New Zealand MP rides cycle to hospital to give birth

In a very rare move on Sunday, a New Zealand MP cycled to hospital while in labour only to give birth barely an hour later.

"I genuinely wasn't planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening," Julie Anne Genter shared on Facebook afterwards.

Genter, Green party's spokesperson for transport, was not doing this for the first time - she was a minister three years ago when she took a similar trip.

Genter, 41, is a well-known and outspoken cycling advocate. The US-born politician said her contractions "weren't that bad" when she and her husband decided to cycle. She posted a picture of the couple in the hospital car park.

She wrote on Twitter later, “Big news! At 3.04am this morning we welcomed the newest member of our family. I genuinely wasn’t planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening. My contractions weren’t that bad when we left at 2am to go to the hospital - though they were 2-3 min apart and picking up in intensity by the time we arrived 10 minutes later. (I’m smiling in the car park right after one.) And amazingly now we have a healthy, happy little one sleeping, as is her dad.

“Feeling blessed to have had excellent care and support from a great team, in what turned out to be a very fast (and happily uncomplicated) birth.”