Baby delivered in busy city centre

A student paramedic came to the aid of an expectant mother and helped deliver her baby boy on the streets of a busy city centre.

Jon Wood, 27, was off duty when he noticed a heavily pregnant woman crying in pain outside the Bullring shopping centre in central Birmingham.

He noticed she was holding her maternity notes and when he went to see if she was okay it became apparent she was in labour.

An ambulance had been called but was 15 minutes away and the closest response was a motorcycle paramedic. Mr Wood, a student paramedic from the University of Worcester, snapped into action just in the nick of time.

He said: "The lady's waters hadn't broken but she said she could feel the baby was coming. I had just enough time to make her comfortable and begin my assessment, when she moved her hand away I could see the baby's head."

The motorcycle paramedic, Steve Cooper, arrived and minutes later the pair helped the woman deliver a healthy baby boy. The mother and baby were wrapped in coats before an ambulance took the new family to hospital.

Mr Wood, who is originally from Edinburgh, said: "Thankfully, it was a normal and safe delivery with no complications and both mother and baby were fine."

Paramedics are regularly called out to attend an emergency delivery and in training Mr Wood has already helped to deliver many babies. "I've lost count of the number of babies I have delivered but this will definitely be a very memorable one," he said.

Robert Dudley, head of nursing and paramedic science at the University of Worcester, said: "Jon is a credit to the profession and the university. His education and training equipped him with the knowledge and skills necessary to remain calm and professional in what were difficult circumstances. Jon is going to make an outstanding paramedic."

Mr Wood has secured a job as an ambulance technician at the West Midlands Ambulance Service at West Bromwich following completing an ambulance technician to paramedic degree.