A mother has described how she gave birth to her newborn daughter in the passenger seat of her car while her spouse was approaching a roundabout at 60mph.
Chiara Musetti, 28, and James Spence, 32, were rushing to hospital in Windermere over flooded roads when baby Siena arrived. Chiara was then compelled to remove her leggings in order to catch the newborn in her arms.
‘We were probably doing 60mph around a roundabout when she sprang out,’ she claimed. Our residence is 45 minutes away from the hospital, and the roads are in poor condition due to flooding.
‘My partner had to get out several times to check the depth of the water to ensure we could go through.
‘We were only 10 minutes from the hospital when my waters broke, and I knew the birth would be swift.’ Her head began to emerge around five minutes later.
‘I had to get out of my chair, remove my seat belt, and pull my leggings down.’ I had to catch her in my arms after she slipped out…
‘She flew out with my waters, so it was lightning fast.’ She was inside one second and in my arms the next.’
Chiara, a hotel receptionist, said she and James had tried to remain calm throughout the voyage, but when she began to give delivery, she began crying, ‘oh my God, oh my God.’
‘We hadn’t been able to call the hospital to announce we were going since my phone had slid beneath the seat when my waters broke,’ she continued…
‘When we arrived at the hospital, my boyfriend ran out without shoes or socks because he had removed them to test the floodwaters.’ He told them what had happened, and the midwives immediately ran out to me…
‘They couldn’t believe I’d given birth in a moving car,’ she said. They stated it didn’t happen very often, and the senior midwife who looked after us said she’d only seen it once before.’
Siena, the couple’s second child, arrived at 3.30 a.m. and weighed exactly 8 pounds. Chiara joked with medical workers that she’d ‘done their job for them,’ and the pair were released after 12 hours of observation.
‘My contractions had started at 1am, so it was a fairly rapid labor,’ she added. After my first child was born at 38 weeks while we were at a wedding, I was informed that this one might be as well.
‘But I never imagined giving birth in the passenger seat.’ Siena is doing great now and is the most relaxed baby, which is surprising given her age.’