Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Daddy: I delivered my baby daughter on floor of bathroom
Dad tells of dramatic moment tot arrives in world
Laura went to the loo and asked, ‘Dave what’s this? Is this the head?’ DAVID HAMILTON YESTERDAY
A DAD got the shock of his life when he had to deliver his baby daughter on the bathroom floor.
David Hamilton, 35, was watching TV on Thursday night unaware that just over one hour later he would have safely delivered his newborn into the world.
Mum Laura, 33, was still 10 days shy of her due date when she began to feel what she thought could have been the start of her contractions.
Ushering her husband David upstairs, the couple, from East Belfast, had no idea just how quickly their second daughter Poppy would arrive into the world.
David told the Mirror: “Laura had been complaining it was very uncomfortable for her to walk but there was no other real sign it was going to be go time soon.
“So she went off to bed early and I was sitting watching TV and Laura texted me and said she was getting a few little pains and asked me to come up.
“So I went up and I recorded the first contraction at about 11.25pm and they were more than 10 minutes apart so we were waiting for an hours’ worth of contractions four minutes apart. “Laura was still sort of OK at this stage and she said she was just going to the loo and a couple of minutes later she called me in and said, ‘Dave what’s this, is this the head?’.
“I went into the bathroom and low and behold it was the head.”
Leaping into midwife mode, the software developer said he remained calm throughout the surprise arrival and it was all over in minutes.
He added: “When she called me into the bathroom it was about an hour after she first felt contractions so I phoned the midwife, they phoned the ambulance but the baby was in my hands at 12.20pm.
“When she came out she was still in the amniotic sac, not for very long but she was until I put the towel round her and it broke.
“We had been practicing hypnobirthing and had been focusing on the breathing and the positive thinking.
“I like to think I’m quite calm in stressful situations and in emergencies I don’t tend to panic so I was grand, it’s just a bit surreal to be honest.”
Weighing a healthy 7lbs, baby Poppy is now home safe with mum and dad and three-year-old sister Ruby, who slept through all the drama.
David said: “Ruby was fast asleep when all this was going on, she never heard a thing.
“When the paramedics came in they were great but we weren’t exactly being quiet, but she was none the wiser.
“She was lying there snoring away when I went to check on her.
“Baby and mum are both fine, the paramedics were great and got us into the ambulance and took us to the Mater and checked everyone over and we got home from the hospital on Friday.”