ARRIVAL ONE FOR THE ROAD
Born on side of road en route to hospital
THE story of how Gold Coast mum Bree Kennedy welcomed her new baby boy, nicknamed Bean, into the world is streets ahead of the rest.
The 22-year-old was on her way to hospital with her sister on Sunday night but had to stop five minutes into their journey on Bonogin Road when her labour pains became too much.
“I thought I had another five or six hours as my first birth was around six hours, but he just came so quickly,” Bree said yesterday. “The whole thing was an hour and a half from start to finish.”
As for the father? He was asleep and didn’t know until the next morning.
WE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE IT FIVE MINUTES UP THE ROAD BEFORE BREE WAS YELLING ‘PULL OVER ABBIE, HE’S COMING’ ABBIE KENNEDY
WHAT started as any ordinary labour turned out to be anything but for Bonogin mum Bree Kennedy.
The 22-year-old’s yet-tobe-named baby boy — nicknamed ‘Bean’ because of his shape on the ultrasound when he was in the womb — decided to make his entrance into the world with such speed that Ms Kennedy’s sister Abbie had to deliver her nephew on the side of the road at midnight.
He came so quickly that Ms Kennedy’s partner Raymond Harris, 24, missed the birth of his son and second child after welcoming daughter Zari into the world two and a half years ago.
Ms Kennedy said Mr Harris didn’t know his son had been born until the next morning as the couple do not live together and Mr Harris was not answering his phone while she was giving birth on the side of the road.
“We tried calling him but he was asleep and his phone was on silent but when he found out he was very surprised, he couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“He was a bit upset that he missed it though.”
Although her partner slept through the speedy birth, Bree did have “brave” sister Abbie to help with the delivery.
“I was in shock, I didn’t think about what was happening I was just focusing on getting him out,” she said.
“Abbie was amazing, and it is so special that she delivered him, it’s going to be a great story to tell him and they will have a strong bond.”
Ms Kennedy’s waters broke at 10.30pm on Sunday night but, because of her experience with her first child, Bree thought she had plenty of time to get to the hospital.
“I thought I had another five or six hours as my first birth was around 6 hours, but he just came so quickly,” she said.
“The whole thing was an hour and a half from start to finish.”
When the pain began to get too intense, the two girls were forced to pull over on the long, dark and lonely Bonogin Road where Abbie, 20, went into midwife mode.
She quickly phoned an ambulance, but Bean was not waiting for paramedics to arrive.
“We didn’t even make it five minutes up the road before Bree was yelling ‘pull over Abbie, he’s coming’,” Abbie said.
“I called the ambulance as she was screaming in pain, the ambulance directed me to lay a blanket down and sit Bree on that and then he said ‘Abbie you’re going to have to deliver this baby’.
“I was immediately shocked and started to cry as I had no idea what I was doing and we were in Bonogin at midnight so there was no one around if something was to go wrong.
“I was terrified but tried to remain calm for Bree’s sake.
“I told Bree to push and with about 4-5 pushes he was out.
“He was beautiful and he was healthy. It was the most amazing moment to share together and we felt like we could conquer the world because we had just birthed and delivered a baby with near to no help.
“It was amazing.” Ms Kennedy and Mr Harris are yet to name the 8.2 pound baby boy who will be a little brother for sister Zari, 2.