Icy start for baby born outside

Feb 6 2012

A woman has given birth on the pavement at the front door of a Fife maternity unit in freezing temperatures.

Lisa McNeil said she waited six minutes for nurses to answer the buzzer at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

Her baby, Jackson, was born on the icy pavement outside the maternity wing in the early hours of Sunday morning. Temperatures in the area were at minus 4C when Lisa went into labour shortly after 12am.

The 25-year-old, from Glenrothes, said the experience was "unbelievable".

She told the Daily Record newspaper: "It was like a horror movie. I was in a lot of pain and bleeding. I don't remember much because I was screaming in agony for six minutes while we waited for someone to help us.

"They knew I was coming but no one heard us buzzing to get in or our screams for help.

"I don't think anyone should be put through the humiliation of having to give birth on a pavement outside a hospital in front of strangers."

When midwives finally came to the door, Jackson had been born. Nurses cut the umbilical cord and took the new mother - who has since been released from hospital - up to the ward.

Her mother Karen told the newspaper: "It is scandalous and must never ever happen again. I will be calling for an investigation into this to make sure no one has to suffer and be humiliated like my daughter."

An NHS Fife spokeswoman said: "NHS Fife can confirm that when a lady who had phoned ahead rang the buzzer, midwife staff made their way to the front door to admit her. However, labour was so far advanced that delivery took place at the door of the hospital."