First birth for London hospital

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/8268495.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The mother of a cancer patient has given birth during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital - a first in the hospital's 157-year history.

Nicola Tyler, 32, of Essex, was staying with Kelly, six, for her treatment when Zac was born on 4 September.

The famous central London hospital, which treats sick children, does not have a maternity unit.

Ms Tyler described the birth as a "real team effort" by hospital staff which happened before paramedics arrived.

'You can't push'

Ms Tyler, from Canvey Island, had been in the hospital for four days with Kelly, who was being treated for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, when the baby was born five days early.

The mother said she told her partner Dave Abbott before leaving: "I'm scared I'm going to have him up there."

When she went into labour hospital staff called University College London Hospital and were told that with contractions more than 30 minutes apart the birth would take some time.

But Ms Tyler said: "I went and took a warm bath and lay on the bed in Kelly's room, but within a matter of minutes my contractions had become stronger and more frequent.

Kelly was initially nervous, her mother said

"I then heard a voice saying 'I can see the head, you're fully dilated Nicola but you can't push yet, we need to wait for the paramedics to arrive'.

"One minute there was Kelly, Sue (ward sister Sue Snaith) and a couple of play nurses, the next minute I had him and there were 24 people," she said.

Senior staff nurse in intensive care Caroline Kanyanga, who is also a qualified midwife, delivered Baby Zac with the help of clinical site practitioner Mike Wise and clinical nurse specialist Ailish Barry before the paramedics arrived.

Ms Tyler said she could not thank staff enough for helping with the birth and treating her daughter.

Kelly, whose neck tumour was diagnosed in June and is now recovering well , was "pretty nervous" initially but later "her smile said everything", her mother said.

Zac stayed at the hospital for four days while his sister finished her treatment.