29-year-old woman gives birth at the backseat of Uber car enroute to hospital

PETALING JAYA: Uber driver-partner Roy Affendi Annuar will never forget the day he gave a ride to a man and his pregnant daughter-in-law.
What was supposed to have been a routine ride to the hospital turned into something more miraculous when the 29-year-old woman successfully gave birth to a baby girl in the back seat of the vehicle.
Norhashima Noordin's baby arrived 5km away from the Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur during the wee hours last Saturday.
Her father in-law, Abdul Jamil Amil, had requested the ride-sharing service after Norhashima unexpectedly went into labour.
"I could not drive because of an injury, hence I needed someone to drive us to the hospital,” he said.
Requesting the ride from their home in Bandar Enstek, Nilai in Negri Sembilan, Roy, who was just about to head home, accepted the request.
"My daughter-in-law was not due till Dec 7 (Wednesday). Even her husband planned his outstation trip to be back in time for the birth as we thought there was still time.
"Everything happened so quickly and the next thing I heard was a baby crying. We were all in shock. Roy kept on driving until we reached the hospital," he said.
Describing Roy as the "hero of the day", Abdul Jamil said while he kept apologising to him for the unexpected outcome, Roy did not make a fuss and helped them throughout the journey.
Both mother and baby were safely taken care of by medical personnel upon reaching the hospital.
Meanwhile, Roy said while he heard many stories of people giving birth in cars, he least expected it to happen in the back seat of his car.
"It’s incredible. I was just happy to be able to provide a ride for Abdul Jamil and his daughter-in-law when they needed it the most.”
Norhashima and her husband, Muhammad Syahir Abd Jamil, 27, were just happy that everything turned out fine in the end.
“I guess our baby girl had other ideas of how she wanted to enter into this world. It's a unique story that we’ll definitely talk about with her and her older sister for years to come. We are truly thankful to Roy for his help,” Norhashima said.
The baby girl, Safiyya Auliya’ Muhammad Syahir, now fondly known as the “Uber Baby” amongst family members, is the couple’s second child.
Their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who was also on the Uber ride, also witnessed the birth.
Upon hearing the news, Uber Malaysia later visited Safiyya on the same day.
In addition they also handed Roy a token reward and provided a complete cleaning service for his car in appreciation of his outstanding service as driver-partner.