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Doctor goes into labour while delivering a baby

Emily and Ryan Jacobs' son Jett was born prematurely at 36 weeks, Ms Jacobs having gone into labour while she was delivering a patient's baby: FRANK RUMPENHORST/AFP/Getty Images
Emily and Ryan Jacobs' son Jett was born prematurely at 36 weeks, Ms Jacobs having gone into labour while she was delivering a patient's baby: FRANK RUMPENHORST/AFP/Getty Images

A doctor went into labour as she was delivering her patient's baby.

On 28 July OB-GYN resident at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Emily Jacobs noticed amniotic fluid as her patient was delivering.

"It wasn't until I left the room when I realised that it was my water that had broken," she told ABC News.

The problem was that Ms Jacobs was not due for another month and had been putting in 80-hour work weeks as a resident.

“I felt good the first three weeks, delivering babies and working night shifts at the hospital,” she said. “I wasn’t due until Aug. 24.”

"I was freaking out a little bit," she said, as she was checked out by a colleague who was also working in the maternity ward that day.

Dr Keely Ulmer helped deliver Ms Jacobs' baby and said: "it was a pretty special experience to share with a special classmate...She did a wonderful job."

Ms Jacobs also had Dr Abbey Merryman to help out as well. “She was my doctor and also my teacher."

"She was doing double duty and she was fantastic, along with everybody else in the department. She must have changed her schedule that day because she stayed with me the whole time," Ms Jacobs said of Ms Merryman.

Her husband, Ryan Jacobs, was fast asleep at home when all the chaos ensued.

“I got a call at 4:45 am, but didn’t answer because I didn’t recognize the number...Then she texted me with what was happening and I took off," he said.

“The running joke in the medical field is that OBs seemed to always have complicated pregnancies and deliveries,” but Ms Jacobs' felt that her delivery story will help her be more understanding of her expecting mother patients.

"People will come in [who are] in preterm labour often ... very worried about the health of their baby and health of themselves. Until [I went] through it, I can definitely appreciate just how worried and nervous you get."

Jett Eric Jacobs was born weighing six pounds two ounces and is now seven weeks old, happy at home with parents Emily and Ryan.