Lee Reynolds, an expectant dad, was coursing down the M65 at 70mph when his partner, Natalie Whitton, gave birth to their second child in the car's footwell. The 34-year-old dad thought he had plenty of time to make it to Burnley Hospital when his 31-year-old partner went into labor in the early hours of Wednesday morning, July 27.
Lee soon found out he was mistaken as their baby suddenly came out en route to the hospital. The father-of-two was on the phone with a midwife and said they were in the fast lane going 70mph, but when he looked on the floor, the baby was already out on the footwell.
The mother quickly picked up the baby while the midwife on the phone instructed them on what to do. She told them to make sure the baby was breathing, and once she was sure it was, she said to carry on, per Daily Star.
A motorway baby was born
The mom added that her husband kept asking her if she wanted to pull over. She could feel a little bit of an urge to push, but she told her husband to keep going and continue driving; then, all of a sudden, the baby came out.
"I remember feeling relieved that this pressure had gone. I had a water birth before, and that helped a lot, but I had nothing this time." Natalie added that her husband pulled over to the hard shoulder following the birth and the couple waited for an ambulance crew.
The motorway baby was born at 5:57 a.m. under the guidance of 999 emergency call handlers, with the dad helping his partner perform basic health checks on their new child. The couple traveled to Burnley Hospital, where they spent roughly six hours with doctors before returning home. Lee said that he could see the sign on junction 12 of the M65 for Burnley Hospital, and that's the junction he needed as he was ten minutes away, per Manchester Evening News.
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What to do in an emergency delivery?
Annually, nearly 9,000 women in the U.S. who go into labor and cannot make it to the hospital have an unplanned or unattended birth at home or are in the car on the way to the hospital. Some of those women later make it to the nearest hospital.
If the baby is coming and you think you can't make it to the hospital, call 911 as soon as possible. Remove your pants and underwear and lie down or sit, do not try to stand or squat as the baby could fall and suffer serious injury. Try to stay calm, and practice deep breathing. When the urge to push becomes overwhelming, push for counts of five, then pause and breathe. Do your best to gently assist the baby out as it emerges from the pelvis and carefully unloop the umbilical cord if it's wrapped around the baby's body or neck, per UT Southern Medical Center.
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