Family trauma brought hope to NRL star Clint Newton and partner Carly Shelmerdine NRL footballer Clint Newton is pictured with his partner Carly Shelmerdine / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited MOTHER and baby might not make it. They were the devastating words that sent terror through the heart of Newcastle NRL player Clint Newton just seven weeks ago. The first time dad and his partner Carly had already chosen the name Hope for the baby daughter they knew they were going to have, but little did they know how fortuitous that name would be when Carly suffered a potentially deadly placental abruption mid-labour at Nepean Private Hospital. "They told me the placenta had come off the wall and she (the baby) was losing oxygen," Newton, 32, said. They were fearing for the child and for Carly. I got taken into a room and they said I could lose both, but more so my daughter. Placental abruption, where the baby's life-giving placenta detaches from the wall of the uterus, happens in approximately one in 100 births. Carly Shelmerdine with seven-week-old daughter Hope / Picture by Peter Lorimer. But one in four of those will be serious enough to cause major bleeding in the mother and disrupt the supply of oxygen and nutrients to baby. It is still a significant contributor to maternal mortality and stillbirth worldwide. Early medical intervention is the best chance of survival, but sometimes all the care in the world does not work. There is a one in 10 chance of the baby dying. "I just kept asking, are they going to be OK, but they were saying we don't know, we can't guarantee they are going to be OK," Newton said of the agonising 30 minutes he waited when Carly was rushed off for an emergency caesarean. The shocked mum-to-be said that she felt sudden extreme pain despite having an epidural, then the medical team could no longer find the baby's heartbeat. Penrith Panther's Clint Newton in action / Picture: Picture Gregg Porteous Source: News Limited "They said this isn't good, the heart rate couldn't be found and I was rushed to surgery, I was shaking and crying 'just get her out safe," Carly Shelmerdine said. It was an anxious wait for Newton, not knowing whether he would see his partner alive again or meet his first child. I was just helpless. It's not an arrogant comment, but I feel I can handle most situations, but this was taken out of my hands," he said. You're thinking your whole world could be turned upside down. You think if we do lose her, how do we come back from that? I was looking for guarantees and I was a broken man at that point. Half an hour is a long time in a man's life to contemplate such a loss. Half an hour of true fear that has changed this tough second-rower forever. "How can you not be changed by that?" he said. It felt like eternity. Then the guy said come with me, my daughter had only just been delivered, her Apgar scores were really low, she was pale and wheezing and struggling to breath and I was wondering is there anything wrong with her due to the loss of oxygen?" he said. Clint Newton with his father, former golfer Jack. Baby Hope was whisked off to recover in a humidicrib with oxygen. Carly recovered in high dependency and Newton waited to assess the damage done to their precious girl. Will she be normal, will she be brain damaged, hopes and dreams lay in the balance as they waited. All they could do is follow their daughter's name sake. Miraculously, Hope recovered fully. "Both girls are fantastic and a few hours later Carly said she'd do it all again despite what happened, and the doctors were blown away with how well Hope improved," he said. NRL footballer Clint Newton with his partner Carly Shelmerdine / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Carly was given a general anaesthetic and woke bewildered, wondering if her baby girl made it through. "They were worried about how long she was without oxygen," she said. I saw her after 24 hours and day by day she got better. By day four she could feed properly and now everyone is just so happy with her, she's thriving. People talk about luck, but sometimes good things and bad things just happen and not for a moment are the Newton's ungrateful about the fact they and their precious girl, now seven weeks old, came through this near miss unscathed. "I'm just so sympathetic to those who go through this and have to deal with the loss of their child," Newton said. "I can't fathom the devastation, we weren't quite at that point, but we weren't that far off it, but I want to stress we are not hard done by," Newton said, heaping praise on the doctors and nurses or Nepean Private. "They are worth their weight in gold," he said. Having gone through this, I just can't imagine why people opt for homebirths, if we'd have done that, I would have lost both. Clint Newton is the son of golfer Jack Newton, the man who miraculously survived walking into an aeroplane propeller, losing his right arm. Newton is also an ambassador for the White Ribbon foundation that stands up to violence against women. I just have new-found respect for women. What you mothers go through is amazing," he said. The family has now settled in Newcastle, where Newton has returned to his roots to play for his hometown team. Carly Shelmerdine Hope / Picture: Peter Lorimer.