Mum delivers baby home alone... then has to save her life minutes later!
Filed under: Birth stories
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When Clare Callaghan went into labour at home she thought she would have plenty of time to call for an ambulance.
But her baby was too quick and she ended up giving birth on the sofa in her lounge with no one to help her.
And the dramadidn't stop there. She also had to save newborn Pippa after she stopped breathing because she was born still in her amniotic sac.
Now Clare and baby Pippa are back safely at home after their ordeal.
Clare, 33, a full-time mum from Liverpool says: "I'm still in shock over what happened. Not only did I end up delivering my daughter on my own, but I saved her life too.
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It was terrifying, but I'm just glad I managed to act quickly - or else my daughter may not have been here today. When she's old enough I'll tell her how I delivered her and saved her life - she really is my little miracle.
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Clare had just dropped her two sons, Daniel, six, and James, 12, off at school when she began to experience stomach pains:
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"I'd had a difficult pregnancy so initially I thought the pains were false contractions. The baby wasn't due for another two weeks. My son Daniel had been born 10 weeks prematurely so I was worried when the pains started.
"I thought I'd have plenty of time to get to hospital to get checked out, but then the pains began getting much stronger very quickly.
"I realised that I must be in labour and phoned the ambulance. But whilst I was talking to the operator telling her how much pain I was in, the baby started to come out. I'd only started with the pains about ten minutes previously, yet the baby was already on her way."
When Clare looked down, she could see the baby's head starting to emerge, but the baby was still in the amniotic sac:
"It just looked like the baby was in a balloon. I could see her little face through it. I knew the amniotic sac should have burst before the baby started coming, so I started to panic. I knew that something was wrong."
Clare remained on the telephone to the operator whilst she was giving birth. She was told that she must rip open the amniotic sac to save her baby's life:
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"I was so scared that I wasn't going to be able to save my baby. The operator told me to try and find a pin to burst the amniotic sac open to free the baby, but I had just given birth and I knew that I didn't have a pin in the house.
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So I had to break it open with my hands, which was difficult. I don't know where I got the strength from, but I knew I had to do it to save my baby's life. The operator was shouting at me that I needed to do it quickly, or else the baby would stop breathing.
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Clare finally managed to free her baby daughter, but she wasn't breathing.
"She was just limp in my arms and not breathing. The operator told me to rub her back and clear her airways which I did," explains Clare. "Then she suddenly started to cry. It was the sweetest thing that I have ever heard. I knew she was alive. I grabbed the rug off the sofa and wrapped her in it to keep her warm."
The ambulance arrived a few minutes after the birth and Clare and Pippa were taken to Liverpool Womens Hospital, where doctors checked them both over. Pippa weighed 5lb 4oz.
"I had to stay overnight because Pippa was a small birth weight and they wanted to check her blood sugar levels," says Clare.
"But we were allowed home the next day, and I had to break the news to my family and friends that I'd delivered her myself at home. No one could quite believe it, especially when I told them also that I'd saved her life.
"I can't believe my labour was only 15 minutes from start to finish. I'm lucky that she was only a small baby as if she'd been a lot bigger it would have been more difficult."
Clare is now at home enjoying life with new baby Pippa, who is now four weeks old:
"The boys adore their sister, and they are proud of me that I managed to deliver her myself.
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After the trauma of her birth I can now put it behind us and just get on and enjoy being a mum. Not many mums can say they delivered their own babies - and saved their life too.
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Wow, now that's a birth story! Huge congratulations from everyone at Parentdish, Clare.
Do you have a dramatic birth story to rival Clare and Pippa?
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