AFTER the unexpected birth of their first child, five weeks early, by emergency C-section, Malika and Chris Smith say they were "very traumatised" and far from their family support network.

Baby Harriet was born after Malika started haemorrhaging while away on a weekend spa break with Chris. The couple were enjoying some time together after being separated during most of the pregnancy due to both their work commitments in the RAF.

Malika suffered a placental abruption, which puts the mother and baby at risk if left untreated, and was rushed by land ambulance to Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.

Within a matter of hours, Harriet was born and immediately taken to the special care baby unit and put on a CPAP machine to help her breathing.

She was severely jaundiced - which required phototherapy treatment - and had a heart murmur.

Chris spent him time between the special care baby unit and maternity ward, where Malika was recovering from the emergency C-section and losing 2.5litres of blood. It wasn't until 13 hours Malika and Harriet were reunited.

Malika said: "Chris and I are both used to coping to varying levels of stress, but we found ourselves thrown into a special care environment miles away from home and we felt incredibly scared, lonely and isolated."

After four days Harriet was strong enough to be transported to a special care baby unit at Harrogate District Hospital - 112 miles away- which was close to their home in Northallerton.

Chris and Malika were immediately put at ease when the Children's Air Ambulance and specialist neo-natal team from Embrace - Yorkshire & Humber Infant & Children’s Transport Service – arrived at Carlisle to transfer their newborn daughter.

Harriet was prepared for the flight to Harrogate by the Embrace team who then accompanied her on the 45 minute journey between hospitals.

"We knew immediately that Harriet was in safe hands," continued Malika.

"Everyone was fantastic and incredibly supportive during such a distressing period of our lives.

"The pilots and Embrace team working together were so efficient and professional. They made it OK for us to give our four day old daughter to people we didn’t know. We instantly trusted them and couldn’t fault anything they did for our baby girl.

“It was the hardest thing to stand watching the helicopter take off and not be able to be with her but we knew she was in safe hands."

Although there is a parent seat on the helicopter, Malika was unable to fly due to the amount of blood she had lost during the operation so Chris drove them the four and half hours straight to Harrogate hospital to reunite them as a new family.

Harriet spent another eight days in the special care baby unit, where she received further phototherapy treatment and feeding support through a tube in her nose, before she was well enough to go home.

Malika added: "Normal ambulances just aren’t equipped to cater for babies and young children in the same way as the Children’s Air Ambulance. We didn’t know it existed but now, having had first-hand experience of what it does, we fully appreciate what a difference it makes to peoples’ lives. We were lucky that it was available to transfer our daughter and will always be grateful to the team for what they did for our baby girl."