Baby born on helicopter between Isles of Scilly and Cornwall

A woman being airlifted to hospital gave birth on board the rescue helicopter.

Jennie Trevithick was being flown from the Isles of Scilly to have her baby at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro on 5 December.

Her labour progressed quickly and she gave birth to Ebbyn as they were coming in to land.

She said: “I just felt so safe – I couldn’t have wished for anything more.”

Ms Trevithick, 41, who is a brewer on St Mary’s, started having contractions on the evening of 4 December and went to the island’s birth centre with her partner, Hayden Simpson, 38.

The midwife discovered some meconium when her waters broke, meaning it became an emergency and she had to be flown by helicopter to hospital – a 55 mile (89km) journey.

Mothers on Scilly are often flown to the mainland to give birth when there are possible complications that may need additional medical support not available on the remote islands.

Ms Trevithick said: “In my first pregnancy, with my daughter, I was also flown out and when I found out the helicopter was on its way the contractions stopped and everything.

“But with this one, I could hear the helicopter getting closer but there was no sign of anything slowing down.”

When on board, she said the situation progressed swiftly: “I knew we hadn’t landed yet and I reached down to feel the head and I was like ‘OK’.”

It took five hours from the contractions starting to the baby being born just after 02:00 GMT.

“It was a surreal experience. I was holding the baby as we were landing and looked up and went ‘where are we? What is happening?’,” Ms Trevithick said.

She added it was a “perfect” experience and she was grateful to the helicopter crew and the midwife who travelled with her.

“I would love to say thank you to all of them. They were all amazingly supportive.

“Everyone said it must have been so scary being in a helicopter but actually I felt super safe – I was in the best place possible.

“I couldn’t have wished for anything more.”

After landing, Mr Simpson cut the cord and the trio were transferred to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

They left later that day before travelling back to Scilly.

Ebbyn joins a select group of Scillonians born on the coastguard helicopter, including Torran in 2018 and Marcus in 2013.

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