Car birth surprises - Kyneton baby delivered at roadside

By Hannah Knight
Updated November 7 2012 - 6:53am, first published January 19 2012 - 11:24am
Doing well: Mel Sell with daughter Louise Maree.
Doing well: Mel Sell with daughter Louise Maree.

THERE was no stopping Louise Maree Sell when she decided to make her entry into the world.The Kyneton newborn was delivered on the side of one of Melbourne’s busiest roads on Saturday.Mum Mel was well on her way to the Royal Women’s Hospital when she realised she wasn’t going to make it to the delivery room.“My friend Julie Burgess was driving and we got to Bell Street and I just had to push,” Mel said.“I said to her, ‘We’ve got to pull over,’ and I rang triple-0.“They talked Julie through what to do while we waited for the paramedics to arrive.“Julie delivered the head and the paramedics delivered the bottom half.“It was all over in about 10 minutes.”Mel and baby Louise were at home in Kyneton yesterday recuperating after a busy week.Mel and her husband Mick are also the proud parents of Sarah, 8, and Joe, 5.“With the other two kids I had really long labour,” Mel said.“With Sarah it was nearly two days and with Joe it was about 12 hours in total.“So this time around, I’d been having contractions all day but I wasn’t too worried.“We train racehorses and we had one running in Flemington that day.“Mick went but I decided it probably wasn’t a good idea for me to go because I was overdue.“But I didn’t know it was all going to end up the way it did.”Mel’s water broke about 5pm and she was in the car and on the way to hospital by 5.10pm.Louise was welcomed into the world about 6pm.“I remember looking out the window and seeing the Melbourne Zoo sign,” Mel said.“We were just past the Reynard Street overpass, near the Flemington Road exit sign.“The funny thing was that while all this was going on Mick was on his way home from Flemington.“The horse he’d taken that day was actually called Enchanting Waters so they all had a bit of fun with that.”Mel said Louise was doing well.“Considering how rushed her entry was, she’s actually a chilled out baby,” she said.

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