It wasn’t the plan for Emiloju Fatima Lawal who was on her way to hospital for a routine check, but all that changed as she began to go into labour on the 394 bus from Homerton Hospital through Hackney to Islington.

You might think that this would be a nightmare situation, but actually, the support from the bus driver Pauline Jacobs and fellow passenger Carole Allen enabled the situation to remain calm and for the baby to be born naturally and quickly.

Rather than following the advice of pleading passengers telling her to speed up the bus to get to hospital, thankfully Pauline parked at the side of the road and alerted controllers to dispatch an ambulance, then she and Carole supported Emiloju as she gave birth. (I can't imagine anything worse than being in labour on a speeding bus!)

Emiloju, 37, of Hackney said: "A man asked if I was OK, I said 'No, I'm in Labour.'
"A few minutes later he came out and I said 'Excuse me, the baby is here'."
Carole said: "he just flew out onto the floor. I didn't feel panicked, just relieved."
Olatidebe Dennis Agboola, weighing 7.5lbs, is believed to be the first birth aboard one of London's buses. His middle name 'Dennis' is named after the manufacturer of the London Bus. Dennis Specialist Vehicles, originally known as Dennis Brothers Ltd, was founded in 1895 by brothers John and Raymond Dennis.

Yours for calmer births, more often,

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8328833.stm

Photo credit: aurelijus