'The baby was not breathing or crying'
9 February 2010, 09:57
By Jauhara Khan
Boniswe Msomi, 23, of Shongweni, is looking forward to telling her newborn son the tale of his birth some day.
Msomi went into labour early on Monday and was being driven to hospital by a relative.
However, the baby boy decided he was not waiting for the trip to be completed before making his appearance, and so it was that his mom gave birth to him in the back seat of a car in Hillcrest.
The car was parked at the side of Old Main Road, near the M13 on-ramp, as Msomi's labour progressed. Coincidentally - or miraculously as Msomi will tell her son - advanced life-support paramedics Arvin Naidoo and Avishkar Motilal, of ER24, were driving by and were flagged down.
Msomi was in the back seat, with the baby's head beginning to crown, when they arrived, said Naidoo.
"What made things complicated was that the baby was emerging with the umbilical cord around its neck."
Naidoo and Motilal decided to deliver the baby in the car, instead of risking losing both mother and child with a trip to hospital.
They first carefully performed a procedure to remove the cord cutting off the baby's oxygen supply and Msomi gave birth to a boy 30 minutes later.
However, Msomi was pale and barely conscious from the loss of blood and the baby was in danger of dying.
Motilal said: "The baby was not breathing or crying, and the mother was very emotional; she was under the impression that she was going to lose the baby."
However, the baby began to breathe 15 minutes after numerous attempts to resuscitate him.
"We tried to clear the baby's airway at the scene and to get him breathing again, but without result.
"We continued to resuscitate the baby while on the way to hospital, and that's when he began to breathe. We managed to stabilise the baby just before reaching the hospital."
A weary Msomi, who also has a three-year-old son, cradled her baby at St Mary's Hospital, in Mariannhill, on Monday afternoon.
She said she felt good despite being exhausted, and smiled at the thought of telling her son the story of his birth one day.
While Naidoo and Motilal have both delivered babies in demanding situations before, they said it felt good to have made a difference on Monday.
jauhara.khan@inl.co.za
Boniswe Msomi, 23, of Shongweni, is looking forward to telling her newborn son the tale of his birth some day.
Msomi went into labour early on Monday and was being driven to hospital by a relative.
However, the baby boy decided he was not waiting for the trip to be completed before making his appearance, and so it was that his mom gave birth to him in the back seat of a car in Hillcrest.
The car was parked at the side of Old Main Road, near the M13 on-ramp, as Msomi's labour progressed. Coincidentally - or miraculously as Msomi will tell her son - advanced life-support paramedics Arvin Naidoo and Avishkar Motilal, of ER24, were driving by and were flagged down.
Msomi was in the back seat, with the baby's head beginning to crown, when they arrived, said Naidoo.
"What made things complicated was that the baby was emerging with the umbilical cord around its neck."
Naidoo and Motilal decided to deliver the baby in the car, instead of risking losing both mother and child with a trip to hospital.
They first carefully performed a procedure to remove the cord cutting off the baby's oxygen supply and Msomi gave birth to a boy 30 minutes later.
However, Msomi was pale and barely conscious from the loss of blood and the baby was in danger of dying.
Motilal said: "The baby was not breathing or crying, and the mother was very emotional; she was under the impression that she was going to lose the baby."
However, the baby began to breathe 15 minutes after numerous attempts to resuscitate him.
"We tried to clear the baby's airway at the scene and to get him breathing again, but without result.
"We continued to resuscitate the baby while on the way to hospital, and that's when he began to breathe. We managed to stabilise the baby just before reaching the hospital."
A weary Msomi, who also has a three-year-old son, cradled her baby at St Mary's Hospital, in Mariannhill, on Monday afternoon.
She said she felt good despite being exhausted, and smiled at the thought of telling her son the story of his birth one day.
While Naidoo and Motilal have both delivered babies in demanding situations before, they said it felt good to have made a difference on Monday.
jauhara.khan@inl.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on February 09, 2010
Johannesburg
