By James Woodward
Belfast - A single mother has been hailed a heroine after saving her baby boy's life four times in 10 minutes as paramedics talked her through the procedure over the phone.
Driving instructor Cordelia Nolan, 25, was "petrified" when her son Emrys, who was born 10 weeks premature, stopped breathing at her home in Bristol on January 14.
Luckily Ms Nolan had learned emergency resuscitation techniques and with the advice of ambulance staff she pumped his heart back into life.
Her cousin, Kieran Byrne, 24, was visiting the house in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, and relayed instructions back from Great Western Ambulance to her.
Paramedics arrived during the 10-minute call to find the baby's breathing had been restored and rushed him to Bristol Children's Hospital. A urine infection was found to be the cause of his seizure.
Ms Nolan said: "Emrys went to bed as normal, then I saw he was sluggish and grunting in his Moses basket. I was holding onto him for about five hours, but at 8am he didn't want his feed.
"His colour drained out and he went blue. Luckily my cousin was there and he dialled 999. I started CPR straight away, as I had been offered training in it because he was premature.
"I was petrified but I just went into autopilot. I didn't have time to think and just did it. I'm not really a heroine - I just did what any mother would do instinctively."
Using two fingers she gave Emrys 30 pumps in the chest for every two breaths, keeping up the battle despite appearing to lose him four times.
"After his less-than-relaxed start to life, hopefully his journey can be a bit more chilled out. He is doing really well now - but he owes me one!" she said.
Phone operator Jennifer Riley who took the call said but for the actions of Ms Nolan, Emrys would have almost certainly died before paramedics arrived. - Belfast Telegraph