By Cara Sulieman
A NEW mum gave birth on the hard shoulder during rush hour traffic after she failed to get to the hospital in time.
Kerri McAuley, 31, was five days overdue when she started to get contractions in the early hours of the morning.
An hour later they were getting closer together and her husband, Michael, 33, prepared to take her to hospital.
But as they were getting ready to leave their house in Polmont, Kerri started to worry that the baby was well on its way and asked Michael to call the ambulance.
“Very scary”
She said: “The contractions got even quicker still and then I started to think that we weren’t going to make it to the hospital in time.
“It was very scary, so we phoned for an ambulance. I struggled down the stairs and got into the ambulance.”
The ambulance staff said it would be at least half an hour before the baby was born so Michael decided to follow behind in the car.
When they hit rush hour traffic the ambulance put its siren on and cut through the jam, leaving Michael behind.
Parked on the hard shoulder
The next time he saw them they were parked on the hard shoulder of the motorway.
Michael said: “I was driving towards Stirling when I saw the ambulance parked on the hard shoulder.
“I was really worried because I thought something had gone wrong – so I pulled over further down and went and chapped on the back door.
“When Colin Abercrombie, one of the ambulance staff, opened the door he said that my son had already been born.
“I couldn’t believe it.”
9lb 5oz
Just three miles into their 14-mile drive, Kerri had shouted at the paramedics that she thought the baby was coming and they pulled over near the Earlsgate roundabout on the M9.
Evan McAuley was born a healthy 9lb 5oz on May 1 and taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary for a check up.
And after getting the all clear, Kerri and her new son were allowed to go home and join Michael and their six-year-old daughter Chloe.
Kerri said: “We went from one extreme to the other. When my daughter Chloe was born she took ages to come out.
“I went into the hospital on the Sunday and she was born on the Wednesday.
“So no one expected Evan to be so quick.”
Birth certificate
The family, who are all doting over the new arrival, said there is no way they will ever forget the drama of his birth – even though his birth certificate says he was born in hospital.
Michael said: “The card they gave us at the hospital with Evan’s birth details on it listed ‘Grangemouth motorway’ as the place of birth.
“But they wouldn’t let us have that on the birth certificate so it was changed to Stirling Royal Infirmary.
“But we’ll always know how much trouble he caused and will tell him all about it when he’s older.”
