Firefighters help Cumbrian TV star give birth

Cumbrian TV star Helen Skelton has said the birth of her second child came as such a surprise that the fire brigade came to her aid.

The former Blue Peter presenter, from Kirkby Thore near Penrith, delivered her new son Louis on the floor of the kitchen in her family home in Perpignan in the south of France on April 8.

Skelton and husband Richie Myler, a rugby league player, are already parents to son Ernie, one.

She told Hello! magazine: "It was all a bit frantic. We are just so relieved he is safely here.

"I'm still not really sure why the fire brigade arrived but it seems they were the closest emergency service at the time!"

Skelton, 33, added the birth happened so quickly that her husband, who was in the UK at the time, missed the moment their son was born but called a nearby neighbour, who rushed round to help and phone the emergency services.

She said: "I'd been out for a walk with Ernie in the pram and when I arrived back home I was getting a few pains. At first I thought it was because I'd been out for a long walk but then I could hardly move.

"I phoned Rich to say, 'I think you need to get to the airport as I'm inlabour'.

"As I'd been two days in labour with Ernie, I didn't realise it was going to be so quick. But within an hour of calling Rich, I couldn't get up off thefloor.

"The firefighters were lovely and beside themselves with excitement as they said they hadn't been at a birth before, but, bless them, they weren't up to speed with what you do, so they were all flapping."

When Myler finally arrived to see the new arrival, Skelton said he looked rather the worse for wear, telling the magazine: "Bless him, he looked like he'd done five rounds with Anthony Joshua, he'd been crying so much. He was relieved we were both okay."

Her husband added: "I am really proud of her for doing it on her own. I know she must have been scared but she will never admit it!"

Skelton is now dealing with the challenge of having two children under the age of two, saying: "People talk about the early baby bubble but it really is like that, we feel like we are on happy pills.

"Two is a gamechanger though. I think it's going to be chaos!"

The full interview is in Hello!, which is out now.