DJ's dash to see birth of daughter

BBC Radio 6Music presenter Chris Hawkins, from Loppington, near Wem, said baby Sienna took the couple by surprise by arriving seven weeks early but she is doing well and the couple cannot wait to bring her to Shropshire.

They had a "very long and very rough ride" to parenthood because his wife was diagnosed with fibroid growths in her uterus in 2001, which threatened her fertility.

Mr Hawkins, 33, said he finished presenting his radio show after his wife phoned to say she was in pain, then ran from the BBC studios in Oxford Circus to the hospital in time to be there for the birth.

He said his tiny daughter is "absolutely gorgeous".

"She's absolutely beautiful," he said.

"She's doing really well, she's pretty strong. She's absolutely miniature, she's 4lb 1oz.

"I was expecting to have a couple more months to learn everything and that's out the window now and I'm having to learn on the job."

Mr Hawkins said he was on air on Wednesday morning when he had a call from his wife saying she was in excruciating pain. She went to the hospital and he finished the last 20 minutes of his show.

"I was really on edge, obviously my mind was completely on Clare and the baby. I didn't mention anything on air in case there was a problem," Mr Hawkins said.

"I finished the show and literally ran from the BBC 6Music studios in Oxford Circus to the hospital which is just fortunately very close by so it was about 10 minutes of running and heart palpitations hoping that everything would be okay and that nothing would happen before I got there."

Mr Hawkins said his tiny daughter was born at 9.42am that day and would be in a special care unit for about four weeks.

"She was due on New Year's Eve so rather than have a New Year baby it looks like we will have her home for Christmas," he said.

"She is the best Christmas present either of us could have wished for."

Mr Hawkins said he was looking forward to bringing the baby to Shropshire to meet her family in the county.

"We can't wait to get back up to Shropshire," he said.

"It's a world apart from where we live now, right in central London.

"It's lovely but it's very built-up.

"We absolutely can't wait to bring her up to meet her little cousins and actually see green fields and be able to play outside."

Mr Hawkins presents the early breakfast show on BBC Radio 6Music.

The couple married in 2005 in a ceremony covered by OK! magazine.

GMTV stars Kate Garraway, Carla Romano, Andrea McLean and Penny Smith all attended the wedding as well as Jayne Middlemiss and broadcasting husband and wife, John Stapleton and Lynn Faulds Wood.

Also top of the 200-plus guest list were the Hawkins family, who run Hawk Plant Hire in Loppington, including Chris's father Mike and mother Janette.

The proud dad said both his parents and Clare's parents had been to visit the new arrival.