A BABY girl arrived in a blaze of glory after being delivered to her firefighter parents in a hospital car park.

Dominic Brown managed to pull into the car park at Darlington Memorial Hospital only moments before his wife, Becky, gave birth to baby daughter Emily on the back seat of his Audi A3.

The couple faced a race against time as they drove the 30-minute journey from their Spennymoor home to the hospital in Darlington – with Becky almost giving birth in a lay-by on the A1(M).

On their arrival at the hospital, paramedics, doctors, nurses and midwives came rushing to their aid to help deliver the healthy baby, weighing 8lbs 14oz.

Dominic said the stunned couple, who met while working for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, were still coming to terms with their express delivery, and thanked staff at the hospital for their help.

“It was literally 30 minutes from getting into the car to delivering the baby in the car park,” said the 43-year-old area manager.

“We are used to dealing with dramatic situations, but when it is your own family, everything seems to go out of the window.

“The staff at the hospital were fantastic – everything happens really efficiently.”

Firefighter Becky, 29, whose family also work for the fire service, was initially taken to hospital at 2am on Tuesday after experiencing contractions, but was sent home as everything seemed fine.

“In the morning, the first real contractions started and they were a bit different to the ones during the night,” said her husband.

“She was planning on having a shower and deciding what clothes to take to the hospital, but at around 8.45am, they seemed to go from five minutes apart, to 30 seconds apart.

“We got on the A1(M) and Becky said ‘pull over now, I am going to have the baby’. But we thought this is not where we want to be having a baby.

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“It was touch and go as to whether we would make it.

“When we got to the hospital the first nurse came out and saw Becky and said we are having this baby now.”

As the contractions got stronger, Becky said she considered driving to Newton Aycliffe fire station as she knew her colleagues could help to deliver the baby.

“They were only five minutes away and I was in so much pain that I knew if we got there, someone would be there to deliver her and get her wrapped up,” she said.

“When we got to the hospital, I laid down on the back seat and just remember all these faces around the car. It was just so quick.”