A midnight dash to a Moruya Hospital bed turned into a desperate detour to her mother-in-law’s sofa for Haley Danckert when “little Miss Molly” showed she wasn’t mucking about.
Lulled by her first-born Sam’s unhurried attitude (induction followed by 15 hours’ labour), the Malua Bay mum did not get too excited on Molly’s due date on Tuesday last week.
“I went to bed thinking ‘today is over, she is not coming’, only to be woken up half an hour later in labour,” Haley said.
That was at 11.15pm.
“I only had two contractions before I woke my husband and said we have to go,” Haley said.
“It was really bad straight away. All of a sudden they were only four minutes apart.”
Between contractions, Haley and husband Ben woke and broke the news to two-year-old Sam, and telephoned Ben’s mother Annie Dankert to collect him.
“I had not packed anything,” Haley said.
“We were trying to pack for little Sam. I was getting nappies, bottles and toys.”
Her contractions were now two minutes apart and shortly before midnight, her waters broke and they rushed to the car, Annie at the wheel.
“I was thinking, ‘oh my God, how did it all happen so quickly?’,” Haley said.
“We got just past the shops at Malua Bay and I said ‘we have to call an ambulance’.
“We couldn’t have made it to the hospital. Sam was in no rush whatsoever, but little Miss Molly, she was coming, she didn’t care where.”
They agreed to meet the ambulance at Annie’s Mossy Point home.
With ambulance staff as telephone coaches, Annie’s downstairs sofa bed was quickly deployed, along with old sheets and towels.
“Everyone was freaking out, saying, ‘no, don’t push, not yet,” Haley said.
A neighbouring midwife, Alison Hart, answered Annie’s call for help.
“I was trying to hold on, but then Alison got there and told the ambulance ‘we can’t wait’.”
A serene Molly Jane made her entrance at 12.20am, Wednesday July 4, exactly 65 minutes after Haley had first woken.
“It went as well as it could have gone, whether we were on the sofa or in the hospital,” Haley said.
“We barely heard from her. She did a bit of a cry, just an ‘I am here!’, and that was it. She just sat there looking around.
“We were all looking at one another thinking, ‘what just happened?’”
Haley described the mood as an odd mix of “shock, embarrassment and excitement”.
“Something like that never crossed my mind, but ultimately it was perfect. I am fine and the baby could not be better.”
As for Sam, who had a ringside seat, and gave his mum a big kiss afterwards, he’s worked out there are advantages to little sisters.
“He loves cuddles and kisses, he is really gentle with her, but he seems to know that while I am feeding I can’t get up and chase him around,” Haley said.