Girl, three, calls 999 after pregnant mum falls down stairs Published duration 23 December 2015

image caption Emma and her mum were reunited with Sarah Morris at Nailsea ambulance station

A three-year-old girl helped her heavily-pregnant mother call 999 after she fell down the stairs.

In the call, Emma, who was alone in the house in Somerset with her mother Catherine Bazzard told the operator what had happened and where they lived.

She told call handler Sarah Morris her "mummy was not bleeding but banged her head" and "has a baby in her tummy".

Since the accident, which happened in November, Mrs Bazzard has given birth to Emma's little brother.

Ruptured placenta

Mrs Bazzard needed to be taken to hospital after the fall. She had landed on her stomach and it is believed the impact started labour.

media caption "Mummy's fallen down the stairs and has a baby in her tummy"

Had she not been taken to get the drugs she needed, her baby would have arrived seven weeks early.

Mrs Bazzard had ruptured her placenta so if she had not got help, the medical emergency would have become far more serious.

Although Emma had not been told about dialling 999, her five-year-old brother had been learning about the emergency services at school and round the dinner table the family had a discussion with him about what to do.

During the eight-minute call, Emma told the operator she was looking after mummy, who "kept going to sleep" and promised to look after her and that she was cuddling her.

'She wasn't scared'

She told Ms Morris the front door was unlocked and when the paramedics in "green suits" had arrived.

Mrs Bazzard said she was extremely proud of her daughter, who is now aged four.

She added: "We had no idea that Emma could even tell us what street she lived in, let alone the number and the town."

She said she was "very emotional" to think how her daughter might have been while she was unconscious but added: "Having listened to the audio and hearing how confident she is and how calm she is - it's reassuring to know that she wasn't scared by the situation."

"I came to, to her lying on me and cuddling me and saying, 'Mummy, it's going to be ok'."

Emma and her family were reunited with the ambulance crew and the call handler at a ceremony at Nailsea ambulance station on Wednesday.

Ms Morris was surprised at the amount of information Emma had been able to give her, and how calm she had remained, in the 10 minutes it took the ambulance to arrive.