A mum-of-two has hailed her ‘Christmas miracle’ after giving birth on the road side with the help of a passing police officer.
Lucy Kelly, 25, had been expecting her second child on Christmas Day – but managed to celebrate festivities with her family without going into labour.
But two days later, Lucy, from Cranbrook, Devon, was taken by surprise when she started experiencing pains – and, less than 30 minutes later, her waters broke in the car on the way to the hospital.
Her partner Chris Haggar, 30, barely had time to flag down a passing police car and call the officer over to help, before little Lily Haggar was born in the passenger seat of the Nissan Qashqui.
The whole birth took just ten minutes from her waters breaking before ambulance had even arrived from the hospital five minutes away.
Civil service manager Lucy, who is also mum to 16-month-old Olivia Haggar, said: “It was a bit of a shock. It was all so quick.
“We only live about a 20-minute drive from the hospital, so I really thought we’d be able to make it there – although I would probably have had her in the car park if we’d got as far as that.
“The police officers were amazing. We were just so lucky that they were passing, so that we weren’t just on our own at the road side.”
And Lucy added that a mere hour before Lily’s birth, she had had no indication that her second daughter was going to arrive that day.
She said: “I went out for lunch with my mum and my sister on Sunday, but I ended up leaving early because I started to get some pains.
“I got home at about 3pm – and by 3.30pm I said to my partner, Chris, ‘we need to go to the hospital right now’.
“We got in the car at about 3.45 – and at 3.55 my waters broke.
“I was saying to Chris that we weren’t going to make it, and I think at first he thought I was being dramatic – but then he realised we could literally see the head.
“We had to call for an ambulance on the hands-free, and they told us we’d have to pull over on the side of the road so that they could come and find us at a specific spot.
“Chris ended up hopping out the car and flagging down a passing police car, who came to help us before the ambulance could get there.
“I had no pain relief and we were basically shouting down the speakerphone to the ambulance, telling them what was going on.”
Lucy described herself a “quite chilled”, but she said: “The scary part was that when she came out she wasn’t crying initially – and the police officer didn’t know what to do to get her crying, either.
“Thankfully the ambulance arrived then – and Chris ended up standing in the middle of the road directing traffic so that the ambulance could get to us.”
Lucy, Chris, and baby Lily were then taken to hospital, where mum and baby were checked over and found to be “absolutely fine”, with Lily weighing a healthy 7lb 8oz.
They are now back home, where new big sister Olivia is getting used to her role as an older sibling, Lucy says.
And PC Gemma Clatworthy of Devon and Cornwall Police, who helped Lucy to deliver baby Lily, has since Tweeted about the unusual birth.
She wrote: “When I signed up for the job I didn’t ever think I would experience this.
“Well, it’s a day I will never forget! So happy mum and baby are doing well.”
And the force’s Chief Superintendent, Daniel Evans, added on his own Twitter: “A gem of a story – one of my PCs in Exeter delivered a baby on the road side having been flagged down by a lady in labour.
“She did an amazing job (as did Mum of course) and describes it as the best moment of her life. Mum and baby doing well.”