One Hell of a Ride: New Zealand Politician Cycles to Hospital While in Labour

Green party's Julie Genter rode the bicycle while in labour and related her story on Facebook.

MP Julie Genter.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Julie Anne Genter MP)

New Zealand's Green party MP Julie Genter went into labour early on Sunday. What she did next is something completely out of the blue. She hopped on her bike and decided to cycle to the hospital herself, while in labour!

An hour later, Genter was in the hospital and delivered a healthy baby girl. In a detailed post on Facebook, the politician speaks about her unconventional birth-giving experience and how it came to being.

"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," she writes.

Also talking about the hospital team that helped her have the baby successfully, she 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."

New Zealand is famous for having politicians that follow unconventional methods and break from the ordinary to set new examples. PM Jacinda Arden took a three month maternity leave while in office, and even attended a session in the parliament with her baby.