Born safe and sound after head-on crash

Matilda Davis entered the world four weeks early after the shock of a car crash sent her mother into labour

MEET little Matilda Davis – the baby born in an emergency operation after the shock of a car crash sent her mother into labour four weeks early.

Distraught mother-to-be Sheryl had to be airlifted to hospital from the scene on Monday, July 18.

Doctors then realised the shock had affected both mother and baby, as Matilda's heartbeat in the womb was irregular.

An emergency Caesarean followed and Matilda came into the world, apparently unperturbed by the drama surrounding her birth.

Ironically, 33-year-old nanny Mrs Davis, of Park View, Hungerford, was driving to attend her last ante-natal class before the head-on crash with another car in Wexcombe, Wiltshire.

Her husband Tom, a software engineer, rushed to the scene after a call from his wife to find her standing distraught by the roadside, holding her bump, with the driver of the other vehicle trapped inside their car.

Mr Davis said that he tried to calm his wife as paramedics and emergency services arrived to assist and free the other driver.

He said later that he was concerned because the bump, previously soft, had gone hard, which upset his wife further.

Paramedics from Wiltshire Air Ambulance put Mrs Davis on board and flew her to the Great Western Hospital, Swindon.

Forty-five minutes later, following an emergency Caesarean section, she gave birth to Matilda, the couple's first child, who weighed in at 6lb 12oz.

A relieved Mrs Davis said: “I don't remember anything about the crash at all. I remember panicking about the baby and the next thing I knew I was in the air. All I could think about was whether the baby was okay. It was very scary, I just remember shaking, but they were very good in the air ambulance.

“Once I had got into accident and emergency, I had relaxed a bit. Then they checked the heartbeat and rushed me into the maternity ward.

“One minute I had one doctor there, then the next thing I knew there were four doctors there, then I was giving birth. It was all so sudden and a bit of a shock, then the baby was there.”

She added: “When I think what could have happened, it all ended happily. We've had a happy ending.”

Mr Davis, no stranger to emergencies having given his own father life-saving CPR for a heart attack three years ago, praised Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Great Western staff for their decisive actions, and said that fate had smiled upon his family.

He added: “It's just really lucky how everything has panned out. Anything could have happened – she could have had the crash three weeks ago, she could have been trapped. We just think how lucky we are and how grateful we are to the doctors and paramedics.

“They scanned the bump and said that they could see the baby's heart. They said normally when you scan a baby's heart if you think of a line graph, the line is quite straight, but it was up and down, it had peaks and troughs. They said it was an abnormal heartbeat and that was when Sheryl had started having contractions.”

He said that baby Matilda has been left completely unflustered by the whole experience.

“Considering she wasn't supposed to arrive until August 12, she is very quiet. She's really calm and chilled out. She only cries when she wants food.”