A 999 call-handler gave birth at the side of a road because she didn’t want to ring an ambulance – in case her colleagues saw her in an “undignified state.”
Sarah Blaze, 35, was sent home from hospital after she went into early labour at 10pm on Friday (11/11).
But when her waters unexpectedly broke at home an hour later she refused to call an ambulance because she didn’t want colleagues to see “all of her”.
So she and her husband Stuart, 40, decided to drive 15 miles from their home in Bridgnorth, Shrops., to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, West Mids.
But the couple were forced to pull over on the Bridgnorth Road in Wightwick, West Mids., at 12.26am on Saturday (12/11) when Sarah felt the urge to push.
Incredibly, Stuart didn’t even have time to get out of the driver’s seat before he had to help deliver William in their red Nissan X-Trail.
The heroic dad even managed unwrap the umbilical cord which had got stuck around the newborn baby’s neck.
An ambulance then arrived two minutes later to take Sarah and William, who weighed 8lbs 2ozs, to hospital to be checked over.
Sarah, who works as an incident command desk supervisor for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said she didn’t want her colleagues to see her “in that way.”
The mum, who also has a four-year-old son Thomas with husband Stuart, added: “My waters had only just broke so I thought it can’t be that near.
“My husband said ‘are you sure you don’t want me to ring an ambulance?’
“I said ‘no, definitely not’ because I work for the ambulance service in the control room.
“I was adamant that an ambulance wasn’t coming.
“The last thing I wanted was for somebody I know or speak to on a regular basis to see me in that way.
“It is quite a personal thing and the idea of somebody you work with seeing you in that state or delivering your baby is a bit off-putting.
“I don’t think anybody would want their colleagues to see them in that undignified state.
“I would then have to carry on working with these people thinking they’ve seen all of me.
“Luckily when two ambulances did come after I gave birth to William I didn’t know who the staff were and they didn’t know me.
“The first thing I said to them was ‘good I don’t know you’.”
Sarah and William were rushed to New Cross Hospital in separate ambulances but both recovered well after the dramatic birth in the early hours of Saturday.
They were then transferred to the Bridgnorth Maternity Unit later that day but are now back at home after they were discharged on Monday (14/11).
Dad Stuart, who is the co-owner of a printing company, added: “After we left home we were on the phone to the midwife unit.
“But they told us to hang up and ring 999 when Sarah was screaming that the baby was coming.
“I had to pull over at the side of the road in the countryside, there were no houses anywhere near.
“I managed to lean over and put the seat back as far as we could and it happened so quick I didn’t even have chance to get out of the driver’s seat.
“Sarah was laid back in the passenger seat and it was just a case of leaning over to play catch. It happened that quickly.
“We had a horrible moment for a second where he made no noise at all and we found the cord was round his neck.
“But Sarah managed to loosen it so I could get it over his head.
“And the woman on the phone told me to check his mouth and give him a chest rub and that brought him around.
“I put him on Sarah’s chest and thankfully the ambulances arrived a minute or two later.
“Sarah knows there is a problem with some people calling ambulances unnecessarily and she was determined only to call one if she absolutely needed it.
“She wasn’t keen on her colleagues seeing her privates. I think everyone wants to keep certain things private from work colleagues.”
A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “It must have been an unusual feeling for Sarah to have had an ambulance come to her aid rather than sending one out to someone in their hour of need.
“But thankfully we were able to provide help quickly and transport mum and baby to hospital.”
