Mum-to-be Audrie Woodhouse, 35, had planned a relaxing water birth at home for her second baby's arrival.
The new baby was due to arrive on December 21, and Audrie had everything in place - until just days before her due-date, her central heating system ran out of oil, her boiler broke down, and a burst pipe brought down ceilings and flooded her dining room.
Fortunately for Audrie, her baby held tight until Christmas morning, when hasty repairs had been made to the family home.
After labouring throughout Christmas Day, Audrie delivered baby Beatrice in her birthing pool as planned - with her local village hall's geyser on stand-by to top up water supplies.
Talking to The York Press, Audrie said she had chosen a home birth so she could have the same midwives who had delivered her one-year-old daughter Aurehlia at the now-closed maternity unit at Malton Hospital.
Ms Woodhouse told the newspaper of her eventual Christmas Day: 'One midwife, Linda Fairclough, came out in the morning and then went home, returning as the labour moved on at 4pm, when another midwife, Kelly Binns, came as well. Linda was going to have her Christmas dinner when she went home but never managed it. I never got any Christmas dinner – I just had a ham sandwich!'
'She was our Christmas present,' Audrie added.
We wish Audrie a very happy 2011.
Did you have a home birth despite home chaos?