Baby born in motorcycle sidecar

PHUKET TOWN: A woman on her way to hospital to pick up the body of her husband, who had died of a heart attack the day before, gave birth early yesterday in a motorcycle sidecar at the edge of the Bypass Rd. “A man called us at around 1:20 am and told us that there was a woman about to give birth on the Bypass Rd,” said Chaichana Kiawkaew of the Kusonlatham [rescue] Foundation. “We rushed to the scene, but as we were trying to get her into our pickup, the baby was born. After the birth, we took her, the baby, and her six-year-old son to Wachira Hospital.” The mother, 41-year-old Dara Prasertkij of Tambon Rassada, told the Gazette that as she was driving her motorcycle past the Gems Gallery, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She decided to stop and sat there in the sidecar. As she was about to tell her son to go and look for help, a passing motorist stopped his car to see if she was alright. He then contacted the Foundation. The baby, a boy weighing 2.8 kilograms at birth, is in robust health. He has been named Sahassawas, meaning “Millennium”. His nickname is Rod, meaning “to survive”.