New Dad Delivers Baby At Bathroom Sink

By Katherine Clementine for Mirror Online

Image: Dreamstime

A pair of first-time parents had to take matters into their own hands when their new baby arrived very suddenly, at home in the bathroom.

Dad Daniel Hardinges safely delivered his own baby daughter, despite having no medical training, after his wife's waters broke at 4.20am on Tuesday.

Happy: Daniel and Sue Hardinges with their new baby Sophie. (Image: Get West London)

Daniel rang the hospital in which Sue was due to give birth, Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Acton, after a couple of hours of contractions, but they told the couple to wait at home until around 9am.

He explained that the contractions were only three minutes apart, from the moment they woke up.

He said: “About 15 minutes later, I decided we should go to the hospital – this definitely wasn't normal.

“My wife said she could feel something between her legs, so I had a look and couldn't really see anything at the time.

"I sort of saw something but didn't realize at the time it was part of the head.”

Arrival: The whole labour was around two hours 20 minutes. (Image: PA)

The pair dressed and were about to head for the car when Sue had another contraction and said she definitely felt something there, reports Get West London.

Daniel continued: “I pulled her trousers down and there was a baby's face looking at me up to her nose.

“I dialed 999 as quickly as I could, but by that point the baby's chin was out and one more contraction and the whole baby was out.”

Sue had given birth hunched over their bathroom sink, in their home in Lime Grove, Ruislip.

The pair were stuck in the same position for a few more minutes, with the umbilical cord still attached, until paramedics and a midwife arrived.

Daniel said: “When they turned up I was on my knees holding the baby, wrapped up, and my wife was still bent over the sink not able to move.

The whole labor was around two hours 20 minutes in total but from Sue feeling something in between her legs to baby being delivered took less than five minutes.

Daniel recalls a moment of 'sheer horror' when he saw half the baby's head poking out but then just 'got on with it'.

The 29-year-old audio visual technician, said: “Everybody who came in - the paramedics and the midwife - just couldn't believe it.

“Normally with a first baby you're in for a long, gruelling labor but this was a super quick and with no pain relief at all.”

The pair are now proud parents of baby daughter, Sophie, who weighed 7lbs.

Speaking a day after the birth, mother Sue, a 29-year-old accountant, said the birth was a “shock” but “it's all starting to sink in now”.

She said: “I woke up with what I'd describe as period pain and then contractions did start coming it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be.

“The last few were pretty hard going but not as hard as I thought they were going to be, considering there was no pain relief.

Sue is even glad to have had the unplanned home birth, rather than having to stay at the hospital ward.

She added: “We were able to stay at home rather than being on a ward where I wouldn't have got any sleep.

“The next day we rested in peace and quiet and our family could come and go.

“Everything's fine and we're happy and healthy.”