Malaysian dad delivers baby at home with help from emergency hotline

Time and tide wait for no man. And it seems, neither do babies.

A father in Kedah unwittingly became a midwife and ended up delivering his own daughter at home when she decided to make an early appearance.

Fahmi Jamil recounted the once-in-a-lifetime experience in a Facebook post on Sept 21, writing that he and his wife, Noor Kamila Abdullah, had been expecting their second child to be due on Sept 24.

But things didn't happen according to schedule.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/jam696/posts/2476359739076986[/embed]

According to Fahmi, Kamila woke up in pain on Sept 15, at about 2am.

Despite the pain, she stuck to her usual routine of preparing food for their elder daughter, Qilah, only waking him up at 5.15am to take her to the hospital.

After dropping Qilah off with her babysitter, the couple made their way to the hospital where the doctor informed them there was still some time before Kamila would go into labour.

Given the option of waiting in the hospital or at their home that was only 10km away, Fahmi and Kamila decided to head home where she could relax, even stopping for nasi lemak along the way.

"Kamila was occasionally complaining of pain but still endured… She told me to go to work and said she would call me if anything happened but I stayed because I was worried," said Fahmi.

However, their calmness did not last for long. 

Kamila had gone to the bathroom at around 11am when Fahmi heard her scream, "Papa! It's coming out!"

"I was starting to stress. I was thinking that we can't have children here. We're the only two in this house!" Fahmi started to panic.

"I called 999 for an ambulance. Meanwhile, my wife's pain made me more anxious. I didn't know what to do so I called 999 again… They connected me to the hospital staff to guide me. It was a man who was very professional and calm," he added.

At this point, Fahmi realised that he needed to remain strong for his wife and baby.

"If I didn't do it correctly, it would involve two lives," he said.

With his phone on loudspeaker mode, Fahmi followed the hospital staff's instructions to a T as he got Kamila into position, checked for crowning and supported her during her contractions.

After struggling for almost half an hour, Kamila gave a final push and the couple heard a loud cry — their baby girl was born.

Fahmi grabbed a clean towel to wrap the baby up and tied up the umbilical cord as the hospital staff congratulated the couple.

The ambulance arrived soon after to take Kamila and her newborn to the hospital. 

Fortunately, both mother and baby did not face any complications. Kamila was discharged from the hospital the next day and their daughter, who they named Fatihah, was discharged four days later.

While Fahmi described Fatihah's birth as the greatest experience of his life, he's not looking forward to another home-birth.

"It was scary to think of what would have happened if there had been complications... We're not experts… If something bad happens because of our choices then we would be the most useless people. It would be gambling the lives of my wife and an innocent baby," he said.

His advice to all the fathers-to-be out there? Never leave your wife at home alone when she's close to her due date and always keep your phone charged.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com