Louise Ballaam, 22, of Chelmsford Drive, Grantham, arrived at the hospital with contractions every seven to nine minutes but was told to come back when they were every five minutes.

By the time Louise and her mum had returned to Grantham, the contractions were already every five minutes and they had to head back to Lincoln Hospital.

Louise made it as far as Wellingore before she had to start pushing. Her mum, Claire, pulled into the garage on the A607 and took over.

Claire, 42, said: "There she was on all fours for all to see and the baby was being delivered by me. I was on the phone with someone from the control room of emergency services and they were guiding me through it but the ambulance was going to take 15 minutes to get there.

"A retired fireman came and gave me a hand and gave me a lot of support through it.

"The birth was so quick. I was holding Connie in my arms for what seemed like hours but must only have been seven or eight minutes. She was wrapped in towels and still had the umbilical cord attached."

Connie Emma Ballaam was born at 3.10pm, perfectly healthy, 10 days premature and weighing 6lbs 12oz.

As delighted as Claire is with the birth of her new granddaughter, she is very angry at the way her daughter was treated at Lincoln Hospital.

Claire said: "I was not happy at them sending us home or at their suggestion that we pop into Lincoln for a few hours shopping.

"We were just lucky the birth was so straight forward because the time it took to get the paramedics and the ambulance there meant it could have been a very sad story."

The family would have liked to have the baby at Grantham Hospital but were told they should go to Lincoln because Louise was found to have low levels of iron in her blood.

Louise said: "I just remember needing to push when we got near Welbourn and I can't remember anything from there. It was all a blur and then she was here.

"My mum did such a great job- she was amazing."

The family was told by a midwife at Lincoln Hospital that they would investigate the incident.

Claire said: "I would like to know what comes from that. This week it was a happy ending but for someone else, who knows."

A spokesman for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "At this stage, Mrs Ballaam was tightening, but had not begun labour.

"As this is a very early stage, Mrs Ballaam was asked to return home and to contact the department when labour began.

"Cases vary from woman to woman but most commonly it can be from a couple of days to over a week until birth. For this lady it happened much sooner.

"We are delighted both the mother and baby are well."


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Fire fighters save the day at garage

HERO fire fighters working at Wellingore garage leaped into action during the Ballaam family's time of need.

Retained firefighter and garage owner, Ashley Craggs, was working on his birthday when the family pulled onto the forecourt.

He and colleague, retired fire fighter, Andy Dixon, are on call for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and receive an average of one call out a day.

Ashley, 49, said: "The only concern we had was that the baby was very blue when she was born. My colleague, Andy, stepped in and positioned the head to get a decent airway and it soon brought pink to her face. We were delighted.

"It was quite an experience. Being fire fighters we receive lots of training but none in child birth."

The pair supported Claire and Louise and brought towels for the baby.

Claire said: "The guys at the garage were fantastic."