Vol.109–No. 31 • 12 Pages
Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, August 1, 2018
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Ag, Oil & Business • 2
Opinion • 4
Sports • 6
Obituaries/Classified • 8
Mother has unusual experience giving birth
Triplets safely recovering in NICU
Three babies all in a row
Photo 0227 courtesy Danielle Johnston
Jack, Liam and Karlee Johnston, triplets born on July 16-17, slept together while being cared for at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Regina General Hospital. Their mom, Danielle Johnston, went through an ordeal in giving birth to them that began when Karlee was born on the bathroom floor in her farm home near Griffin, and while having contractions she had to perform CPR on the little baby until the ambulance arrived. By Greg Nikkel he busy Johnston home will now be even busier and louder, after Trevor and Danielle gave birth to triplets in July, in an ordeal that took several hours and ambulance rides to complete. The couple already had four children at home, ranging in age from three to 15, and they knew that triplets were coming. Danielle was checked over at a hospital on July 16 to see how the pregnancy was going. “I found out that everything looked good, and they didn’t think they would come too early,” said Danielle, adding that she was told two of the babies were breached. She went home to their farm near Griffin after the checkup and had laid down after putting her younger children to bed, and began starting having contractions, which greatly concerned her. She told her oldest, Dillon, who’s 15, that she needed to go to the hospital, and
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needed an ambulance right away. “I was on the bathroom floor in a lot of pain while he called 911 for an ambulance, and told them I was in labour,” said Danielle, and shortly afterward, a baby girl was born with Dillon’s help, and she wasn’t breathing. She began to perform CPR on the baby, and Dillon took the family van to the highway to wait for the ambulance, so they would know where to turn in. “My husband was coming home from work and met Dillon at the turnoff, and he told Trevor that I had had a baby,” she said, noting the ambulance came in shortly after, about 45 minutes after the initial call had been made. “I was having contractions the whole time I was doing CPR, and then the whole way to Regina. By the time we got to Regina, they were a minute apart.” The ambulance initially took her to the Weyburn hospital before sending her on to Regina, and she gave birth
The 7th Avenue entertains at Akins family fundraiser
to her two boys by C-section shortly after getting into emergency at the Regina General. A separate ambulance from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) had taken her daughter in for care, putting her on oxygen as soon as they arrived to care for her. The triplets were stabilized, and remain in the NICU as they had been born at 32 weeks gestation. Danielle said the babies weighed about 4.5 pounds each, which she was told was good for triplets, and will likely be in the NICU for another couple of weeks before they are big enough to be sent home with their family. The first baby born was named Karlee, and the boys are named Jack and Liam, and they will have different birthdays, with Karlee on July 16, and her brothers on July 17. Continued on Page 3
Review Photo 8558 — Greg Nikkel
Weyburn band The 7th Avenue played a variety of classic rock tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s as they performed at the Legion Hall for the fundraiser supper, held for Ensley Akins and her family of Weyburn on Saturday evening. From left are Kelly Kwochka on bass, Brayden King on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Cam MacMurchy on drums, and Cywin Tapia on lead guitar. The supper and silent auction raised funds to help the Akins family as Ensley, 19, travels for chemotherapy treatments for bone cancer. Organizers of the supper also held a slowpitch tournament at Clark Park during the day as part of the fundraiser.