Forecourt baby shock
A father delivered his baby daughter on a petrol station forecourt – three minutes after leaving his Staffordshire home.
Lewis Wilcox and wife Nicky had set off for hospital but were 10 miles away when they realised they would not get there in time.
So Lewis quickly pulled their BMW onto the Texaco garage forecourt in Hill Top, Hednesford, and prepared to become an emergency midwife.
Baby Georgia arrived minutes later in the car, weighing 7lb 1oz – three hours too early to share her birthday with elder sister Ella, who is now one.
Lewis, a 25-year-old electrician's mate, and Nicky, 27, an accounts auditor, were told by their midwife to wait until it became too painful, before setting off to Staffordshire General Hospital. But three minutes into the journey Nicky realised the pair had left it too late.
"She was screaming that she needed to push and I was saying 'It cannot be time, it's ridiculous'," he said.
"We were on the main road and the garage at Hill Top was our first port of call, but I pulled it into the corner so we had a little bit of privacy. I am relieved and still a bit shocked."
Lewis and Nicky celebrated their third wedding anniversary three days before Georgia was born.
Lewis said he found it amazing that no-one seemed to notice Nicky's screams.
"It was probably the most scary point of my life. Nicky did really well and I am really proud of her," he said.
Nicky described her husband as "my own little paramedic". She said: "He did fantastic. I just didn't expect the birth to be so much faster than the first baby. It was a bit of a shock."
The couple, of Heathland Close, Heath Hayes, have not visited hospital since the birth last Thursday night and thanked their family for all their support.
