Baby Lydia meets the ambulance crews who saved her life

A mother and baby who suffered a traumatic birth have visited the London Ambulance Service crews who helped to save their lives.

Parents Abie and Michael had not planned on a home birth but had been sent home from hospital for being in early labour. But Abie’s labour quickly progressed and when she felt the baby was starting to come, the parents called 999.

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) Courtney Mulligan and Corey Graham were first to reach Abie – their first 999 call of the day.

They arrived just in time to help deliver the baby alongside paramedic Oliver Sage who had also arrived on scene. The umbilical cord was wrapped round the baby’s neck so the team quickly removed it.

But baby Lydia wasn’t breathing and she was turning blue – possibly due to the speed of her birth.

Mum Abie said: “On TV and in the movies you always hear the baby cry and I waited but there was no cry. And yet all I remember is how safe I felt with the crews.

“I trusted each and every one of them from the minute they arrived and I never once felt scared.”

By then the rest of the team were on scene including EMT Alex Welch and advanced paramedic Mark Faulkner.  The team worked together to provide care to both baby Lydia and mum Abie, who was bleeding heavily.

Abie lost a dangerous amount of blood and was given drugs to help stop the bleeding, and oxygen and intravenous fluids to help stabilise her.

Meanwhile Corey actively dried Lydia until she gave her first cry before mum and baby were taken to hospital on blue lights.

Corey said: “When you’re drying and stimulating a newborn, all you keep thinking is ‘just take a breath, just take a breath’. It was a very long 30 seconds – but we could see that Lydia was trying to breathe.

“The more time that went on, the better her colour looked and as she took her first breath it was a breath of relief for us as well.”

Both Corey and Courtney were reunited with the grateful family at Homerton Ambulance Station, where the pair are based.

Courtney said: “It was really heart-warming to meet the family and get a cuddle with Lydia. She’s growing fast and such a beautiful baby – this is exactly why we do this job.”

Mum Abie, a trainee vicar, added: “I wouldn’t be a mum today if it wasn’t for them. They saved not one, but two lives that day.

“When she is older I will tell her all about the people who saved her life and I will spend the rest of my life thanking God for each of them.”

London Ambulance Service is recruiting – to join the life-saving team, you can find job opportunities on our website.