Quake does not deter baby Oliver

DEREK FLYNN/ The Press

AGITATED ARRIVAL: Stephanie Holt and her newborn son, Oliver Wade Holt. Oliver was born on Tuesday evening after the quake struck.

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A Christchurch woman who gave birth on the day of the earthquake says the arrival of her son is a surreal feeling.

Oliver Wade Holt was one of many babies born in the hours after the devastating earthquake.

His mother, Stephanie Holt, went into labour on Tuesday morning after she was taken to Christchurch Women's Hospital for observation on Monday night.

She was having "full-blown, hard-out" contractions when the quake hit. "I was having my back rubbed by my mother, then all the trolleys and people went flying across the room."

After staff checked on each other and the patients, they came back to continue the birth.

"Everyone's adrenaline was surging in. It was organised chaos."

She said staff were preparing Holt for an epidural before the quake hit and discussed the procedure, which involves an anaesthetic being injected into the spinal fluid.

"If you move [during the procedure], you're in trouble. We knew it had to happen, but everyone held their breath, because if we had a shock it wasn't going to be good."

After she had not given birth by 7.30pm, staff decided that a caesarian section was necessary.

"I just thought, `Oh my God, they're going to be cutting into me during aftershocks."'

Oliver was born safely at 8.30pm, more than seven hours after the quake.

Holt had decided against a quake-related name.

"I had a friend say, `You should have called him Richter'."

Giving birth to her son amid the carnage of the quake was "very surreal", she said.

"It feels very cool that he's here, but so many people are going through heartache and trauma."

She said she would head to Picton today with her son and mother.

- The Press