AN EXPRESS delivery arrived at a Kidlington supermarket when a shopper gave birth unexpectedly right outside the store.

Tracy Dunleavey was on her way to Sainsbury’s on Tuesday morning when she went into labour in the middle of the car park.

And 20 minutes later, just as paramedics helped her into the ambulance, the 32-year-old was cradling her newborn daughter Amber Rose Ennis in her arms.

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The mum-of-two said: “I think it was kind of frightening but it was also kind of embarrassing.

“It could have been a lot worse. If the ambulance did not get there, she would have pretty much been born in the car park.”

She added: “She’s happy and healthy.

“I’m just happy she is here and it’s all over now.”

Miss Dunleavey said she was on her way to the Oxford Road supermarket with partner Jonathan Ennis, 33, after dropping their son Troy to her mother’s Kidlington home.

She had been suffering with pains earlier in the morning, but had brushed off any thoughts her baby would arrive early. The due date was yesterday.

But while the couple were stuck in traffic, she began to suffer painful contractions.

Miss Dunleavey, who lives in Kidlington, immediately called her midwife who advised her to carry on with her shopping.

But the couple, who re-kindled a childhood romance two years ago, had only made it into the store’s car park when Miss Dunleavey’s waters broke.

She said: “It was very scary because I was thinking, ‘The baby is not going to come.’ “And then I realised the baby probably would come.

“I really did not want to acknowledge that I was going to give birth in a car park. I was quite startled.”

Panicked by the knowledge her baby was coming, Miss Dunleavey waited for the ambulance in the couple’s car, screaming in agony.

But embarrassed by the thought she would deliver in the car park, she refused to let Mr Ennis run in for help.

She said waiting for the ambulance “felt like an absolute lifetime” but just moments later Amber Rose arrived, weighing 8lbs and 8oz.

Mother and baby returned to the store yesterday, to be welcomed by a baby hamper and a bouquet of flowers from the staff.

Sainsbury’s store manager Kevin Morton said: “We just wanted to celebrate the birth and wish them well.

“It’s obviously a bit of a surprise and a little bit of a shock.

“I can’t recall that ever happening in my career. It’s an unusual event.”

Miss Dunleavey is on maternity leave from her job at recruitment agency Comp-letely Care.

She added: “I would not want to do it again in a car park, I know that much.”

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