Birmingham: 11-year-old girl helps her mother give birth before going to school

An 11-year-old schoolgirl from Tamworth, Staffordshire, helped her mother to deliver her baby sister, single-handedly. Then she went to school.

When Tara Knightley went into labour at 5am on Tuesday morning (24 November), her daughter Caitlin Burke was the only other person at home. Caitlin helped her mother deliver her newborn sister, Elsa-Monet, by following guidance of ambulance staff who were on the phone, and then went to school on time, the Birmingham Mail reported.

"I was a bit scared and shaky at first because I had never seen anything like that before in my life," said Caitlin, who is the eldest of five siblings. "But when my sister was born, I was really happy. I think she's really cute and I love her very much. My friends at school and the teachers were really happy and proud of me. I want to be a midwife when I'm older."

Mother Tara said she was in labour for only two hours before Caitlin did the "amazing" job.

"Caitlin was just amazing. I don't know what I would have done if Caitlin had not been there," she said of her eldest daughter. "I started getting contractions, so my partner left to take my youngest to his sister's house. But within 10 minutes of him leaving, my waters broke. Based on previous labours, I knew that as soon as that happened, it wouldn't be long before the baby was born."

Tara told Caitlin to call for an ambulance, and "they were telling her what to do over the phone". She said she was screaming in pain but Caitlin was calm throughout and carried out the work perfectly as instructed.

"She did everything she was told to do and was extremely brave and supportive. She got the towels; she then helped remove the cord because it was wrapped around the baby. And she helped to rub and stimulate her because she wasn't crying," Tara said of her daughter.