Mother in labour stuck in snowdrift in Walkern

A mother has spoken about her ordeal of being in labour in an ambulance stuck in a snowdrift.

Carly Howard, 28, went into labour with her second child at the family home in Peascroft, Cottered, just as the blizzard struck on Thursday night.

In fact she didn't know it was snowing when she called her parents in nearby Buntingford after going into labour.

"A five-minute journey took them 40 minutes and when Dad came into the house he said there was a blizzard blowing outside and no way was I going to get to Addenbrooke's Hospital where I was expected to go to have the baby," said Carly.

"Instead the emergency ambulance service sent a quick response car to take me to Lister Hospital but we only got as far as Walkern when we got stuck in deep snow drifts.

"The driver said we would have to abandon the vehicle and was going to take me into a pub. But I had a friend who lived nearby and we stayed there until a member of the maternity team arrived in a 4x4.

"We then had to go through deep snow and across fields with the midwife looking after me and several hours after leaving home I was sitting in a warm bed at Lister Hospital where Olivia was born at 8am the following morning weighing 7lbs 8ozs."

Mrs Howard, whose husband Dean's mother lives in Mountfitchet Road, Stevenage, was full of praise for the ambulance service and the Lister team that helped her.

"They were so nice and helped calm my nerves. They were all brilliant," said Mrs Howard, who has a five-year-old son Evan.

"My husband managed to follow me in my friend's husband's 4x4 so we were all together for the birth.

"But Olivia waited for the snow because she was born three days late. It was my birthday on Monday and when I was born in 1981 it also snowed so the snow was possibly an omen she was on her way.