Park ‘n’ push
Sam Clarke, 33, from Sawley, Derbyshire, arrived at her local Co-op with a very special delivery…
Married to my teenage crush Dan Clarke, I couldn’t have been happier with life. He adored my son, Declan, then four, and they always had their heads together, chatting about cars and motorbikes.
I just longed to give Declan a brother or sister.
Dan thought he couldn’t have children, so when I suffered a miscarriage – without realising we were expecting – in July 2016, we
were heartbroken. But it gave us hope. In February 2017, I started to
feel a little funny and I realised my period was two days late. I took a pregnancy test and text Dan, telling him to call me as
soon as he could. Within minutes, he called me
in a panic. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked. ‘More than OK,’ I cried. ‘I’m pregnant!’ Dan was over the moon. When Declan got
back from school, we sat
him down and asked: ‘How would you feel about being a big brother soon?’
A huge grin spread across his face, followed by tears. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked him. ‘I want the baby to be here right now,’ he sobbed. We laughed. Declan was desperate for a little brother to teach football to, watch Transformers films and play toy cars with.
He was even more thrilled when we found out the baby was a boy.
Dan and I spent hours flicking
through baby name books – but we couldn’t agree on one we liked. We decided to let Declan choose what to call his little brother. It took him all of 30 seconds to pick the name ‘ Jack’. Luckily Dan and I both loved the name. Our little boy was due to arrive on the 7th of October – but a scan confirmed he was in the breech position, so I had to be pencilled in for a C-section on the 4th of October.
On the 23rd of September, I got up and headed to Tesco at 9am to pick up supplies for my friend Tracy’s son’s 9th birthday party.
While I was at hers, setting up and preparing food, I started to experience a few twinges.
When they grew stronger, I phoned my sister-inlaw, Charlotte, who had agreed to be my birthing partner, and drove home.
Charlotte arrived to find me kneeling on all fours in agony.
‘I’m in labour!’ I panted, panicking.
She told Dan to make his way from work to hospital and bundled me into the car.
Charlotte put her foot down to rush me to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham.
As we stopped at a traffic light, I felt my waters break. ‘I’m not going to make it!’ I cried. Charlotte pulled over in the Co-op car park and I whipped down my trousers in the back of my car. Charlotte frantically called for an ambulance, and with one push, my baby’s
legs, arms and body was out. ‘He’s coming!’ I screamed. Paramedics arrived minutes later to help deliver the baby’s head – as he was still in the breech position.
Little Jack had arrived at 11.07am, weighing 5lbs 12oz.
We were taken to hospital – where Dan was waiting – to be checked over.
He was a healthy pink colour and made a squeaking noise like a goose.
Dan was gutted to have missed his son’s birth, but he was over the moon when he met him for the first time.
Four hours later and we were able to go home. Declan is the perfect big brother and wants to give him constant cuddles and kisses.
Jack is a very content baby, but I can already tell he’s going to be very cheeky like his big brother.
The Co-op sent a lovely hamper and some vouchers to celebrate Jack’s arrival, but it’s probably not the kind of delivery they expected in their car park!
We had no choice but to stop