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Sophie Holmes, 28, was pregnant with her first child and felt slight trepidation as her child’s due date neared.
She had arranged for her maternity leave to begin two weeks before her due date, just to be safe – and her premonition served her well.
Holmes’ water broke just three days after she went on maternity leave, prompting her husband to take her to the hospital that day.
The midwives who greeted her, however, thought differently. They simply didn’t believe that Holmes’ baby would come a full two weeks early, particularly since her cervix was still closed. (In later stages of pregnancy, the cervix can already have opened anywhere between one and three centimeters.)
Although Holmes was already beginning to have contractions, the midwives just sent her home and told her to have a hot bath to ease the pains.
Holmes and her husband did as they were told.
But less than an hour later, when Holmes went to the bathroom, she felt something strange between her legs.
When she stood, she was completely stunned to see her baby’s head between her legs.
Holmes recalls, “I don’t know why, but I shot up from the toilet and felt a head sticking out. The next thing I know my baby fell out and I managed to catch her within seconds.
“I’m just grateful I saved her, but furious at the hospital. I had to have my baby alone in the bathroom and she could have gone down the toilet.”
Thankfully, Holmes’ daughter, Olivia, was born perfectly healthy and well. She did not, as Holmes recalls, hit her head on the toilet or the tiled bathroom floor, and weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces.
Holmes and her husband have since filed a complaint against the hospital for the poor treatment they received. The complaint hearing is scheduled to happen soon.
