Paramedics delivered Jesse in nick of time! (From Echo)

Paramedics delivered Jesse in nick of time!

9:00am Friday 28th September 2012 in News By Luke Lambert

A MUM who feared she was about to deliver her baby in the car ended up in the right place at the right time when by chance they drove into an ambulance service car park.

Lisa Clark, 23, of Hawkesbury Close, Canvey , was en-route to Southend Hospital to deliver Jesse James Stitchbury when she “had the feeling” he was coming imminently.

The baby’s dad, James, was driving Lisa to the hospital and feared he would have to play the role of midwife in the car.

Lisa’s parents were following in a car behind and saw James pull into a car park.

Their anxieties were soon over as the car park belonged to the Thames Ambulance Service, where staff helped Lisa deliver Jesse in just ten minutes.

Lisa, who is also mum to two-year-old Poppy, said: “It was very quick and it is all a bit of a blur.

“We left the house at about 7.45pm on the day, and straight away I was getting really bad contractions and knew we were never going to make it. “My mum rang for the ambulance, but they said I had to get to Southend Hospital.

“It was my dad who shouted for help when we saw a Thames Ambulance leaving the building.

“I was put in the back of the ambulance and Jesse was out in ten minutes.

“I was so lucky they were there, or it could have been a really tricky situation.”

The two-man ambulance crew were just leaving when the car arrived, and despite the numerous emergency callouts they’ve attended over the years, delivering a baby was a first for the private ambulance firm.

Jonathan Hardwick-Smith, an emergency medical technician who has only been working with the team for a month, said it wasn’t what he and his colleague Ken Dennison had expected.

He said: “We had an emergency call and were on the way out, but this took priority as it was happening before our eyes.

“By the time we had Lisa in the ambulance the baby was crowning, so she caught us at a very good time.

“A second later we would have missed her, but the baby was perfectly healthy.

“We took her to Southend Hospital after Jesse was delivered safely.”