Chloe Gilmore grew up in the small town of Munglinup, 100 kilometres west of Esperance, and it is where she and husband Brendon are now raising their own family.
Last September, at just 28 weeks pregnant with her third son, she faced a frightening complication – bleeding caused by a subchorionic hemorrhage. Chloe was admitted to Esperance Hospital and by the next day was experiencing contractions.
“The doctors thought that they could calm everything down but decided it was safer to send me to Perth via the RFDS,” said Chloe.
She was having sporadic contractions when she boarded the RFDS plane, monitored by Doctor Tom and Retrieval Nurse Ali.
“They calmed me down and reassured me that we were just going to be at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) for monitoring and probably sent home in a couple of weeks,” said Chloe.
Ali monitored Chloe during the flight and as the plane descended at the RFDS’s Jandakot base, her labor had intensified – the baby was on his way. A decision was made to take Chloe via ambulance to the nearby Fiona Stanley Hospital instead of KEMH during peak hour traffic.
“Ali and Tom stayed with me (in the ambulance), telling me how many corners we had left to go around, telling me to just breathe, don't push, everything's fine,” she said.
Moments later, on the ambulance stretcher in the carpark of Fiona Stanley Hospital, Chloe gave birth to baby Henry — a tiny fighter born at just 28 weeks and one day.
“We heard him cry, and they ran us into emergency. There was faces everywhere and Henry was out, and once we got inside I could still see Tom and Ali, they hadn’t left me.”
Baby Henry spent 10 critical weeks gaining strength in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before joining his big brothers Darcy and Edward in Munglinup early in 2025.
“If we did not have the RFDS (to transfer me to Perth) I think we would have been in a bit of danger, being that Henry was only 28 weeks and one day,” said Chloe.
Chloe joked that a dramatic entry into the world was in the genes.
“Brendon was actually born in Munglinup in an ambulance on the side of the road, so Henry must have wanted to top his dad’s birth story!”
Chloe is urging Western Australians to donate to Flying Doctor Day on or before 15 May.
“The RFDS is a fantastic resource that we have in Western Australia - it helps people in rural areas get to where they need to be.”
