Win a fantastic prize when you recommend the babyworld shop to 6 friends
click here
'They call me the Indian midwife!'
It's a common joke about dads fainting in the delivery room as the midwives
deliver their newborn baby in its glory. But one dad from Bradford has earned
himself the nickname 'The Indian Midwife' after delivering his baby in the
backseat of his car. He told Sam Pope his story.
When engineer Bhupendra Mistry left home at 9.30pm on 4 September
2008 to start the evening shift, he could never have guessed what the
next six hours had in store for him. 'When I left the house, my wife Sulventi,
was absolutely fine and showing no signs of going into labour,' he begins.
'There was no reason to worry - we said goodbye as normal and I went into
work without a second thought.'
However, at 2.00am, Sulventi was anxious and on the phone. 'She
told me that she had started getting irregular contractions and was worried
that the baby could be coming,' Bhupendra says. 'I told her to keep calm,
to give it another hour and then call me again to say how things were
going.' However, Bhupendra received a call just 20 minutes later from
an increasingly scared Sulventi, who told him that the pains were getting
stronger by the minute so, without a second thought, he headed off home.
At home, Bhupendra rang the delivery suite at the Bradford Royal
Infirmary to ask a midwife for advice. 'She insisted that it was too early
on for Sulventi to need to come in,' Bhupendra reveals. 'Apparently, since
the contractions weren't regular - even though they were painful - it
was unlikely that my wife would be having the baby any time soon, and
I was advised to call back when they were two minutes apart. I hung up
but Sulventi was in a lot of pain and her contractions started coming
every five minutes, so I called them back again, and again they insisted
that this was all normal.'
Little did the midwife know how wrong she was. As Bhupendra helped
Sulventi up to walk downstairs, her waters broke all over the bedroom
floor. At this point, their two-year-old daughter Bhumi came in, asking
what was happening. 'I told her that everything was fine and to go back
to bed,' Bhupendra remembers. 'It seemed silly to get her up when we were
supposed to stay at home. However, I called my mum and dad and asked them
to come over straight away to look after Bhumi as I wasn't sure when we'd
need to leave.'
Once downstairs, Bhupendra went to get his Alfa Romeo ready for
the inevitable drive to the hospital. However, on his way back up the
path to the house, Sulventi screamed as the baby's head popped out. Midwife
advice or not, Bhupendra knew he had to get his wife to the hospital -
fast.
'It was 3.15am by this point and I helped Sulventi to the car.
She was screaming, both in pain and in shock. I got her to lie down in
the back seat while all our neighbours rushed outside to see what was
happening and if they could help. I called the midwife but I couldn't
hear a word she said because of Sulventi's screams. I put it onto speakerphone
and asked a neighbour to relay the advice. However, just as I was sorting
that out, the baby literally just popped out, into Sulventi's pyjama bottoms.
While my neighbours rushed over with fresh towels, I tapped our little
girl on the cheek and she started crying, so I knew that was a good sign!
I wrapped her in a clean T shirt and put her on Sulventi's chest to keep
warm.'
Five minutes later, an ambulance arrived … without a midwife. No one
could trace her and the paramedics were reluctant to move mother and baby
into the ambulance while the cord was still attached. 'They told me to
keep Sulventi in the back seat of the car and to follow them to the hospital,'
Bhupendra explains. 'After escorting me there, the nurses cut the cord
in the back seat of the car and took our baby away for checks as her temperature
was a bit low. They cleaned Sulventi up in the back sear, then took her
inside to a delivery suite for the third stage of labour. This was at
3.40am. Luckily she was calmer at this point as the shock had worn off.
We were allowed home later the same day!'
When asked about how he kept it together in the face of such
an episode, Bhupendra modestly shrugs it off. 'My neighbours have commented
on how calm I was, and friends have jokingly called me 'The Indian Midwife'
but that night I just did what I had to do,' Bhupendra demurred. 'I probably
had Casualty running in the back of my mind and that sort of told
me what I needed to do next - tap the baby's face after being born, keep
her warm, wrap her up, etc. Had it been in another situation I probably
would have panicked, ironically!'
Speaking to me on the last day of his paternity leave, Bhupendra
is relieved that all is well but sad to be returning to work. 'It's been
a great couple of weeks,' he glows. 'I am proud of what I managed to do
but even prouder of my family and Riddhi - our latest addition!'
