Acting instinctively, Genter got to the hospital just in time – her daughter was born only an hour later.
In a Facebook post titled as a little “adventure” – though nothing about the act proved to be a small feat at all – New Zealand Green MP Julie Anne Genter, 41, showed the world what Kiwi women are made of after cycling herself to the hospital during labour.
She gave birth to a healthy (and what most are guessing is a little superhero, given her mother’s DNA) baby girl just an hour after arriving at the hospital.
A COMPLETELY UNPLANNED “ADVENTURE”
“Big news! At 3.04 a.m. … we welcomed the newest member of our family,” Genter says in her Facebook post.
“I genuinely wasn’t planning to cycle in labor, but it did end up happening.”
Speaking to New Zealand media outlet Stuff, Genter says she was glad that they didn’t have to walk. As it turns out, Genter’s labour plan with her husband did include getting to the hospital, which was a mere 10 minutes away by bike, with her sat securely in the cargo bay attachment. Her husband, Peter Nunns, was supposed to be the designated rider of the bike.
Plans were quickly changed when they realised that Genter’s hospital bag needed more space than anticipated, and ended up shifting the weight too much for her to ride safely; which prompted Genter to take things into her own hands in order to get to the hospital in time.
When asked about the frequency of her contractions during her ride, Genter explained that they weren’t “that bad.” When she left for the hospital around 2 a.m. on November 27, 2021, her contractions were two to three minutes apart and were picking up in intensity. But she powered through, as the hospital was thankfully a short distance from her.
Because she acted instinctively, Genter got to the hospital just in time and her daughter was born only an hour later.
“And amazingly now we have a healthy, happy little one sleeping, as is her dad,” Genter says.
“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. 💕”
A REPEAT OCCURRENCE
According to Stuff, this wasn’t Genter’s first rodeo seeing as she did the same thing prior to the birth of her son in 2018. As the story goes, the original plan then was to travel by car, however, “there wasn’t enough room in the car for the support crew.”
Genter then made the decision to to bike to the Auckland City Hospital, where she had to be put through induced labour. Sharing her experience on riding to hospital while in labour, Genter said that it put her “in the best mood possible.”
Truly legendary.
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