FINLEY MAKES AN EARLY ARRIVAL

Things didn’t go according to plan for Hartlepool mum-to-be Toni Robinson.

She was meant to give birth at North Tees General Hospital, but baby Finley had other plans.  Instead, he was delivered in an ambulance by the crew – paramedic Annette Croasdale and student paramedic Phillip Hobson.

The North East Ambulance Trust crew – who are based at Billingham - were dispatched when it was clear that Toni needed to be in hospital sooner than planned.

Annette said:  “She was over her due date and when we turned up at her house she was clearly in some discomfort.  Initially there was nothing to say she was going to have the baby there and then.  We got her in the back of the ambulance.

“While driving to North Tees, she said her waters had broken and said she wanted to push, so Phillip gave her a mixture of pain-killing gas, talked her through her contractions and reassured her.

“When the baby’s head appeared he then helped me to deliver the baby with no complications.  Phillip then wrapped the baby in towels to keep him warm and we made sure his airways were clear.”

The crew then rang to the hospital so that a midwife could be on hand when they arrived to help the new mum.

Toni, 25, from Lamberd Road, said:  “The ambulance crew were absolutely fantastic.

“When we were driving to the hospital, they realised things were happening a lot quicker than expected.   They were really calm – it happened so fast.”

Both first-time mum Toni and baby Finley – who weighed a healthy 7lb 15oz – are doing well.

Annette added:  “It’s Phillip’s first baby as a student and he’s the envy of his class at university, but I’ve been on the ambulance service for 17 years and baby Finley was number nine in my career.  Before joining the ambulance service I worked on maternity ward at North Tees Hospital.”

And baby Finley has a somewhat different place of birth on his birth certificate:  the A19.
(Photos of parents, Finley and crew in photo library)