Unsuspecting housing workers leap into action to help customer give birth

It was all hands on deck on a Byker Estate at the end of November when housing workers had to forget the day job to help a member of the community give birth.

Two RE:GEN staff members, Liza Halls and Gill Sweeney were doing routine checks on the Byker Estate in Newcastle as the dramatic situation unfolded.

Regeneration specialists RE:GEN deliver "solutions to social housing across the North East".

Liza and Gill had gone alone to check up on a recently installed bathroom for a customer, who was 39 weeks pregnant.

Whilst there, the husband suddenly appeared to alert Liza and Gilla that his wife may have gone into labour.

Instincts kicked in for the unsuspecting workers, with Gill running for her car to take the soon-to-be mother to the maternity ward at Newcastle's RVI.

Liza sat in the back of the car for support while Gill was driving.

At the time the mother's contractions were only 30 seconds apart, meaning time was key.

All was well in the end, with the parents welcoming a healthy baby boy called Nelly, weighing 7lb 3oz, on Thursday 18 November.

Liza Hill, Customer Experience Co-ordinator at RE:GEN Group, said: “Gill and I were doing our routine calls when we were alerted that the customer may have gone into labour.

"We just had to react and get her to hospital as quickly as we could.

"She literally had to be carried out of the car when we arrived at the maternity ward and I believe he was born within 10 minutes of us arriving.

“This happened on the Thursday and I only started working for the company on Monday.

"It was quite an eventful first week in my new job but he’s lovely and I’m just glad we were able to help her get to hospital in time.”

Krystian Szpunar, Investment Programme Manager at BCT, added: “Talk about a contractor going above and beyond their core duties.

"This is wonderful news and it’s thanks to Liza and Gill’s quick thinking they were able to get her to hospital in time for the baby to arrive otherwise they could have been helping to deliver baby Nelly at home.”