A mum who took her five children to the beach expecting to have a fun family day out in the sun saw things take a scary turn for the worst when she went into labour prematurely. Eight-months pregnant, Kirsty Nott, 33, was not expecting her baby boy until August 10 and wanted to treat her kids to a day at the beach after a school trip to Porthcawl had been cancelled at the last minute due to hot weather warnings.
On July 19 Kirsty, from Aberdare, took five of her six children to Aberavon Beach in Port Talbot: Logan Angell, 14; Braydan Parfitt, 10; Roxy Parfitt, 9; Kruz Parfitt, 8 and Blake Nott, 4. When they arrived, the beach was packed due to the hot weather and Kirsty told her children to run into the sea while she set up the towels and beach toys.
Her husband Shane Gregory, 36, who works as a telecom engineer, was busy working that day, so she had invited her friend to join her. However, her friend had got stuck in traffic so Kirsty was left to set up alone on the beach. As she bent over to put her towel down, Kirsty felt her waters break and instantly panicked. "I hadn't even put my bum on the sand yet," Kirsty said. At the time, Kirsty was terrified and in a lot of pain and called her mother and partner Gregory who were both in Aberdare.
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Miles away from Aberavon, Kirsty's family called the paramedics on her behalf while strangers on the beach started to gather around to help. The five children returned from their swim in the sea and watched in shock as their mother had contractions on the sand. With her sister, step-dad and partner on their way to Port Talbot from Aberdare, Kirsty was faced with the prospect of giving birth on a packed beach with only strangers there to help her.
"I was panicking, there were no familiar faces. I thought he was going to come out on the beach." Kirsty's previous children had been delivered quickly so she was concerned that this labour would follow the same pattern, but her biggest worry was haemorrhaging whilst far away from a hospital as she had suffered from postpartum haemorrhages with four out of her sixth births. You can read more stories about Port Talbot here.
The paramedics called Kirsty's phone and she handed it to a woman, who she had just met on the beach, as she was in too much pain to listen. Repeating instructions from the paramedics, the woman told Kirsty to lay down and take off all her clothes on her bottom half. Kirsty was in such shock and discomfort that she had no time to feel embarrassed at stripping off on the beach in front of an audience. "At the time, I didn't care who was seeing what," Kirsty explained.
As the crowds around her started to grow, Port Talbot coastguards arrived and cleared the area, putting up windbreakers around Kirsty to give her some much-needed privacy. Lifeguards from Swansea RNLI also arrived at the scene. Kirsty's children told her "Don't worry mam, you're going to be okay" as an increasingly concerned team of coastguards and lifeguards gave her gas and air and spoke on the phone to paramedics.
Kirsty explained that lifeguards could see the baby's head crowning. Kirsty thought the baby was going to be delivered on Aberavon beach but luckily an ambulance arrived on time to take her straight to Singleton Hospital. Unfortunately, this was not the end of Kirsty and her baby's troubles.
When she arrived at the hospital, her midwife told her that her cervix was not opening and that her labour needed to be induced. Following the labour induction, baby Tanner-Jax Gregory Nott was born weighing 5lb 11oz and as Kirsty had predicted, she suffered another post-partum haemorrhage. Thankfully, she was taken care of by medical staff and said it was lucky that she did not give birth on the beach as it could have been a very different outcome. Little Tanner-Jax was jaundiced so had to stay in the hospital for four days but now the three-week-old little boy is healthy and at home with his mam.
Following the traumatising incident, Port Talbot coastguards messaged Kirsty to tell her they had a special coastguard teddy for the newborn and activity packs for Kirsty's other children. "I really did appreciate everything they did, they kept me calm" said Kirsty. She thanked the coastguards with some chocolates but admitted that she felt quite embarrassed seeing them again after what they had seen on the beach that day. Kirsty also said her teenage son Logan is quite traumatised from the very public birth of his new brother but at least her family of nine are safe and sound together in Aberdare.
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