As you might guess from her name, Christmas is a particularly special day for Holly Slessor and her family.
December 25 is Holly’s birthday. But, thankfully, noels since she made her early arrival to the world have been less dramatic.
As she prepares to celebrate her seventh birthday, Holly’s parents Caroline and Stuart recall the unforgettable Christmas morning that Holly was born by the side of the road.
Holly was due to be born on December 28, 2017.
But in the morning of Christmas Eve Caroline’s waters broke.
She says: “I thought, oh crikey, here we go! It’s December 24, can we hold out to the 26th?”
With the couple’s firstborn Aaron, 8, Caroline’s waters had broken four days before he arrived.
Knowing labour was likely to take some time, Caroline and Stuart, 38, were relaxed and stayed at home in Blairgowrie until the evening.
When Caroline’s contractions grew stronger and more frequent they decided to make the 20-mile car journey to Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee.
But then progress seemed to slow and they were advised to go home and wait a little longer.
Caroline, a pupil support assistant, says: “They were very short staffed that night and I think I got stage fright in Ninewells and baby decided she wasn’t coming out.”
The couple left to go home, where Stuart’s parents Phil and Karen, who has since passed away, were waiting for them.
But Caroline says: “When we were walking back to the car I think Holly was already coming.
“By the time we got back to Blairgowrie that was it. We got in through the front door and Stuart and my father-in-law got me to the top of the stairs.
“Then I was like, ‘no turn around’.
“I think her head was coming out by the time I got in the car!”
Christmas Day baby born at a Blairgowrie roadside
With Karen in the back seat, they set off again for Ninewells.
But they didn’t even get out of Blairgowrie.
“We had to pull over,” says Caroline. “And that was her, she came out.”
Stuart, a plumbing and heating engineer, helped Caroline deliver their daughter in a layby.
He had called 999 and was talked through what to do by a Scottish Ambulance Service emergency call handler.
How a shoelace came to the rescue
But there was more drama to come. And, bizarrely, a shoelace came to the rescue.
“She wasn’t crying,” recalls Caroline. “The 999 operator was very nervous that she couldn’t hear the baby.
“She asked Stuart if he had shoelaces on then said you need to take one off and wrap it around the umbilical cord.”
Stuart did as he was told and recalls the relief he felt when Holly let out a shriek.
“That forced her to cry for the first time,” he says. “That was probably the best cry I’ve ever heard!”
The call handler was “incredible”, Caroline says. She had already told Stuart to make Caroline as warm as possible, including turning on the car’s heating.
“Luckily my mum had actually said to me a few days before I think you should put some blankets in the car just in case.
“We got some blankets and I was wrapped up and when Holly came out we wrapped her up so she was warm.”
Only five minutes for Holly to arrive
Less than five minutes had passed between the Slessors leaving their home and their daughter being born beside the Blair in Bloom floral train on Coupar Angus Road at 2.35am.
And it was around 40 minutes before the ambulance arrived to take the 6lb 15oz tot and her elated parents to Ninewells Hospital.
As Karen was unable to drive Stuart’s car, she accompanied Caroline in the ambulance and held Holly as the placenta was delivered.
Stuart drove – with one loose shoe – behind.
In hospital on Christmas morning, one of our photographers was there for pictures of Tayside’s Christmas Day babies.
His picture of Stuart with his new daughter appeared in The Courier the next day.
Also at Ninewells were Santa and an elf, who delivered a present to the family.
Caroline says: “We hadn’t been able to decide on a name for her at that point. When we opened the present it was a little homemade hat with a holly on it.
“We thought, that’s it, it’s a sign from Santa! She has to be called Holly.”
Faith, Caroline had liked for a first name, but seemed a fitting middle name after the happy ending to her dramatic birth.
“We thought it was remarkable the way we gave birth to her on that day, so Faith”, says Caroline.
“She’s like a little Christmas miracle for us.”
Home in time for Christmas dinner
Despite their eventful morning, the family were back in time for Christmas dinner.
“I was home by about 11am,” says Caroline. “Aaron was more excited to show us the presents he had got from my mum and dad!”
A Christmas meal was served to the exhausted but elated couple by Caroline’s parents Kathleen and Ian Donald, who also live in Blairgowrie.
But they staged their own delayed Christmas Day on January 1, once they had had time to settle into life as a family of four.
So Christmas, of course, is extra-special in the Slessor household given Newhill Primary School pupil Holly’s festive arrival.
But it remains just Christmas, with birthday candles reserved for another day.
Caroline says: “We always think Holly deserves her own day. So we normally have her birthday on the Sunday before Christmas.”
This year is no different, with Holly looking forward to celebrating with some chums tomorrow.
“She’s very excited for this Sunday,” says Caroline. “She’s going rock-climbing with her friends.
“Holly is a very, very adventurous little girl.
“I should’ve known she would be when she arrived so dramatically!”
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