Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

How ‘our Christmas miracle’ Holly was born at a Blairgowrie roadside

Christmas Day will be Holly Slessor's seventh birthday. Parents Caroline and Stuart recall her dramatic arrival in 2017.

Holly Slessor, 6, with brother Aaron, 8, mum Caroline and dad Stuart. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.
Holly Slessor, 6, with brother Aaron, 8, mum Caroline and dad Stuart. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.

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?”

Christmas in the Slessor household is extra-special. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.

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.

Stuart Slessor with daughter Holly in Ninewells Hospital shortly after helping to deliver her by the roadside in Blairgowrie. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson.

“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.

Holly made headline news in our report of Christmas Day births in 2017.

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.”

Newborn Holly with the gift that inspired her name. Image: Caroline and Stuart Slessor.

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.

Holly and her parents on her birthday last year. Image: Caroline and Stuart Slessor.

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!”

Conversation