Dad Delivers Baby in Grumpy’s Taxi

Kyle Spencer certainly wasn’t expecting to be a midwife last Friday morning, the 12th February. He also wasn’t expecting for his third child to be born in the back of a taxi. But that’s what happened last Friday as his partner, Emily Barry, went into labour on the way to Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay. It all started in the early hours of the morning when Emily thought she was having false contractions
at 5am. At 7.30am that all changed when Emily knew the contractions she was having weren’t so false. Stan Wilson, owner of Grumpys Taxi, quickly made his way to their Gooderham home. Kyle and Emily dropped their other two children off at Emily’s mum house and then they were on their way to the hospital.
However a certain little one had other plans in mind. Stan, who was trying to get their the couple to Lindsay as fast as possible, said, “It all happened so quick.” Emily’s water broke shortly after leaving her mums house. Emily says “I told Kyle and Stan, we’re not going to make it to Lindsay. I could feel the baby’s head coming out.” Stan quickly turned the van around to head to Minden hospital instead: at that point they were just approaching Kinmount.
Stan swiftly pulled over to a safe spot on a side road in Kinmount and Emily climbed in the back of the taxi. That’s when Jason Robert Kyle Spencer made his way into the world. Although having no prior experience of delivering babies Kyle did what instinct told him to do. He explains, “I was a little scared once I’d seen the crowning but I knew what I had to do. Emily gave one push and he came out. I started stripping off my clothes to wrap him in something and Stan grabbed blankets from Emily’s hospital bag. I rubbed his back and cleared the mucus from his mouth.” Stan’s wife, Carol, had already radioed in for police assistance and for an ambulance. The first to get to the scene was a police officer who after checking all was well with the family started teaching Kyle how to tie the umbilical cord. Kyle adds “I had just got the shoelaces pulled out from my shoes ready to tie the umbilical cord when the ambulance showed up.” Paramedics cut the cord and Emily, Kyle and Jason were taken by ambulance to Minden. After mum and baby were checked over they went to Lindsay hospital to stay in the maternity ward.
Stan’s taxi went back to work the same day after a rigorous cleaning. Stan also wasn’t expecting for the bundle of joy to enter the world so quickly, especially in his
taxi. He says, “It was quite the experience. I was shocked.” He adds laughing, “I thought this can’t be happening in my cab! Emily and Kyle were so calm throughout. I was coaxing them and my main concern was to cut the umbilical cord because of possible infection and to make sure the baby was crying and breathing ok. It was a fantastic experience though. Kyle was unbelievable, he was so natural.”
Jason weighed 6lb 10oz, 19 inches in length and carries a full head of red hair. He joins his older brother and sister, Gage, five and Desaria, three. Jason was named after Emily’s older brother who recently passed away from cystic fibrosis at the age of 23. Jason’s birth will be a story to tell for many years to come in the family. Emily adds laughing, “I definitely didn’t want him to be born in a taxi but timing is timing!”