Girl's birth fails to wake father

The couple have been together for 11 months

A new mother's cries for help as she gave birth in her bathroom fell on deaf ears - as her boyfriend slept through the whole drama.

Twenty-year-old Gemma McSheffrey was left to deliver daughter Paige alone at the home she shares with chef Antony Probets in Elland, West Yorkshire.

"All the time I was screaming for Antony but he was fast asleep so he couldn't hear me," recalled Gemma.

He was finally woken by the cries of his daughter, weighing in at 71b 3oz.

"As soon as she started crying I woke straight up and shot out of bed," said the 19-year-old new father.

"I just thought it was a big dream really."

It was only when Paige started screaming that he woke up and then he ran around like a headless chicken Gemma McSheffrey

The couple, who live at the Fleece Inn in Elland where Antony works, had been sent home from hospital just a few hours before the birth early last Tuesday morning.

"I was only in the early stages of labour and they sent me home because they said it was going to be a good eight or nine hours before I would have her," said Ms McSheffrey.

"When we got home, my contractions started getting worse. The next thing I knew my waters had broken and within 10 minutes I'd given birth to Paige."

During the whole ordeal she had been shouting for help to no avail from the bathroom which is at the far end of the pub from the bedroom.

"After I'd had her, I got up, I wrapped her in my dressing gown and headed back towards the bedroom to get Antony.

"I stood there for about five minutes calling his name, saying you need to get out of bed to ring the ambulance, she's here.

"It was only when Paige started screaming that he woke up and then he ran around like a headless chicken ringing the ambulance."