When transport company owners, Ella Reindler and her husband Dave, set out on ‘one last trucking trip’ from Perth to the remote Kimberley, they knew it would likely be their last road trip together as a couple, before their new baby arrived.
But neither of them expected that, at just 35 weeks pregnant, Ella’s waters would break in the middle of nowhere and hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest hospital.
Both Ella and Dave are extremely experienced outback travellers, regularly driving thousands of kilometres across some of the remotest parts of WA and often camping in isolated outback locations for weeks at a time.
But when this hard-working young couple realised their baby had decided to arrive prematurely on the road between Halls Creek and Warmun, neither of them felt particularly prepared
In this extraordinary Episode #88 of the Flying Doctor podcast, Ella recounts how – with Dave exhausted after 15 hours of driving – she climbed into the driver’s seat and headed for Kununurra Hospital.
Given the baby’s premature gestation, Ella was soon loaded onto an RFDS flight to Broome.
But Dave (you guessed it) hopped back into their truck and drove another1000km plus, to help welcome a healthy baby Lucas into the world.
Link to RFDS Podcast – #88 Ella was 35 weeks pregnant & driving an outback truck when her waters broke!