Mum goes into labour prematurely while out with her kids at Aberavon beach

A pregnant mother of six who took her children to the beach expecting to have a fun family day out saw things take a scary turn when she went into labour prematurely.

Kirsty Nott, from Aberdare, was eight-months pregnant and not expecting her baby boy until August 10. She wanted to treat her kids to a day at the beach after a school trip to Porthcawl had been cancelled at the last minute due to hot weather warnings.On July 19, the thirty-three year-old took five of her six children to Aberavon Beach in Port Talbot. When they arrived, the beach was packed due to the hot weather and Kirsty told her children to run into the sea while she set up the towels and beach toys.

Her husband Shane Gregory, 36, who works as a telecom engineer, was busy working that day, so she had invited her friend to join her. However, her friend had got stuck in traffic so Kirsty was left to set up alone on the beach.

As she bent over to put her towel down, Kirsty felt her waters break and instantly panicked. "I hadn't even put my bum on the sand yet," Kirsty said. At the time, Kirsty was terrified and in a lot of pain, so proceeded to called her mother and husband, who were both in Aberdare.

Miles away from Aberavon, Kirsty's family called the paramedics on her behalf while strangers on the beach started to gather around to help. The five children returned from their swim in the sea and watched in shock as their mother had contractions on the sand.

With her sister, step-dad and partner on their way to Port Talbot from Aberdare, Kirsty was faced with the prospect of giving birth on a packed beach with only strangers there to help her.

"I was panicking, there were no familiar faces. I thought he was going to come out on the beach." Kirsty's children had been delivered quickly so she was concerned that this labour would follow the same pattern, but her biggest worry was haemorrhaging whilst far away from a hospital as she had suffered from postpartum haemorrhages with four out of her sixth births.

The paramedics called Kirsty's phone and she handed it to a woman, who she had just met on the beach, as she was in too much pain to listen. Repeating instructions from the paramedics, the woman told Kirsty to lay down and take off all her clothes on her bottom half. "At the time, I didn't care who was seeing what," Kirsty explained, as she was in such discomfort that she had no time to feel embarrassed at stripping off on the beach in front of an audience.As the crowds around her started to grow, Port Talbot coastguards arrived and cleared the area, putting up windbreakers around Kirsty to give her some much-needed privacy.

Lifeguards from Swansea RNLI also arrived at the scene and an increasingly concerned team of coastguards and lifeguards gave her gas and air and spoke on the phone to paramedics.

Kirsty explained the coastguards were panicking but keeping calm, however she said she noticed how scared a younger coastguard was as he told the paramedic that he could see the baby's head crowning.

Thankfully, an ambulance arrived on time to take her straight to Singleton Hospital. Unfortunately, this was not the end of Kirsty and her baby's troubles.

When she arrived at the hospital, her midwife told her that her cervix was not opening and that her labour needed to be induced - following which, baby Tanner-Jax Gregory Nott was born.

Kirsty suffered another post-partum haemorrhage, however she was taken care of by medical staff and said it was lucky that she did not give birth on the beach as it could have been a very different outcome. Little Tanner-Jax was jaundiced so had to stay in the hospital for four days but now the three-week-old little boy is healthy and at home with his mother.Following the traumatising incident, Port Talbot coastguards messaged Kirsty to tell her they had a special coastguard teddy for the newborn and activity packs for Kirsty's other children.

"I really did appreciate everything they did, they kept me calm" said Kirsty. She thanked the coastguards with some chocolates but admitted that she felt quite embarrassed seeing them again after what they had seen on the beach that day.