Pioneer Stock in Britain

(Cornwall, England) A 36-year-old local woman, Karen Holmes, deserves congratulations and applause. At 7:36 AM on Christmas morning, she gave birth to a 7-lb, 4-oz son named Samuel.

Being a trooper of hearty disposition, Holmes then sprang from the delivery bed and started to make a noontime Christmas dinner for her family.

'It was not bad as far as births go but it still wasn't easy. I thought perhaps once I'd had him that the day would be a write-off.

'However, come dinner time I thought I can get up and do things. We were planning to have a small family Christmas anyway so it wasn't a problem.

'We actually had chicken because my daughter hates turkey. The next day it hit me that I was really tired.'

Holmes decided to have the baby delivered at home and attended to by midwives rather than chance a British hospital with its famous infections.

Tip: slwlion