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The cries of a newborn baby punctuate the Triple Zero call made to try to save the life of Stacey Warnecke.
The wellness influencer and home birth proponent’s quiet groans and laboured breathing are also audible as her husband, Nathan, and doula, Emily Lal, describe the scene that will confront paramedics in her Seaford home.
“My wife’s just given birth, and she is having trouble breathing,” Nathan tells the operator during the 12-minute call.
“We’ve got help coming as quickly as we can for her, OK?” the call taker replies. “Is that her breathing in the background?”
“Yes,” Lal, who has been banned from working as a birth companion, responds before saying Warnecke is pale and her skin is hot.
The 12-minute call confirms the health of baby Axel, who cries in the background, and that Warnecke is awake but has bled heavily after delivering the placenta.
By time the first paramedic arrived, Warnecke, 30, was lying on the floor of a dark room between the couch and the birth pool, a Coroners Court inquest into her death was told on Monday.
Her skin was yellow and cold. She was highly agitated, breathing rapidly and in an altered state of consciousness.
Warnecke was taken to Frankston Hospital in a critical condition by intensive care paramedics at 5am on September 29 last year, accompanied by her husband, Lal and her newborn son.
The inquest heard that when hospital staff went to transfer her from the ambulance stretcher to a hospital bed, they witnessed a “big gush of blood”, immediately triggering a severe obstetric emergency.
The hospital exhausted its supply of the wellness influencer’s blood type in an unsuccessful attempt to save her life.
Warnecke underwent an emergency hysterectomy to try to stop the bleeding, but died after suffering several cardiac arrests.
Rachel Ellyard, counsel assisting the coroner, told the inquest that Warnecke’s death had had a profound impact on the hospital staff who made “heroic attempts” to save her.
The court heard that in the months before Axel was born, Warnecke had expressed a deep fear of birth trauma and was adamant she wanted to have her baby on her own terms without medical intervention.
She had expressed growing concern about the increase in the number of caesareans, induced births and what she felt were excessive medical interventions.
On the first day of the inquest into her death, harrowing details of the nutritionist’s final moments were aired.
Warnecke’s son had been resting against her chest and she was basking in the happiness of his birth when she passed the placenta, suddenly began to haemorrhage and was left gasping for air.
The inquest heard she twice refused an ambulance, but as she deteriorated further her husband asked her a third time and she accepted.
The medical examiner has proposed the cause of death was a “postpartum haemorrhage in the setting of a home birth”.
Coroner Therese McCarthy offered her condolences to Warnecke’s family at the beginning of the hearing, saying the inquest’s purpose was not criticise the young mother, but to try to understand why she had decided to have a “free birth”, in an effort to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
“I am conscious that not a lot of time has passed since Stacey died, and there is a little baby being cared for by you,” she told the family, who watched on videolink.
The court heard there had been a rise in free births across Australia, and they had emerged as an important public health issue requiring deeper examination to prevent future deaths and harm.
Nathan Warnecke wrote in a statement submitted to the court that she had “a strong view about the cascade of interventions that can occur within a hospital environment, and a strong wish to avoid them”.
Warnecke promoted a healthy and “chemical-free” lifestyle on social media, and the inquest was told her concerns about the healthcare system had intensified during the coronavirus pandemic, fuelled by rules such as vaccine mandates.
The inquest was told she had refused antenatal screening, including routine ultrasounds. She initially considered having a registered midwife present at her home, but abandoned the idea amid fears the healthcare system’s regulations would force interventions on her.
Warnecke’s family described her as a thoughtful, intelligent and well-educated person who excelled at school. They said she sought out information for herself before making decisions and this was something she did once she knew she was pregnant.
She chose a free birth because she felt it was the only way to have a baby entirely on her own terms, the inquest was told. A free birth, sometimes called a wild or unassisted birth, differs from a planned home birth, which involves care from registered health professionals.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine pathologist Michael Burke said Warnecke had ultimately died due to huge blood loss which had triggered complications including heart failure.
“It is rare for a woman to die in childbirth,” Burke told the inquest. He said blood loss was “immediately treatable if it is recognised quickly and managed correctly”.
Lal is scheduled to appear at the inquest on Tuesday. She was ordered to give evidence after refusing to provide a statement to investigators.
The court was told Lal had agreed to testify if the coroner provided her with a certificate which prevents her evidence being used against her in any future civil, criminal, or regulatory proceedings.
