A woman suddenly gave birth in the footwell of her partner’s Ford Fiesta as he drove 70mph on the highway to take her to hospital.
Natalie Whitton, 31, gave birth to her second child with Lee Reynolds, 34, in the early hours of July 27, but both parents thought they had “enough time.”
However, as the couple drove up the M65 at Burnley in Lancashire, their son Harrison ‘shot out’ in the footwell of the couple’s Ford Fiesta estate.
Mr Reynolds, who was on the phone with an obstetrician at the time, said he remembered thinking ‘We’re not going to make it’ just before the arrival of his newborn baby.
After Harrison was born, Mr. Reynolds stopped to wait for paramedics.
But as the minutes passed with no sign of a doctor, the concerned father decided to run to the nearest hospital, where Mrs Whitton got immediate help.
Natalie Whitton, 31, gave birth to her second child with Lee Reynolds, 34, in the early hours of July 27 – but both parents thought they had ‘enough time’
Mr Reynolds, a transportation manager, said: ‘We were in the fast lane going 70mph, and I just looked at the floor and said, ‘There’s a baby in the footwell!’ to my partner.
“She quickly picked up the baby and then the midwife on the phone told us what to do.
“We had to make sure the baby was breathing, and when she was sure the baby was breathing, she told her to keep going.”
Ms Whitton added: “Lee kept asking me if I wanted to stop. I felt a little urge to squeeze, but I said, “keep it up!”
“Then all of a sudden the baby came out and landed on the floor in the footwell of the car.
As the couple drove on the M65 near Burnley in Lancashire, their son Harrison (above with mother Natalie Whitton) ‘shooted out’ into the footwell of the couple’s Ford Fiesta estate.
Mr Reynolds, who was on the phone with an obstetrician at the time, said he remembered thinking ‘We’re not going to make it’ just before the arrival of his newborn baby.
“I remember feeling relieved that this pressure was gone. I’ve had a water birth before and it helped a lot, but this time I had nothing.’
Mr Reynolds, who lives with kitchen worker Mrs Whitton in Darwen, said his partner started having contractions around 3:30am on Wednesday morning.
But the couple did not rush to Burnley Hospital, having previously been rejected for the birth of their first daughter, Sienna, now four, for arriving too early.
Mr Reynolds said they spent the next few hours arranging childcare for their daughter, before departing in their car around 5:30am for the 30-minute journey.
But as they raced down the highway, he frantically began calling nearby birth units and emergency services, fearing they’d left too late.
He said, “When we were on the highway, Natalie said, ‘It’s coming, I’m not going to make it,’ and then I thought, ‘Oh, shit! We’re not going to make it.’
‘In the end I called Blackburn Birth Centre, which is closer to Burnley than us.
“But when we called the midwife and said, ‘Can we come to you,’ she said, ‘No, we’re full,’ so we just kept going.”
Mr Reynolds was later called back by the midwife to check their progress when his partner suddenly gave birth to their little boy.
The new parents spent about six hours with doctors before the couple finally returned home the same day with their healthy new baby boy
He said: ‘I spoke to the midwife on the phone, and then the baby shot out, literally out, into the footwell.
“I just turned around and said, ‘There’s a baby in the footwell! There’s a baby in the footwell!’ I was quite panicked.
“So the midwife said to me, ‘Pull the hard shoulder and call 999.’ So then I stopped.’
Mr Reynolds helped Ms Whitton perform some basic health checks on their new child – who was born at 5:57 am – under the guidance of 999 call handlers.
But after waiting for an ambulance for some time, Mr Reynolds decided to take matters into his own hands and drive Natalie and their newborn child to Burnley Hospital.
He said: ‘I could actually see the sign on Junction 12 of the M65 for Burnley Hospital – and that’s the junction I needed. I was ten minutes away.
“So I ended up talking to the midwife and said, ‘I’d better just go? What do you recommend?’ And she said, “If you think you’re going to be okay, and you’re faster, go for it.”
The new parents spent about six hours with doctors before the couple finally returned home the same day with their healthy new baby boy.