Mother drives 500 miles to give birth in Scotland
A proud Scot persuaded his heavily pregnant wife to travel 500 miles so their baby could be born in Scotland.
Leanne McDermaid, 30, drove from Aldershot in Hampshire to Arbroath in Angus on 30 March, when she was 37 weeks pregnant.
She gave birth to Chloe three weeks later in Arbroath Infirmary.
"When Danny and I first got married he did always say to me he wanted his first child to be born up in Scotland," Mrs McDermaid said.
"Danny convinced me it was a normal occurrence for Scotsmen to do this."
Mrs McDermaid, who runs a photography company, said her mother came with her on the journey, which they made as late winter blizzards swept across Scotland.
"We managed to time it just as the snow was coming down," she said.
"It was quite an uncomfortable trip being that pregnant."
Mrs McDermaid said she had noticed that the similarity of the journey to the Proclaimers’ famous 1988 single "I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)" when planning the trip.
"I think the journey was 508 miles in total. When I first saw the journey distance I thought ‘how funny!’"
She stayed at her sister-in-law’s house in her husband’s hometown of Arbroath after arriving in Scotland.
Army major Mr McDermaid, who is based at barracks in Aldershot, joined them 10 days before the due date and worked from home.
Chloe was born three days late and weighed 7lbs 3oz.
Despite the arduous journey, Mrs McDermaid said she had enjoyed her stay on the east coast.
And she sang the praises of the town’s midwife-led unit where Chloe was born.
"I could not say enough about the unit. They were absolutely fantastic."
"The midwives were brilliant. They treated us all so well – when I left, I cried," she said.
"We’ll definitely come back if we have a second."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
View full post on BBC News | Health | Full Feed