SUPERDAD
Cool-headed dad delivers baby in back of family Ford Focus in hotel car park
ACOOL-HEADED dad delivered his new daughter in the back of the family car after the dash to the hospital was cut short by the impatient little arrival.
Paul Orr, 25, was driving his partner Lowri Hamer, 23, from their home in Blaenau Ffestiniog last Wednesday, when she realised her meticulous birthing plans were about to go out of the window.
He quickly pulled into the Waterloo Hotel’s car park in Betws-y-Coed and with the help of ambulance control was soon playing midwife.
Paul delivered little Beca Alaw Orr at 7.24am - 53 minutes after Lowri’s first contraction.
Lowri, who works for Gwynedd Council’s call centre Galw Gwynedd, spoke about how she woke up at 6.30am thinking it might be time for the couple to head off to the hospital.
She said: “We were driving between Dolwyddelan and Betws and the contractions were every four minutes, so we got to the Waterloo car park. “It just happened so quickly. “There was a man from ambulance control and he was talking my partner through it as he delivered her. “My partner was really calm. “It was totally like something you would watch on a film.
“My waters broke a minute before she came and I was more worried because it was in my new car.
“A Ford Focus is definitely the best car to give birth in.”
Mother and daughter are now doing fine and Lowri said son Cai, aged four, is already becoming involved with the family’s new addition.
She said: “He’s really good, he loves her. It’s nice to have a little bit of help.”
Lowri’s mum Tracey Hamer, who works alongside her at the council said she was taken by surprise by the speed of the birth.
Tracey said: “I was in bed and I got a call from my daughter at 6.50am because I was her birthing partner.
“She was very calm and just said ‘I think we will make our way to the hospital as I’m having contractions every four minutes’.
“I got showered, had breakfast and went out. I got a call at 7.40am to say the baby was born at 7.24am. She’s gorgeous.
“Paul didn’t panic at all. I can’t believe how calm they both were.”
Lowri spent a day in hospital before being allowed back home with baby Beca.
The Waterloo Hotel’s operations manager Katie Valintine said staff found out about the birth from Beca’s grandmother: “There was a bit of a buzz about the place and we just wanted to know the lady and her baby were fine.
“However, we’ve got no plans to advertise our car park as a maternity unit. We would love to meet the new arrival and see her in the flesh.”