Man cuts baby's umbilical cord with a shoelace when his wife gives birth in a car

Paul Doherty and his wife Georgina were on their way to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry when they had to pull in to the side of the road.

He called emergency services who talked the couple through the delivery. "The next minute the baby was out, so I had to throw the phone down and catch her," he said.

"I gave her to Georgina and she started crying. Then they just said keep them both warm, we're going to get you to tie something round the umbilical cord.
"I had to take off my shoelace, it was the only thing I had in the car," added Mr Doherty.

Saphia was 13 days overdue when she started to announce herself to the world. "It all started on Saturday morning when I started to get strong labour pains at about 11:30 and she arrived at 14:40, so it was a quick labour," said Georgina Doherty.

"We had just passed Bridgend, just over the Derry border, when I asked my husband to pull in to the side of the road. I just knew I wasn't going to make it. "I said: 'I think the baby's coming, I can feel the head coming'.

"I just took her word for it, so I stopped," added Mr Doherty. "And by the time I got out of the driver's seat and got round to the passenger seat the head was actually out to view."
BBC