A quick-thinking Maryport woman came to the rescue to deliver her granddaughter.

When 25-year-old Leonie Spark’s waters broke in the early hours of Monday, she called the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven and was told to go straight in.

An ambulance was requested at 1.34am but a crew did not arrive until 2.52am because of more urgent callouts.

In the meantime, Leonie’s partner John Wardle had called his mum Julia who arrived at their Grasslot Street house just before 1.40am to find Leonie in the final stages of labour.

Julia, 65, said: “When I got there the head was already emerging. Leonie’s friend had rung the ambulance and they said there was one on the way.

“The person in the control room then talked me through what I had to do.

“It was really just a case of catching the baby.

“The woman on the phone asked if I had a safety pin to clamp the cord. I didn’t so I took a lace out of my shoe and tied it around the cord.”

The family faced some terrifying moments after the baby girl was born as Leonie thought she was not breathing.

Julia said: “Then I touched her chest and she started to cry. That was a relief.”

Baby Harmoni, the couple’s fourth child, was cleaned with a tea towel and wrapped in a warm towel while the family waited for the paramedics.

The ambulance arrived 78 minutes after the initial call and Leonie and Harmoni were taken to the hospital.

It was a quick labour all round for Leonie, who started experiencing discomfort around 10.30pm.

She said: “I went downstairs on my own. Then the pain started to increase. I texted my friend Natalie Porter who came over. When my waters broke Natalie rang for an ambulance and we were told there would be one dispatched but it didn’t come for 78 minutes.”

Leonie said giving birth without pain relief or medical help was traumatic.

She added: “But the labour was short and it all ended well.”

Mum and baby returned home at about 7pm on Monday with a clean bill of health.

North West Ambulance Service apologised for the delay.

A spokeswoman said: “When it is an apparently straightforward birth, priority is given to dangerously ill patients which is why we were unable to get there quickly.

“Operators in our control room are trained in many aspects of the work but the greatest training is given to dealing with cardiac arrest and birth.

“There is also an on-screen programme giving step-by-step advice to be passed on to the person delivering the baby.

“It is a joyous moment for the operators when they hear a baby cry. Operators keep track of how many babies they have ‘delivered’ and there is always a big cheer from everyone else.

“We really wish Leonie and Harmoni and their family everything of the best.”