baby, she was like a midwife there”, Gill said.

Nathanael’s birth was unusual in more ways than one

Nathanael is believed to be the second baby born in a Costco, after all a woman gave birth to a child in a store on the other side of the world in London in 2017.

Baby Nathanael was also an en caul birth, meaning he and his placenta were born together encased in an unbroken amniotic sac. Births occur within less than one in 80,000 non-surgical delivery.

Both of Nathanael’s parents were afraid of this situation because they did not hear their son cry after his birth.

Gill said “My husband started saying, ‘Oh, come on baby, I want you to cry’, and I was crying”.

However, Nathanael began to cry when a Costco employee pinched the amniotic sac. Gill described her relief when she “heard him cry and they said that everything is okay”.

Ambulance officers later escorted Gill and Nathanael to the hospital

The staff tried to keep the situation private, but shoppers noticed when the family left. “They are clapping and congratulating. I am so grateful that everything went well and the baby is alive and well… that people are helping us – people we don’t know – and they are so compassionate and kind”, Gill said.

“To the staff at Costco and everyone involved, paramedics and Waitākere Maternity, your kindness and amazing support has touched us deeply. The safe arrival of our precious baby would not have been possible without your help, and for this, our gratitude knows no bounds… thank you”.

Medical support for premature babies continues to improve

In the decade to 2019 alone, the survival rate for extremely premature babies doubledmotivation new guide from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) which allows doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks gestation. The previous clinical guidelinesmade in 2008, set the standard that babies born before 23 weeks’ gestation should not be resuscitated.

When a mother is more than 22 weeks pregnant, if her baby is born prematurely, the chances of survival increase week by week due to technical advances, better planning so that pregnant mothers who entered preterm labor went straight to specialist units, and the use of steroids increased.

Research published in November 2023 by academics at the University of Leicester and Imperial College London found the number of babies born at 22 weeks’ gestation surviving to hospital discharge tripled between 2018-19, before the introduction of the BAPM guideline, and 2020-21, after the introduction of the BAPM guideline.

According to this research, there are total 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeksbefore the abortion limit, who survived hospital discharge in 2020 and 2021. This compared to the Govt. abortion statisticsshowing that in 2021 alone, there were 1,054 abortions for babies at 22 and 23 weeks’ gestation.

Right to Life UK Spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said, “This amazing story of baby Nathanael being surprised by his parents at a Costco once again shows the humanity of unborn children in the womb. It’s so sad. in the UK, abortion remains legal both during baby Nathanael’s pregnancy and even until birth if the baby is thought to be disabled”.

LifeNews Note: Republished with permission from Right to Life UK.