BBC presenter Helen Skelton has opened up about her amazing, and unexpected, home birth story.
Skelton was in France at the time and had just returned from a sunny stroll to her and rugby player husband Richie Myler's home when she felt the first signs of labour.
"I’d been out for a walk with [my son] Ernie in the pram and when I arrived back home I was getting a few pains,” she told Hello!. “At first I thought it was because I’d been out for a long walk but then I could hardly move."
An understandably alarmed Skelton rang husband Ritchie to come to their home in Perpignan - while he was stuck in the UK. However, he rang their neighbour who called emergency services and rushed over to help Skelton.
Skelton told Hello! that because she had been in labour with Ernie for two days, she assumed it would be just as slow-paced with newborn Louis. She said: "I’d been two days in labour with Ernie, I didn’t realise it was going to be so quick. But within an hour of calling Rich, I couldn’t get up off the floor."
With Richie unable to get home in time for the birth, Helen had to tough it out on her own. She recalled how firefighters were called to her home, rather than paramedics: "I’m still not really sure why the fire brigade arrived but it seems they were the closest emergency service at the time!
"The firefighters were lovely and beside themselves with excitement as they said they hadn’t been at a birth before, but, bless them, they weren’t up to speed with what you do, so they were all flapping."
"I'm still not really sure why the fire brigade arrived but it seems they were the closest emergency service at the time!" she explained. "It was all a bit frantic. We are just so relieved he is safely here."
The Rio Olympics presenter also spoke about how emotional Myler was when he was finally able to fly in. She said: "Bless him, he looked like he’d done five rounds with Anthony Joshua, he’d been crying so much. He was relieved we were both okay."
Myler added: "I am really proud of her for doing it on her own. I know she must have been scared but she will never admit it!"
