Mum gives birth at Eden - and the magic moment is captured on CCTV (From Bucks Free Press)

Mum gives birth at Eden - and the magic moment is captured on CCTV

3:20pm Saturday 20th October 2012 in News By Simon Farr

MEET little Leanne Eden Leighton – she may only be a few days old but she already has an extraordinary tale to tell.

Because, as her middle name suggests, Leanne was born on a cold pavement outside Eden during the early hours of October 9 – with the help of her grandmother and security guards from the shopping centre.

Her beaming mother Kim, 25, had planned to give birth at Wycombe Hospital but her daughter was keen to enter the world early and popped out into her grandmother’s arms on the street outside the family’s flat.

Kim said: “I phoned the hospital at 11.15pm to say my waters had broken, it was my second child and I felt I needed to come in.

“They said I still had plenty of time and to go and have a bath, which I did. I phoned again at 12.45am to say my contractions were two-five minutes together and I wanted to push – but again they told me to wait.

“I phoned again at 1.45am and they told me to come in at that point but, while my mum was helping me down the stairs to the car, I could feel her head coming out.

“My mum said, ‘no she’s not’, but I could feel it so I took my trousers off in the street, pushed and the baby was in my mum’s arms.

“The security guards saw what was happening on CCTV, so they came round with blankets and kept me calm until the ambulance arrived. The neighbours certainly knew about it, I made enough noise.”

Miss Leighton understands her newborn will want to know why her middle name is Eden when she grows up, and plans on showing her the CCTV footage of the moment she was born.

She said: “I already know she’s going to ask - at the moment her place of birth is down as ‘other’ - so I will have to explain and show her the footage, it’s amazing how clear it is on the video.

“My friends and family wouldn’t believe me when I told them the story.”

And Leanne also has a very proud brother Lewis. “He’s over the moon”, Miss Leighton said; “He keeps showing her off to everyone and tells everyone that he was there when it happened.

“I’ll never be able to lie to them about where babies come from!”

Eden security guards Iain and Saquib said they initially thought Miss Leighton was a drunk messing around before they sprung into action.

Iain said: “Nothing surprises me in this job but I’m pleased we could help out and the lady dropped in a bottle of wine to say thank you, which was nice.”

Miss Leighton expressed her thanks to her mum Sue and Sue's partner Paul Squires, as well as the ambulance service and the Eden security guards.

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