A stunned dad has told how his partner gave birth in the footwell of his car as he was doing 70mph in a motorway fast lane. Natalie Whitton, 31, went into labour in the early hours of July 27 with her second child with Lee Reynolds, 34 – but both parents thought they had ‘plenty of time’.
However, their son Harrison “shot out” into the footwell of the couple’s Ford Fiesta estate as they were traveling along the M65 near Burnley in Lancashire.
Mr Reynolds, who was on the phone to a midwife at the time, said he remembered thinking ‘We’re not going to make it’ just moments before the arrival of his newborn.
Mr. Reynolds pulled over after Harrison was born to wait for an emergency crew. However, as the minutes passed without any sight of a doctor, the worried father made the hasty decision to take his daughter to the closest hospital, where Ms. Whitton received rapid aid.
Mr Reynolds, a transport manager, said: ‘We were in the fast lane going 70mph, and I just looked on the floor and went “There’s a baby in the footwell!” to my partner.
‘She quickly picked up the baby, and then the midwife on the phone was telling us what to do.
‘We needed to make sure the baby was breathing, and once she was sure the baby was breathing, she said to carry on.’
Ms Whitton added: ‘Lee kept asking me if I wanted to pull over. I could feel a little bit of an urge to push, but I said: “keep going!”
‘Then all of a sudden, the baby came out, and it went into the footwell of the car on the floor.
But as the pair were blasting along the M65, near Burnley, Lancashire, he watched in shock as his new baby, Harrison, “shot out” into the footwell of his Ford Fiesta estate. Lee, who was on the phone to a midwife for most of the journey, said he remembered thinking, “Oh, We aren’t going to make it”, just moments earlier.
‘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.’
And after his 7lb, 11oz kid unexpectedly arrived, he stepped off into the hard shoulder to wait for an emergency crew. But as the minutes passed without any sight of a doctor, Natalie’s worried father made the hasty decision to head to the closest hospital, where she received rapid care.
Mr Reynolds later got a call back from the midwife to check on their progress when all of a sudden, his partner gave birth to their tiny baby boy.
Under the supervision of 999 call handlers, Mr. Reynolds assisted Ms. Whitton while she performed some fundamental health checks on their newborn, who was born at 5.57 am.
“She quickly picked up the baby, and then the midwife on the phone was telling us what to do.
“We needed to make sure the baby was breathing, and once she was sure the baby was breathing, she said to carry on.”
He said: “I could actually see the sign on junction 12 of the M65 for Burnley hospital – and that’s the junction I needed. I was ten minutes away.”
“So I ended speaking to the midwife, saying “Am I better just going? What do you advise?” And she said, “If you think you’ll be alright, and you’ll be quicker, just go for it.”
The new parents spent roughly six hours with doctors before the pair finally returned home with their healthy new baby boy the same day.
After spending around six hours with doctors, according to Reynolds, the couple eventually went home that day with their healthy new baby son.
