Durban - Bluff toddler Cory Anderson turned 1 on Thursday and his love for cars comes as little surprise to his beaming family. He was, after all, born in his grandfather’s red VW Golf.
Chenise Anderson, 22, still cannot believe that she gave birth in the back of her stepfather Mark van Wyk’s car during the tail-end of peak-hour traffic, five minutes after they left home.
Her mother, trauma nurse Colleen Van Wyk, 50, helped deliver her grandson, leaving the umbilical cord intact as her husband drove against the traffic flow to get to the nearest medical centre, hooting and flashing his lights along the way.
“He’s our little miracle baby,” said Colleen. “She (Anderson) had so many complications from 25 weeks, and for him to come out like that with no complications is amazing.”
She recalled she had acted instinctively when she heard her daughter’s screams from the back seat. “I’m a nurse, but I’m not a midwife. I just acted. I can still remember her screams,” she said. “I squeezed in between those (seats), I don’t know how I did it.”
Colleen said she would not let Cory forget how he had come into the world. “I’m going to remind him all his life; probably at his 21st birthday I’m going to make a speech,” she said.
Anderson, who gave birth to a 3.2kg baby with some inconvenience but little hassle, said: “It’s been quite a ride. Everybody loves him.”
She said she could not be happier that her son was perfectly healthy.
And much like where he started his life, “he loves cars”, she said.
During a visit by the Daily News, Cory pushed his toy cars around his grandparents’ house and made car sounds as he crawled across the floor, stopping every now and then to flash a smile.
Mark said his VW had become a hit after the special delivery. “I was told I can’t sell the car. They say it’s Cory’s car.”
Daily News