On the way to the hospital
Baby Jona is born in the car – and dad is an obstetrician
Papa Alexander with Jona in his arms and Mama Theresa
© Austrian Red Cross, LV Upper Austria, Eferding district office
When the contractions start in the car on the way to the hospital, there is not much time left to think: drive on or stop? A couple from Austria decided to stop. Little Jona was born in a car parking lot.
It was January 6, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. when the two long-time paramedics Theresa and Alexander set off in their own car to have their second child. The hospital is in Wels, about 30 kilometers away. Her first son took his time when he was born. “We were told that the second child would come sooner, but we didn’t expect it to happen so quickly,” said the parents, according to the press release from the Red Cross in Upper Austria.
When the contractions started, she had to pull into a parking lot
Little Jona didn’t want to wait as long to meet his parents as his big brother did. After a short time, the contractions only came at intervals of between one and three minutes. The mother-to-be was no longer aware of what was going on around her because she had to actively breathe out every contraction. Just a few minutes later, she felt the need to push for the first time. “When my wife said to me that I should pull over at the next opportunity because she had to push now, I knew that things were getting serious now,” the dad remembers well. He called the emergency number and told the control center that his wife would now give birth to their child in the car.
Theresa had just climbed onto the back seat when her head was already visible, a few contractions later and Jona was born with the help of Papa Alexander – the amniotic sac was still intact and he had to open it. In absolute paramedic mode, he conceived his son and unraveled the umbilical cord that had wrapped around baby Jonas’ neck. Alexander stimulated his son for a few seconds until he could hear breathing. With the presence of mind, he placed Jonah in a head-down position to help him breathe and drain the remaining amniotic fluid.
Papa Alexander was happy when he heard the rescue vehicles
When rescuers arrived, Jonah was already wrapped in towels in his parents’ arms. “I was relieved when my son was breathing more or less normally, my wife was fine and the horn of the ambulance and the emergency doctor’s vehicle of the colleagues could be heard.” Mother and child then went to the clinic in Wels for further examination.
The family has now been able to recover a little from the exciting experience. “I had complete trust in my husband, who himself is an anesthetist and paramedic with many years of experience,” says the new mother of two.
Source used: Press release of the Austrian Red Cross, district office Eferding