One year on she sees the funny side, but at the time it was life-threatening, traumatic and the worst moment of her and husband Sean Murray’s lives.
The Wānaka couple had travelled three days early to Dunedin for what would be an induced birth on the Monday.
On the Friday, Mrs Murray started to feel pain so extreme she thought she was in labour and after contacting her midwife, went into Dunedin Hospital.
She was told she wouldn’t be in labour so went home to rest.
By about 5am the pain became so much Mrs Murphy told her husband and mother-in-law she needed to get to hospital.
As they gathered her belongings in a panic, the then 32-year-old gave birth to her daughter Olive on the front doorstep.
"I got to the doorway, I knelt down and she was born into my yoga pants."
Her baby’s umbilical cord snapped and both she and the baby began to lose dangerous amounts of blood. Her sister-in-law acted quickly and tied a shoelace around the baby’s cord to slow down the blood loss.
Then three ambulances and two fire engines showed up to the address.
"We got put into two separate ambulances. I didn’t even know if she was alive — the ambulance couldn’t tell me."
Olive, who was born weighing just 2.8kg, was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (Nicu) with severe hypoglycaemia and, due to pregnancy complications, was quite small.
"We weren’t prepared for Nicu or a longer hospital stay. It was one of the hardest, scariest times of our lives."
The pair of them spent a week in hospital, Olive in an incubator to gain strength.
Making what was a terrible experience into something more positive was charitable organisation One Mother to Another.
While in Nicu, the family received a care package filled with small comforts such as toiletries, snacks and a handwritten note from another mum who had "been there".
"It was such a beautiful package — I think I actually cried at the note," Mrs Murray said.
"For me it was the toiletries — they were so helpful. I went and had a long shower and just got to breathe and take everything in. The journal was amazing — I wrote in it each day, little notes about our girl and my feelings. The snacks were lovely too, as we didn’t want to leave her bedside, so they got us through.
One Mother to Another now provides care packages to more than 7000 mums, dads and caregivers of children across 21 South Island hospital wards, as well as to mothers in mental health crisis. This includes Dunedin’s Nicu, paediatric and Queen Mary maternity wards, as well as Southland Hospital’s Nicu.
Each care package contains essential items and messages of encouragement — along with thoughtfully chosen treats to support emotional wellbeing.
The organisation has started a "Give a Little Hope This Christmas" crowdfunding campaign, aiming to raise $20,000 to deliver extra care packages to parents in hospital with a child on Christmas Day.
