WHEN Singleton Heights mother Erin Cole felt the first signs of labour last Tuesday night she knew the birth of her second child was close – she just didn’t know how close.
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Just after 9.30pm Mrs Cole started to feel contractions and, by the time her husband Tim had phoned the hospital, the pair knew they wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“There was no real decision, I said to Tim to ring the ambulance and that was it – there was no real time to comprehend what was happening,” Mrs Cole told The Argus.
“It was that quick, all of a sudden it just hit me.
“If we had tried to get to the hospital we’d have ended up on the side of the road somewhere, so by that stage staying at home was much more preferable.”
Mr Cole was called upon to play the role of doctor, midwife and husband in a whirlwind 15-minute period in which they welcomed son Lachy into the world.
Just two days after Father’s Day, Mr Cole’s own moment had arrived, with hospital staff guiding him through the process.
“There wasn’t much to it in the end, they just tried to talk me through it, but by the time we had gone through a couple of steps Lachy was already out,” he said.
“By that stage it was more just about her trying to keep Erin calm, and what to do until the ambulance arrived.”
An ambulance and Mrs Cole’s parents raced to the family home, but by the time they had arrived the cries of newly-born Lachy informed them that they had arrived too late.
From making the initial call to the aftermath of the delivery, Mr Cole’s conversation with the hospital lasted just 18 minutes, and his wife estimates the birth lasted no more than 10.
It was a far cry from the birth of the couple’s first child Lucy, now three, who had been born at Singleton District Hospital according to more conventional processes.
“With Lucy I was ready to go, but the delivery still took a while so we got there in pretty of time – it was nothing like this,” Mrs Cole said.
“But you hear of some people going into labour for days, so I’m certainly not complaining.”
Following the birth Mrs Cole spent three nights in hospital before being discharged on Friday, with both Mrs Cole and Lachy in good health.
A week on, the couple are left with the memory of welcoming their son into the family home.
“At the time it was very shocking, and I was actually in shock, but looking back now it was pretty amazing that it was just us,” Mrs Cole said.
“It’s still pretty special.”
