A mother gave birth to her son at a petrol station after her waters broke nine days early as she was eating a chicken curry.
Unexpected Labour
Sarah Frost was enjoying a meal cooked by her mother at her home in Trimdon, County Durham, on Sunday when she suddenly realized her labour had begun. Unwilling to wait for an ambulance, her sister Danielle Charlton decided to drive her to University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton.
Rushed Pitstop
In the rush, they forgot to grab towels, so they made a pitstop at the Esso garage in Sedgefield. But before Danielle could enter the shop, the baby was crowning, and she helped deliver her nephew in the back seat of the car. The baby weighed seven pounds and five ounces (3.3kg). Although his parents are still deciding on a name, nurses have nicknamed him 'the Esso garage baby'.
Sister's Quick Thinking
Danielle said: "We go for tea at our mum's every Sunday, and Sarah started getting pains in her back after. You don't really know when to go to the hospital, but her waters had broken. We were going to get an ambulance, but she was adamant that we had to go now."
"We get in the car, she is screaming, and we go and get [Sarah's partner] James. We needed to stop so I went through a no entry sign to get to the petrol station, but before I got inside I was told to jump into the back."
"The next contraction, he was out. Sarah was so brilliant, so calm, I just lifted him onto Sarah's chest and wrapped him in a bodywarmer I had in the car."
"I was a bit worried as he was a little blue, and because we weren't in a hospital. I just remember saying 'please cry, please cry' and he eventually did. People in the petrol station were running out with sheets and towels and then the paramedics came."
"On the Sunday night, I couldn't get to sleep, all I kept thinking about was, 'I've just delivered a baby'."
Grateful Mother
Sarah is thankful for her sister's quick thinking and told Radio Teesside: "I just don't have the words, I just laugh every time I think about it. Every time nurses came through the door, they were just laughing and asking 'is this the Esso garage baby?'"
Other Incredible Deliveries
The petrol station arrival is not the most unusual birth location. In 2011, a baby was born at 30,000 feet on a flight from the Philippines to the US. Aida Alamillo was moved to business class where three nurses onboard assisted. In Nevada, two Subway workers helped a woman give birth on a toilet floor lined with sandwich wrappers. In 2000, Sofia Pedro gave birth up a tree in Mozambique after escaping floodwaters, with an airforce medic lowering from a helicopter to assist.
