"I had my first baby on the side of a road."

Saengtip Kirk, 30, gave birth to her first baby, Hugo, on the side of a road in an inner-west suburb of Sydney. She told her story to Mamamia’s Rachel Curtis.

I didn’t make it to the hospital in time, so I gave birth in the ambulance on the side of the road.

I’d finished work and had been home for a week when I started to feel like I needed to poo. It happened a few times that day and I thought, ‘This is weird’. It was my first baby so I had no idea.

The next day I begged one of my friends to stay home with me, just in case I needed to go to the hospital. I was due in 10 days so I thought I’d be fine; I figured my first baby would probably be late, rather than early.

A few days before, I had an appointment with the midwife and she had told me it could be any day — the baby was engaged.

She advised me to walk around a lot to help the baby drop. So after the appointment, I did some shopping, I had lunch by myself, and then I was planning to prep some frozen meals for after the baby came – but none of that happened.

My friend had stayed with me for the day. Then my boyfriend had come home and we were just watching Bridesmaids and folding laundry.

He was timing my contractions and said they were happening every six minutes. He wanted me to call the hospital because he thought I was in labour. But the midwife had said: "When you’re in labour, you'll know you’re in labour."

I just felt a tightening and heaviness on my lower back, like pushing. It was quite uncomfortable but I didn't think it was full-blown labour.

Listen: Giving birth doesn’t have to be traumatic. (Post continues after podcast).

It wasn’t excruciating pain... but I once lived with a burst appendix for 24 hours, so perhaps I am tolerant to pain.

I called the hospital and they wouldn’t admit me until my contractions were four minutes apart. A midwife told me I was handling my pain well and for me to stay at home for as long as I could. She said all they could do at hospital was give me something for the pain.

But the tightening quickly went from six minutes to four minutes apart, so I called them back. I was told to make my way in and to call back if I had the urge to push.

My boyfriend was moving the car out of the garage when I told him, "We need to go now. My water has broken."

Five minutes into the 40-minute drive to the hospital I had the urge to push, so I called the hospital again. They instructed me to pull over and call an ambulance.

It was so involuntary; I didn't want it to happen there but I couldn't stop it. I was tensed up and the baby was pushing on its own.

We were just off the M4 highway [in Sydney] and the next place to pull over was the servo, but I didn’t want to stop there with people looking. So we found a quiet spot on Burwood Road.

Police were sent to cordon off the area. I was behind tinted windows, but still.

I had emergency services on speaker and I was told to hand my phone to my boyfriend and get in the back seat and use a bag as a pillow.

After the woman on the phone heard me push she asked my boyfriend to see if he could see the baby. My boyfriend had been told not to look at the 'business end', so to speak, but he looked and replied: “I can see the head."

As he was about to put his hand out to catch the baby, the ambulance arrived. He waved them down like, "Help us! Help me!"

I didn't actually realise I was crowning. I got out of the car, walked over got on the stretcher and was put in the ambulance.

The paramedics said I had 10-15 minutes and they thought we’d make it to the hospital. We started moving and the guy, who was a dad himself, told me to push if I needed.

Five minutes into the drive, two pushes came in a row and the baby came out he came out on the second push. Straight out. It felt like a big relief — like needing to go to the toilet and finally doing it.

I did the parenting course at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, but they didn’t demonstrate what happens if you don’t make it to the hospital. But I don’t think anyone can prepare you for a baby coming this fast, or having it on the side of a road.

From the first time I called the hospital to the time I gave birth was about an hour and a half, but I'd rather a quick labour any day.

My son is impatient. This was the first we saw of his personality — he was rushing, and just wanted to see everybody.