Woman Gave Birth At Back of Taxi Calmly When They’ve Just Reached KK Hospital

I‘ve often said this:

“Taxi drivers don’t have it easy.”

I mean sure; they do enjoy air-con all day long, and they don’t even have to move around much. But in the end, you’ve to consider how our friendly cabbies have to contend with the risk of facing…

Drunk passengers.

Freeloading passengers.

And as this article serves to remind all of us…

Passengers giving birth in the backseat of your taxi.

Woman Gave Birth At Back of Taxi When They’ve Just Reached KK Hospital

A wise old woman once said: “Giving birth sucks. You bear with unbearable pain for 9 months, and you don’t even get to decide where the baby pops out. Blasphemy.”

And while I don’t normally concur with her (because she’s kind of a b****), I’ve to agree with her on this one.

Especially when the article headline in question revolves around it.

According to Mothership, a woman gave birth in the backseat of a Comfort Delgro taxi, right outside her destination of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

The incident occurred last Thursday (23 May 2019), where 56-year-old driver Cabby Quek had picked up the passenger along Joo Chiat Road at around 10:00 a.m.

Apparently, the woman had paid the taxi fare upon reaching KKH, but shouted: “I think the baby is coming,” before she was able to get out.

And while this might’ve mortified 90% of the population out there, Quek wasn’t to be.

Running into A & E to seek assistance, he soon came back out with a doctor and nurse, and they began helping the woman deliver the baby in the backseat of the taxi.

The passenger was calm

I’ve often heard extreme stories of how women seemingly go through the 18 stages of hell during childbirth.

“She was screaming in such a coarse voice that I thought she was giving birth to Lucifer,” some doctor called Dr Sian Yi Ban once said.

However, according to Quek, the pregnant woman didn’t just fail to exemplify snippets from The Exorcist, but actually stayed calm throughout the situation, and didn’t scream in pain.

Quek also mentioned that when he first picked her up, she had been holding the arm of a second woman, with her face in visible distress. The second woman didn’t follow her on the trip to the hospital, however, and the mum-to-be laid on the backseat en route to the hospital.

“It caught me by surprise as she didn’t scream in pain at all. She was very calm and I drove as per normal. This is the first time someone had given birth in my taxi so I am relieved and happy that both mother and child are safe,” Quek apparently said, as stated by a spokesperson from Comfort Delgro, Tammy Tan.

But it wasn’t all happiness for Quek, as his backseat was left bloodied and messy after the whole ‘episode’.

Yet, despite having to stop for an hour to thoroughly wash the taxi’s interior at the closest petrol kiosk, Quek reportedly didn’t mind.

Kudos, Quek. You’re the man.

Compensation

Thankfully, Comfort Delgro has decided to compensate Quek for the downtime and car wash.

It also praised Quek for remaining calm.

“We don’t get many incidents of childbirth in our taxis but when we do, they are all very special. We are glad that Cabby Quek remained calm under pressure and very relieved that mother and child are safe. We have gotten in touch with them to send them our well wishes.”

Well, all’s well that ends well, huh?

On another note, there have been around 10 reported childbirth cases aboard Comfort Delgro taxis for the last 15 years.

This incident was also the second childbirth to have occurred on board a Comfort Delgro taxi this year, with the first incident transpiring in April.

And considering how there’re six months left to the end of 2019…

We wonder whether there’ll be a hat trick on the way. 😉