Hospital? Jack just can't wait

Brendan and Kylie Stockdale of North Ipswich with their new baby Jack Patrick Stockdale who was delivered at their family home at 10.55am yesterday (29-6-11).

David Nielsen

Related links

• Surprise delivery!
• Baby Isaak's a show-stopper
• Jaymee's 11lb bub arrives in Ipswich
• Surprise home birth over the phone

FORGET about hospital, little Jack Stockdale was so eager to enter the big bad world yesterday that he didn’t even give his poor mum the chance to leave the dining room.

The tiny bundle of joy emerged about 10.55am yesterday after his dad, Brendan Stockdale, took instructions over the phone from an emergency operator.

Despite being forced to settle down on the floor of their North Ipswich home, Mr Stockdale was able to support wife Kylie through safely though the labour and keep Jack safe until paramedics arrived.

Not surprisingly, the overjoyed couple was full of praise for the ambulance communications operator.

“I started having pains about 7.30 in the morning and wasn’t sure at the time if it meant anything,” Mrs Stockdale said.

“So I did some washing and hung a couple of loads out.”

Jack was only due next Tuesday, although his parents were told to expect his arrival this week.

By about 10.20am the pains had worsened to the point where Mrs Stockdale decided it would be a good idea to wake her husband, despite the fact that he had been working all night.

Dad took the couple’s one-year-old daughter Chloe to a relative’s house and still hadn’t returned when things got serious.

“When he walked in the door I told him, “this is it – it’s happening now”,” Mrs Stockdale said.

“I rang the midwife and she told us to call Triple-0.”

While admitting he was extremely nervous through the ordeal, Mr Stockdale said he was thankful the birth passed quickly.

The initial Triple-0 call was made at 10.51 and Jack was out four minutes later.

“Apparently I was a little bit pale,” he said.

“They basically told us to make sure there were towels down, and to remember that the baby would be extremely slippery and to put some pressure on Kylie’s stomach.

“Then there were a few finer details after he was born to make sure he was healthy.

“Once Jack came out and started to cry she asked us whether it was a boy or a girl.”

It only took another three minutes for the ambulance to arrive.

Paramedics cut the umbilical cord safely and helped the new born and mum onto the ambulance.

They went to Ipswich Hospital but didn’t have to stay long before being given a clean bill of health.

They returned home last night.

“I guess in hindsight, seeing that Jack arrived so quickly, we wouldn’t have had much choice but to have the birth at home,” Mr Stockdale said.

“But it was good to have the reassurance of the operator – even though things were happening so fast.”

One thing’s for sure, the couple will never look at their dining room the same way.