Baby born on snow-plagued M53 motorway

January 7, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

A woman gave birth to a baby girl in the back of an ambulance that passed by after being stranded on the M53 motorway.

Maria and Kevin Hollis got into their car and headed towards Arrowe Park Hospital on Tuesday after Maria, pregnant with baby Maggie, had an increase in the rate of her contractions.

“We thought it was going to be ok,” Kevin Hollis told the BBC News. “We allowed plenty of time because of the snow and ice and severe weather warnings. Maggie is our third child, and her contractions were a little bit quicker that time.”

But despite the couple’s early preparations, traffic on the motorway was horrendous, taking nearly 45 minutes just to make it through a roundabout. Realizing that they weren’t going to make it to the hospital, Kevin called for an ambulance on his cell phone.

He told the Mirror, “I called 999 with the hands-free, and I was told to pull over and let Maria push.”

Kevin pulled the car over on the side of the road and turned on the flashers. Maria’s contractions grew rapid. She was getting close to delivering. But Kevin spotted an ambulance redirecting through the traffic and flagged it down.

“Maria was helped inside alongside a man who’d had an asthma attack,” Kevin said. “He was a bit shocked but he was great.”

The ambulance staff then tried to quickly navigate the traffic towards Arrowe Park Hospital, but Maria gave birth to 8 pound 4 ounce Maggie just minutes before reaching the hospital.

“We were all pretty panicky but mum and baby are doing well now,” said Kevin.

Paramedic Carys Pattinson told the Mirror, “It’s always a privilege to deliver a baby, but I was so pleased we were there to help in such a stressful and difficult situation.”

The Hollis family wasn’t the only one affected by the intense snow and ice blanketing the U.K. Paramedics in Berkshire were reportedly called out on 42 pregnancy-related incidents in a 24-hour period, nearly four times the normal rate of such incidents. Experts suggest that the winter weather and the stress associated with it was to blame for the increase in emergency births.