Roadside baby delivery

A St John Ambulance crew on a routine journey in Nottingham last week was flagged down by an anxious father whose wife was in an advanced state of labour.

Jonathan Poole and Andrew Gilchrist rushed to help and minutes later a baby girl was safely delivered in the family's car by the roadside in St Ann's.

The midwifery course the crew had taken as part of their first aid training with St John Ambulance equipped them to deal with the emergency although it was the first time that either of them had actually delivered a baby.

Jonathan Poole, who played the major part in delivering the baby, was reunited with the mother Bijoux Lokoto-Akaya and her baby daughter Mathilde, who are now both back home from hospital, father Aurele and their two older children, Robin, three and a half, and Joshua, aged two.

The family, who are originally from St Etienne in France, have been living in the UK for five years and Aurele works as a gardener in Ilkeston.

Jonathan Poole, who lives in Stapleford and is Divisional Superintendent for Radford Division, joined St John Ambulance Nottinghamshire as a Cadet more than 20 years ago.

Although he was present at the birth of his own son last year, Jonathan never dreamed he would be putting his maternity training into practice.

He said: 'The training definitely helped me to stay calm and happily it was a straightforward birth.

'I was nervous at the time but looking back it was fantastic to have been there to help. It is something I am not going to forget for a long time.'

Graham Robinson, Commander of St John Ambulance Nottinghamshire says: 'All our volunteer crew members attend lectures on how to deal with such emergencies from our midwifery specialist. On this occasion the training obviously paid off.'