Whether it was the pelvic exercises or luck, we’ll never know, but one new mum is convinced her pelvic work had an impact on her swift delivery.
Jade Mead, 35, credits her fitness regime – which included deep squats and side lunges – for helping her during a speedy labour.
The mum-of-two did the exercises throughout her last pregnancy in the hopes that the birth would be as quick and easy as possible.
And it turned out that her second labour happened so quickly she wasn’t even able to make it to the hospital in time – her husband, Ryan, 40, a digital marketer, had to pull his car over and deliver her baby on the roadside.
Baby, Lottie, now four weeks old, came out in just four pushes in April 26, 2023 weighing 7lbs 2oz.
Mum and baby were taken to hospital to be checked over but are now home and healthy.
Jade, a fitness coach from Perth, Australia, said: ‘I had to give birth in the middle of a roadside.
‘There were no lights, I had no pain relief, and I was screaming with every push.
‘It all happened so quickly!’
Jade had experienced a similar situation with her first daughter, Mali, three.
Mali was born three weeks early – which meant Jade was unable to continue her birthing prep exercises to full-term.
On December 27, 2019, Jade gave birth to Mali in just five hours – and again she credits her fitness routine.
She said: ‘I focused a lot on hip-opening exercises to prepare for each birth. A lot of them focused on yoga and stretching.
‘So I was swearing by deep squats, child’s pose, cat-cow pose, deep lunge stretches and side-lunge stretches.
‘I also drank a lot of raspberry leaf tea, and did a lot of curb walking – where you walk with one foot on the curb, one foot in the road.’
She practiced the exact same regime in the last three weeks of her second pregnancy, after her midwife suggested her labour experiences would be similar.
Jade’s contractions began ‘very slowly’ so she thought her birth would be very different – which is why they didn’t go straight to the hospital.
Jade said: ‘Labour didn’t progress for a very long time – until it did, and it all happened within the last hour!
‘At 6:30pm, Ryan and I put Mali to bed and left her with my mum. We wanted to put her to bed and bath her ourselves just to know she was safe and sorted.
‘But because we did that, we ended up leaving too late. At 7pm, we got in the car, and my entire body was shivering and shaking.
‘Straight away, my contractions became really intense.’
She had no pain relief so was looking for things to distract herself with.
The birth happened so quickly, she knew she had to push even though the couple were still in the car.
Jade said: ‘As [Ryan] felt around, I screamed and pushed – his hand flew out – and so did the baby’s head.’
On the sideroad, Jade’s midwife and the emergency service operator were trying to get her to stay calm, while Ryan had to deliver the baby.
She said: ‘I had my eyes closed the whole time – I was in so much pain.
‘After the first two big pushes – I decided to take my shorts off. Within two more pushes, Lottie came out at 7:28pm.
‘It was such a blur. I was exhausted. The midwife told Ryan to pop her on my chest and rub her back. It was a miracle, she was crying and red-faced straight away. Just a really healthy baby.’
Ryan wrapped Jade and Lottie up in blankets while they waited for the paramedics to arrive.
She said: ‘We’re both doing completely fine now – both Lottie and Mali are happy and healthy.
‘Ryan keeps joking to our friends that he fancies himself as a midwife now – he’s got once-in-a-lifetime practical training!’
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