Second delivery for Dr Dad
‘I WAS SHAKING, HOPING HE DIDN’T FALL ON TO THE CONCRETE’
THE desperate journey that ended in La Aumua delivering his newborn son outside Wellington’s Westpac Stadium now seems like a dream.
‘‘I almost can’t believe it happened,’’ the Wellington father said yesterday.
But the baby he caught before it could hit the tarmac is real enough, nestled in its mother’s lap.
And incredibly, it is the second child they’ve brought into the world without medical help.
The drama started in the early hours of Thursday morning at their Grenada North home. A heavily pregnant Gemma Porter woke up in pain about 1am and by 3am, the couple decided to ring their midwife.
She visited, told Porter it wasn’t yet time to head to hospital, and said she would return at 8am.
But Porter’s pain worsened and by about 6.30am, the whole family – including their two other young children and Porter’s mother – got into their car and whizzed down the highway towards Wellington Hospital.
While skirting Wellington Harbour, heading south down State Highway 1, Porter’s waters broke. Within seconds, she knew she wouldn’t make it to the hospital.
She urged her partner to take the first possible turnoff and find somewhere to stop.
‘‘I could feel the baby wanting to come out straight after the water broke,’’ Porter said.
The family turned off on to Aotea Quay and pulled over on a small strip of concrete on the roadside across from Westpac Stadium.
Aumua tried to keep Porter in the car but with two howling children in the back, there was nowhere for her to lie down.
So Porter braced herself against the car in the chilly morning air with nothing but a car door for privacy and her partner’s hands ready, while her mother urgently phoned for an ambulance.
‘‘It was terrifying. I was shaking, trying to make sure the baby didn’t fall on to the concrete,’’ Aumua said.
Less than 10 minutes after pulling over, Porter gave birth, and Aumua safely caught their new baby son. He wrapped the baby in his mother’s dressing gown as they waited for the ambulance.
It arrived soon after and took Porter plus their newborn to hospital while Aumua drove their other children home.
Yesterday afternoon, the whole family was back home, joking about names for the boy.
Aumua suggests various Wellington rugby stars’ names who have played at Westpac Stadium, a stone’s throw from their son’s birthplace, while Porter’s mother suggests they call him ‘‘tar seal’’.
Aumua’s first experience of childbirth was with daughter Azlia, now 1, who was born on their living room floor before even their midwife arrived.
Aumua even had to unwind her umbilical cord, which was tangled around her neck. ‘‘Maybe this time round I knew a little bit what to expect.’’