A BENTLEY area mum-to-be has told how she she was sent home from Doncaster Royal Infirmary while in labour... and ended up giving birth in the back of a CAR.
Furious Lyn Gillespie, 29, of Paxton Avenue, Carcroft, says she is "traumatised" after the delivery – on the back seat of her friend's Vauxhall Corsa, with her head hanging out of the side door.
Lyn, who was 39 weeks pregnant, told how the drama u
nfolded after she was sent home from DRI's maternity unit earlier in the day.
She says she was told that she was not in labour but simply had "a belly ache".
Friend Shelly Smith acted as midwife after her attempt to dash Lyn back to the maternity unit failed when the birth began as they drove along York Road.
Lyn's husband Alec was in back of the car, comforting Lyn, as her baby started to arrive.
He called for Shelly to pull into the car park of the Grove Avenue police station, then ran to the reception desk for help.
Three officers came to assist and an ambulance was called - but it was cool-headed Shelly who requested a towel and a pair of rubber gloves and then guided out the baby's head, with the guidance of a midwife speaking to her via her mobile.
Alec watched through the boot while one of the officers supported his wife's head as she lay across the back seat of the small hatchback.
Things got more difficult as it became clear the umbilical cord was wound around the child's neck but paramedics arrived just in time to handle the complication.
Baby girl Harmony Grace was finally born safely – weighing 8lb 3oz, and wrapped up in the dressing gown from her mum's hospital bag!
Shelly works as a carer for the elderly and was wearing her uniform at the time, which looks similar to that of a staff nurse. It turned out later that the police officers assumed she was medically trained and so let her take charge of the situation.
After a short stay in hospital mum and baby were discharged the same evening.
Speaking from her home the following day Lyn said: "I feel really traumatised by what happened. A proper letter of complaint will be going in to the hospital."
Lyn had woken up with contractions at 5am on the morning of the birth and had called Alec home from work in Sheffield.
She took her two older daughters, six-year-old Caitlin and Piper, three, to Carcroft Primary School before arriving at DRI at around 11am.
She told the Newsletter: "I was just left alone in a delivery room for an hour before anyone came to talk to me.
"I was given an examination and the nurse decided that I wasn't in labour but just had a belly ache. She told me to take Imodium and Paracetamol, and to go home."
Lyn arrived back in Carcroft at around 1.30pm, but less than an hour later realised the baby was definitely on its way. She rang for an ambulance but was told that it would be at least half an hour before it could get to her.
Shelly was visiting her mum in Paxton Avenue and called round to see her friend, finding her doubled up in agony with Alec trying to help.
"The contractions were coming really fast and the (DRI) labour ward staff had told her to arrange her own transport to get there, so I said 'You two get in the back and I'll take you'," said Shelly.
"I was stopped at a red traffic light on York Road when Lyn screamed 'I'm going to push'.
"Alec phoned for an ambulance again and we managed to pull into the police car park.
"I'd never done anything like this before, but when it all started I felt really really calm.
"We had a midwife on the phone and she was brilliant – I couldn't have done it without her."
DRI's spokeswoman Hazel Brand would only say she believed there were inaccuracies in Lyn's account of her treatment at the hospital.
But she would not tell us what these were, or make any official comment.
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