Mum gives birth in car park after going into labour in the passenger seat
‘The whole experience felt surreal,’ says Ben Corp, 40, a home care assistant from Surrey.
Only a few weeks ago, he was delivering his own baby while his partner, Katie Williamson, 29, gave birth in the passenger seat of his car.
Katie, an area manager, along with Ben and mum Bridget, rushed to hospital on August 19 after realising she was going into labour.
Katie’s mum ran to get help from inside the hospital while Ben, acting on instinct, helped deliver their baby.
‘The experience was overwhelming but exciting – I knew the baby was coming very quickly so I knew we would be having a very different birth experience to my previous two,’ says Katie.
‘I thought it couldn’t be happening this quickly as I’ve been told we still have some time, but within minutes I knew something had suddenly changed.
‘When I felt the baby’s head in the car, I knew this was it and he would be born before we arrived.’
Katie knew that, by the time they pulled up in the car park of Frimley Park Hospital, this birth was going to be different to her others.
‘My previous births were much longer, although no complications so I was told the third could be quicker,’ she adds.
Ben says that the fact he’d delivered their baby boy didn’t hit him until a few days later.
‘I jumped out the car and ran around and had to pull Katie’s trousers off,’ he says.
‘At this point it did hit me that the baby was coming right now and we wouldn’t make it inside.
‘Without thinking about it I had to get on with it and catch the little chap as he was coming now.’
Katie and Ben named their son Jaxon Carter, who weighed a healthy 8lbs 3oz when he was born at 1.43am that Friday morning.
‘Once he was fully out, I suppose my mind did go into overdrive a bit as he didn’t make a noise straight away,’ he continues.
‘After a few seconds he made a sound and I was holding him and I gave a big sigh of relief, I looked up and saw help coming and then the midwives took over.’
Katie adds that, despite this birth being a little unorthodox, ‘the care we received both outside the hospital and once we got inside was excellent as always’.
The pair had been at the hospital just hours before but, as Katie was only 1cm dilated, she was sent home by nurses.
In the early hours the very next day, Katie realised that her labour was starting to progress very quickly.
‘I was a bit scared but felt safe with Ben as he always stays calm, he is naturally a caring person not just for work but with everybody,’ she recalls.
‘When we left home to go to the hospital for the second time I just knew he was coming quickly and kept saying “the baby is coming now!” so I think I knew we wouldn’t make it.
‘When we pulled up at the hospital a few minutes later, Ben got out and ran around to my side of the car and a few minutes later Ben had caught the baby in his arms in the passenger seat of the car.’
The pair were able to leave the hospital with Jaxon 12 hours later – and the little one has settled in really well and is a ‘great sleeper’.
Jaxon’s older siblings Ruby, 8, and Mason, 6, have also taken the arrival of their new baby brother ‘perfectly’.
‘The recovery has been very quick and we have all been out and able to return to family life already,’ says Katie.
‘I didn’t want my other children to be affected by the changes or feel unsettled but we are grateful we’ve been able to keep things normal at home and they have taken to being big brother and sister even better than we imagined.’
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