Dad delivers daughter in Lochwinnoch bird sanctuary car park

Sara, Andrew and their two children Ezra and Eliza

When Sara Still's water broke, she knew her second child was on its way. But the 31-year-old thought she had time to prepare.

However, Sara gave birth just a few hours later, in the car park of a bird sanctuary on her way to the hospital.

She and her husband Andrew, 32, spoke to the the BBC's Mornings with Jackie Brambles about their unexpected morning.

"I was due to go to Edinburgh to do some work," Andrew said. "I got a phone call from Sara saying you can't go."

Sara told him she thought she needed to go to the hospital.

"So I picked Sara up from the house. We left about 9 o'clock and started driving."

'I thought I had the whole day ahead of me'

Sara was 37-weeks pregnant with her second child when her waters broke that morning.

"I got up to have breakfast with my son, knowing that I probably wouldn't see him for the next few days," she explained.

"I tried to take it easy. It was just a lot quicker than what I had with Ezra. I thought I had the whole day ahead of me."

The couple set off from their home in Largs in Ayrshire and headed to the hospital.

Driving through Lochwinnoch, they were forced to take a detour to avoid some closed roads.

"We were driving down Lochwinnoch Main Street when Sara had her first big contraction," said Andrew.

"She told me to pull over. The first place I could pull over was the bird sanctuary."

"We left the house about 9 o'clock and I pulled over about 20 past nine."

'We knew we wouldn't make it to the hospital'

Andrew immediately called for an ambulance, while Sara tried to stay comfortable in the front seat.

"I asked them to send an ambulance because we knew we wouldn't make it to the hospital," he said.

"The first thing the operator asked me to do was get the postcode. So I tried to get Sara as comfortable as possible in the car and ran over to the bird sanctuary office and asked the man for the postcode."

Andrew helped deliver his daughter before the ambulance arrived

Unfortunately for Andrew, on his way back to the car he was asked to repeat the postcode, forcing him to return to the office and ask again.

Sara said: "I had to move because it was really taking a bit of time. I got myself from being in the front seat to out with my knees on the car park ground leaning back into the footwell of the car.

"The operator talked Andrew through to get me into a more comfortable position with my back on the ground."

"We had picnic blankets in the car, from day trips with Ezra, so we didn't realise but we were actually quite prepared for this."

'I just had to remain positive and stay calm'

The phone operator talked Andrew through what he needed to do.

"I kept asking him when the ambulance was going to arrive, and he kept assuring me that it was going to arrive before anything happened," he said. But he said that we couldn't hold Sara back."

Sara said: "I knew that it was happening there and then.

"I was staring up above the car and there were trees over me. So as much as I could I just had to remain positive and stay calm.

The family has taken Eliza to visit the place where she was born

"Andrew thinks that he was panicked but he was really good at reassuring me."

The ambulance was only 10 minutes away, but it did not arrive in time.

"On her first main contraction the head appeared," Andrew said. "So I was holding the head in one hand, my phone between my shoulder and my head, and trying to hold Sara's hand to keep her calm.

"On the next push, Eliza arrived."

'Like an adult not having a jumper on in the Antarctic'

Eliza was born in the car park of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds sanctuary in Lochwinnoch.

Sara said: "We are actually a vegan family so the nature reserve was quite fitting for us."

The ambulance arrived with baby Eliza already in her mother's arms and the paramedics checked she was OK.

"She was fine," said Sara. "Her blood sugar had dropped a bit just from being born in the cold.

"They told us at the hospital that while it might not have seemed cold for us, it would be like an adult not having a jumper on in the Antarctic.

"We were quite lucky because we had a dry day."