An ambulance service supervisor gave birth in her husband’s car after deciding not to summon help from colleagues while she was in an “undignified state”.
Sarah Blaze, from Shropshire, safely delivered her son William in a Nissan X-Trail on the outskirts of Wolverhampton after failing to make it to the city’s New Cross Hospital in time.
The 35-year-old had told her husband Stuart not to call an ambulance to their home in Bridgnorth after her waters broke, fearing someone she knew would attend the call-out.
Mrs Blaze, who eventually summoned help from a 999 call-handler shortly before the roadside birth, said: “It is quite a personal thing and the idea of somebody you work with seeing you in that state or delivering your baby is a bit off-putting.
“I don’t think anybody would want their colleagues to see them in that undignified state.
“Luckily when two ambulances did come after I gave birth to William I didn’t know who the staff were and they didn’t know me.”
Mrs Blaze, an incident command desk supervisor with West Midlands Ambulance Service at its HQ in Brierley Hill, and her husband, aged 40, already have a four-year-old son.
The couple said they wanted to thank the call-handler who talked them through the delivery of William – who weighed in at 8lbs 2ozs – in the early hours of Saturday.
Mr Blaze, who co-owns a printing company, said: “While we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive, she talked us through it, helped us and pointed us in the right direction.
“Without her help it might not have been such a happy ending.”
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We would like to offer our congratulations to Sarah and her husband on the safe arrival of their new baby boy.
“It must have been an unusual feeling for Sarah to have had an ambulance come to her aid rather than sending one out to someone in their hour of need, but thankfully we were able to provide help quickly and transport mum and baby to hospital.”
