Martha Wainwright - Wainwright Credits U.K. Doctors With Saving Baby's Life

New mum MARTHA WAINWRIGHT has heaped praise on the doctors working for the U.K. healthcare system who delivered her baby ten weeks early after she fell ill.

The singer/songwriter was in London in November (09) to play a handful of gigs when she was forced to seek emergency medical attention after she began experiencing severe pain and bleeding.

Wainwright dreamed of welcoming the baby with her husband in the U.S. but was forced to change her plans after doctors said she needed to deliver the child immediately.

She explains, "I was seven months pregnant with my first child and excited to get my last week of work over with and go home to the U.S. to prepare for our new arrival. But that night everything came crashing down. All plans flew out the window and Brad and I found ourselves in (the emergency room) at 2am...

"I felt the pain become sharper and what I thought at first was a lot of blood rushing out, but it was in fact my waters breaking. We were then scheduled for an emergency Caesarean section. Needless to say, the rollercoaster had sped up and we were in for a frightening ride.

"I never imagined, not even in my most paranoid state, that I would be in a city that is not my own and completely unprepared for our baby’s arrival."

The Canadian-born star eventually welcomed premature son Arcangelo on 16 November (09) and she credits staff at the U.K.'s publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) with helping her through the ordeal.

She adds, "The one thing that I am constantly reminded of is how lucky Brad and I are. We, as foreigners, have been treated very kindly by the administration. The most remarkable thing though is the dedication of the staff.

"Arcangelo and I are covered by the NHS because me and my husband were employed on work papers while here. The only thing I can say is thank you. I grew up in Canada, which has a similar system. If this had happened to us in the U.S., where we live, we would not have been covered. I can’t imagine the stress of that being applied to the stress of a hospital stay. I’m glad Arcangelo came into his little world with only the experience of humanity and compassion."