A mum went into labour at home and gave birth - under the Christmas tree.
Leanne Tighe, 38, was expecting her third child to be born before December 25.
But the healthcare assistant had the baby under her Christmas tree on the living room floor - in the space of just 25 minutes.
Leanne's neighbour and best friend Ashley Brooke delivered baby Amelia - who will be known as Mimi.
The pair then sent a photo of the baby to Leanne's partner Cameron Lawlor - who was still on a bus home.
He arrived just in time to cut the umbilical cord at the house in Williton, Somerset.
Leanne said: “She was delivered on the living room floor right in front of my Christmas tree.
“I guess if there is one way to cement a friendship, then delivering your friend’s baby must be right up there.''
Leanne’s due date was December 2, but at about 6.30 am on Thursday (November 30) her waters broke.
She called Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, to tell the midwives she would be going in when partner Cameron Lawlor returned from his night shift.
Leanne said: “I had slept on the sofa and woken up with contractions about 4.30 am but because they were nine minutes apart, they do not class it as established labour until they are down to five minutes.
“Then I had four close together and I phoned Musgrove to ask about going in and as I was on my phone my waters broke and they said to make my way in.
“As I changed position, that made baby start to come and I needed to push.”
Leanne’s 14-year-old daughter Ruby was just getting ready for school and as she came downstairs baby Mimi’s head was already out.
Ruby immediately called for help from Ashley, who lives across the road.
Leanne said: “I had spoken to Ashley half-an-hour before and she expected to walk in and see me walking around with contractions.
“She was not expecting me to be on my hands and knees and baby’s head to be hanging out.
“So, Ashley got onto her knees and delivered baby under instructions from the nurse who had stayed on the phone with us.
“The nurse on the phone was amazing and I would love to find out who she was, and the paramedics who came as well.
“If they read this and can get in touch I would love to thank them properly.”
Two double-crewed ambulances were sent while Leanne’s baby was being delivered but arrived 17 minutes afterwards.
Mum and baby were then taken into Musgrove for checks, where Mimi weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 8oz.
Leanne, who also has a son Jay, aged 17, said her shortest labour had been eight hours, so it was a complete shock to have a baby in just 25 minutes.
She said: “There was no clue that anything like this was going to happen.
“Everybody was saying gosh, I did it without pain relief, but it was so quick I did not have time to think about it.
“I was just worried about the head and I was panicking a bit and was not registering pain or anything because I was trying to hang on until the paramedics got there.
“But once the head came out I knew I had to concentrate and g
Leanne Tighe, 38, was expecting her third child to be born before December 25.
But the healthcare assistant had the baby under her Christmas tree on the living room floor - in the space of just 25 minutes.
Leanne's neighbour and best friend Ashley Brooke delivered baby Amelia - who will be known as Mimi.
The pair then sent a photo of the baby to Leanne's partner Cameron Lawlor - who was still on a bus home.
He arrived just in time to cut the umbilical cord at the house in Williton, Somerset.
Leanne said: “She was delivered on the living room floor right in front of my Christmas tree.
“I guess if there is one way to cement a friendship, then delivering your friend’s baby must be right up there.''
Leanne’s due date was December 2, but at about 6.30 am on Thursday (November 30) her waters broke.
She called Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, to tell the midwives she would be going in when partner Cameron Lawlor returned from his night shift.
Leanne said: “I had slept on the sofa and woken up with contractions about 4.30 am but because they were nine minutes apart, they do not class it as established labour until they are down to five minutes.
“Then I had four close together and I phoned Musgrove to ask about going in and as I was on my phone my waters broke and they said to make my way in.
“As I changed position, that made baby start to come and I needed to push.”
Leanne’s 14-year-old daughter Ruby was just getting ready for school and as she came downstairs baby Mimi’s head was already out.
Ruby immediately called for help from Ashley, who lives across the road.
Leanne said: “I had spoken to Ashley half-an-hour before and she expected to walk in and see me walking around with contractions.
“She was not expecting me to be on my hands and knees and baby’s head to be hanging out.
“So, Ashley got onto her knees and delivered baby under instructions from the nurse who had stayed on the phone with us.
“The nurse on the phone was amazing and I would love to find out who she was, and the paramedics who came as well.
“If they read this and can get in touch I would love to thank them properly.”
Two double-crewed ambulances were sent while Leanne’s baby was being delivered but arrived 17 minutes afterwards.
Mum and baby were then taken into Musgrove for checks, where Mimi weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 8oz.
Leanne, who also has a son Jay, aged 17, said her shortest labour had been eight hours, so it was a complete shock to have a baby in just 25 minutes.
She said: “There was no clue that anything like this was going to happen.
“Everybody was saying gosh, I did it without pain relief, but it was so quick I did not have time to think about it.
“I was just worried about the head and I was panicking a bit and was not registering pain or anything because I was trying to hang on until the paramedics got there.
“But once the head came out I knew I had to concentrate and g
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FunTranscript
00:00 I'm Leanne, Mimi's mum. I'm Ashley, Leanne's best friend. And midwife. So I woke up at
00:14 half past four in the morning, I'd slept on the sofa and I'd been having tightenings all
00:18 night and didn't want them to wear off like they had been doing for days leading up to
00:25 it, aren't they? Yeah. And I woke up with backache, a half hour before and contractions and they
00:30 were about ten minutes apart, so not very strong. I was talking trash on the phone,
00:35 talking to my partner on the phone and about half past six they started getting much stronger.
00:41 So I was saying to my partner when we get home we're going to have to go to hospital.
00:45 I phoned my niece who works at the hospital to get a lift with her, spoke to the midwife
00:50 on the phone and she said, I said the contractions were now four and a half minutes apart and
00:57 she was like, "Is it the first baby?" and I said, "No, third." And as I was talking
01:01 to her my waters broke and I said, "My waters are broke." And she said, "Okay, just make
01:05 your way in as soon as you're ready." Put the phone down, I was here, turned around
01:11 and they think that I turned her as I moved and then I just needed to push. So I phoned
01:16 her back and said, "I just spoke to you and my waters have broke." And she said, "Oh yeah,
01:20 you can come in to us, can't you?" And I said, "No, I need to push now." So she then phoned
01:24 an ambulance and it all just went crazy then. It was like from her phoning the ambulance
01:31 she was then born in seven minutes. My daughter had come down and her head was hanging out
01:37 and she went back upstairs and phoned Ashley who lives just across the road and said, "Mum's
01:41 in labour, you need to come now." So Ashley came in expecting to see me pacing around
01:47 with bad contractions and she walked into her head hanging out. So she kicked off her
01:51 slippers, got down on the floor and persisted to deliver the body.
01:58 It was really scary. It was intense, but it was amazing.
02:02 She was so calm.
02:04 I'm so glad I was here.
02:07 She appeared very calm. I mean, I don't know if she actually was.
02:09 I don't know. It's surreal, isn't it? Like in a situation you think, "Oh, I won't be
02:14 able to do it." I just kind of got on with it.
02:17 Yeah, it's like there was no time to think really, was there?
02:20 No.
02:21 No time to panic.
02:22 She was coming, whether we liked it or not.
02:23 And I've said that if I ever have another child, when I get one contraction, I'm going
02:27 to the hospital and I'm not leaving. So I don't have to go through the trauma again.
02:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]