Pretoria - After failing to conceive for over a year, Tebogo Setsetse and Sindile Mahlangu from Silverton were blessed with a positive pregnancy test.
However, little did they know that when the time came to deliver the baby, it would be in their family car.
The parents said the pregnancy came as a shock for both of them because at some point, they had even given up on trying to conceive.
Another reason is that they are at an age where the chances of having children are very slim; Mahlangu is 38 while Setsetse is 45.
“Sindi is the only child in her family, so I had accepted that maybe she, too, was meant to have only one child,” the excited father told the Pretoria News.
On September 16 came the anticipated labour pains, and the excited mother jumped into the car to drive to Mamelodi Hospital, where she was due to give birth.
But Baby Kemiso had other plans and would not wait to get to the comfort of a hospital bed, instead forcing the mother to give birth inside the car.
Mahlangu has an 8-year-old son and Setsetse, two daughters from previous relationships. Kemiso is their first child together.
Mahlangu had expected to give birth between September 17 and 20, but in the early hours of that Thursday morning, the labour pains started and intensified.
The two said she had been having cramps the previous night, which they took lightly and regarded as normal. However, these got more intense and frequent, forcing them to rush to hospital in the morning, when Mahlangu could not walk.
“On the way to the hospital, my partner was driving like Michael Schumacher, and I think that also intensified the pain, broke the water, and rushed Baby Kemiso,” she said.
The father continued: “Within a minute after telling me that the water broke, she said the baby was coming. I panicked and thought maybe the baby was stuck.
“I then lost control of the car and hit the pavement, but after a few seconds, I heard a baby cry.”
Mahlangu said she did not push and was sitting in a normal position on the back seat of their car when “I felt some warmth on my thighs and checked what it was, only to see my baby.
“I think had I not used my knee to support her, she would have fallen, or something might have happened to her. It was very emotional. All three of us were now crying in the car.”
Setsetse and Mahlangu said giving birth in the car was a blessing in disguise, and they were thankful because they had concerns about giving birth at a public hospital.
“We’ve heard so many horrifying and shocking stories about what happens in public hospitals during labour and childbirth. I was also afraid the same might happen to me and my child,” Mahlangu said.
They also said that the experience drew them closer together and to their child as well.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were immediately assisted, and all went well for both mother and child.
Mahlangu said the hospital staff were even calling her a midwife for delivering on her own, which is something they considered very rare.
The baby girl has three names – Kemiso, Paris and Nanku. “We love Paris as it is known as the City of Love. We hope to go there one day, and Nanku is my mom’s name, who sadly passed on last year,” Setsetse said.
Pretoria News