Best buds: Headphone cable used by dad to tie baby’s cord.

Father who delivered baby girl on the bathroom floor reveals he resorted to using headphone line to complete task

A quick-thinking dad who delivered his baby daughter at home on the bathroom floor used his Apple headphones to tie off the tot’s umbilical cord.

Fife father Richard Cox has spoken of how he helped his wife Hayley give birth to early arrival Emilie, crediting staff from the Scottish Ambulance Service with saving her life.

“It all happened so quickly – my wife went into labour late at night and before I had time to dial for an ambulance she’d been born,” he explained.

“After Emilie arrived, I rang 999 and the call handler said I needed to find a bit of string – such as a shoelace – to tie up the umbilical cord,” said the 31-year-old bank worker, from Dunfermline.

“The only thing I could find was my iPhone earphones – I tied them to the cord and it was fine. The call taker deserves all the credit.

“All the while this happened, she was asking, is the baby breathing, is the baby OK? 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.”

Tying the umbilical cord is vital to ensuring a newborn’s survival, preventing mum and baby from developing a potentially deadly infection.

Richard said everything he did was a “natural instinct”, and once everything was fine with their newborn, he calmed his son, two-year-old Liam. The couple were at their Rosyth home, when Hayley began to experience intense pain, lasting about 45 minutes. It was the beginning of January and the baby was not due until February 27

The couple’s first child, Liam, was asleep at the time. Hayley, 32, was in the bathroom when she called out for her husband.

Richard, who has general first aid experience, 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.”

The emergency call was taken by Jodie Craig and an ambulance was dispatched by supervisor Lynne Walker.

Emilie was born on January 8 2018 at 1.25am, weighing just three pounds, 14 ounces – in contrast Liam was born weighing eight pounds, nine ounces.

An ambulance crew manned by student technician Scott Pimbert and Mark Crawford, paramedic team leader at Dunfermline Station, quickly arrived at the couple’s address.

Richard said: “They walked in the house when everything was so calm. One of the guys said that out of all the homes where babies have been delivered they have never been to one where it was so calm.”

Six months on, Emilie is doing really well and now weighs 16lb 12oz.

Emilie came home after a few weeks at the Special Care Baby Unit in Kirkcaldy.

Emilie was delivered by her bank worker dad Richard Cox, 31, right, after mum Hayley went into labour early and they did not have time to wait for the medics.