Young Hope delivers surprise baby

Hope shows how she helped deliver surprise brother Sonny

An eight-year-old girl kept a cool head when her mother starting having a baby no-one knew she was expecting.

When Melissa Cook collapsed with pain in the middle of the night at home in Heybridge, Essex, daughter Hope raced for her mobile and dialled 999.

She gave clear and precise information to the ambulance service where Sarah Dearing talked Melissa through baby Sonny's arrival minutes later.

Hope said: "I think Mummy was quite brave because she helped me."

She said she had been quite shocked when the baby's head appeared and she helped to pull out the surprise delivery.

Sonny weighed in at 6lb 11oz and was bigger than my other three children so I really should have known Melissa Cook

"They told me to wrap him up on a towel and I had the phone at one ear and I was trying to pull him out with the other hand."

Her mother said: "Hope is an absolute star. I can't put into words how proud I am of her.

"I had woken up that morning with a bad stomach ache but did not think too much of it.

"When the head appeared I screamed and Hope quickly came and asked if I was all right. She then helped deliver her little baby brother.

"I am really proud of her; she held it together when I was losing it. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for her; she was just amazing.

"You read about people having babies when they did not realise it and you think 'yeah right', but now I will be a bit more sympathetic towards them.

"I had my periods right throughout the nine months, and did not even notice when my water broke.

"What is more incredible is that Sonny weighed in at 6lb 11oz and was bigger than my other three children so I really should have known."