A CLACKS family got an unexpected present this year when their baby was born on Christmas morning.

Alan and Lindsay Fyfe, of Menstrie, rushed to Forth Valley Royal Hospital on the morning of December 25 and welcomed their baby John to the world at 11.20am.

John will be a little brother to Ashley, 12, and Darren, 16 and Lindsay told the Advertiser how the day went.

She said: "He was due on January 11 but he was induced a wee bit early due to complications [and] everything went fine."

Asked if it was a nice Christmas present, Lindsay replied: "Ever so slightly. Definitely wasn't quite planned for Christmas day but never mind."

Lindsay said they were phoned by the hospital at half-past three in the morning to go up for half-past four and he was born just after 11am.

They managed to get home around 8pm that night and Lindsay says they had their Christmas dinner on Boxing Day.

Lindsay continued: "We were told to expect a phone call at any point so we were kind of expecting it but still, at half-past three in the morning when the phone rings you kind of get a bit excited and nervous and twitchy."

Under the current restrictions, their other kids had to stay at home with their gran however they were woken up before they left for the hospital so they could open their presents just in case they didn't make it home on Christmas day, with Lindsay saying they were both understandably knackered.

As if being born on Christmas day wasn't special enough, Lindsay said: "He's named after his grandad and it would have been his great-grandad's birthday on Christmas day [too]."

However, Lindsay laughed and said hopefully not when asked if it could be the start of a family tradition of babies being born on Christmas day.

It wasn't just a special day for the family but the staff at the hospital as well, with Lindsay adding how it was the midwife's first Christmas day baby in 15 years.

A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said: "All babies are special but having a new member of the family arrive on Christmas day makes it all the more special and will definitely be a more memorable one than most."