Sheep farmer delivers baby after mum’s shock labour
ASHEEP farmer delivered a woman’s baby after she became lost in the Somerset countryside. Lucy Fairhurst had just dropped her daughter Lottie, six, off to a pony riding event at Wylye Valley Pony Club at a farm near Beckington.
As she was walking along with the children and ponies with other parents, she began to feel tired and uncomfortable so started to make her way back to her car.
On the way back she started having contractions and called her mother Lois, who lives on a farm at Witham Friary near Frome. There was no time to wait as Lucy’s waters broke.
Although local, she didn’t know where she was and couldn’t tell anyone. She came across a house in the countryside and started banging on the door.
The owner answered and Lucy told him her baby was coming and she needed help immediately. He ran to the nearby farmhouse and alerted the farmer Ben Keevil who came immediately. It was all panic as Lucy went into labour at the house and Ben, a sheep farmer, helped deliver her baby boy on the floor.
“It was a real panic, I don’t remember everything that happened,” said Lucy. “One minute I was standing up and the next minute the baby was born, I still had my coat on.
“Luckily Ben is well used to delivering sheep and lambs so he was very calm,” she said.
The local GP in Beckington Dr Cahill and his wife, also a doctor, were at home and were able to attend within minutes as the drama unfolded.
They waited an hour for an ambulance to arrive, there was concern for the baby as his colour was not good.
Lucy said: “I was really worried but eventually the paramedics arrived, and a total of five ambulances eventually turned up including the Dorset and Somerset air ambulance.”
The new baby Ollie was taken to Bristol for emergency treatment and Lucy was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
They both recovered well from their ordeal and the family was recently invited to the HQ of Dorset and Somerset air ambulance where they were reunited with the crew who helped save their lives.
Lucy said: “I dread to think of what might have happened.
“It was all so fast, we are so thankful to the owner of the house I knocked on, who is also called Ollie, and the farmer Ben, as well as all the paramedics and ambulance crews. It was such a remote area, I literally did not know where I was at the time. We owe our lives to these people as well as the local GP Dr Cahill and his wife from Beckington”
“We cannot thank them enough,” she added.
Lucy and her partner Paul have two other children, Lottie, six, and Alfie, three, and baby Ollie is well and healthy after his dramatic entry into the world. They all enjoyed a great day out and had a ride on the helicopter with the air ambulance crew in Somerset.
Luckily Ben is well used to delivering sheep and lambs so he was very calm LUCY FAIRHURST