‘The breeze was hitting the babies’
Mothers recount childbirth experiences the week of Hurricane Melissa
Published:Sunday | December 21, 2025 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas - Sunday Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Although Hurricane Melissa’s passage on October 28 brought destruction and death, that fateful week still marked an unforgettable milestone for many expectant mothers in western Jamaica who were forced to confront nature’s fury while bringing new life into the world.
Jacey Ann Steadman is among those who, in addition to bearing the pain of childbirth, had to keep themselves and their little ones safe on the day of the Category 5 hurricane’s landfall, and during the chaotic days that followed.
Steadman, who gave birth at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in St James on November 1, described an exhausting and frightening ordeal that began long before she reached the delivery room. Sheltering miles away, Steadman made a gruelling four-hour journey to the hospital while already in pain, only to be sent home because the storm had compromised the facility’s capacity.
Still in labour, she was forced to make the long trip again.
“Upon reaching home, I had to come back down, and I almost gave birth in the car, but luckily, I reached the hospital in time and I delivered my baby,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.
Inside the hospital, conditions were dire. Rainwater leaked through the building, space was scarce, and Steadman had to remain hospitalised an extra day after losing a significant amount of blood.
Despite her condition, she was eventually discharged early due to overcrowding. With communications down because of the hurricane, she was unable to contact anyone for assistance.
“That period was extremely stressful,” she said.
Trapped inside the hospital
Angela*, who gave birth at Falmouth Public General Hospital in Trelawny on October 27, found herself trapped inside the hospital as Hurricane Melissa bore down the following day.
“I had the baby on Monday, and while I was on the ward on Tuesday, the water was starting to rise in the room I was in. The storm was already outside, but I didn’t know what was going on because I was in a room by myself with my baby,” Angela recounted.
As the storm raged, patients and staff were forced to evacuate.
“We had to leave our stuff because we couldn’t carry everything we had, and we were walking from the maternity ward up to the A&E (Accident & Emergency ward). We were walking in the water to go there, and the breeze was hitting everyone – even the young babies, who we had to cover up under blankets – and we were sliding and the nurses were helping us,” said Angela.
Judy*, who gave birth at the Falmouth Hospital two days after the hurricane, faced her own set of challenges.
“It was hell to reach Falmouth Hospital, with the sewage water that we had to drive through, and then the maternity ward was damaged, so they packed the women who were in labour into a small room with two little fans. I was overly concerned about infection because they kept switching us from bed to bed to accommodate those who needed urgent care,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.
“The moment I had my baby, I had to get up and move to give another girl my bed, and then I had to move soon afterwards to a chair. The babies didn’t even get their usual bath, nor myself, since water wasn’t readily available.”
The Cornwall Regional and Falmouth are among five hospitals in Cornwall that were severely damaged by the hurricane. The others are the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover, the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital in Westmoreland, and the Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth.
The Sunday Gleaner was unable to get data on the number of women who gave birth at these facilities during the week of the passage of Hurricane Melissa. However, the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) said there were 619 births between October 28 and December 17. Giving a breakdown, the WRHA told The Sunday Gleaner that there were 181 at Cornwall Regional, 269 at Savanna-la-Mar, 131 at Falmouth, and 38 at Noel Holmes, noting that all of the affected hospitals’ maternity wards are functional.
WRHA Clinical Coordinator Dr Delroy Fray said counselling services are available for nursing staff and the mothers who delivered their children at affected hospitals during and immediately after Hurricane Melissa.
Counselling services
“We have counselling services available, not only for the patients who had deliveries that night, but for the nurses as well. We had to set up psychological support for all of them, and it is ongoing even for our staff,” said Fray. “We provide psychological support for all the hospitals and their staffing, and it is not a one-off thing, because it is important.”
Western Jamaica-based family therapist Dr Beverly Scott said that such intervention strategies are needed to ward off postpartum depression (PPD) in mothers who have given birth under stressful circumstances.
“Ordinarily, if a woman were to give birth under certain conditions, she could develop PPD. And if a woman is going into the hospital during or after a hurricane, the chances of her developing PPD will increase. PPD is a difficult phase after the baby is born, because a woman could develop a mental problem where she is not rational, and if she lost her personal belongings, sustained damage to her house, or anything happened to her family, it is more likely for a woman to develop PPD,” said Scott.
In the meantime, Angela has admitted that her harrowing experience during Hurricane Melissa has deeply affected her.
“It was rough, and it was a very traumatic experience for us as mothers, but thank God, we got through and nobody got hurt. It was just the buildings. I was traumatised, to tell you the truth,” she said.
*Names changed on request.