A MUM gave birth to twins by the side of the A19 near York after they decided to arrive two months early.

Catherine Stevens, from Selby, had to lie on the ground while paramedics delivered first Poppy and then Jake, who was in the breech position and born in his amniotic sac.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedic Sammy Wills had to work against the clock to break the sac and get the youngster breathing.

The drama began when Catherine was seven months pregnant and planning to go into work for one last time to complete a handover process with colleagues.

When she started experiencing pains, her mother rang a maternity unit and she was advised to travel to York Hospital as soon as she could.

When Catherine went into labour on the A19 Selby to York road, she was asked to leave the car and lie by the side of the road, and passers-by stopped to help, including a man with a van, a couple, a community nurse and a doctor.

The air ambulance and two road ambulances were dispatched, and Sammy took the lead in the delivering the twins.

Baby Poppy arrived first and was handed to her colleague Tyrone, while Sammy worked on delivering her baby brother Jake.

Catherine said: “Sammy was fantastic. I didn’t even fully process what had happened until I reached the hospital.”

Poppy was born at 10.35am and Jake was born at 10.53am on February 21 and they were all taken to York Hospital by road ambulance, accompanied by the air ambulance paramedics.

Catherine spent several nights in hospital, with Jake sent to Hull University Teaching Hospital to the neo-natal care unit, where he received a blood transfusion.

Both babies were discharged at 36 weeks old and they are continuing to do well at home.

Catherine’s labour will feature in an episode on Monday of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The episode, which airs at 9pm on Really, will also feature a long distance rescue mission to save a casualty at a waterfall, a horse riding instructor left with serious injuries and a cardiac arrest at a country show.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television, which has won five Royal Television Society awards for its work on the compelling series. People can catch up with any episodes they’ve missed on UKTV Play.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,500 missions every year.

The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.