An emu-owning stranger who predicted details about a pregnant woman's baby during a chance encounter at a pet store ended up being almost completely correct.

Victoria Bedford and her mum were in Pets at Home in Sittingbourne Retail Park in mid-December when a woman came up to them and asked to put her hand on her bump.

The 24-year-old, who lives in Great Easthall, said: "We were both at the till at the same time and she was just about to leave. Her and my mum must have just got a sort of vibe or energy from each other and started talking.

"She asked to put her hand on my belly and I said 'yes' and she predicted it would be a boy, and that he would be 8lbs 5oz with blond hair and born on Christmas Eve – it was really random.

"But she got all of them right other than that he was 8lbs 4oz – she was a really nice woman, I felt a good vibe from her.

"I didn't not believe her, but I didn't believe that she could be that accurate."

Victoria already knew she was having a boy so said that detail made sense but that it was "weird she already knew that".

She was admitted to hospital a week before Christmas and was due to have an emergency C-section the day before Christmas Eve.

She waited until 8.30pm to be told that due to so many emergencies that day, they could not take her to theatre.

On the morning of December 24 she had the surgery and gave birth to a baby boy – Eden Annett.

Victoria's mum, Louise Bedford, made a post on The Gossip Board of Sittingbourne Facebook at the end of February trying to track the lady down.

She wrote: "I would really like to find a lady that my daughter and I spoke to at Pets at Home in Sittingbourne around the middle of December.

"The lady will remember us as she placed her hand on my pregnant daughter's belly and told us what she was having, how much he would weigh, when he would arrive and the colour of his hair.

"My daughter and her partner would very much like me to find this lady.

"All I know is she had a pet ostrich, two cats that are the breed that do not have any hair and I think she may have just got a kitten as she was buying a little pink collar ... would love to find her and if anyone can help, it would be very much appreciated."

Afterwards, Alison Carter got in touch to say it was her – although it is a one-year-old emu called Beep Beep she has instead of an ostrich.

The 55-year-old, who lives in Boughton Monchelsea, Maidstone, had been at the pet shop with her partner and said she felt a "warmth" when she saw the two women behind her in the queue.

She said: "The next thing I knew my daughter showed me the Facebook post and asked if it was me, just having a laugh, and then the mum found me."

Alison also has peacocks, geese, Great Danes, and more cats and dogs.

She said that she has had a number of instances where she has predicted things about people that turned out to be true.

She continued: "I was talking to a friend of mine and I told her about her husband when he passed away – what he was wearing and stuff – and she said it really helped her.

"I can't command it to happen, I can't just sit down and do it but sometimes it just happens. I don't know what it is, I just hear it in my head and I just see certain things.

"I once told someone at a party that he was adopted and he didn't know and then he found out he was.

"I'll be with my friends and tell them things but I don't do readings.

"I don't know if it's a gift or whatever it is but sometimes I'm able to just tell things to people.

"I have some control over it if I really try – everyone has something in them I can touch into.

"It was just so nice for her to be thinking about me at that special time."