A DAD has described the moment he delivered his baby by the side of the road with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

James Sim was driving his wife Jade to Basingstoke hospital on January 10 after her contractions started suddenly that morning.

The couple, who have a two-year-old daughter, Sienna, realised they weren’t going to make it when 31-year-old Jade shouted to her husband that the baby was coming.

Writing in a blog post about the experience, James said: “Her groans of pain sounded suspiciously similar to pushes… With Jade huffing and puffing in the backseat, I started to feel the impending dread that actually, I might be called into action at some stage of this journey.”

He reassured his wife, but Jade was adamant the baby wasn’t going to wait, telling James “She’s coming out, you need to check she’s safe”.

Basingstoke Gazette:

James, a product specialist, said: “The word ‘safe’ resonated with me so strongly it was the one thing that kicked me into action.”

The father-of-two put his hazards lights on and skidded to a halt at the side of the road on the A339 in Kingsclere, hurrying to his wife who was sat in the back.

“The next scene was the one that will stay with me forever, it was surreal,” he said, adding: “I’ll no doubt forget the fear I felt on the day, right now it’s still very raw and thinking back makes me very emotional.”

James found his daughter’s head already out, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

“She was blue, she wasn’t moving, and I had no idea how long she had been out for, and how tight that umbilical cord was,” recalled the 36-year-old. “Whatever happened next was completely in my hands.”

Acting fast, James prised his finger behind the cord to pull it away from his daughter’s neck, before taking her in his hands and, with a push from Jade, she was born.

However, the couple had an agonising wait for their new-born baby to cry.

“I don’t know how long the next part lasted, it seemed like an eternity, in reality it was probably all of 10 seconds, but in those 10 seconds I could have lived my life out a second time over.

“She made no sound, I couldn’t see or feel any breathing and she was stock still,” said James, reliving the terrifying moment.

Thankfully, she eventually started to cry, and both James and Jade breathed the biggest sigh of relief.

“It was the joy of life blasted through me at 100 miles per hour,” said James, who then flagged down a passing van to help.

Describing the driver as “a true hero”, James said he called an ambulance and stayed with the couple until they arrived, holding the phone and passing on instructions.

Despite the trauma of the birth, James said the most shocking part was turning to see Jade, who works in marketing, taking a selfie in the back with their new baby, named Aria Rose Gina Sim.

He has praised his wife for being “amazing” throughout the ordeal, adding: “To stay as calm as she did, and to give birth in the back of a cramped car like she did, is nothing short of incredible.”

Jade was taken to hospital in the ambulance with baby Aria before returning to their home in Newbury the following day, and is now adjusting to life as a family of four.

Looking back on the ordeal, James told the Gazette he has struggled with flash-backs, saying: “I started thinking about what could have gone wrong.”

The experience inspired James to launch his own blog, Dad Who Delivers – A Dad’s Perspective, which can be read online at http://dadwhodelivers.co.uk/.

Since launching it this month, he is already getting around 500 to 600 hits a day.

He said: “Writing about it in my blog really helped, and talking to people. I can see it’s a nice story and I definitely have my speech sorted for when Aria gets married.”

You can also find James on Instagram at dadwhodelivers.