A SELBY father-to-be who rushed to the maternity unit at York Hospital for the birth of his daughter missed the event after his wife gave birth in a lay-by on the A19.

Paul Bailey, 28, arrived at the hospital expecting his fiance Karla Banks, who was following in an ambulance, to arrive shortly afterwards.

However, baby Amelia would not wait and was delivered in the ambulance, which had to pull up at the side of the busy road.

Paul said: “My car was all ready and loaded up with baby stuff and an overnight bag. As the ambulance left I had set off already. The driver said he wasn’t going to stop – he was going straight to the hospital. He said they didn’t have the time.”

The couple had planned to go together to the hospital in the car, but when Karla’s waters broke, time began to quickly run out.

“I went straight to the maternity ward and they put me in a waiting room and said the ambulance wouldn’t be long. I was at there for about ten minutes but it felt like ages.”

Despite missing the birth of his third child, Mr Bailey said he was just glad everything went well. Amelia weighed in at a healthy 9lb 8oz when she was born, on May 25 at 8.25pm.

The couple are now back at their home in Hutchinson Street, enjoying life with the new arrival.

“Amelia is doing really really well,” said Mr Banks. “And Karla wasn’t too bad after the birth. She had to stay in hospital overnight but she was fine. She lost a lot of blood during the birth, but is fine now.”