Pregnancy can be scary at the best of times, but when your car breaks down en route to hospital the possibility of giving birth in your car becomes very real.

KwaDukuza resident Sauda Motala’s due date came during the Covid-19 pandemic in mid-August last year.

With safety concerns about delivering in a hospital and car troubles to boot, it was an unconventional welcome to the world for their daughter, Sarah.

Sauda and her husband Ziyaad were planning a family holiday to Turkey when a routine visit to the gynaecologist revealed that she was 8 weeks pregnant with their fourth child.

“She was totally against us travelling, as she was obviously a little more clued up about what was going to happen with Covid-19,” said Sauda.

Following the cancellation of the holiday, more bad news arrived when their gynaecologist announced she would not be doing deliveries in 2020.

“I was terrified because she had delivered my other 3 babies.”

Lockdown arrived when Sauda was 20 weeks pregnant and it became a roller coaster with a 3-year-old and 2 older kids who needed home schooling.

With a new gynaecologist came new experiences for the Motalas as hospital visits had changed completely.

“I had to wait outside the waiting area and could hear calls from patients notifying the receptionist that they were Covid-19 positive. These check-ups were stressful!”

Dr Bassa, Sauda’s new gynaecologist, recommended that she take a Covid-19 test at 34 weeks as some of her previous pregnancies had not gone to full term.

It was another scary experience, waiting in a hospital tent to be dealt with by a nurse who had come from inside the hospital, she said.

Sauda had heard cases of a mother testing negative for Covid-19 but delivering a baby who was positive, prompting the family to be as careful as possible.

Although she considered a home birth, her 2nd and 3rd children were both born prematurely and required further hospitalisation, leaving her with no choice.

“Fast forward to August 15 at 1.30am when I woke my husband to let him know our little girl was on the way. Being a dad of 3, he was up and ready in no time.”

The family was on the way to Crompton Hospital when their car began to overheat, leaving them stranded at a garage at 3am.

“All I could do was breathing exercises and pray while my mum drove to fetch us. The garage staff were in utter shock and I think they prayed hard for me not to have the baby right there and then!”

By 6am however, the family was admitted and Dr Bassa delivered Sarah, who weighed 3.16kgs, at 11.40am.

“We will always tell her how she slept through a world pandemic and almost got delivered at a petrol station!”