Dad who delivered petrol station baby

DAD DESCRIBES THE MOMENT HIS SON WAS BORN ON THE BACK SEAT OF A CAR AT A PETROL STATION

Before we set off I went back to get blankets, a towel, tissues, wipes and gloves because we were worried about how far along she was. Augustine Agyemang

A DAD who delivered his own baby in a petrol station forecourt has shown off his son for the first time.

Augustine Agyemang, 29, rushed to get his wife to hospital last Sunday, September 3, but ended up having to deliver the baby himself at the BP garage on Ansty Road.

The couple, who live in Radford, Coventry, were on their way to the Lucina Birth Centre at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire where mum Mavis Ampadu had planned to have a water birth.

Her delivery did not go to plan though and she ended up having the baby in the back of the car. Student nurse Augustine said: “We would usually go to church on Sunday, but my wife started having contractions. We rang the hospital and got in the car. “Before we set off I went back to the house to get blankets, a towel, tissues, wipes and gloves because we were worried about how far along she was. “On the way she told me she could feel the baby coming so we had to park up at the petrol station so we were not in the road.” That’s when Augustine found 53-year-old Keith McGurk, who was filling up his mother-in-law’s car with fuel. “I gave him my phone so that he could speak to the ambulance. I put on the gloves and the baby came very quickly,” Augustine said. “I then wrapped him in the towel and placed him on his mother’s belly.” Once the ambulance arrived, paramedics cut the newborn’s cord and took mother and baby to hospital for further checks, where the nurses were very impressed with Augustine’s efforts.

The couple have another son, Jeremiah, who was born in March 2016.

“We had him in a hospital with all the help we could get. Jeremiah’s birth took a lot longer,” he said.

Augustine said the new addition to his family is now doing very well.

The proud father, who was also born on a Sunday, has decided to name the baby boy after himself as a tribute to his unexpected role in the birth.

Speaking about his first experience of midwifery, he said: “Funnily enough, I am a student nurse so I didn’t mind it. But when it is your own baby, that is quite different.

“When the baby was coming I didn’t even panic, but reflecting on it all we were very lucky – so many things could have gone wrong. I am very grateful to God. It was because of God that I was able to do it.”

Augustine and Mavis, both from Ghana, have been together three years after meeting in the UK.

He starts his third year of nursing at Coventry University in two weeks time.