Real life: I gave birth in my car!
Lydia Mbayo welcomed her third baby into this world from the backseat. Kerryn Massyn finds out how on earth this happened
WHEN LYDIA MBAYO was pregnant with her third child, she wasn’t concerned about labour. It wasn’t her first time, after all. But a baby who was eager to be born and a Monday morning beset by gridlocked traffic conspired to give her a birth experience she’ll never forget. Here’s her story: “Everything about my pregnancy with Jamie was different to my first two. With Jesse and Jayla, I felt like Superwoman throughout. I’m an energetic person, and could stay quite active to the point that I was in the mall when my water broke with my first child. But with this pregnancy, my whole body was sore – from my hips to my legs. However, it was a healthy pregnancy without complications, and my loving husband, Didier, took good care of me.
“I had planned to give birth to Jamie naturally, just as I had with my first two children. We had actually scheduled an induction on the Monday of our 40 weeks at the Sunninghill Hospital in Sandton. But, Jamie had other ideas about how he wanted to enter the world.
LABOUR ON THE ROAD
“I woke up on the morning of the scheduled induction at 4am in a little bit of pain. I knew I’d started labour, but I thought it would be better to wait until about 6am to be absolutely sure before heading to the hospital. It was just the beginning stages. But, I hadn’t factored in the Monday morning traffic that we’d be stuck in between our house in
Fourways and the hospital.
“So there we were, my husband driving, me sitting in the backseat in quite a bit of pain. Once I saw how bad the traffic was and realised we wouldn’t be getting to the hospital as quickly as expected, I decided to call the doctor for some advice on what to do. I had mixed emotions – I felt scared and a little bit useless, but above all I thought to myself only God can help me out of this situation. The doctor told us to be very careful, and he calmed me down over the phone until we got to the hospital.”
A BACKSEAT BABY
“After this point, everything was a blur. I was really scared. I thought to myself, ‘How could you be so stupid and careless? I mean, who feels pain and waits for more pain just to confirm it’s labour pain?’ I thought I was going to lose my baby because of my carelessness. “Didier was panicking through this whole ordeal. He was driving the car and, as a father, his job is to make sure we’re all safe. I think he felt out of control, and even though the birth of a child is always a happy event, having it go this way is overwhelming. But I wasn’t paying much attention to how he was feeling – I was in pain! “Everything worked out in the end, though. Even though we tried to hang on through all the traffic, Jamie was having none of it. About two minutes before we got to the hospital, I delivered him myself in the backseat. It felt so good to hear him cry for the first time – all I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and make him feel safe and warm. As soon as we got to the hospital I was rushed to the labour ward, where they cut the cord. Despite his unconventional birth, Jamie was in perfect condition, and I had no complications whatsoever. I suppose I was actually a Superwoman in this pregnancy!
“To moms-to-be reading this, when you feel those labour pains, take action. I thought because my two previous labours were quite long, it would be the same with my third baby, but Jamie was in a rush to see the world!
LIFE WITH JAMIE
“Today Jamie is a happy eight-monthold, and we’re all doing well. He’s adorable and joyful, and I’m so blessed to be going through the journey of new motherhood again.”