Imagine waking up to find your pregnant partner is no longer sleeping beside you. And she is no longer pregnant.
Nope, she’s standing next to the bed, soaking wet and holding a newborn. Oh, and wondering “WHY THE F DIDN’T YOU WAKE UP?”
This is exactly what happened to Queensland couple Jodie Taylor and Robert Fine over the weekend as they welcomed their daughter, Lucy Ima May Fine.
Well, actually, Jodie welcomed her, unexpectedly, in the shower of their Cairns home. And Robert slept, just metres away, blissfully unaware that his partner was giving birth in the room next door.
Talk about a surprise baby shower!
At 39 weeks pregnant, Jodie knew her little girl was set to arrive any day. She began experiencing back pain and contractions on Thursday around 3pm. However, the contractions stayed 20 minutes apart for the entire day.
In the middle of the night, the contractions sped up. Jodie quickly headed to the shower to try and ease the pain.
Minutes later, she gave birth. And Dad? He slept on.
Wake up Daddy!
“The air conditioning was on and the door was closed so he couldn’t hear me even though I sung out,” Jodie explains.
It wasn’t until Jodie and a crying Lucy walked into the bedroom that Robert woke up and realised what had just happened.
“That’s when he got up and was rushing around getting towels to wrap her up and we rang the ambulance.”
‘She decided to surprise me’
Jodie, who is a mum of five, admits that the whole situation took her by surprise.
“It just went two contractions, one after the other, and then she was there,” she said. “I was just keeping an eye on the time to see where we were at, but she decided to surprise me.”
Amazingly, Jodie remained calm as she delivered her daughter without assistance.
“I was a little bit scared but I’ve got a few babies so I kind of knew what I was doing, but … I was still scared because I was not at the hospital.”
After a quick trip to the hospital to get checked out, the family are now back at home, enjoying those blissful newborn days. And hopefully not sleeping through any more milestones…
Looking for more crazy birth stories – have a look at that time when a mum gave birth in the front entrance of Target.
