A SURPRISED Clevedon couple had an early Christmas present when their baby son was born on the lounge floor.

James Clark had to race to the rescue when his wife Lindsay realised Archie was on his way and there was no time to get to hospital.

With a labour lasting less than two hours in total, 26-year-old Lindsay says it was a case of ‘three pushes’ and her new 7lb 13oz son was born.

She had a 26-hour labour with the couple’s first child, Grace, and says she was not expecting things to happen quite as quickly as they did.

She was woken by her two year-old daughter at about 4.30am on Sunday and realised she was having contractions.

Thinking they had a little more time to spare, she went back to bed.

James, whose parents Kate and Will live in Churchill, telephoned Lindsay’s other birthing partner, her mum Ann Maccallum, and she made her way to their house from Locking.

Realising Archie may be on his way quicker than anticipated, the couple then rang for an ambulance and Ann took Grace to stay with Lindsay’s sister Sara, saying she would meet them at the birthing suite at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

But no sooner had Ann set off, Lindsay realised she was about to give birth in the lounge of the couple’s home in Claremont Gardens.

She said: “It was less than two hours between my first contraction and when Archie arrived.

“The midwife had told me it would be a quick birth, but I didn’t realise it would be that quick.

“I’d also had the same type of twinges on the Friday and Saturday too, so I went back to bed when I first felt the contractions on Sunday.

“The midwife said the contractions had to be five minutes apart and last for a minimum of one minute, but they were two minutes apart, but only lasting 30 seconds.

“The ambulance people were talking to us on loudspeaker and I was really giving one of the men some verbal abuse, saying I wanted some drugs.

“We didn’t really have time to think too much about what was happening until Archie came out.

“He was really white and wasn’t crying, so we started rubbing him with my top and the towels.

“He started crying when James put him on me and we were so relieved.”

James, an outdoor pursuits instructor at Charterhouse Activity Centre and former Churchill Community School pupil, added: “I haven’t delivered any babies before, it’s not really in my job description.”