A Swansea couple have given their baby a midwife’s name as his middle name — in tribute to the care they received at Singleton Hospital during one of the most frightening nights of their lives.
Shania Jenkins, 26, and partner Liam John are now the proud parents of Tobias Michael John — with the middle name chosen to honour midwife Michael Nixon, who looked after Shania when she haemorrhaged after delivering baby Tobi prematurely last September.
“His kindness just made everything better,” said Shania, who lives in Bynea. “For a few days after we couldn’t even say Michael’s name without getting emotional. And that is when we made the decision to put his name into Tobi.”
The pregnancy had been complicated from the start. Shania has a rare form of diabetes called MODY — maturity-onset diabetes of the young — and had to be monitored throughout. Then, living in Bridgend, she went to Princess of Wales Hospital for a routine scan only to be told she was going into labour at just 28 weeks.
She was transferred to Singleton, where doctors gave her medication to slow the labour. “They couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t come early,” Shania said. “But it worked. He stayed in for an extra six weeks.”
Tobi was eventually born at 34 weeks, weighing four pounds eight ounces — a good weight for a premature baby. But his arrival was far from straightforward. After two days of slow labour with little progress, Shania went home — only to return almost immediately with contractions.
Back at Singleton, the couple were supported through the night by midwife Abbey Hughes. “She was rubbing my back. She was making us laugh,” Shania said. “I really appreciated that because it didn’t make me feel as scared.”
The following day midwife Kristy McCullar took over — equally supportive, the couple said. Then Tobi arrived — and Shania began to haemorrhage.
It was at that point that Michael Nixon came to the fore. Obstetric registrar Dr Aishvarya Gupta and Michael stopped the bleeding, while Tobi was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Michael stayed with Shania to monitor her.
“He told me that, even though Tobi wasn’t with me, he was more than happy for me to go to Tobi if I felt up to it,” Shania recalled. “And then he wheeled my bed up to NICU so I could see him.”
When the time came for Liam to go home, Shania whispered to him that she was anxious about being alone after haemorrhaging — not intending Michael to hear. “He must have overheard me because he came back in with a pull-out bed and said Liam could stay on that. He came back every hour — not just to check on me but to reassure me that the bleeding had not restarted.”
“He was just really good at knowing what I needed without me needing to say it,” she said. “He looked after Liam too. He was just so kind and compassionate. Michael just being there uplifted everything.”
Michael said he was deeply moved when he learned the couple had given Tobi his name. “It’s something I will never forget and feel incredibly honoured by,” he said. “Knowing that my care made a difference during what was a frightening and overwhelming experience is incredibly humbling.”
He said midwives aimed to provide not just clinical care but reassurance, honesty and compassion at times of greatest vulnerability. “Supporting someone through uncertainty and separation from their baby is never something we take lightly,” he said.
As for Tobi, now several months old, he is doing well. “He’s got the most hair I have ever seen on a baby,” Shania said. “He’s thriving. He’s such a happy, smiley baby.”
