A FATHER who delivered his premature baby at home on the bathroom floor used his headphones to tie off the new arrival’s umbilical cord.
An ambulance call handler told Richard Cox to find shoelaces or string to tie off the cord, stopping bleeding and preventing infection.
But his headphones were the only thing the bank worker had to hand. Cox, from Rosyth, Fife, 31, said: “It all happened so quickly. My wife went into labour late at night and before I had time to dial for an ambulance Emilie had been born.
“After she arrived, I rang 999 and the call-handler said I needed to find a bit of string or a shoelace to tie up the umbilical cord.
“The only thing I could find was my iPhone earphones. I tied them to the cord and it was fine.”
Cox added: “The call-taker deserves all the credit. While this happened, she was asking is the baby breathing, is the baby OK? With all the noise in the background, she could have lost her cool as well.
“We had it in our mind that the child was not going to be breathing. All the actions of the Scottish Ambulance Service ensured that our little girl survived and I can never thank them enough.”
The drama started when Cox’s wife Hayley, 32, started having intense pains in early January, although their daughter was not due until February 27.
She was in the bathroom at the couple’s home in Rosyth, Fife, when she called out for her husband.
Cox said: “She said ‘Can you come to the bathroom?’ Within a few minutes, I had our baby in my hands. My wife then said ‘You need to phone 999’.”
He added: “At the hospital, I was saying I cannot believe this. I cannot remember if she was head first or what. The priority was making sure she was breathing, and that her face was wiped.
“I did not appreciate she was born until the ambulance arrived. It’s amazing how your instinct takes over. If not for the call handler and paramedics, she wouldn’t be here.”
Emilie, who has a brother Liam, two, was born on January 8 at 1.25am, weighing just 3lb 14 oz.
The family was taken to hospital in Kirkcaldy, where Emilie spent several weeks in the special care baby unit but is now doing well.
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