A Perth mom has shared the unexpected birth story of her second child, where she delivered her baby in the front seat of her car with her partner by her side.
In a video posted to TikTok, Mia Katson, 26, recounted the whirlwind events leading up to her daughter’s birth, which she described as both “wild” and “beautiful.”
She explained that her labor experience this time was starkly different from her first, where she had been induced.
This previous experience left her unaware she was in labor until it was almost too late.
“I woke up Monday morning feeling really good,” she said.
But by midmorning, she began noticing a strange sensation in her lower abdomen, which felt “like gas or constipation pain.”
At 40 weeks and three days pregnant, she hoped it was the start of labor but didn’t think it was serious.
Despite this, she carried on with her day as normal, taking her eldest daughter to swimming lessons before dropping her at her mom’s house.
The turning point came during a routine check-up with her midwife at midday, where the midwife performed a stretch and sweep, noting she was already three centimeters dilated and could “stretch to almost four.”
While the midwife predicted the baby would arrive before Friday, she reassured the mom that labor could still be days away.
By the time the couple returned home around 12:30pm, things began escalating.
“I was doing bounces and hip rocks on the birthing ball, and my partner was deciding whether to go for a run or pick up our daughter,” she recalled.
Thankfully, they decided their eldest should stay at her grandmother’s house.
While her partner, Callum Rule, went for a quick run, Ms. Katson hopped into the shower, hoping to ease the discomfort of some hot flushes she was having.
“In the 20 minutes I was in the shower, the pain really ramped up,” she said.
But she still doubted whether she was in real labor, thinking the pain could just be irritation from the stretch and sweep.
After struggling to time her contractions and calling the hospital at 1:35pm, the midwife advised her to wait another hour to see if the pains subsided.
However, things quickly intensified.
She tried to time the contractions, with some being three minutes apart, some seven, and others 30 seconds.
“It was all over the shop and very confusing. My partner was getting himself ready and then at 1:35pm we thought we should probably call the hospital to see what they say because I didn’t know when you’re supposed to leave for the hospital,” she said.
“The midwife suggested leaving an hour to see if it fizzles out, but if anything changes, then head straight in. My biggest fear was going to the hospital and getting sent home so I really wanted to labor at home for as long as possible”
“Twenty minutes after the phone call, the pain got so much worse,” she continued. “I couldn’t walk or talk through the contractions anymore. I started panicking about the car ride to the hospital.”
At 2:00pm, they finally left for the hospital, which was about 20 minutes away, but just as they were getting ready to leave, her waters broke.
“I was so excited because I knew it was real – we were having a baby,” she said.
What followed was a chaotic and surreal 11-minute drive that ended in the unexpected arrival of their baby.
“On the way to the hospital, I had two contractions down the street and thought I was going to poo myself,” she admitted.
By the third contraction, at 2:11pm, her baby “just fell out” after “three to four pushes” and was born in the front seat of the car on a main road.
“I yelled at my partner to pull over, and as he opened my door, I had already pulled her out and had her on my chest. She came out pink and screaming, and we were just in shock,” she said.
The couple called triple-0, and paramedics arrived within seven minutes.
But the new mom described the paramedics, who were “two old blokes”, as “a little bit hopeless and unprofessional,” explaining they debated in front of her whether to cut the cord in the car or transport her to the ambulance.
“I ended up hobbling to the ambulance, butt naked from the waist down, holding her baby’s cord still attached, while cars drove past,” she said. “They didn’t have towels or blankets or anything.”
She also said the paramedics didn’t help her up the stairs of the ambulance and she had to ask for assistance.
During the ambulance ride, she delivered the placenta, experiencing painful contractions without pain relief and being told to “just relax” by the paramedics.
The ride was extra stressful as she could see “quite a lot of blood” and recalled a previous post-partum hemorrhage during her first birth.
Despite losing 1.3 litres of blood and needing to stay overnight in the hospital, she described the experience as “beautiful.”
“I know for some people that story would be traumatic, but for me, it was a positive experience,” she said.
“The only thing I’m sad about is the front seat of my car!”
