Baby born on Pretoria highway
2009-01-07 08:02
Pretoria - "My brother crawled out of my mommy's bum."
That's what little Kayla Crous, 3, tells everybody about her brother, Keagan, who was born on the side of the N4 highway at the Hans Strijdom offramp in Pretoria on Monday.
On Tuesday Kayla was very protective of her brother when Beeld visited them at the Willows Hospital to the east of Pretoria.
Kayla's mother, Bernadette Crous, 28, said Kayla watched Keagan's birth in their car.
Kayla wasn't shocked in the least, "but now she's asking a lot of questions", the proud mother said with a laugh.
Bernadette said her contractions started at about 09:00 on Monday morning while she was at their house in Witbank.
She was 35 weeks pregnant.
She was taken to a hospital in Witbank, where she was told they were false contractions and she was sent home.
At about 16:00 she told her husband, Roy, 29, that she couldn't take it any longer.
The family then jumped into their car and drove to Pretoria.
Roy said he switched on his headlights and hazards as he sped to Pretoria.
"We had just gone through the Donkerhoek toll gate when my water broke," Bernadette said.
"At Hans Strijdom offramp I said to Roy I wasn't going to make the hospital - he had to pull over and deliver the baby."
Roy stopped at the side of the road. At that stage, he said, everything came "naturally", but once Keagan was there, he was at a loss as to what to do next.
He called the doctor, who said they should get to a hospital as soon as possible.
At the hospital he was told that, seeing that he had delivered his son, he might as well cut the umbilical cord.
Roy said Keagan was his early birthday present. The proud father turns 30 later this month.
Mother and son are doing fine and Keagan will have to spend a day or so in the incubator.
Bernadette said they will hopefully be discharged on Wednesday.