University of Worcester lecturer describes student helping deliver his baby as a 'surreal moment'
Third-year Elise Faragher was on placement at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on the day that her lecturer Aaron Collins and his wife Lexy arrived for an elective C-section
A University of Worcester student who helped to deliver her lecturer and his wife's baby has said it was a 'once in a lifetime moment'.
Paramedic science third-year Elise Faragher was on placement on the maternity ward at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on the day Aaron Collins and partner Lexy, who is a nurse, arrived to have an elective C-section.
Ms Faragher says she couldn't quite believe it at first when she saw Mr Collins.
"I was on C-sections that day so I was walking around with my midwife and was just helping the patients settle into their rooms and then Aaron came around the corner," she said.
"My first thought was thinking that he'd come to look at the ward and basically what we were learning as students there.
"Then his wife Lexy came round the corner and I was like, no, they're not there for that."
Routine placement
The placement was a 'routine' one as part of the university's work to allow those studying to be a paramedic to gain experience beyond ambulance services in places such as maternity wards, nursing homes, emergency departments and primary care.
After asking Mr and Mrs Collins if they were both happy with her helping deliver the baby, Ms Faragher successfully then went onto assist Lexy to give birth to baby boy Luca.
"It was a bit of a test of my knowledge to kind of prove that I could do it," she said.
"I ended up going to talk to both of them in their room and just basically was like, are you happy for me to be in the C-section and they both were so it was all good.
"It was just a once in a lifetime situation basically."
She also said they weren't able to officially announce what had happened until now due to patient confidentiality but her phone has been going non-stop since the news broke last week.
"Everyone's messaging me and it's not even just my year group," Ms Faragher said.
"It’s year groups that have graduated since and they’ve seen it so I think everyone's really shocked at it."
'Surreal moment'
Mr Collins, who has taught Elise since the first year, has praised Elise for all her efforts with the delivery.
He also admitted it was unexpected when he walked onto the ward and saw her there.
"I heard, hello Aaron, and looked up and it literally took me a split second to realise, oh, that's one of my students," he said.
"So it was a surprise, but obviously in the moment, you don't really think about it being there in the theatre room, but it came to realisation when Elise tapped me on the shoulder and said to me, Aaron, do you want to cut the cord?
"It's strange that a student is asking their lecturer if they want to cut the cord of their baby, but all credit to Elise, she’s a very good student and at that time you couldn't ask for anyone better."
Mrs Collins has also thanked Elise for all her support.
Now at three-and-a-half months old, she's also really pleased with how baby Luca is doing.
"He's really thriving, he’s putting on weight really well," Mrs Collins said
"The whole experience was really nice but it was also an emotional day meeting the baby because we didn't know what we were having.
"So it was a nice surprise when we found out we had got another little boy."
Since helping with the safe delivery of baby Luca, Elise has gone on to help deliver her first baby while out on placement with the ambulance service.