Dawlish News

THINKING they had plenty of time before the arrival of their first baby, Amy Burnett and Eddie Odaro headed for the Devon coast to grab their last holiday before parenthood arrived.

But their baby had other ideas and Amy went into labour five weeks early on Friday - the last morning of their trip - making history in the process.

For her daughter Leila was the first baby to be born in the new £31-million maternity unit at Wonford Hospital in Exeter.

The family have now had to delay their journey back home to Napsbury Park in London Colney until Leila has gained enough weight, which is expected to take a week at least.

Her premature arrival has left Amy and Eddie stranded in Devon without any baby clothes or equipment - but a local Halfords has stepped in to donate a car seat so that they can get her home.

The hospital also arranged some baby clothes and accommodation for Eddie, aged 33, who is a network engineer at Heathrow Airport.

Speaking from Devon this week, Amy explained a possible reason for Leila's early arrival: "Well the only thing I can think of is, the day before she came we went for a couple of walks. We went for an hour-and-a-half in the morning and the same in the afternoon. But I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary and have been quite active the whole way through the pregnancy."

Amy went into labour at around 5am at their apartment in the town of Dawlish and was firstly taken to the old hospital unit but on arrival they were told it was closing in half-an-hour. "I was then taken to the new unit and they said in the ambulance that I might be the first person to give birth there," said 32-year-old Amy, who has just set up her own wedding photography company. Leila was eventually born at 1.30pm and weighed just five pounds. Amy added: "The staff have been amazing. Everyone is so nice.