20 Jan 2015

High stakes pursuit for unborn baby

7:39 pm on 20 January 2015

An unborn baby and his mother were at the centre of a high-speed police pursuit in the Far North yesterday morning, as a midwife raced to hospital with a pregnant woman.

police car

Photo: AFP

Midwife Naomi Waldron attracted police attention when she drove at speeds of up to 140 kilometres an hour to take Rachael Tau from her home in Mangonui to the Kaitaia Hospital, after her waters broke early yesterday morning.

Ms Waldron said the mother-to-be was still insisting on a hospital birth when police pulled her over.

"Just as I entered the town - they stopped me so I quickly jumped out and just yelled out 'I'm a midwife and she's pushing, we need to get to the hospital'," she said.

"They went 'oh, right' and jumped back in and we all headed off to the hospital."

Ms Waldron said a healthy baby boy was born within 10 or 15 minutes of reaching the hospital.