Some come back from the south of France with a nice tan, but Anna and Mark Shallcross came back with their own little miracle.

Mrs Shallcross, 30, of The Street, Horton Kirby, was six months pregnant when she went off for a relaxing family trip to the Ardeche.

What happened next involved a four-hour journey, two French hospitals and two days and nights in labour, before the family were joined by their newest addition – somewhat earlier than expected – their first child, Benjamin Leo Shallcross.

Mrs Shallcross said: “It was basically just a family holiday with my husband and sister-in-law. We went down to the Ardeche in France.

“We had a couple of days travelling down there and then spent time chilling by the pool when my waters broke.

“At first I didn’t know what it was and we ended up calling the hospital and they told us to get down there.

“After about two hours of driving in the wrong direction, we found the hospital.

“Because I was dilated two centimetres I had to be transferred to a hospital in Lyon about two hours away.”

Mrs Shallcross, who used to live in Darnley Road, Gravesend, and attended Mayfield Grammar School, does not speak a great deal of French, which meant the days she spent in hospital were a little daunting.

She waited patiently with her husband for more than a week, while she was given injections to suppress giving birth. Her waters broke on August 16 and her son was not born until August 28.

She said: “Fifty-nine hours [of labour] later, after pretty much no pain relief and being left in the room with no one really coming in to check on me, we had the baby.

“I was running on adrenaline, something just ended up keeping me calm.

“I didn’t know how long I’d be in hospital. I was frightened, obviously, I had no preparation for birth.

“I was literally on Google looking up how to push a baby out just before he was born.”

Benjamin was born 12 weeks prematurely and weighed two pounds and 12 ounces.

Mrs Shallcross said: “He was taken into special care with the incubators and was in there for about five-and-a-half weeks and then we flew home.

“It was just me and him, in a special ambulance plane, because my husband had to drive the car back, which was quite exciting.

“When we landed in England, we spent 12 days in Darent Valley Hospital’s neo-natal unit and met a Paralympic athlete while we were there. It was a bit of a whirlwind really.”

The athlete was Charlotte Evans, fresh from success at the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games in Russia.

She had taken part as a skier guide in the Women’s Super G and won gold with visually impaired Kelly Gallagher.

Ms Evans was visiting the hospital after becoming a patron of the Little Buds Fund, which raises money for Darent Valley’s special care baby unit.

Mrs Shallcross said it was an “amazing feeling” and she felt “absolute relief” when she finally walked through her front door for the first time with her son.

“He’s got such a lovely personality, he’s such a content baby and he’s quite tolerant to pain as well. He’s just a little miracle" - Anna Shallcross

Benjamin is now doing well after his epic adventure and enjoys accompanying his mum on walks with the family dog, Olly.

Mrs Shallcross put a video of Benjamin having a cuddle with his pooch-pal on YouTube and it garnered more than 7,000 views.

She said: “He’s gorgeous.

“He’s got such a lovely personality, he’s such a content baby and he’s quite tolerant to pain as well. He’s just a little miracle.”

Benjamin has already become the apple of everyone’s eye, with family and friends coming to visit.

Now the couple are looking forward to spending their first new year as a family - complete with Olly!

---

Stories you might have missed

Father-of-three dies suddenly on Christmas Day

Abuser jailed after handing himself in to police

Suffering from Christmas excess? Try dry January

Train death victim 'was kind and generous spirit'

---