Babies born on the wild side

OUTSIDE Bunnings and on the side of the road - when babies decide it's time to enter the world they wait for nobody.

Drue Mortlock, Rachael McNamara

OUTSIDE Bunnings and on the side of the road - when babies decide it's time to enter the world they wait for nobody.

More than 300 children are born on the way to the hospital every year, according to Ambulance Victoria figures, with 189 mums giving birth before paramedics arrived.

And, amazingly, four women had no idea they were even pregnant.

Temporary birthing suites included supermarket aisles, hospital elevators and even one mum's workplace. Labour pains hit moments before one woman's plane was about to take off from Melbourne Airport.

Baby Lola started life in the fast lane three weeks ago when mum Rachel McNamara gave birth in the front seat of her Toyota Corolla parked on the side of the Eastern Freeway at 2am.

First-time father Drue Mortlock delivered his daughter minutes before paramedics arrived.

"We'll be camping outside the hospital next time," Mr Mortlock, 31, laughed.

Monash University midwife lecturer Gayle McLelland said: "(These births) are not going to go away ... it's just the nature of the beast."

According to Ms McLelland's research, which looks at a recent year of births, most babies arrived between midnight and 2am.

The median age of mums was 29, although 11 women aged over 40 gave birth before reaching a hospital. Quick labour and parents being told by hospitals to stay at home longer were the leading causes.

Ambulance Victoria general manager of regional services, Tony Walker, said all paramedics were trained to provide emergency care, including pre-hospital births.

"Expectant parents are urged to carefully plan the arrival of their baby and not leave it until the last minute to go to hospital," he said.