An Angus father has told how he watched his newborn son delivered in the back of his own car, in the middle of rush hour at Dundee’s busiest junction.
David Jack (35) and his wife Claire, from Carnoustie, are now back home and celebrating the birth of Finlay, following the dramatic early-morning dash to Ninewells Hospital.
The warning signs began at around 4am on Monday when the mother-to-be first felt that the baby could be on its way. By around 6am the couple were sure that it was time and by 7am they had left Carnoustie and were heading towards the busy Claypotts junction on the outskirts of Dundee.
At that point Claire’s waters broke in the back of the car, leaving her mother, who used to be a nurse, attempting to comfort her in the back seat.
Despite David doing his best to quickly but carefully cut his way through the building morning traffic, by the time they had reached the Forfar Road traffic lights on the Kingsway little Finlay decided to make his entrance. After pulling up at the traffic lights David turned around to the back seat to be faced with his wife preparing to give birth.Ambulance”I was sat at a red light, so I actually had to jump through the lights and pull over so I could phone an ambulance,” he said. “The emergency services said it could be 10 minutes before somebody could be there but by that point we were almost at the hospital.”
The call handler stayed on the phone and Claire’s mother took instructions as the birth progressed. She used her nursing experience to keep her daughter calm throughout the process, despite onlookers driving past.
While David became anxious about the amount of blood his wife was losing, Claire remained composed throughout the labour. The umbilical cord had been severed during the birth and had to be held closed until the family finally got to Ninewells.
“Claire just wasn’t worried at all,” David said. “After he had been born we drove to Ninewells and they were all rushing about. I don’t know if the 999 handler had called them but they were there to take him out of the car.”
Staff from the midwifery unit whisked the newborn into the hospital to carry out a thorough process of test and checks, to ensure there had been no damage during the emergency delivery. Claire was also checked over.
Mother and son were kept in the maternity ward overnight as a precaution but were allowed to return to their home in Esk Gardens on Tuesday. Visitors have been coming to see baby Finlay, who weighed in at 7lb 3oz.
David said family and friends were proud of all of them for acting so calmly when faced with such an extraordinary situation.